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Indian Philosophy v2.c27: Chapter X The Śaiva, the Śākta, and the Later Vaiṣṇava Theism

Indian Philosophy v2.c27

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English

Contents

Chapter X The Śaiva, the Śākta, and the Later Vaiṣṇava Theism

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Śaiva Siddhānta—Literature—Metaphysics, ethics and religion—The Pratyabhijñā system of Kashmir—Śāktaism—The dualism of Madhva—Life and literature—Theory of knowledge—God—Soul—Nature—God and the world—Ethics and religion—General estimate—Nimbārka and Keśava—Vallabha—Caitanya, Jīva Gosvāmī and Baladeva.

I Śaiva Siddhānta

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FROM the beginning the cult of Vaiṣṇavism had for its chief rival Śaivism,¹ which is even to-day a very popular creed in South India. While it prevailed in South India even before the Christian era, it received a great access of strength from its opposition to Buddhism and Jainism, which it, along with Vaiṣṇavism, overcame about the fifth or the sixth century after Christ. It elaborated a distinctive philosophy called the Śaiva Siddhānta about the eleventh century A.D. Dr. Pope, who gave much thought to this system, regards it as "the most elaborate, influential, and undoubtedly the most intrinsically valuable of all the religions of India."² While there are striking similarities between the Siddhānta and the Śaivism of Kashmir, we cannot say that the former owes its general structure or essential doctrines to the latter. The earliest Tamil works, like *Tolkāppiam*, refer to the Arivars or the seers, who chalked out the path to freedom and bliss. These latter were influenced by the Vedic conception of Rudra and the Rudra-Śiva cult of the Brāhmaṇas, the Mahābhārata and the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad.¹ Besides these, the twenty-eight Śaiva Āgamas, especially the parts dealing with jñāna or knowledge, the hymns of the Śaiva saints, and the works of the later theologians, form the chief sources of Southern Śaivism.

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¹ Mādhava's S.D.S. refers to four schools of Śaivism: Nakulīśa-pāśupata, the Śaiva and the Pratyabhijñā, and the Raseśvara. The last is not of philosophical interest. For the central principles of the first, see I.P., pp. 488-489.

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² Tiruvāsagam, p. lxxiv.

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¹ See I.P., pp. 88, 488–9, 510 ff.

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Twenty-eight Āgamas are recognised,² of which the chief is Kāmika, including the section dealing with knowledge called Mṛgendra Āgama. The Tamil saints Māṇikkavāsagar (seventh century A.D.) and Sundarar refer to them. Śaiva devotional literature³ belongs to the period from the fifth to the ninth centuries. The Śaiva hymns compiled by Nambi Āṇḍār Nambi (A.D. 1000) are collectively called Tirumurai. The first part, known as Devāram, contains the hymns of Sambandar, Appar and Sundarar; of the others the most important is Tiruvāsagam of Māṇikkavāsagar. Sekkirar's Periapurāṇam (eleventh century), which describes the lives of the sixty-three Śaiva saints, contains some valuable information. Meykaṇḍer's Śivajñānabodham (thirteenth century), regarded as an expansion of twelve verses of the Raurava Āgama, is the standard exposition of the Śaiva Siddhānta views. Arulnandi Śivācārya, the first of the forty-nine disciples of Meykaṇḍer, is the author of the important work Śivajñānasiddhiyar. Of Umāpati's works (fourteenth century), Śivaprakāśam, Tiru-arulpayan are well known. The Śaiva Siddhānta rested on the twofold tradition of the Vedas and the Āgamas⁴ and the systematic reconciliation of the two was undertaken by Nīlakaṇṭha⁵ (fourteenth century A.D.), who wrote a commentary on the Brahma Sūtra, interpreting that work in the light of the Śaiva system. He accepts generally the standpoint of Rāmānuja, and protests against the absolute identity or absolute distinction of God on the one side and the souls and the world on the other.¹ The supreme is Śiva, with his consort Ambā, having for his body the conscious and unconscious entities. Appaya Dikṣita’s commentary called Śivārkamaṇidīpikā is of great value.

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² In the Kailāsanātha temple of Conjeevaram we have the earliest inscriptional record of the twenty-eight Śaiva Āgamas in which the Pallava king Rājasimhavarman states his faith, and it is said to belong to the end of the fifth century A.D.

