Ālambana (Sanskrit:आलम्बन), is a Sanskrit term which variously means – support, foundation, supporting, base, sustaining, cause, reason, basis, or the five attributes of things, or the silent repetition of a prayer, or the natural and necessary connection of a sensation with the cause which excites it, or the mental exercise practiced by the yogis in endeavouring to realize the gross form of the Eternal.
[3] The Nyaya school does not consider the object in front to be the ālambana of the illusory cognition but rather the interfering external element with its own characteristics.
In Rasa process, the nature or object is said to be visibly present before the asraya as an excitant but the object that arouses emotions is usually imagined by the poet or dramatist; the mere presence of vibhava impels the configuration of Pratibha (the intuitive outcome of wisdom or knowledge) to change it in no time.
[8] As per the Rasa of Heroic devotion in compassion the enhancing excitants include transitory emotions such as impatience, understanding and happiness, and Krishna in some disguised form is offered by the hero, motivated by kindness, his own body.
[12] The Buddhist consider ālambana as a cause same as hetu, samanantara and adhipati, they consider it to be the object-condition which is taken as the cause in the production of knowledge and mentals, such as citta and caitta.