Parātrīṃśikā Vivaraṇa (Part 166): Icchā Is the Fullness of Bhairava

 This images suggests the Absolute gathered into its own self-awareness: still, full, and yet inwardly alive with the power to unfold. The dark center does not feel like absence, but like concentrated fullness — the seed-point where icchā, ānanda, bodha, and svātantrya remain non-different.

The previous chunk closed with entry into Anuttara as the universal Heart of Bhairava: the known and the knower brought into kṣobha-samāpatti, all beings seen in the Self and the Self in all beings. The technical structure of mudrā, tithi, visarga, bīja, and Anuttara was not left as esoteric counting; it culminated in direct universal recognition.

Now Abhinava turns the same Heart through another angle: icchā, the power of will. This is delicate, because “will” or “desire” can easily be misunderstood as lack, craving, or movement toward something absent. But here icchā is not ordinary desire. It is the pure surge of consciousness arising from ānanda-śakti, still unstained at its root, and oriented toward kriyā-śakti without yet falling into contraction.

The chunk begins by locating the “third form” as icchātma — will-natured. This will arises in the field of bliss, follows the contraction and expansion of the previous movement, and looks toward action. In other words, manifestation is not produced by poverty. The Supreme does not desire because it lacks. It wills because fullness has the power to stir, overflow, and become.

From there Abhinava clarifies that this Brahman is akaluṣa, unstained, at its first edge. Even though icchā seems to imply an object desired, at the root this willing is not yet corrupted by separative grasping. The desired is not truly other than the one who wills. This is the difference between divine icchā and bound craving: craving reaches outward from lack; pure will unfolds inward fullness.

The passage then expands into the structure of the tattvas and Bhairava-distinctions. The thirty-six tattvas are to be purified; Para-Bhairava is the purifier; and the supreme triad becomes the instrument of pāramārthikī dīkṣā, ultimate initiation. The Heart is not merely contemplated; it purifies the whole structure of manifestation and reveals its supreme basis.

Abhinava supports this with a luminous verse invoking the Mother of new creation, the five-faced Father, and the Heart born from their yāmala as the Anuttara-amṛta-kula. The imagery continues the whole current of the text: Śiva and Śakti, Father and Mother, seed and womb, bliss and manifestation, all gathered into the Heart as nectar.

Then he returns to the practical question of access. This Heart flashes everywhere sakṛt, all at once, and is primarily reached through prasaṃkhyāna, contemplative recognition. For those purified by supreme śaktipāta, this recognition is direct. For others, especially those still fascinated by magical constructions and yogic attainments, yoga-practice may have its place. But the main path remains recognition, not occult appetite.

The chunk closes by returning to icchā: the third is will, and Brahman is full because what is desired is non-different from it. This is the essential nerve. Divine will does not arise from emptiness trying to fill itself. It is fullness willing itself, bliss stirring into awareness, the Heart expanding without ever leaving itself.

The third form is icchā, arising from ānanda-śakti and oriented toward kriyā

icchollasattātmani ānandaśaktau yadetat saṃhṛtya anusṛtyā kriyāśaktimapekṣya tṛtīyaṃ rūpamicchātma

“That which, within ānanda-śakti, whose nature is the shining forth of icchā, after contraction and subsequent unfolding, looks toward kriyā-śakti — this third form is will-natured, icchātma.”

Abhinava now turns to icchā, the power of will. This is not ordinary desire. It is not the restless hunger of the incomplete being. It is not craving reaching toward an absent object. It is the first luminous stirring of fullness.

The setting is ānanda-śakti — the power of bliss. That is important. Will arises here not from lack, but from bliss. The Supreme does not will because something is missing. It wills because fullness is alive. Bliss is not static; it has ullāsa, shining forth, a natural surge, a movement to disclose itself.

This is the key distinction between bound desire and divine icchā.

Bound desire says: “I am incomplete; something outside me must fill me.”
Divine icchā says: “I am full; let this fullness shine, unfold, and become.”

That is why Abhinava places icchā between ānanda and kriyā. Bliss is the inner fullness. Will is the first directed surge. Action is the expressive unfolding. The movement is not poverty → craving → grasping. It is fullness → will → manifestation.