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³ "No cult in the world has produced a richer devotional literature, or one more instinct with brilliance of imagination, fervour of feeling and grace of expression" (Barnett: The Heart of India, p. 82).

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⁴ Tirumūlar, quoted in Siddhānta Dīpikā, November 1911, p. 205. Śivajñāna Siddhiyar says: "The only real books are the Vedas and the Śaivāgamas. . . . Of them the Vedas are general and given out for all. The Āgamas are special and revealed for the benefit of the blessed, and they contain the essential truths of the Veda and the Vedānta. Both are said to be given out by God" (i. 46). Cp. Nīlakaṇṭha: vayaṃ tu vedaśivāgamayoḥ bhedam na paśyāmaḥ. Brahmamīmāṃsā, p. 156.

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⁵ See Nīlakaṇṭha, i. 1. 3.

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¹ Many of the central passages are echoes of Rāmānuja’s bhāṣya. Cp., e.g., Sūkṣmacidacidviśiṣṭam brahma kāraṇam, sthūlacidacidviśiṣṭam tat kāryam bhavati (i. 1. 2). But see Appaya Dikṣita’s Ānandalaharī.

Doctrines

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The supreme reality is called Śiva, and is regarded as beginningless, uncaused, free from defects, the all-doer and the all-knower, who frees the individual soul from the bonds which fetter them. The formula of saccidānanda is interpreted as implying the eight attributes of self-existence: essential purity, intuitive wisdom, infinite intelligence, freedom from all bonds, infinite grace or love, omnipotence, and infinite bliss. Some proofs of the existence of God are mentioned. The world is undergoing change. Its material cause, prakṛti, is unconscious like clay, and cannot organise itself into the world. The development is not due to the elements, which are devoid of intelligence. Karma is equally unavailing. Kāla, or time, is, according to Meykaṇḍar, changeless, though it appears to the observer as changing.² It is a condition of all action, but is not by itself an active agent. But if God is directly the cause, his independence and perfection may perhaps be compromised. It is therefore said that God operates through his śakti as his instrumental cause. The principle of karma works in accordance with the spiritual ends of man. It does not frame the ends or make distinctions between good and evil. These are laid down by an infinite spirit, who also, with the aid of his śakti, sees to it that the souls get their proper rewards. As the jar has the potter for its first cause, the staff and the wheel for its instrumental cause, and clay for its material cause, even so the world has Śiva for its first cause, śakti for its instrumental cause, and māyā for its material cause. As sound fills all the notes of a tune, or flavour pervades the fruit, so God, by his śakti, pervades the whole world so fully that he does not appear to be different from it. God is the soul of which the universe of nature and man is the body. He is not identical with them, though he dwells in them and they in him. Non-dualism does not mean oneness (ekatva), but inseparability.

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² Śivajñānabodham, i. 4.

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Śiva is everlasting, since he is not limited by time. He is omnipresent. He works through his śakti, which is not unconscious but conscious energy—the very body of God. This body is composed of the five mantras,¹ and subserves the five functions of creation, sustenance and destruction of the universe, obscuration or embodiment (tirodhāna) and liberation of the souls. His knowledge is ever-shining and immediate. According to the Pauṣkara Āgama, Śakti, called Kuṇḍalinī (the coiled), or śuddhamāyā, is that from which Śiva derives his functions and in which his being is grounded. Śakti is the intermediate link between Śiva pure consciousness and matter the unconscious. It is the upādhi, the cause of the differentiation of Śiva’s functions.² It is the cause of the bondage of all beings from Ananta, who is next only to Śiva, downwards, and also of their release. Śakti, often called Umā, is but the reflex of Śiva, and not an independent existence. The Absolute in itself is called Śiva, and the Absolute in relation to objects is called Śakti. In the Siddhānta, Śiva is not only the Absolute of metaphysics, but the God of religion. He is the saviour and guru, and he assumes this form out of his great love for mankind. He is the God of love.³

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¹ Sadyojāta, Vāmadeva, Aghora, Tatpuruṣa and Īśāna. Cp. Tait. Araṇ., x. 43. 47.

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² Pauṣkara Āgama, ii. 1.

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³ Śivaprakāśam, i. 1; Nallasvāmi Piḷḷai : Śaiva Siddhānta, p. 277.

