“The Great Lord is Paripūrṇa or Fully Full”.
(Stanzas 10-11 of the Paramārthasāra)
Because He is like that, He is desireless (nirākāṅkṣa). Although a slight objection might be raised here anyway: “An inert object also appears to be ‘complete’ and desireless. What is the difference between an inert object and the Lord then?” That is why Abhinavagupta added, “The Lord is One whose Great Bliss comes from resting in His own Self.”
The commentator explains this definition of Abhinavagupta as: “He is One whose Great Bliss or Supreme Satisfaction comes from a repose in His own essential nature which is the Rasa or Sap filled with the Amazing Delight of the Full and non-fragmentary Self-Consciousness.” But what does all that really mean? It means this:
The Lord is none other than "Oneself" (this is clear, isn't it?). If the reader thinks that the Lord is somebody else, he is not understanding Trika properly. So, what is the Lord (You!) doing right now? He is all the time busy taking a rest in His own I-consciousness. Even though the reader seems to be busy in so many activities (thinking about objects, doing these actions, worrying about this or that, etc.), his main activity is always to experience a rest in his I-consciousness, in "I Am." Nothing else is more important than that in his case.
This continuity of the Self-consciousness, this Supreme State of the Self, is known as Turya or the Fourth State because it pervades all the other three ordinary states of consciousness (waking, dream and deep sleep). It is therefore Cidghana or an all-pervading Compact Mass of Consciousness.
The reader is then like one who swims and takes in air with each new stroke. Activities, no matter how pleasant they may be, lack the "oxygen" of the Self-consciousness, so to speak, and he has to frequently raise his head to breathe. And when the reader becomes a spiritual aspirant, he learns to stay longer in those intervals where the oxygen of the Self-consciousness abounds. For example, he learns that he should stay in the space between inhalation and exhalation in order to take a full breath of the oxygen of his own divine Self.
As he advances, he is taught that there is also another interval of breathing in the space between his thoughts, when his divine "I" dwells in solitude, totally devoid of any activity except that of being completely Blissful.
And when he has made even further progress in spirituality, he is taught to dwell in the intervals between two objective perceptions (in the space between his perception of object A and his perception of object B).
After having received all this knowledge and practiced accordingly, you learn to remain completely in your Self-consciousness for long periods of time.
Then one day, through his own Grace, he realizes that even all this which is not in the gaps, namely perceptions, activities, thoughts, etc. are also divine in their nature! This is Final Liberation, because he no longer depends on concentrating his attention on the gaps between perceptions to experience Bliss. On the contrary, he can be blissful even during the perceptions themselves.
At this moment, when he is completely liberated, when he has become a jīvanmukta (one who is liberated while alive), he experiences Bliss at every moment, whether his body is like this or like that, whether his mind is like this or like that, whether his life is like this or like that, etc.
This is Jagadānanda or the Bliss of realizing that God is the entire Jagat or the Universe. This is the highest attainment that a human being can attain. This is the Paramaśiva Stage.
When the reader finally attains Jagadānanda, he experiences what the sage Kṣemarāja (the Guru of Yogarāja) has succinctly described while he was commenting on the 11th aphorism in his Spandanirṇaya:
“After having entered into Bhairavī mudrā, he sees the great multitude of objects arising in the space or Ether of Consciousness, and it dissolves there and then like a long series of manifold reflections appearing and disappearing within a mirror. The best of Yogi-s who, having broken all his mental modifications—having dissolved all his thoughts—instantly—after a thousand births—by a recognition of his extraordinary essential nature which is an unprecedented mass of Supreme Bliss, remains—maintains, does not give up the grip of the Spanda principle or I-consciousness—astonished, that is, as if he had entered into Vismayamudrā —the mudrā of astonishment—suddenly—due to his attainment of Great Development or Expansion—experiences the arising of his genuine real nature. How can this vile path of transmigration or pravṛtti—active life in the world—which consists of the continuous series of birth, death, etc. and makes all the people tremble, to be that great Yogi?
It is not, due to the absence of its cause characterized by "nijāśuddhi" or "innate impurity" - the Āṇavamala. Such is the meaning."
The sage Kṣemarāja could not have been more precise in his description of the process of Final Liberation. His commentary is indeed a giver of Final Liberation as it is replete with divine Grace. The best of Yogis, the glorious jīvanmukta opens his mouth in Vismayamudrā (the mudrā or gesture of astonishment) due to his attainment of Great Development or Expansion.
In other words, he experiences what Yogarāja describes here as "the Rasa or Sap filled with the Amazing Delight of the Full and non-fragmentary Self-consciousness."
It is Full because it does not consist of small “I’s,” each with its own desires (e.g. I want this, I need that, I hate this, I love that, etc.), which are like drops in the gigantic Ocean of Divine Self-Consciousness (Śakti). No, not at all! The divine “I” is not like these small “I’s,” which are fragmentary and not full. When the reader has then accomplished the extremely difficult mission of becoming a jīvanmukta, he also realizes that there is no liberation because there was never any bondage. Even a few seconds of his blissful trance are equivalent to entire lifetimes filled with ordinary happiness. What ordinary people call “happiness” is exactly like drops of Nectar emerging from his own Self, but in the case of this reader who has become a jīvanmukta, having gained access to the entire Ocean of Nectar, his Bliss is massive like Paramaśiva Himself.
This realization is beyond description and is therefore a matter of experience. Whatever has been done before this great achievement is like the doing of a sleepwalker. This is what one feels: "What was I doing before?" One was sleeping, spiritually speaking.
After realizing Jagadānanda, one realizes that the universe is in complete unity with Paramaśiva, as mentioned in the following stanza:
"The universe is in complete unity with Paramaśiva, since it is "tadabhinna" or "non-different (abhinna) from Him (tad)"
(Stanzas 10-11 of the Paramārthasāra)
In short, the essential nature or core of the universe is nothing but Paramaśiva constantly. There is no other Power that can be its core then, and as Abhinavagupta himself will say, this Paramaśiva is a Principle whose nature is Effulgence, who is all-Full, whose Great Bliss comes from a rest in His own Self, who is replete with the instruments of volitional Consciousness, all-full of infinite powers, who is free from all thoughts, Pure, Peaceful, and devoid of all arising and dissolution.
Śiva is Para or Full (Complete). Ultimately, He does not depend on anything else for His existence and is fully satisfied in Himself.