The phrase saṃhṛtya anusṛtyā suggests contraction and following/unfolding. The power gathers itself, then moves. It contracts into potency, then follows itself outward toward action. This is not fall yet. This is the sacred pulse before separative grasping. The seed gathers; then it tends toward expression.

And this is called the third form, tṛtīyaṃ rūpam, because it belongs to the structure already being decoded from the Tantra’s verse about the “third Brahman.” The third is icchātma — will-natured. But again, this will must be understood at its highest level. It is not egoic wanting. It is Brahman as the fullness that freely inclines toward its own manifestation.

This point is crucial because many spiritual systems distrust desire so much that they flatten all will into bondage. Abhinava is more precise. He knows craving, attachment, rāga, and aṇutā. He has already described how they bind. But he also knows that at the root of manifestation there is a pure icchā that is not bondage. Without that pure will, there would be no Śakti, no mantra, no world, no recognition, no path.

So the sādhaka’s work is not simply to kill all movement of will. It is to distinguish contracted craving from pure icchā. Craving pulls the Heart outward into dependence. Pure icchā arises from the Heart’s fullness and moves toward expression without leaving itself.

That is why this third form is so important. It shows that the Heart of Bhairava is not inert. It is blissful, willing, and capable of action. The universe begins not from lack, but from the overflowing will of bliss.

This Brahman is unstained at its first edge

tadeva prākkoṭāviṣyamāṇādyakaluṣaṃ [prākkoṭau hīṣyamāṇādinā kaluṣam iti kathaṃ brahma (?) ityataḥ prācyabhāge'kaluṣamiti tātparyam |] brahma

“That very Brahman is unstained at the first edge, before the object-to-be-willed and the rest. The gloss explains: if, at the first edge, it were stained by what is to be desired and so on, how could it be Brahman? Therefore the intended meaning is that in its prior aspect it is unstained.”

Abhinava now immediately protects the doctrine of icchā from misunderstanding. If the third form is will-natured, one might think: “But will means desire. Desire means lack. Lack means impurity. So how can this be Brahman?”

The gloss asks exactly that: if at the very first edge this reality were already stained by the desired object, how could it be Brahman?

So Abhinava clarifies: this is prākkoṭi-akaluṣa — unstained at the prior edge, pure in its original face. The will spoken of here is not yet the fallen movement of a contracted being toward an external object. It is pure icchā, the first luminous inclination of fullness before division hardens.

This distinction is essential. Bound desire is already polluted by separation. It says: “I am here, the object is there, and I am incomplete without it.” That kind of desire is born from aṇutā, smallness. It binds because the desired object is imagined as other and necessary for completion.

But divine icchā is different. At its root, it is not stained by otherness. The desired is not truly outside the one who wills. The object has not yet become a foreign thing. The movement is still inside fullness. Brahman wills itself, not something alien.

That is why the term akaluṣa matters. It means unstained, unpolluted, not muddied by separative grasping. The first edge of manifestation is still pure. The stir toward expression has begun, but the fall into lack has not. The Heart has moved, but it has not left itself.

This is a subtle but powerful correction to both puritanism and indulgence. Puritanism says all desire is impurity. Indulgence says desire should simply be followed. Abhinava says: distinguish. There is craving born from contraction, and there is pure will born from fullness. They are not the same current, even if the bound mind confuses them constantly.

For sādhana, this is practical. When a movement of will arises, the question is not only “do I want this?” The deeper question is: from where does this will arise?

Does it arise from lack, fear, comparison, hunger, wounded identity? Then it is already moving toward bondage.

Or does it arise from clarity, fullness, natural expression, the Heart’s own pressure to manifest? Then it carries something of pure icchā.

The same outward action may look similar from outside, but inwardly the source is different. One person creates because they need validation. Another creates because fullness overflows. One person loves because they are desperate to be completed. Another loves because the Heart naturally gives itself. One person practices because they fear impurity. Another practices because Śakti is moving.

Abhinava is pointing to that first unstained edge: the place where will has not yet become need, where expression has not yet become grasping, where manifestation has not yet become bondage. That is why this can still be called Brahman.

