Sbg 8.3 etassa

English Translation of Abhinavgupta's Sanskrit Commentary By Dr. S. Sankaranarayan 8.3 Aksaram etc. the Supreme is [called] Brahman because It is big and causes everything to grow [in It]. On the same ground, what is termed 'as the Lord-of-self' is that thing which bears the name Consciousness which never ceases to be in It (Brahman) and which is nothing but the Brahman (svah bhavah). This Brahman, which is nothing but Consciousness, embraces the Power of [creating] the universe because of Its unlimited aspect of being external; and on account of Its freedom in the form of supremacy there arises the emitting (i.e. creative) activity [in it] in the form of manifesting Itself as the external inanimate beings and also as various external animate ones. [These two aspects of] this activity cause respectively the birth of the inanimate beings - i.e. the insentient beings, and the animate ones i.e. the sentient beings like Brahman etc. [In other words], It manifests as varigated insentient and sentient beings.

Again this activity bestows on what is real, its intrinsic nature i.e. creates a reality for the one from which all that is false is excluded. this emitting activity is what is known as 'action'.