---
type: Concept
bundle: shakta-darshana
bundle_version: "0.8.0"
id: prakasha-vimarsha
title: "Prakāśa-Vimarśa — प्रकाश-विमर्श"
iast: "Prakāśa-Vimarśa"
devanagari: "प्रकाश-विमर्श"
description: "Pair concept: prakāśa is consciousness as self-luminous light (that by which anything appears); vimarśa is that light's self-referential awareness (its knowing OF itself, and thereby its power to express); their inseparability is the Trika analysis of Śiva-Śakti and the argument against any actionless absolute; NOT light vs mind, NOT perception vs reflection (psychology), NOT two stages or two substances."
darshana:
  - Trika (Kashmir Shaivism)
  - Śākta
school_scope: "Technical Pratyabhijñā vocabulary (Utpaladeva's Īśvarapratyabhijñā-kārikā; Kṣemarāja). This pair is the philosophical engine behind shiva-shakti.md; treated as one file on the badha-badhita precedent (v0.3)."
text_source: "Īśvarapratyabhijñā-kārikā 1.5.11; Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam commentary"
tags: [prakasha, vimarsha, trika, shiva-shakti, metaphysics]
not:
  - term: "physical light / energy vs. mental reflection"
    why: "Prakāśa is not photons and not a luminous substance: it is self-luminosity as the defining character of consciousness (that which appears by itself and by which all else appears). Vimarśa is not 'thinking about' something afterwards: it is the light's intrinsic self-touch, without which the light would be inert. Physicalizing either term produces fluent nonsense."
    instead: "Define prakāśa as consciousness as self-luminous manifestation, and vimarśa as consciousness's intrinsic self-awareness and expressive power; one reality, two-sided analysis."
  - term: "two stages (first light, then awareness)"
    why: "There is no sequence: a prakāśa without vimarśa would be 'light' that never knows it shines (the tradition's reductio: it would be like a crystal or a void, not consciousness); vimarśa without prakāśa would be awareness with nothing present to be aware of. The pair is analytic simultaneity, not process."
  - term: "perception and introspection (psychology mapping)"
    why: "The pair operates at the level of ultimate reality, not cognitive architecture. Mapping prakāśa/vimarśa to perception/metacognition shrinks a metaphysical analysis into a psychology diagram, and then the doctrine's actual target (the actionless-absolute debate) disappears."
  - term: "Advaita's cit by another name"
    why: "Cognate, not identical: Advaita affirms self-luminous consciousness (svaprakāśa) but analyzes ultimate consciousness as actionless; vimarśa is precisely what Trika adds and Advaita's classical analysis resists (activity intrinsic to the absolute). This intra-tradition disagreement is the interesting content; conflation erases it. Non-adjudicating: both analyses are documented in their own bundles."
related:
  - /concepts/shiva-shakti.md
  - /concepts/cit-shakti.md
  - /concepts/spanda.md
  - /concepts/pratyabhijna.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Prakāśa-Vimarśa -- प्रकाश-विमर्श

**Not:** light vs mind, two stages, perception vs introspection, Advaita's cit renamed

## What It Actually Means

Prakāśa-vimarśa is the Pratyabhijñā school's two-term analysis of consciousness, and the philosophical content of the Śiva-Śakti icon (see [shiva-shakti.md](shiva-shakti.md)). Prakāśa ("shining forth") names consciousness as self-luminous presence: it appears by itself, needs no second light, and is that by which everything else appears. Vimarśa ("touching, deliberation," technically the self-referential pulse of awareness) names what makes that light consciousness rather than a metaphysical lamp: it knows itself, and in knowing itself has the power to articulate, express, and manifest. Utpaladeva's argument: if the ultimate were prakāśa alone, it would be jaḍa (inert) like a crystal; vimarśa is what distinguishes the conscious from the merely existent.

The pair does real work in the system: vimarśa is identified with Śakti, with the primordial word (see [matrika.md](matrika.md) and [mantra-shastra.md](mantra-shastra.md): the doctrine of reality as language begins here), and with freedom (svātantrya). It is also the precise point of respectful divergence from Advaita: both traditions affirm self-luminous consciousness; Trika insists the absolute's self-awareness is intrinsically active and expressive, which is why this darśana can affirm the world as real self-expression rather than superimposition. Consume both analyses from their own bundles; do not average them.

## Audience Metaphor

A lamp in an empty room versus a person holding it: the philosophical question is what makes awareness different from mere illumination. Trika's answer: consciousness is not the lamp; it is the holding: light that grips itself, says "I," and can therefore speak. Prakāśa is the shining; vimarśa is the grip. Remove the grip and you have physics; remove the shining and you have nothing to grip.

## Citations

1. Īśvarapratyabhijñā-kārikā 1.5.11 (Utpaladeva) -- the jaḍa reductio; vimarśa as consciousness's defining mark
2. Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam with Kṣemarāja's commentary -- see [references/pratyabhijnahridayam.md](../references/pratyabhijnahridayam.md)
3. Cross-bundle: sat-chit-ananda.md and nirguna-brahman.md (upanishadic-core v0.6) -- the Advaita analysis this pair converses with
