Parātrīṃśikā Vivaraṇa (Part 97): From Mātṛkā to Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā

The three Trika Goddesses: Parā at the center, with Parāparā (left) and Aparā (right) on either side, representing the three Vidyās through which Śakti wills, knows, and manifests the universe.

After presenting Mālinī Bhaṭṭārikā as the bhinnayoni garland of letters, Abhinava now turns again to the problem of alphabetic placement. The previous chunk showed Mālinī as the special Śākta arrangement: the alphabet re-strung as the living garland of Śakti. Now this passage notes that the same letters can also receive tattva-placements through the abhinnayoni Mātṛkā arrangement — the undivided, standard mother-alphabet order.

This matters because Abhinava is not treating any single alphabetic sequence as the only possible map. Mālinī, Mātṛkā, kṣa-based reabsorptive order, and the three Vidyās each disclose the same field from a different operative angle. The map changes because the function changes. Sometimes the alphabet is read as reabsorption; sometimes as Śākta garland; sometimes as the undivided mother-matrix; now, through Vidyātraya, as the threefold movement of will, knowledge, and action.

The second half of this chunk is the more living part. It introduces Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā not as abstract goddess names, but as three modes of Śakti’s manifestation. Parā is the first will-to-create, the inwardly resting but outward-surging power of the cosmic supporter. Parāparā is the determining knowledge-power that makes the object intelligible as “this, not otherwise.” Aparā is the action-power by which what has been determined becomes actualized in the diversity of subjects and objects.

So the chunk moves from alphabetic placement into the threefold life of Śakti: icchā, jñāna, and kriyā. It is again technical, but the inner movement is clear: the Goddess does not only appear as letters; she appears as the very process by which manifestation is willed, known, and enacted.

Even the letters beginning with pha receive tattva-placements through the Mātṛkā order

phakārādīnām abhinnayoni-mātṛkā-niveśāvāpta-tattvāntara-sthitīnām api

“Even the letters beginning with pha, which have obtained their placement in other tattvas through the Mātṛkā arrangement whose yoni is undivided…”

Abhinava now shifts from Mālinī back toward Mātṛkā. In the previous part, Mālinī was shown as bhinnayoni — her generative matrix is different, because the ordinary consonantal base is differentiated by the vowels. She is the alphabet re-strung as Śakti’s garland.

Now the text speaks of abhinnayoni Mātṛkā — the Mātṛkā whose yoni is undivided. This means the familiar mother-alphabet in its regular, continuous arrangement. Unlike Mālinī’s broken-open Śākta sequence, Mātṛkā preserves the more straightforward alphabetic matrix.

The phrase is dense: phakārādīnām... tattvāntara-sthitīnām api. The letters beginning with pha have also obtained placements in other tattvas through this undivided Mātṛkā arrangement. So the same letters can be placed differently depending on whether one is using the Mālinī order or the Mātṛkā order.

This continues Abhinava’s larger hermeneutic discipline. Alphabetic mappings are not random, but neither are they one-dimensional. Mālinī reveals the alphabet as Śakti’s rearranged mantraic garland. Mātṛkā reveals the alphabet as the undivided mother-matrix. Both are valid, but they function differently. The task is to know which order is being used, and why.

So this point opens another layer of the same sound-body doctrine: the letters are not dead signs. They can enter different tattva-placements according to different mantraic matrices. The alphabet is one field of power, but its arrangements disclose different faces of that power.

Earth-tattva is taught in pha

phe dharātatvamuddiṣṭaṃ

“In pha, the earth-tattva is taught.”

The passage now gives the first concrete placement in the abhinnayoni Mātṛkā arrangement. Dharā-tattva, the earth principle, is taught in pha. This is different from the previous kṣa-based order, where earth was placed in kṣa. So Abhinava is showing yet again that the same tattva-field can be arranged differently depending on the mantraic order being followed.

Here the governing order is not Mālinī, the differentiated Śākta garland, but Mātṛkā, the undivided mother-alphabet. So pha becomes the location of earth within this particular mapping. The point is not that earth “really” belongs to only one letter in every context. The point is that each śāstric arrangement has its own internal logic.

This is why Abhinava’s method matters. He does not panic when one scripture places earth in kṣa and another places it in pha. He knows that a tantric alphabetic map is not a modern periodic table. It is a functional arrangement of sound-power, tattva, mantra, and practice. Different orders reveal different operations of the same field.