The Heart wills, but remains pure. It moves, but remains full. It tends toward manifestation, but is not stained by the object it will later appear as.

The forty tattvas include the thirty-six to be purified, Para-Bhairava, and the three supreme Śaktis

caturye daśa catvāriṃśat bhairavabhedāpekṣayā parabhairavaparaśaktitrayasahitāni tattvāni yathoktam

“In the fourth [interpretation], there are forty tattvas with reference to the distinctions of Bhairava, including Para-Bhairava and the three supreme Śaktis, as has been said.”

Abhinava now expands the count beyond the familiar thirty-six tattvas. He speaks of catvāriṃśat tattvāni — forty tattvas — from the standpoint of the Bhairava-bhedas, the distinctions or modes of Bhairava. This is not ordinary cosmological listing. He is not merely adding numbers to a metaphysical chart. He is showing how the whole field of manifestation is to be read from the standpoint of purification and return.

The ordinary thirty-six tattvas describe the full spread from Śiva down to earth: consciousness descending into limitation, subjectivity, mind, senses, subtle elements, gross elements. But here Abhinava adds what transforms the map into a path: Para-Bhairava and the three supreme Śaktis.

That changes everything.

Without Para-Bhairava, the tattvas could be taken as a static metaphysical ladder. Without the supreme Śaktis, the structure could become dead ontology. But when Para-Bhairava and the three Śaktis are included, the tattvas are no longer merely the architecture of manifestation; they become the field of purification, initiation, and return.

This also continues the previous point on icchā. The universe is not produced by impure desire, and the tattvas are not merely the machinery of fall. They are the expression of a deeper will, a deeper Śakti-current. The same structure that appears as bondage when misrecognized becomes the field of purification when seen through Bhairava.

So the fortyfold count is not “more complicated metaphysics.” It is Abhinava saying: do not look only at the manifested layers; include the purifier and the supreme powers by which the layers are illumined, purified, and restored to their source.

This is also why Bhairava matters again. The count is made bhairava-bheda-apekṣayā — with reference to Bhairava’s distinctions. The universe is not being counted from below as a dead pile of categories. It is being counted from the fierce totality of Bhairava, where every level is either a contraction of the Heart or a doorway back into the Heart.

So this point prepares the next verse: the thirty-six are to be purified; Para-Bhairava is the purifier; the supreme triad is the instrument. The tattvas are not only what binds the paśu. They are what can be ritually, contemplatively, and ontologically purified into Bhairava-consciousness.

The thirty-six tattvas are to be purified; Para-Bhairava is the purifier; Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā are the instrument of ultimate initiation

ṣaṭtriṃśacchodhanīyāni śodhako bhairavaḥ paraḥ |
paraṃ trikaṃ tu karaṇaṃ dīkṣeyaṃ pāramārthikī ||

“The thirty-six are to be purified; the purifier is Para-Bhairava. The supreme Triad — Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā — is the instrument. This is the ultimate initiation.”

Abhinava now gives the fortyfold structure its initiatory meaning. The thirty-six tattvas are not merely to be listed, memorized, or turned into a metaphysical diagram. They are śodhanīyāni — to be purified.

This is already a sharp correction. The tattvas are not intellectual furniture. They are the layered structure of manifestation and bondage: body, senses, mind, ego, limited knowledge, time, desire, necessity, Māyā, and the higher levels of consciousness. They describe how the infinite Heart appears as a finite experiencer within a world. To know the tattvas merely as a list is not enough. They must be purified in experience.

And the purifier is Para-Bhairava — śodhako bhairavaḥ paraḥ. Not the contracted ego. Not merely human effort. Not moral self-improvement. Not abstract conceptual analysis. Only the supreme Bhairava can purify the whole field, because only the total can restore each contracted part to its source.

Then comes the instrument: paraṃ trikam tu karaṇam — the supreme Triad is the means. Here this should be understood as Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā.

This is exact Trika logic. The three Goddesses are not decorative categories. They are the living powers through which the whole range of reality is held, purified, and returned. Aparā governs the more differentiated, lower, manifest field; Parāparā is the intermediate power where difference and non-difference meet; Parā is the supreme power of undivided consciousness. Together they form the initiatory instrument by which the thirty-six tattvas are purified.

