The Paramarthasara of Abhinavagupta is composed in such an easy style as would enable the reader to comprehend the most abstruse doctrines of Trika Shaivism in a manner that would be free from conceptual confusion and logical inconsistency. The text explains profoundly such philosophical and theological themes as would necessarily constitute the core or heart of any serious discussion. The text attempts at clarifying the following doctrinal principles of Trika Shaivism: cosmology (1-9); ontology (10-13); emanation of objectivity (14-22); bondage and liberation (23-33); the metaphysical status of phenomenon (34-38); nature of knowledge (39-46); self-realisation (47-67); the spiritual status of a yogin after self-realisation (68-88); the theory of transformation (89-93); the behavioural pattern of a liberated yogi (94- 96); the graduated process of liberation.