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To the Lord (pati) belong the paśu, literally cattle, the infinite host of souls. He is not their creator, since they are eternal. The soul is distinct from the body, which is an unconscious object of experience (bhogya). Its presence is evidenced from the facts of memory and recognition. It is an omnipresent, constant, conscious actor. It is the abode of the eternal and omnipresent citśakti.¹ It has consciousness (caitanyam), whose essence lies in the act of seeing (dṛkkriyārūpam). According to *Sivajñānasiddhiyār*, the soul is distinct from the gross body as well as the subtle, though united to them, and it has the functions of desire, thought and action (icchājñānakriyā).² It becomes one with the thing in which it dwells for the time being. In the world of saṃsāra it concentrates on worldly things, while in the state of release it centres its consciousness on God. During pralaya, the souls devoid of embodiment rest as powers and energies in the great Śiva. The number of souls cannot be increased or decreased. As more souls get released the embodied ones become reduced in number. Consciousness is perfectly manifested in the liberated, while it is obscured in the unliberated. The individual souls are of three classes, according as they are subject to the three, two or one of the impurities.³ The earth and the rest are also the effects of God's creation. They are unconscious and serve the purposes of the souls.

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¹ *Mṛgendra Āgama*, vii. 5.

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² iii. 1.

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³ The highest (vijñānakala) are freed from māyā and karma, and have only the one impurity of āṇavam. The next (pralayakala) are those who are subject to the impurities of āṇavam and karma, which bind them to rebirth; and the last (sakala) include all beings subject to the three impurities.

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The web of bonds (pāśajāla) is distinguished into avidyā, karma and māyā.⁴ The first is called āṇavamala, or the taint due to the false notion of finiteness (aṇutva) which the soul has. The self, which is pure consciousness, imagines itself to be finite and confined to the body and of limited knowledge and power. It is ignorant of its nature as consciousness and also mistakes the body for its reality. This is the bondage (paśutva) of the soul (paśu). This avidyā is one in all beings, beginningless, dense, great and multiform. Creation, destruction, etc., take place with reference to the finite world, and so they are regarded as the modifications (pariṇāma) of avidyā.⁵ Karma is the cause of the conjunction of the conscious soul with the unconscious body. It is an auxiliary of avidyā. It is called karma because it is produced by the activities of beings. It is as unseen (adṛṣṭa) as it is subtle. It prevails during creation and merges back into māyā during pralaya. It cannot be destroyed, but must work out its results.¹ Māyā is the material cause of the world, unconscious in nature,² the seed of the universe, possessing many powers, omnipresent and imperishable. "As the trunk, the leaf and the fruit latent in the seed grow therefrom, so the universe from kala to earth (kṣiti) develops from māyā."³

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⁴ *Mṛgendra Āgama*, ii. 3-7.

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⁵ *Ibid.*, vii. 11.

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¹ viii. 1-5.

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² ix. 2-4.

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³ Pauṣkara Āgama, iii. 4.

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The process of creation receives great attention in the Śaiva system. While Śiva is pure consciousness, matter is pure unconsciousness, and Śakti is said to mediate between the two. She is not the material cause of the world, since she is of the nature of consciousness (caitanya). She is the eternal sound, the connecting-link between the gross and the subtle, the material and the spiritual, the word and the concept,⁴ Śuddhamāyā, the mother of the universe, is Vāk, or Nāda, "the voice of the silence." The Śaiva Siddhānta analyses the universe into thirty-six tattvas as against the twenty-five of the Sāṁkhya. Between prakṛti and buddhi guṇa is introduced, and so we have twenty-five principles below puruṣa, who is the twenty-sixth. Above the puruṣa, we have the pañcakañcuka, or the fivefold envelope of niyati (order), kāla (time), rāga (interest), vidyā (knowledge), kala (power). Above kala there are māyā, Śuddhavidyā, Īśvara, Sadāśiva and Śiva. Śivatattva is a class by itself; Sadāśiva, Īśvara and Śuddhavidyā form the Vidyātattvas, and the other thirty-two from māyā downwards are the Ātmatattvas. These are the different stages of evolution. Māyā first evolves into the subtle principles and then into the gross. Kala, the first principle evolved from māyā, overcomes the impurities obstructing the manifestation of consciousness, and helps it to manifest itself in accordance with karma; by the next principle of vidyā, the soul derives the experience of pleasure and pain. "That instrument by which the active soul observes the operations of buddhi is vidyā."⁵ Māyā is the desire on which all experience depends. Kāla or time regulates experiences as past, present and future. Time is not eternal, for eternity is independence of time. Niyati is the fixed order governing the distinction of bodies, organs and the like, for the different souls. The puruṣas are enveloped by these five. The Śaiva Siddhānta holds that the mūlaprakṛti of the Sāṁkhya is itself a product, and admits five subtle principles beyond it. Of these five, the first three serve to manifest the powers of knowledge, action and feeling, while the other two answer roughly to time and space. Prakṛti is the stuff of which the worlds which the puruṣa is to experience are made. It is the first gross development. From prakṛti evolve the guṇas, from the guṇas the buddhi; the rest of the evolution is on the lines of the Sāṁkhya.

