Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c13.271

v2.c13.271

Śrikaṇṭhaśivācārya, whose Bhāṣya on the Vedāntasūtras has long been before the public, holds the same view. Under I, 4, 22, he states that the word Ātman in the sense of the individual soul is used to express the supreme soul in BU. (IV, 5, 6), because the latter is the internal controller of the former and is spoken of as identical with everything in this sense. Under II, 2, 38, he states that Śiva as possessed of powers is the material cause of the world; and in his comment on IV, 4, 3—4 he represents the delivered soul as similar to the Supreme Soul, that is, as having the attributes of the latter. And under IV, 4, 2, he speaks of the delivered soul as Samarasa, or united in blissful experience with the Supreme Soul. Thus Śrikaṇṭha's view appears to be identical with that of the Vīraśaivas. Therefore unlike the four older schools, Paśupata and others, which are dualistic, these three Śaiva schools hold a doctrine of qualified spiritual monism.