Hinduism: A Short History (34 page)

He also maintains that there is only One God! The
muktas
, however, enjoy the same bliss as God enjoys, and they enjoy it eternally: there is no return for them. Śrīkaṇṭha describes the heavens of Śaiva-Vedānta in the following words: “The place of the husband of Umā is like millions of suns, the first, full of all objects of desires, pure, eternal, indestructible. Having attained that celestial place they become free from all miseries, omniscient, capable of going everywhere, pure, full. Further they come to have pure sense-organs and become endowed with supreme Lordship. Then, again they assume bodies or discard these at will. Those men who, being engaged in the pursuit of knowledge and concentration attain this Supreme Place, do not return to the frightful earthly existence.”
¹⁰⁰
The
muktas
“have Śiva as their souls” and “shine forth with Śiva in all places at all times.”
¹⁰¹

Kashmir-Śaivism, the main Śaiva school of North India – also called Śaiva-Advaita, Trika, Trikaśāsana, Rahasya Saṃpradāya, Trayaṃbaka saṃprādaya – is possibly pre-Saṅkarite. The earliest written testimonies go back to the eighth or ninth centuries C.E., but the roots of the system may be several centuries older. It has two main branches,
Spaṇḍa-śāstra
and
Pratyabhijñā-darśana
, which have much in common. It has a long and brilliant history, but today it seems to be practically defunct, quite contrary to Śaiva-siddhānta, which is still very much a living faith for numerous Śaivites.
¹⁰²
The
Śiva Purāṇa
has several chapters in which Śaiva-Advaita is explained and advocated as a system leading to salvation. The
Liṅga Purāṇa
also has clear statements of Śiva-Advaita. In the
Kailāsa-saṃhitā
the
Śiva Purāṇa
identifies the unity of
sat-cit-ānanda
with the unity of Śiva śakti. In the connection of Śiva and Śakti there is bliss. It is because of the
malas
in the soul that the
cit-śakti
, which is in the soul, is impeded and man is deprived of perfect bliss. But it is ultimately Śiva himself who contracts himself and manifests himself as the individual
puruṣas
who enjoy the qualities
oiprakṛti
. This enjoyment takes place through the function of fivefold
kala: kriyā, vidyā, raga, kala, niyati.
¹⁰³
In the
Koṭirudra-Saṃhitā
in the same
Purāṇa
¹⁰⁴
it is said that the plurality of appearances is due to nescience. Śiva bestows
mukti
on those who are devoted to him.
jñāna
comes from
bhakti; bhakti
engenders
prema;
and “from
prema
one gets into the habit of listening to episodes about the greatness of Śiva, and from that one comes into contact with saintly people, and from that one can attain one’s
guru
. When in this way true knowledge is gained one becomes liberated.”
¹⁰⁵
The
Koṭirudra-Saṃhitā
knows four kinds of
mukti
. Though the basic tenor of those sections of
Śiva Purāṇa
is Advaitic, the theistic elements of
bhakti, gurupāśatī
, and so forth are mixed with it. Śiva-Advaita proper as a system of thought is connected with the
Śiva-sūtras
of Vasugupta (around 825 C.E.) that became the basic text of both Spaṇḍa-sastra and Pratyabhijñā-darśana. Many celebrated compendia of both subsects of Śiva-Advaita are commentaries upon the
Śiva-sūtras
.

Pratyabhijñā is the philosophy proper of this system. It is associated mainly with the names of Utpala and Abhinavagupta (950–1020 C.E.) whose disciple Kṣemarāja (975–1050 C.E.) wrote the famous
Pratyab-hijñā-hṛdayam
, a concise and authoritative exposition of Kāśmīr Śaivism.

Mādhava in his
Sarva-darśana-saṁgraha
bases his account of the Pratyabhijñā
darśana
on Utpala’s and Abhinavagupta’s works. The main difference between Śaiva-siddhānta and Pratyabhijñā-darśana, which have many elements in common, lies in that, according to Pratyabhijñā, there is no causality other than Śiva’s: no internal or external efforts of the
jīva
have any influence on salvation, but all that is required is “introspection.” All reality, Śiva and Śakti and their union, are mirrored in one’s own
ātman
. Liberation consists in the recognition of this mirrored image. There is no need of any
dīkṣā
, no need of any external paraphernalia.