So this first placement opens the Mātṛkā mapping: earth is now seen through pha, not through kṣa, because we are inside another alphabetic body. The tattva remains earth, but the mantraic doorway has changed.

The twenty-three letters are assigned in sequence

cādi-ñānte'nupūrvaśaḥ |
trayoviṃśatyavādīni tadvaṭṭādyakṣarāṇi ca ||

“From ca to ña, in sequence, are the twenty-three letters beginning with a, and likewise the letters beginning with ṭa.”

Abhinava now continues the abhinnayoni Mātṛkā placement. After saying that earth-tattva is taught in pha, the text gives the next range: from ca to ña, the letters are assigned anupūrvaśaḥ, in proper sequence. The phrase points to an ordered placement, not a broken or rearranged one like Mālinī.

This is the key contrast. In Mālinī, the yoni is bhinna — differentiated, broken open, re-strung by Śakti. In Mātṛkā, the yoni is abhinna — undivided, continuous, ordered. So the letters beginning with a and the following groups are placed according to this regular mother-matrix.

The exact letter accounting here is technical and tied to the śāstric arrangement being cited, but the doctrinal point is clear: the same tattvas can be entered through different sound-bodies. Mālinī gives the Śākta garland-order. Mātṛkā gives the undivided mother-order. One is not “chaos” and the other “order.” Rather, both are orders — but their functions differ.

So this point continues the movement from the previous chunk. Abhinava is not merely collecting alphabetic curiosities. He is showing how mantraic systems can map the tattvas through distinct matrices of sound. The alphabet is flexible because Śakti is not exhausted by one arrangement.

The earth-tattva mapping is thereby explained

ityādinā pārthivāditattvayojanā nirūpitā |

“By this and the following, the assignment of the tattvas beginning with earth is explained.”

Abhinava now closes this small sub-section. Through the cited lines beginning with phe dharā-tattvam uddiṣṭam, the placement of the tattvas beginning with earth has been explained — pārthivādi-tattva-yojanā nirūpitā.

The word yojanā matters. It means assignment, connection, fitting, placement. The tattvas are not merely listed; they are joined to letters through a specific mantraic order. Here that order is the abhinnayoni Mātṛkā arrangement, distinct from Mālinī’s bhinnayoni garland and distinct from the earlier kṣa-based reabsorptive sequence.

So this point functions as a closure before the next turn. Abhinava has shown that the letters beginning with pha and the related sequence also receive tattva-placements through the undivided Mātṛkā matrix. Now he will move again to another standpoint: the Vidyātraya, the three Vidyās — Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā — where the alphabetic and tattvic discussion opens into the threefold Śakti of will, knowledge, and action.

The important thing is to keep the method clear. Abhinava is not randomly multiplying systems. He is showing that the same total field can be mapped through different mantraic matrices: Mātṛkā, Mālinī, kṣa-based adhva-śuddhi, and now the three Vidyās. Each arrangement has a function. Each reveals a different face of the same Śakti.

Another arrangement is introduced according to the three Vidyās

punarapi ca tatraiva śrīvidyātrayānusāreṇa

“And again, in that very context, according to the revered three Vidyās…”

Abhinava now opens yet another standpoint. After the abhinnayoni Mātṛkā placement, he turns to śrī-vidyā-traya — the revered triad of Vidyās. This means the threefold Śākta structure of Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā.

This is an important shift. The discussion is no longer only about where letters are placed in relation to tattvas. It now moves into the threefold dynamic of Śakti herself. The alphabetic and tattvic mappings are being read through the living powers of will, knowledge, and action.

So again Abhinava is not multiplying systems randomly. He is showing that the same field can be unfolded through different lenses. Mālinī revealed the alphabet as Śakti’s garland. Mātṛkā revealed the undivided mother-matrix. Now the Vidyātraya reveals the movement of manifestation through three powers: the first surge of will, the determining power of knowledge, and the effective power of action.

This is where the chunk starts becoming more luminous. After the technical placement of letters, Abhinava returns to the living current of the Goddess: she wills, she knows, she acts.