So the process is not a crude leap from “world” to “transcendence.” The whole field is worked through. Aparā does not get despised. Parāparā does not get skipped. Parā does not become an abstraction. The Triad functions as a complete Śākta instrument of purification.

That is why Abhinava calls this pāramārthikī dīkṣā — ultimate initiation.

This is not initiation as social belonging. Not merely receiving a mantra-name. Not lineage identity. Not “now I am authorized.” At the deepest level, initiation is the purification of the tattvas by Para-Bhairava through the power of Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā.

The body is purified as Śakti’s embodiment.
The senses are purified as powers of awareness.
Mind is purified from compulsive vikalpa.
Ahaṃkāra is purified back toward divine aham.
The kañcukas are purified as contracted forms of freedom.
Māyā is purified as the power of display rather than final separation.
The whole manifest field is returned to Bhairava’s Heart.

So this verse gives the initiatory architecture in one compact formula:

The thirty-six tattvas are the field.
Para-Bhairava is the purifier.
Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā are the instrument.
This is ultimate initiation.

That is why the line is so powerful. It turns cosmology into dīkṣā. The map of reality becomes the field of purification. The Triad becomes not theory, but the living śakti-mechanism by which the bound structure is opened back into Bhairava.

The Heart is the Anuttara-amṛta-kula born from the yāmala of Mother and Father

vimalakalāśrayābhinavasṛṣṭimahā jananī bharitatanuśca pañcamukhaguptarucirjanakaḥ |
tadubhayayāmalasphuritabhāvanisargamayaṃ hṛdayamanuttarāmṛtakulaṃ mama saṃsphuratāt ||

“May the Heart — the Anuttara nectar-kula — flash forth for me:
the Heart whose nature is the innate manifestation of the state flashing from the yāmala of both:
the Great Mother, source of stainless kalā and new creation,
and the Father, filled in body, whose hidden radiance is five-faced.”

Abhinava now quotes the very first verse of the Tantrāloka, and that should be stated explicitly. This is not a casual supporting verse. It is the opening invocation of his greatest work, and it already contains an entire map of his vision: Mother, Father, yāmala, kalā, new creation, five-faced Śiva, hidden radiance, Heart, Anuttara, amṛta, and Kula.

This verse has been commented on deeply, especially by Jayaratha, and it contains multiple layers that cannot be fully churned here without breaking the present exposition. Even the phrase vimalakalāśraya carries several resonances. On one level, it means the Great Mother as the source or support of stainless kalā, the pure creative power. On another level, Vimalā also recalls the name of Abhinava’s biological mother, so the verse subtly lets personal, cosmic, and tantric meanings overlap. Abhinava does not write from a dry abstract space; even his invocation lets biography, Śakti, and metaphysics interpenetrate.

For the purpose of the present passage, we only need the layer directly relevant to the Heart. Abhinava is showing that the paraṃ trikam, the supreme Triad of Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā, is not a dead technical category. It belongs to the living Heart born from the yāmala of Mother and Father — Śakti and Śiva.

The Mahājananī, the Great Mother, is the source of stainless new creation. She is not “mother” merely in a sentimental sense. She is the generative matrix of pure manifestation, the power by which reality can arise freshly without becoming separate from purity.

The Janaka, the Father, is bharita-tanuḥ, full-bodied, saturated, plenary. His radiance is pañcamukha-gupta-ruciḥ — the hidden splendour of the five-faced Śiva. This is a strongly Śaiva-Tantric signal. The five faces of Śiva are not just iconography; they indicate the totality of Śiva’s powers, directions, functions, and mantric presence. But here that five-faced radiance is gupta, hidden. It is not displayed as outer theological decoration. It is concealed inside the Father’s fullness, like mantra hidden in seed.

From the yāmala of these two, the Heart flashes forth. This is the central point for our current passage. The Heart is not produced by one isolated principle. It is the flashing manifestation of Śiva and Śakti together: Mother and Father, seed and womb, hidden radiance and new creation, fullness and manifestation.

