---
type: Reference
bundle: shakta-darshana
bundle_version: "0.8.0"
id: pratyabhijnahridayam
title: "Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam — प्रत्यभिज्ञाहृदयम्"
iast: "Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam"
devanagari: "प्रत्यभिज्ञाहृदयम्"
description: "'The Heart of Recognition': Kṣemarāja's 20 sūtras with auto-commentary, the classic compact statement of the Pratyabhijñā doctrine: citi (consciousness-power) as the free cause of the universe, its self-contraction as each knower, and liberation as recognition; written explicitly as the accessible digest of Utpaladeva's system."
text_type: "Sūtra text (20 sūtras) with the author's own commentary"
period: "Kṣemarāja, 10th-11th century CE"
tags: [pratyabhijnahridayam, kshemaraja, pratyabhijna, citi, trika, reference]
related:
  - /concepts/pratyabhijna.md
  - /concepts/cit-shakti.md
  - /concepts/prakasha-vimarsha.md
  - /concepts/shaktipata.md
timestamp: "2026-07-01"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam -- प्रत्यभिज्ञाहृदयम्

## Why This Text Is in the Bundle

Kṣemarāja states his purpose in the opening: to condense the Pratyabhijñā system for those without capacity for its full dialectical apparatus. The result is the most teachable text in the tradition and the backbone of this bundle's Tier 3: sūtra 1 (citiḥ svatantrā viśvasiddhihetuḥ) grounds [cit-shakti.md](../concepts/cit-shakti.md); sūtras 4-5 (citi's self-contraction as each knower) ground the kañcuka-side of the architecture; sūtra 20 (the recognition's fruit) grounds [pratyabhijna.md](../concepts/pratyabhijna.md). The text is also the bundle's standing citation for consciousness-doctrine stated positively rather than by negation.

## Use in This Bundle

- [cit-shakti.md](../concepts/cit-shakti.md), [pratyabhijna.md](../concepts/pratyabhijna.md): primary source
- [prakasha-vimarsha.md](../concepts/prakasha-vimarsha.md), [shaktipata.md](../concepts/shaktipata.md): commentarial context

## Editions

Jaideva Singh, Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam: The Secret of Self-Recognition (Motilal Banarsidass, 1980): Sanskrit text, translation, and notes; regarded as the best English introduction to the Pratyabhijñā philosophy.
