The idea that the body serves as a means of transcendence is not novel, but the reflections of the Indian theoretician of Kashmir Shaivism, Acharya Abhinavagupta, and the creator of the psychology of tragedy, Nietzsche, are unique in the invariance. Although both had markedly different cultural and historic antecedents, each [intellectually] positioned the body at the heart of human emergence, change, and becoming.
It is noteworthy that the body, in some contexts, is a hindrance, according to Acharya Abhinavagupta. Hence, it is a textured vase for experiencing the Infinite (*Anuttara*). The preliminary of creativity and of the eternal process of self-overcoming, which Nietzsche declared, was also the body, though Nietzsche, just like Heidegger, the opponent of the spiritualistic dichotomization of the spiritual and the material. These teachings provide a somewhat similar message – a phenomenal vision of the body.
Greater depth to this discussion is provided by Raniero Gnoli, an Italian scholar whose research on Acharya Abhinavagupta made the features of the mystic’s philosophy clear and comprehensive. Thus, Gnoli gave additional information on the connection between the physical and the infinite based on his analysis of Abhinavagupta’s phonematic cosmology and the role of the body in the experience of divine energy.
This article aims to reflect on the connection between Acharya Abhinavagupta’s view of *kaulikisiddhi* (the perfection of the body) and Nietzsche’s Übermensch, with comments from Raniero Gnoli.
There are a few philosophical systems associated with tantra, out of which the most elaborate was conceived by Acharya Abhinavagupta the Kashmir Shaivism. Closely connected with his doctrine is the concept of *kaulikisiddhi* – the perfection of the body, considered in such works as *Parātrīṃśikā Vivaraṇa* and *Tantrāloka*.
Accordingly, for Acharya Abhinavagupta, the body itself and all of the aspects of bodily experience reverberate with *panda* – the original vibration of consciousness. This is not a metaphorical vibration but something that can be felt. They are all emulations of the intra-and extra-corporeal oscillations of the total energy of the human body. Consequently, this energy should be tuned in by applying practices, such as meditation, mantra chanting, and pranayama – and the individual becomes divinized.
It is for this reason that for Acharya Abhinavagupta, this process can be understood as a dialogue between the physical body and the Divine Speech (*Paravāc*). This dialogue returns the body to the site of purity that makes it no longer an alien object outside the consciousness.
Raniero Gnoli has penetrated much deeper into this aspect of Acharya Abhinavagupta. He brings out how the mystic works on sound and vibration as being from the body and directly related to the Infinite. Gnoli uses the phoneme *Sa* that reproduces the sound of a sigh and interprets its meaning as a liberating touch with divine energy. The sound and body are indivisible, and phonemes are meaningful in a way that goes beyond the analytic meaning.
The German existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche put the body at the core of his philosophy, although he lived in the nineteenth century and died early this century. For Nietzsche, the body is not only the physical one but the very base of all drives, imagination, and will to power.
Religion and philosophy of the West characterized Nietzsche’s body and spirit dualism in some of his many books, such as *Thus Spoke Zarathustra* as well as *The Will to Power*. He spurns the idea of the body needing to be tamed or negated in order to allow for the soul. On the contrary, he equates the body with vigor, that through which the human being realizes his or her full potential.