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⁴ Ibid., ii. 17.

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⁵ Ibid., v. 9.

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Śivatattva is the niṣkala, or undifferentiated basis of all consciousness and action. “When śuddhamāyā, the śakti of Śiva, begins her life of activity, then Śiva becomes the experiencing (bhoga) Śiva; he is Sadāśiva, also called Sadākhya, not really separate from Śiva. When śuddhamāyā is actually active, the experiencing Śiva becomes the ruling (adhikāra) Śiva; he is then Īśvara, not really separate from Sadāśiva.”¹ It is Sadāśiva that has the body of the five mantras, and not Śiva. Śuddhavidyā is the cause of true knowledge. Between world periods there are pauses of quiescence, at the end of which evolution sets in. The Lord helps the impurities to manifest themselves, and sustains the whole course of their development for the ultimate good of the souls dependent on his grace.² He takes note of the activities of the souls and helps them in their onward pursuit. Respect for the law of karma is not a limitation of God’s independence, for the law of karma is the means he employs.³

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¹ Pauṣkara Āgama, i. 25–26.

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² vii. 11–22.

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³ S.D.S., vii; Śivajñānabodham, ii. 5.

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The Śaiva Siddhānta does not support the illusory conception of the world. The beginningless saṃsāra is due to matter and souls which are also eternal. The world has a serious moral purpose, and cannot be dismissed as a mere error or jest. God is for ever engaged in the rescue of souls from the bondage of matter. The unceasing rhythm of the world, with the law of karma regulating it, continues for the one purpose of attracting man to the higher life. “Śiva desires that all should know him,” says Meykaṇḍer.⁴ It is not merely the ambition of the soul to know God, but it is the desire of the Lord as well.

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⁴ Śivajñānabodham, xii. 3.

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Sin is the threefold bond from which we have to obtain emancipation. We must get rid of the āṇavam or the avidyā, or the defilement which darkens the light of the soul, neutralise the karma which produces rebirth, and shake off the māyā, which is the basis of all impurities. God helps us in our endeavours. A metaphysical absolute, unaffected by the pleasures and pains of the soul, is of no avail. But Śiva is full of grace and is waiting through successive æons to receive the recognition of the soul and his adoring love. A personal tie binds the soul to God. The grace of God is the road to freedom. It demands childlike trust in Śiva. “To those who draw not nigh he gives no boon; to those who draw nigh he vouchsafes all good; the great God knows no disthe bhakti of the devotees or initiate them into truth. But Śiva is not born; nor has he any human career.

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The ethical virtues are insisted on. Siddhiyar says: "They have no love for God who have no love for all mankind."¹ Though the law of karma is inviolable, the choice of the soul is not fettered. God is always ready to second the efforts of man. Karma and jñāna conjointly produce release.² The restrictions of caste lose their rigour in any true theism. Though Māṇikkavāśagar did not develop a defiant attitude towards the caste rules, the later Śaivas, Paṭṭaṇathu Piḷḷai, Kapilar, and the Telugu poet, Vemana, are critical of the caste restrictions. Tirumūlar held that there was only one caste, even as there was only one God.³ The reform movement of Basava (middle of the twelfth century) is marked by its revolt against the supremacy of the Brahmin, though Basava himself was a Brahmin.⁴ This sect does not accept the hypothesis of rebirth.