The first Vidyā, Parā, is the first outward surge of will

yā sā śaktirjagaddhātuḥ kathitā samavāyinī |
icchātvaṃ tasya sā devi sisṛkṣoḥ pratipadyate ||

iti prathamocchalattātmakatvena bahirullilasiṣāsvabhāvā pramātṛviśrāntidhāmabhūtā parā ityuktā

“That power of the supporter of the universe, which is said to be inherent in him, O Devī, assumes the nature of will when he desires to create.

Thus, because she has the nature of the first surge, because her nature is the desire to shine outward, and because she is the abode of rest in the subject, she is called Parā.”

Abhinava now begins unfolding the Vidyātraya, the threefold Śakti, and the first is Parā. The verse says that the power inherent in jagaddhātṛ, the supporter of the universe, becomes icchā, will, when he is sisṛkṣu, desirous of creating. This is the first movement of manifestation: not yet formed object, not yet clear determination, not yet action in the differentiated field, but the primordial urge toward expression.

The commentary explains this as prathama-ucchalattā — the first surge. That word matters. Parā is not inert transcendence. She is the first rising of Śakti, the first trembling of manifestation before it has become a world. She is bahir-ullilasiṣā-svabhāvā, whose nature is the desire to shine outward. The universe begins not as dead mechanism, but as will, as the inward fullness wishing to express itself.

Yet Abhinava immediately balances this. Parā is also pramātṛ-viśrānti-dhāma-bhūtā — the abode of rest in the subject. So even though she is the first outward surge, she has not yet left the subject. She is still resting in the knower, in the supreme pramātṛ. She is the will-to-manifest before the object has fully stood apart.

This is why Parā is the highest of the three Vidyās. She contains manifestation as desire, as possibility, as first pulse, but still in the intimacy of the subject. In practical terms, this is like the moment before speech: something wants to be said, but no sentence has formed. Or the moment before creation: the work is not yet made, but the whole pressure of expression is alive. It is not blank silence. It is silence pregnant with will.

So after the Mātṛkā and Mālinī mappings, Abhinava now shows Śakti as process: first, the will to manifest. Parā is the Goddess before differentiation, but already leaning toward expression. She is the first inward surge of the universe toward appearance.

Parāparā is the determining knowledge-power

tato'pi

evametadidaṃ vastu nānyatheti suniścitam |
jñāpayantī jagatyatra jñānaśaktirnigadyate ||

ityantarāsūtritecchākriyāmayī

yatra yatra militā marīcayastatra tatra vibhureva jṛmbhate |

ityevaṃrūpā parāparetyuktā |

“Then again:

‘This object is exactly so, and not otherwise’ — making this firmly known here in the world, she is called jñānaśakti, the power of knowledge.

Thus, being inwardly threaded with will and action, and having the form described by the statement, ‘Wherever the rays gather, there the all-pervading one expands,’ she is called Parāparā.”

Abhinava now moves from Parā to Parāparā. In Parā, Śakti was the first surge of will, still resting in the subject, the desire to shine outward before the object had fully taken shape. Now the movement becomes more determinate. Parāparā is jñānaśakti, the power of knowledge.

The defining phrase is very exact: evam etad idaṃ vastu nānyathā — “this object is exactly like this, and not otherwise.” This is the power by which manifestation becomes intelligible. The object does not merely surge toward appearance; it is now known, determined, stabilized as this and not that. Jñānaśakti gives form, contour, certainty.

But this knowledge-power is not isolated. Abhinava says it is antar-āsūtrita-icchā-kriyā-mayī — internally threaded with will and action. This is important. Parāparā is knowledge, but not dry cognition. The earlier will of Parā is still threaded within it, and the later action of Aparā is already implied. Śakti does not split into dead compartments. Will, knowledge, and action interpenetrate, though one may dominate at each stage.

The cited line yatra yatra militā marīcayaḥ tatra tatra vibhur eva jṛmbhate gives the image: wherever the rays gather, there the all-pervading one expands. Parāparā is this gathering of rays into intelligible manifestation. The light is not yet scattered into complete external diversity, but it is no longer only the first inward surge. The rays converge; the object becomes knowable; the vast one begins to expand in a determinate way.

A practical analogy: before speaking, Parā is the felt pressure to express. Parāparā is the moment the meaning becomes clear: “this is what I need to say, not something else.” The sentence has not yet been fully spoken, but its sense has crystallized. That crystallization is jñānaśakti.

So Parāparā stands between pure inward will and outward action. She is the middle Goddess: not only transcendent, not only manifest, but the knowing power by which the inward urge becomes a definite world.