Whereas in most other systems qualifications play an important role, here it is said explicitly “that there is no restriction of the doctrine to a previously qualified student.”
¹⁰⁶
All that matters is the recognition of the Śiva who resides in all beings. One of the qualities of Śiva is
ānanda
, bliss; if a person acquires the nature of Śiva, that person acquires also Śiva’s blissfulness. The aim of the follower of this system is to become a “slave of Śiva,” that is, “one who is being given everything according to the pleasure of the Lord.” In Pratyabhijñā, will and effort play a decisive part: everything owes its existence to the will of Śiva; effort from the side of the
jīva
is necessary to recognize Śiva.

Bondage is limitation or restriction of the Śiva-hood of the
ātman:
through the five limiting factors the All becomes an atom, the universal, omniscient, eternal, blissful Śiva becomes a finite, ignorant, limited, and unhappy
puruṣa
. Kuṇḍalinī, the manifestation of Śakti in the individual, is usually dormant. The innermost core is
caitanya
or Śiva.
mokṣa
is nothing but the recognition of the true nature of
jīva
as Śiva.
¹⁰⁷

Bondage is a work of
śakti. Śakti
helps to overcome it too:
saktipata
, the descent of Śakti, is the same as
anugraha
, the advent of grace. Also the
jīva
, being an atom-sized Śiva, partakes of the fivefold activities of Śiva; the full unfolding of the Śakti in the
jīvas
is “the becoming Śiva.”

Ontologically and externally nothing happens when liberation is reached: it is only the “recognition” of one’s own true nature, remembering of one’s identity with Śiva. In Abhinavagupta’s words: “It is Śiva himself of unimpeded will and pellucid consciousness who is ever sparkling in my heart. It is his highest Śakti herself that is ever playing on the edge of my senses. The entire world gleams as the wondrous delight of pure I-consciousness. Indeed I know not what the sound ‘world’ is supposed to refer to.”
¹⁰⁸
In this stage subject- and object-consciousness become one and the same: the individual experiences itself as the universe and as Śiva. Liberation means removal of all the limitations, the breaking through of the Great Freedom of unlimited being-consciousness. The last
sūtra
sums up the ultimate perfection to be achieved: “Then, as a result of entering into the perfect I-consciousness or Self which is in essence
cit
and
ānanda
and of the nature of the power of the great
mantra
, there accrues the attainment of lordship over one’s group of the deities of consciousness that brings about all emanation and reabsorption of the universe. All this is the nature of Śiva.”
¹⁰⁹

The stage of consciousness achieved by Pratyabhijñā is considered to be above the
turīya
of the Upaniṣads:
turyātīta
. This again is considered to be of two kinds:
śāttodita
(broken consciousness) and
nityodita
(unbroken consciousness). The means to reach this consciousness is the specific
yoga
of Pratyabhijñā, which has much in common with later Kuṇḍalinī-yoga.

The youngest among the major schools of Śaivism is Vīra-Śaivism, connected closely with the name of Basava.
¹¹⁰
The sect itself and its main tenets may, however, go back to a much more remote time. Under Basava’s inspiration, Vīra-Śaivism developed into a vigorous missionary movement. The Vīra-Śaivas or “heroic Śiva-worshipers” differ from the Samanya and Miśra-Śaivas, who worship both Śiva and Viṣṇu, and also from the sūddha-Śaivas, who worship Śiva alone but do not wear a
liṅga
. For the Vīra-Śaivas the
liṅga
that they always wear on their bodies – the so-called
iṣṭa-liṅga
– is not only a symbol but the real presence of Śiva. The Vīra-Śaiva wears it in order to make his body a temple of Śiva, fit for him to dwell in.

The Vīra-Śaivas consider as the sources of their religion the twenty-eight
Āgamas
, the teachings of the sixty-three Tamil Nāyanārs and later writers. They have a
Vedānta-sūra-bhāṣya
of their own in Śrīpati’s
Srtkara-bhāṣya.
¹¹¹
His system is called Śakti-Viśiṣṭa-advaita, whose essence is: “There is no duality between the soul and the Lord, each qualified by Śakti.”
¹¹²
The
jīva
is the body of Śiva. Para-Śiva is both the material and the instrumental cause of the universe. Śakti resides eternally in Parama-Śiva: it is the creative principle, also called
māyā
. Out of Śakti all beings come in creation – back into Śakti they return in
pralaya
(final dissolution of the universe) and remain there in a seminal form.
¹¹³
jīva
ism fact an
amsa
(part) of Śiva which on account of
avidyā
imagines itself to be different from him.