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¹ xii. 2, quoted in Siddhānta Dīpikā, November 1912, p. 239.

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² Nīlakaṇṭha, i. 1. 1.

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³ Onre kulamum oruvane devanum (Tirumantram).

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⁴ Though the Liṅgāyata reformation started with a vigorous protest against the caste system, the Liṅgāyats to-day observe caste divisions.

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After the destruction of pāśa, the individual is said to become Śiva,⁵ i.e. attain perfect resemblance to him, though the five functions of creation, etc., are reserved for God only.⁶ Since the soul has no dust or darkness in it, the light of God shines through it. Deliverance is not becoming one with God, but enjoying the presence of the Lord. Meykaṇḍar says: "Did the soul perish on becoming united with Śiva, there would be no eternal being to be associated with God. If it does not perish, but remains a dissociated being, then there would be no union with God. But the impurities will cease to affect the soul, and then the soul, like the union of salt with water, will become united with Śiva as his servant and exist at his feet as one with him."⁷ "On the removal of sin, the soul attains to the status of Śiva himself."⁸ The freed souls may exist in an embodied or disembodied condition.¹ Some Śaivas believe that in emancipation the body itself is irradiated with the light of Śiva; others think that the souls acquire some miraculous powers. Before they attain union with the Supreme, the souls must consume the fruits of their deeds. The jīvanmukta, though in the body, is one in feeling and faculty with the Supreme. He does not engage in works which lead to further embodiments. He is filled with the presence of God.² He continues to be embodied until his past karma is exhausted, and the deeds of the interval are consumed by the grace of God.³ All the deeds performed by the freed are due to the impulsion of God within them⁴

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⁵ Mṛgendra Āgama, vi. 7. "Nirantaraṃ śivo 'ham iti bhāvanā pravāheṇa, śithilitapāśatayā'pagatapaśubhāva upāsakaḥ śiva eva bhavati" (Nīlakaṇṭha on iv. 1. 3).

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⁶ Nīlakaṇṭha on iv. 4. 7.

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⁷ Śivajñānabodham, xi. 5 See also Pope's Note iii, Tiruvāsagam, p. xlii.

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⁸ Nīlakaṇṭha, iv. 4. 4.

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¹ Nīlakaṇṭha, iv. 4. 5.

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² Tiru-aruḷ-payan, x. 93.

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³ Ibid., x. 98.

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⁴ > "The tongue itself that cries to thee,—all other powers

IV The Pratyabhijñā System

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Though the Āgamas were also the basis of Kashmir Śaivism, the later works show a distinct leaning to Advaitism.

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Vasugupta (eighth century A.D.) is said to have found the Śiva Sūtra and taught it to Kallaṭa. Spanda Kārikā composed by Vasugupta or Kallaṭa, Somānanda's Śivadr̥ṣṭi (A.D. 900), Utpala's Pratyabhijñā Sūtra (A.D. 930), Abhinavagupta's Paramārthasāra and Pratyabhijñāvimarśinī, Tantrāloka, Kṣemarāja's Śivasūtravimarśinī and Spandasandoha, are some of the important works of this school. They accept the Śaiva Āgamas and the Siddhānta works as authoritative, and modify them in the direction of Śaṃkara's Advaita. These works, which show differences of opinion and are said to represent three distinct kinds of monistic idealism, are collectively called Trika.⁵ Śiva Sūtra with Bhāskara's Vārttika and Kṣemarāja's Vimarśinī represents one tendency; Vasugupta's Spanda Kārikā, with Kallaṭa's Vr̥tti, expound an idealism which is not much different from the first. Somānanda's Śivadr̥ṣṭi and Utpala's Pratyabhijñā Sūtra and Abhinava-

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⁵ They are so called since they treat of the ultimates, God, soul and matter.

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Of my whole being that cry out—all are Thyself!
Thou art my way of strength! The trembling thrill that runs
Through me is Thee! Myself the whole of ill and weal!
None other here . . ."
(Pope's trans. of Tiruvāśagam, xxxiii. 5.)

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gupta’s works support non-dualism.¹ Of these the last seemed to Mādhava the most important, for he brings the other two under it,² and the supporters of the doctrine also held that all other systems were preparatory stages for it.³

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¹ See Paramārthasāra, pp. 34 and 36, 48–50, 54.