Aparā is the action-power that makes the determined object become actual

tato'pi

evaṃbhūtamidaṃ vastu bhavatviti yadā punaḥ |
jātā tadaiva tadvastu kurvantyatra kriyocyate ||

iti tattatpramātṛprameyādivaicitryamayī ca aparetyuktā |

“Then again:

‘When she arises with the sense, “Let this object, being such, come to be,” then, making that very object actual here, she is called kriyā.’

And because she consists of the diversity of each subject, object, and the rest, she is called Aparā.”

Abhinava now completes the Vidyātraya with Aparā. In Parā, Śakti was the first surge of will: the inward fullness desiring to shine outward. In Parāparā, that surge became knowledge: “this object is exactly like this, not otherwise.” Now in Aparā, determination becomes action. The thing is no longer only willed or known; it is made to be.

The defining phrase is evaṃbhūtam idaṃ vastu bhavatu — “let this object, being such, come to be.” This is kriyāśakti, the power by which the determined form is brought into effective manifestation. The object has been conceived, known, and delimited; now it is enacted.

This is why Aparā is described as tattat-pramātṛ-prameyādi-vaicitryamayī — consisting of the diversity of each subject, object, and the rest. At this level, manifestation has unfolded into the rich plurality of experience: many knowers, many knowables, many relations, many situations. The field is no longer only the inward urge or the luminous determination; it has become the world of concrete differentiated activity.

A simple example helps. Parā is the first impulse: “I want to speak.” Parāparā is the clarification: “this is what I mean.” Aparā is the actual speaking: the words form, the voice moves, the meaning enters sound, and a listener receives it. Will becomes knowledge; knowledge becomes action.

So the chunk shows the full threefold movement of Śakti. Parā wills, Parāparā knows, Aparā acts. These are not three separate goddesses in a crude divided sense, but three modes of the same living power as manifestation unfolds. The alphabetic and tattvic maps are now grounded in the dynamic life of Śakti herself: first the urge to appear, then the knowing of what appears, then the power that makes it stand forth in the diversity of subject and object.

Abhinava’s own summary of the three Śaktis

yathoktam ācāryābhinavaguptapādaiḥ

yayedaṃ śivādidharaṇyantam avikalpasaṃvinmātrarūpatayā vibharti ca paśyati ca bhāsayati ca parameśvaraḥ sā asya parāśaktiḥ |

yayā darpaṇahastyādivat bhedābhedābhyāṃ sā parāparā śaktiḥ |

yayā parasparaviviktatātmanā bhedenaiva sā aparā śaktiḥ |

iti vidyātrayanirūpaṇaṃ pārameśvaraśāstreṣu

“As the revered Ācārya Abhinavagupta has said:

‘That by which Parameśvara bears, sees, and manifests this universe from Śiva down to earth as nothing but non-conceptual consciousness — that is his Parā Śakti.

That by which, like an elephant reflected in a mirror, it appears through both difference and non-difference — that is Parāparā Śakti.

That by which it appears only through difference, as mutually distinct entities — that is Aparā Śakti.’

Thus the three Vidyās are explained in the scriptures of Parameśvara.”

After explaining Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā through will, knowledge, and action, the text now seals the triad with Abhinava’s own formulation.

Parā Śakti is the power by which Parameśvara bears, sees, and manifests the whole universe from Śiva down to dharā, earth, as avikalpa-saṃvid-mātra, nothing but non-conceptual consciousness. This is the highest view: the entire field is held in undivided consciousness before conceptual division.

Parāparā Śakti is more complex. She is illustrated by the image of an elephant reflected in a mirror — darpaṇa-hastin. The elephant appears in the mirror, so there is a kind of difference: image and reflected object. Yet it is not actually separate from the mirror’s shining. So Parāparā is the middle power where difference and non-difference are both operative.

Aparā Śakti is the power by which things appear through difference alone — paraspara-viviktatātmanā bhedenaiva. Here the field has unfolded into mutually distinct entities: this subject, this object, this action, this world.

This final quotation makes the whole Vidyātraya concrete. Parā is the universe as non-conceptual consciousness. Parāparā is the universe as reflected difference-within-non-difference. Aparā is the universe as fully differentiated manifestation. That is the clean arc: undivided consciousness, reflected middle, differentiated world.