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Alpahanta In Hinduism – Trika Doctrine Of Kashmir

In Hinduism, Alpahanta is a philosophical term in the philosophy of knowledge. The term alpahanta, according to the Trika doctrine of Kashmir, is designated as mitrapramata, denoting limitedness of the knowing subject regarding its (limitation of) knowledge. It is true that basically this littleness of knowledge is an assumed one, not real, for this stuntedness will, indeed, disappear.

This limitation of knowledge occurs only when the Supreme Divine, who is omniscient only by this free will, assumes the role of limited self (jiva), his intrinsic character of omniscience becoming limited as jiva.

The individual self is essentially of the nature of the divine; yet the power of creating all and knowing all no longer remains manifest but the divine gracefully endows the individual with the power of doing a little and knowing a little. The individual in this state is capable of knowing internal and external objects with the help of the sense organs. In this way, the lack occurs in the individual. In order to know anything, the individual self uses valid means of knowledge such as perception, inference or verbal testimony and so on. It is bereft of the width of the self-luminous state of integrated vision of reflective awaking consciousness of the self. It does not need any outlets like sense organs for knowing things.

From the level of the normal consciousness available to the individual, it is possible to rid oneself of the littleness of knowledge by developing intuitive vision, with the aid of which one is able to know all, with all its general and specific characters.