2022
Gold plated bronze
2.4 x 2.4 x 2.4 cm (dimensions of the human eye)



A sculptural interpretation of verse 2.343 from Kṣemarāja’s commentary on the Netratantra, a description which is also elucidated in Abhinavgupta’s Tantrāloka 4.127-130. It reveals the esoteric nature of the Eye which the deity and its Tantra are named after. The verse contains a central teaching of the Krama tradition: that the One reality is Consciousness, manifesting a cycle of projection of objects, immersion in the object, internalisation of the object in the subject, and resorption of the subject, and that this cyclic process does not taint the timeless pure Light which is its ground.


Textual Source:

”Victorious is the unique Eye (netram) of Śiva. It is white [in part] with a radiance that is innate, since it bestows the light [of reality] on everything (ābhāsanam). It is red [in part] because it immerses itself in awareness of whatever it manifests (āmarśanam). It is grey [in part] because it internalizes all that [manifestation] in [subjective] relish (saṃcarvaṇam). It is black [in part] because it devours [even] that [subjective awareness] (grāsaḥ). It is neither black nor grey nor red nor not these, since it is the unity embodied as the Circle of the Absolute Light (bhāsācakram). “
~ Kṣemarāja, Netratantra 2.343 (trans. Alexis Sanderson)