Abhinavagupta remained unmarried all his life, and as an adept of Kaula, at least initially maintained brahmacharya and supposedly used the vital force of his energy (ojas) to deepen his understanding of the spiritual nervous system he outlined in his works—a system involving ritual union between Purusha (as Shiva) and Shakti. Such union is essentially non-physical and universal, and thus Abhinavagupta conceived himself as always in communion with Shiva-Shakti. In the context of his life and teachings, Abhinavagupta parallels Shiva as both ascetic and enjoyer. Abhinavagupta studied assiduously at least until the age of thirty or thirty-five. To accomplish that he travelled, mostly inside Kashmir. By his own testimony, he had attained spiritual liberation through his Kaula practice, under the guidance of his most admired master, Śambhunātha. He lived in his home (functioning as an ashram) with his family members and disciples, and he did not become a wandering monk, nor did he take on the regular duties of his family, but lived out his life as a writer and a teacher. Abhinavagupta's personality was described as a living realisation of his vision. In an epoch pen-painting, Abhinavagupta is depicted seated in Virasana, surrounded by devoted disciples and family, performing a kind of trance-inducing music on a veena while dictating verses of Tantrāloka to one of his attendees--behind him two dūtī (women yogi) waiting on him. A legend about the moment of his death (placed somewhere between 1015 and 1025, depending on the source), says that he took with him 1,200 disciples and marched off to a cave (the Bhairava Cave, an actual place known to this day), reciting his poem Bhairava-stava, a devotional work. They were never to be seen again, supposedly translating together into the spiritual world. Works Abhinavagupta's works fall into multiple sections: manuals of religious ritual, devotional songs, philosophical works and philosophy of aesthetics. Here are enumerated most of his works. Bold type faced titles represent the most important ones. Religious works Tantraloka His most important work was Tantrāloka ("Elucidation of Tantra"), a synthesis of the entire Trika system. Its only complete translation into a European language – Italian – is credited to Raniero Gnoli, now at its second edition. The esoteric chapter 29 on the Kaula ritual was translated in English together with Jayaratha'''s commentary by John R. Dupuche. A complex study on the context, authors, contents and references of Tantrāloka was published by Navjivan