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² S.D.S., viii.

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³ Tad bhūmikāḥ sarvadarśanasthitayaḥ (Pratyabhijñāhṛdaya Sūtra, p. 8).

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The only reality of the universe is Śiva, who is infinite consciousness and unrestricted independence. He has many other features like omnipresence, eternality, formlessness, though independence (svacchanda) is peculiar to him. Śiva is the subject as well as the object, the experiencer as well as the experienced.⁴ “As the consciousness on which all this resultant world is established, whence it issues, is free in its nature, it cannot be restricted anywhere. As it moves in the differentiated states of waking, sleeping, etc., identifying itself with them, it never falls from its true nature as the knower.”⁵ In the strain of Advaita Vedānta, it is said, “That in which there is no pleasure, no pain, no known or knower, nor again unconsciousness, alone really exists.”⁶ The reality of the subject does not require proof, since all proof assumes it.⁷ A second to Śiva there is none. The world exists within consciousness, though it seems to be outside. “The Lord, of the form of cit (intelligence), being under the influence of desire, causes the totality of objects to shine, as if existing outside, though without a substratum, like a Yogi.”⁸ The existence of a prompting cause, like karma, or a material cause, like prakṛti, for the creation of the world is not admitted. Nor is māyā the principle which creates illusory forms. God is absolutely independent, and creates all that exists by the mere force of his will. He makes the world appear in himself as if it were distinct from himself, though not so really; even as objects appear in a mirror. God is as unaffected by the objects of his creation as the mirror is by the images reflected in it. By his own wonderful power (śakti) inherent in him, God appears in the form of souls and constitutes objects for their experiences.¹ The only reality is the unlimited pure self, the one and only substratum of the universe, whose activity (spanda, vibration) is the cause of all distinctions.

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⁴ Spandakārikā, p. 29.

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⁵ Ibid., pp. 2–4.

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⁶ Ibid., p. 5.

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⁷ Śivasūtravimarśini, p. 5.

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⁸ Īśvarapratyabhijñā Sūtra, v. 6. Paramārthasāra says that the Lord, compact of thought and bliss, brings into being Śakti, māyā, prakṛti and the earth (see 4). The Lord assumes the semblance of gods, men, etc. (6).

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¹ Paramārthasāra, pp. 48-50.

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While Śiva is the changeless reality underlying the entire universe, his energy or śakti has an infinity of aspects, of which the chief are cit (intelligence), ānanda (bliss), icchā (will), jñāna (knowledge), and, kriyā (creative power). Thirty-six tattvas or principles, are recognised. When Śakti functions as cit, the Absolute becomes the pure experience called Śivatattva. So soon as life is introduced by the operation of the ānanda of Śakti, we get the second stage of Śaktitattva. The will to self-expression brings about the third stage of being. There is next the conscious experience (jñāna) of being, the Īśvaratattva with its power and will to create the universe. In the next stage there is the knower, as well as the object of knowledge, when action (kriyā) commences. It is the stage of Śuddhavidyā. Thus the five transcendental tattvas are the expression of the Śakti of Śiva with its five powers.

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The phenomenal world arises through the force of māyā, from which the limitations of space (niyati), time (kāla), interest (rāga), knowledge (vidyā) and power (kala) arise. Through the force of māyā, the infinite experience manifests itself in a number of limited experiences or puruṣas. But all limitation implies a somewhat which limits. The distinction between puruṣa and prakṛti arises. Further evolution is on the lines of the Sāṃkhya scheme. All the stages of evolution are traced back to the one absolute Śiva. The cyclical appearance and disappearance of the world are admitted. The process of the manifestation (ābhāsa) of the universe does not stain the purity of the absolute Śiva, who transcends his own manifestations.

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As the soul is of the nature of consciousness, and the individual soul is the same as the universal soul, the doctrine of an ultimate plurality of souls is denied. The pure consciousness dwells in each of us, though it is obscured by unreal upādhis. Our bondage is due to ignorance (ajñāna).² Kṣemarāja observes: “Being infinite consciousness, the soul thinks ‘I am finite’; being independent, he thinks ‘I am the body.’³ It forgets that the world is wholly unreal apart from Śiva and that the soul is identical with Śiva.”

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² Śiva Sūtra, 2.

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³ Commenting on Śiva Sūtra, i. 2.