And that Heart is called anuttara-amṛta-kula — the nectar-kula of Anuttara. This phrase is enormous. The Heart is not an abstract metaphysical point. It is Kula because it gathers the powers into one living body. It is amṛta because its nature is immortal nectar, not dry transcendence. It is Anuttara because nothing stands beyond it.

So here we only touch the surface of Tantrāloka 1.1, enough to serve Abhinava’s present argument. A fuller exposition would require entering Jayaratha’s commentary and the many layers of the verse itself. But even this surface layer is already powerful: ultimate initiation is performed through the supreme Triad because that Triad belongs to the Heart born from the yāmala of the Great Mother and the five-faced hidden Father — the Anuttara nectar-kula itself.

Ānanda-śakti is full as both prior and subsequent, and the Heart is endowed with tithīśas, bījas, and yoni-forms

ityādi tairyutam ānandaśaktirhi prāgapararūpā pūrṇā kathaṃ tithīśairbījaiḥ tadantaiśca yonirūpadharādibhiḥ samanvitam - iti kriyāviśeṣaṇam

“Thus, it is joined with these. For ānanda-śakti, being full in both prior and subsequent forms, is described as endowed with the lords of the tithis, the seeds, and their endings, which are earth and the rest in the form of yoni. This qualifies kriyā.”

Abhinava now returns from the quoted Tantrāloka verse into the technical explanation of the Heart. The Heart is not floating in isolation. It is yutam — joined, endowed, connected with these powers: the tithīśas, the bījas, and their endings, the yoni-forms such as earth and the other tattvic levels.

The key is ānanda-śakti. She is prāg-apara-rūpā pūrṇā — full both in the prior and the subsequent form. This means bliss-power is not only at the origin, before manifestation, as some untouched inward fullness. It is also present afterward, in the unfolded field. Ānanda does not remain sealed before creation. It accompanies manifestation into its forms.

This is very important. A lesser metaphysics would say: bliss is above, world is below; purity is before, manifestation is after; the source is full, the expression is degraded. Abhinava does not allow that split. Ānanda-śakti is full in both directions — before and after, source and expression, seed and yoni, inward and outward.

That is why the Heart can be endowed with bījas and yonis without becoming impure. The seed and the womb are not crude symbols here. They are the architecture of manifestation. The bīja is concentrated potency; the yoni is the matrix of embodiment. The Heart contains both. It is not merely the seed before expression, and not merely the womb of externalization. It is the fullness that holds both as one current.

The mention of dharā — earth — matters. Earth is the most condensed, most outward, most apparently “low” level. Yet even earth belongs to the yoni-form of the Heart’s unfolding. The Heart is not lost when manifestation becomes dense. Ānanda-śakti remains full even when the current descends into the most concrete forms.

This is also why Abhinava says this qualifies kriyā. Action, manifestation, unfolding, embodiment — all of this is not separate from ānanda. Kriyā is not a fall from bliss. True kriyā is bliss-power becoming active, entering seed and womb, letters and tattvas, subtle and gross manifestation.

For sādhana, this is direct. Do not imagine that bliss is only found before life, outside action, outside body, outside the world. If ānanda-śakti is full both prior and subsequent, then action itself can be returned to bliss. The body can be returned to bliss. Earth can be returned to bliss. The dense, heavy, embodied field can be recognized as yoni-form, not as exile.

This is the difference between bondage and recognition. In bondage, manifestation feels like distance from the source. In recognition, manifestation is seen as the source entering its own yoni. The same Heart that is seed is also womb. The same ānanda that is prior is also subsequent. The same fullness that shines before action also moves as action.

The Heart flashes everywhere at once; for the qualified it is reached by recognition, while for others yoga-practice may apply

tadeva hṛdayaṃ sarvatrātra sakṛdvibhātaṃ prasaṃkhyānagamyaṃ rūpaṃ mukhyataḥ tatra yogyānāṃ tu paraśaktipātapavitritānāṃ vṛthaindrajālikakalanālālasānāṃ vā yogābhyāsa iti mantavyam |

“That very Heart flashes everywhere here, all at once. Its form is chiefly accessible through prasaṃkhyāna, contemplative recognition. But for those who are qualified, purified by supreme śaktipāta — or else for those still vainly eager for magical constructions — yoga-practice is to be considered.”

