Śivasaṃhitā 5.28

With verse 28, the section on pratīkopāsanā—meditation on one’s own image or symbol—begins. The statement dṛṣṭādṛṣṭaphalaprada—“that gives visible and invisible fruits”—summarizes this practice’s dual dimension: externally it produces concrete benefits in health and longevity; internally it advances the purification of the sūkṣma śarīra (subtle body) and progress toward liberation. The formula “visible and invisible” also appears in the context of Vedic rituals.

Pratīka—“symbol,” “representative image,” from prati-añc (“that which goes toward you”)—is the mental object on which concentration stabilizes before the mind can sustain itself on the abstract object. The principle has general application: any image that effectively concentrates attention can be a doorway toward deeper states of absorption and, eventually, toward unsupported samādhi (nirālamba).

Pratīkopāsanā has precedents in the oldest Upaniṣads (Chāndogya, Bṛhadāraṇyaka), where concrete images—sun, space, the sound AUM—are used as supports for meditation before being abandoned. The Śivasaṃhitā specifies it here as a technique with measurable results, anticipating what contemporary thought calls “biofeedback”: observing one’s own image returns direct information about internal state.