[3] For the Shaivas, prakāśa is considered supreme, ultimate, unsurpassable, but as such it cannot be described as pure transcendence, because even though it is above all, it is still present in the manifestation, in every aspect of it.
[4] For Dignāga and his follower Dharmakīrti, the idea refers to Svasaṃvedana, the inherent reflexivity or self-aware nature of consciousness.
[4] Zhihua Yao writes that the concept has older roots in the Mahasanghika school's view of an inherently pure luminous mind.
[7] For Ratnākaraśānti, prakāśa, the luminous pure mind, which is also a reflexive awareness (svasamvedana), is the only thing which is real, all appearances are illusory and false.
Appearances only arise from cognitive distortions and are always illusory, while the ultimate reality is a radiant imageless consciousness.
Thus, according to Kṣemaraja, "If the supreme light were devoid of this free and spontaneous self-referential capacity, it would be powerless and inert".
The term prakāśa is often glossed and explained through various other terms, including: Abhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 CE), the great exegete of Kashmir Shaivism, says in his Tantraloka that "consciousness is formed of light and beatitude"[11] Furthermore, for Abhinava, knowledge of prakāśa is central to the Saiva soteriological process.
Some of the subjective attributes of the light of consciousness, in synthesis, are: "liquid", "blissful", "immaculate", "blinding", "enveloping" and "weightless".