Abhinava now makes an important correction after the dense structure of tithis, bījas, yonis, and kriyā. The Heart is not locked inside this structure as if it were hidden in some remote ritual mechanism. Tadeva hṛdayaṃ sarvatra atra sakṛd-vibhātam — that very Heart shines everywhere, here, all at once.

This is the key. The Heart is not absent and then produced by practice. It is not manufactured by yoga. It is not created by ritual. It flashes sakṛt — in one stroke, at once, immediately — because it is already the innermost reality of everything. It is present in seed and yoni, in prior and subsequent, in bliss and action, in subtle mantra and dense earth.

But the fact that it shines everywhere does not mean everyone recognizes it. That is why Abhinava says its form is primarily prasaṃkhyāna-gamya — reached by contemplative recognition, by direct inward discernment that gathers the scattered appearances back into their one essence. This is not mere intellectual analysis. It is not “thinking about nonduality.” It is a contemplative seeing that repeatedly and decisively recognizes the Heart in what appears.

So the main path here is recognition, not spectacle. The Heart is entered by seeing what is already flashing, not by constructing a new magical universe.

Then Abhinava adds a sharp qualification. For those purified by supreme śaktipāta, yoga-practice may have its place. When the vessel has been purified by grace, practice is no longer a desperate attempt to acquire the Heart. It becomes a way of stabilizing, clarifying, and embodying what has already been touched by descent.

But then he adds another category with almost humorous severity: vṛtha-indrajālika-kalanā-lālasānām — those vainly eager for magical constructions, those hungry for the conjuring tricks of practice, occult patterns, energetic mechanics, subtle displays. For them too, yoga-practice may be considered, but the tone is not flattering. It is as if Abhinava says: if someone is still fascinated by inner magic, then let them do yoga; perhaps that route will exhaust or refine the fascination.

This is very practical. Many seekers do not really want the Heart. They want experiences. They want visions, energies, altered states, secret techniques, subtle powers, maps, attainments. They want the “indrajāla,” the magical net. Even in spiritual life, the mind wants something to possess.

Abhinava quietly cuts through that. The Heart is already flashing everywhere. The main access is contemplative recognition. Yoga has its place, but it is secondary unless it serves recognition. If practice becomes hunger for magical construction, it can become another detour.

This does not make yoga useless. It puts yoga in its proper place. For the qualified, especially those purified by śaktipāta, yoga can be a powerful means. But yoga is not the source of the Heart. The Heart is source. Practice must bow to that.

So this point is clean and sharp: the Heart is immediate, universal, and already shining. Recognition is primary. Practice is useful when it serves recognition. But fascination with occult construction is not realization. The sādhaka must ask honestly: am I recognizing the Heart, or am I collecting inner technologies because the simplicity of the Heart feels too naked?

Icchā as the third: Brahman is full because the desired is non-different from it

icchābhiprāyeṇa tṛtīyamicchā tacca vṛṃhitamiṣyamāṇenābhinnena pūrṇaṃ brahma caturdaśa catvāriṃśadyutāni nirvibhāgabhāñji yato'ntaraṃ yutaśabdo vibhaktavācyapi yutasiddhatvādityādau [ayutasiddhayoḥ saṃbandhaḥ samavāya ityatra yutasiddhayorapṛthaksiddhayorityarthaḥ yathāmumevābhiprāyamantaḥkṛtya yu-miśraṇe'miśraṇe ceti siddhāntakaumudyāṃ paṭhitam |] tithīśvarasya kulamayānuttarakalātmano'ntaḥ ānandaḥ tasyānu - paścāt samyagitaṃ bodhamayam |

“From the standpoint of icchā, the third is will. And that Brahman is expanded, full with the desired, which is non-different from it. The fourteen and the forty, though spoken of as joined, partake of non-division; for even when the word ‘joined’ can refer to what is divided, it can also indicate inseparable connection. The inner end of the Lord of the tithis, whose nature is the Kula-like Anuttara-kalā, is ānanda; after that comes what is properly ordered as awareness, bodha.”

Abhinava now answers one of the most subtle confusions in Śaiva nonduality: does Śiva will?