The Supreme Brahman, also called
sthala
, by the agitation of its immanent Śakti, divides into Liṅgasthala and Aṅgasthala. Liṅgasthala is Śiva himself, to be adored. Aṅgasthala is the individual soul and the adorer. Śakti also divides herself into two parts, each clinging to one part of the divided
sthala: kala
unites with Śiva,
bhakti
unites with
aṅga. Bhakti
is the means of final deliverance; through it the
jīva
becomes a Śiva-worshiper. Through
bhakti, liṅga
and
aṅga
are reunited. Śakti is again the source of both division and union, bondage and liberation.

The
liṅga
is Śiva himself. It is threefold: Bhavaliṅga is
niṣkala
Śiva -to be perceived by faith alone. It is pure
sat
– not conditioned by space or time. Pranalinga is
sakala-niṣkala
Śiva – to be perceived by the mind. It is
at
. Iṣṭaliṅga is
sakala
Śiva and visible by the senses. It confers all desired objects, removes afflictions, and is pure
ānanda
. Each is again subdivided into two forms, and each one is operated by a different form of Śakti. Thus Śiva appears in six forms as Mahalinga, Prasādaliiiga, Caralinga, Śivaliiiga, Gurulinga, and Acaraliiiga. It is the last form under which Śiva appears and acts as the redeemer of the soul.

Bhakti
is the characteristic form of
Śakti
inherent in
jīvā:
it has three stages which correspond to the three divisions of Aṅgasthala. Through Yogāṅga one obtains happiness by union with Śiva. Through Bhogaṅga (“enjoyment stage”) one enjoys together with Śiva. Through Tyaganga one abandons the world as transient and illusory.

Each of the three forms is again subdivided into two:
Aikya-bhakti
or
sama-rasa-bhakti
is the union of God and soul in blissful experience.
Śaraṇa-bhakti
is the condition in which one sees the
liṅga
in the self and everything else besides.
Prāṇa-liṅgin-bhakti
is disregard for one’s own life, renunciation of egotism, and concentration of the mind upon the
liṅga. Maheśvara-bhakti
means mainly following the injunction of the sect. The last form is
bhakta-bhakti
, which implies turning away one’s mind from all objects and practicing rites and ceremonies, leading a life of indifference to the world.

The soul has to start from the last form and ascend to the first in order to find its bliss in Śiva. Vīra-Śaivas lay great stress upon religious practices without which it is not possible to reach
mokṣa:
these are Pañcācāra and Aṣṭāvaraṇa. Pañcācāra comprises
liṅgācāra
(daily worship of the
liṅga), sadācāra
(a moral and decent life and work),
Śivācāra
(considering all Liṅgāyats as equal),
bhṛtyācāra
(humility toward Śiva and his devotees),
gaṇācāra
(active fight against those who despise Śiva or mistreat his devotees).

Aṣṭāvaraṇa comprises
guru
(obedience toward the spiritual master),
liṅga
(wearing of a
liṅga), jaṅgama
(worshiping an ascetic as an incarnation of Śiva),
pādodaka
(sipping the water in which the feet of a
guru
or of a
jaṅgama
have been bathed),
prasāda
(offering food to a
guru
, a
liṅga
or
jaṅgama
, oneself taking the remains),
bhasma
(smearing ashes obtained from cowdung on one’s body),
rudrāksa
(wearing a
mala
of
rudrakṣa-
beads), and
mantra
(recitation of the
pañcākṣara, Śivāya nāmaḥ)
.

Release is more the result of the faithful observance of these rules and ceremonies than of meditation or introspection.

Śrīpati, however, introduces a Vedāntic element into Vīra-Śaivism, in addition to its external rites. According to his teaching the
jīva
originated through Parabrahma Śiva by the agency of Hiraṇyagarbha.
¹¹⁴
Through constant meditation on Hiraṇyagarbha the
jīva
comes within sight of Hiraṇyagarbha through whom he is brought into the presence of Parabrahman and within sight of him. The
mukta
meditates only on Parabrahman and enjoys the bliss of his sight. Meditation on Śiva alone is the means to become free from rebirth. The highest place is Śivaloka, above the highest Viṣṇupada. After fully knowing Śiva through
jñāna
, the
jīva
can attain
śivatadātmya, sāyūjya mukti
. The Ativahikas, the holy servants of Śiva, will lead the one who meditates on Śiva to holy Kailāsa.