The confusion is understandable. If Śiva is pūrṇa, complete, how can he desire? If he is nondual, what object could he desire? If he is beyond vikalpa, how could he choose one possibility over another? If will means lack, then will seems impossible for Śiva.

But the problem is hidden in the assumption: human craving is being projected onto divine icchā.

Ordinary desire begins from incompleteness. It says: “I lack something. The object is outside me. I must obtain it to become whole.” This is desire under aṇutā, smallness. The desired object appears separate. The subject feels incomplete. The movement is restless, needy, and binding.

That is not what Abhinava means here by icchā.

He says: icchābhiprāyeṇa tṛtīyam icchā — from the standpoint of icchā, the third is will. Here “the third” refers back to the Tantra’s phrase tṛtīyaṃ brahma, “the third Brahman,” which Abhinava here interprets from the standpoint of icchā-śakti. But immediately he qualifies it: vṛṃhitam iṣyamāṇena abhinnena pūrṇaṃ brahma — Brahman is full, expanded by the desired, which is non-different from it.

This is the knife.

Śiva does not will an external object. The desired is abhinna, non-different from him. Therefore divine willing is not a movement from lack toward completion. It is fullness expanding into its own self-expression.

Human craving says: “I want what is not me.”
Śiva’s icchā says: “I unfold what is already myself.”

So yes, Śiva is nirāśaṃsaḥ, without desire, if by desire we mean needy expectation, lack, dependence, wanting something from outside. But Śiva has icchā-śakti, because his freedom includes the power of self-expression. These are not contradictory statements. They refer to two different meanings of “desire.”

Śiva is desireless as lack.
Śiva is will-full as freedom.

This is why Abhinava can speak of pūrṇaṃ brahma and icchā in the same breath. Brahman’s will does not damage its completeness. It reveals it. The universe does not arise because Śiva is lonely, bored, incomplete, or searching for an object. The universe arises because fullness is not inert. Fullness has svātantrya. Fullness can shine. Fullness can manifest. Fullness can taste itself as many without becoming divided.

This also answers the objection about nonduality. In ordinary desire, there is a subject and an object: “I desire that.” But in divine icchā, the object is not truly other. The desired appears within Śiva’s own being. Therefore willing does not introduce duality at the root. It is the play of nondual consciousness with its own power.

The objection about nirvikalpa also needs precision. Śiva’s will is not mental choosing between alternatives like a human mind deciding between tea and coffee. It is not vikalpa. It is pre-conceptual, free self-determination — the power by which consciousness can manifest without being forced by anything outside itself. It is not deliberation. It is spontaneous sovereignty.

This is why ordinary language fails. We use the word “will,” but for Śiva it does not mean psychological wanting. It means the free pulse of manifestation from fullness.

Then Abhinava adds another subtle point: the fourteen and the forty are nirvibhāga-bhāj, partaking of non-division. Even where structures are spoken of as “joined,” this joining does not imply real separation. The powers are not external pieces glued onto Brahman. They are inseparable articulations of one Heart.

So when Śiva wills, knows, and acts, these are not three separate operations in time. Icchā, jñāna, and kriyā are distinct as powers, but not divided as substances. The Heart is one; its powers are many only in expression.

The final movement is beautiful: the inner end of the tithīśvara, whose nature is the Kula-like Anuttara-kalā, is ānanda; after that comes bodha. At the root is bliss; then awareness shines clearly. This means divine will is not born from pain. It is born from ānanda. Bliss moves, and awareness illuminates that movement.

So thus:

No, Śiva does not desire as a lacking individual desires.
Yes, Śiva has icchā-śakti as the free power of fullness.
No, there is no external object that completes him.
Yes, the “desired” is non-different from him.
No, divine will is not vikalpa.
Yes, it is the spontaneous self-expression of svātantrya.

This is the difference between bondage and manifestation. Bound desire reaches toward the other because it feels empty. Divine icchā unfolds the non-other because it is full.

That is why Abhinava can say, without contradiction: Brahman is complete, unstained, and desireless in the sense of lack — and yet the third form is icchā, because the fullness of Bhairava is alive enough to will itself into manifestation without ever ceasing to be whole.