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Recognition (pratyabhijñā) of the reality is all that is needed for release. If the individual soul is one with the universal soul, it may be asked, why is the recognition of the fact necessary? Mādhava answers the question by an analogy. A love-sick woman is not consoled by the mere presence of the lover, she must recognise him to be so. The bondage of ignorance is overcome only by this recognition. When the soul recognises itself as God, it rests in the mystic bliss of oneness with God. According to the Spanda school, the soul gains knowledge through intense yogic contemplation, realises the supremacy of Śiva in the universe and becomes absorbed in the mystic trance of peace and quietness. The three methods of gaining release mentioned in the Śiva Sūtra belong to the Śaiva, the Tantra and the Yoga.

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According to Abhinavagupta, there are three classes of liberated souls: those assimilated to the Supreme (paramukta), those united to him in his manifested phase (aparamukta), and those still in the body (jivanmukta). The delivered soul becomes one with the Supreme, since it is admitted that " there is nothing distinct from the redeemed to which he should offer praise or oblation."¹ " When thus the imagining of duality has vanished, the individual has surmounted the illusive māyā, he is merged in Brahman as water in water or milk in milk."²

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¹ J.R.A.S., 1910.

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² Paramārthasāra, p. 51.

V Śāktaism

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The cult of Śakti³ finds its beginnings in the Ṛg-Veda. In one of the hymns Śakti is represented as the embodiment of power, " the supporter of the earth living in heaven."⁴ She is the supreme power " by which the universe is upheld,"⁵ " the great mother of the devotees (suvratānām)," and soon became identified with " Umā of golden hue " of the Kena Upaniṣad. In the Mahābhārata she is the sister of Kṛṣṇa, and so became related to Vaiṣṇavism. The Śaivas made her the wife of Śiva. The Purāṇas she appears as Caṇḍī, with a daily worship and an autumn festival. She soon came to be worshipped as Devī, who is one with Brahman, the absolute, whose nature is sat, cit and ānanda, and might be contemplated as male, female or attributeless.⁶ Gradually the worship of Śakti as the world-mother displaced Vedic ritualism. The literature relating to this phase of Hinduism is called Tantra. It is famous for its reverence for women, who are regarded as forms of the divine mother.⁷

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³ I.P., pp. 487-8.

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⁴ i. 136. 3.

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⁵ See Chān. Up., iii. 12; Bṛh. Up., v. 14.

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⁶ Cp. Puṅrūpāṃ vā smared devīṃ strīrūpāṃ vā vicintayet Athavā niṣkalāṃ dhyāyet saccidānandalakṣaṇām.

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⁷ Vidyāḥ samastās tava devi bhedāḥ Striyaḥ samastāḥ sakalā jagatsu.

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The seventy-seven Āgamas belonging to the Śākta cult are divided into five subhāgamas (or samaya), which teach practices leading to knowledge and liberation, sixty-four kaulāgamas which teach practices intended to develop magical powers, and eight miśrāgamas which aim at both. Bhāskararāya quotes nine sūtras in his Lalitasahasranāmabhāṣya from a work called Śakti Sūtra. The latter work has not come down to us. The Tantras, which are in the form of dialogues between Śiva and Devī, themselves belong to the seventh century and onwards. Thanks to the loving labours of Sir John Woodroffe, the chief of the available Tantra texts are now published.

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Śiva in this system is of the nature of omnipresent (akhilānugata), pure consciousness (prakāśa), impersonal and inactive. It is pure being devoid of any relativity. The active personal being, Śakti, includes all individual souls. The opening verse of Saundaryalaharī reads: " Śiva, when he is united with Śakti, is able to create; otherwise he is unable even to move."¹ Śiva and Śakti are related as prakāśa and vimarśa. Bhāskararāya defines vimarśa as the spontaneous vibration of the ultimate reality.² The first touch of relation in the pure absolute is Vimarśa, which gives rise to the world of distinctions. Vimarśa or Śakti is the power latent in the absolute or pure consciousness. It is the absolute personified, consciousness become a subject, and it passes over into its opposite, the not-self or the object. If Śiva is consciousness (cit), Śakti is the formative energy of consciousness, Cidrūpiṇī. Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva perform their functions of creation, preservation and destruction in obedience to Śakti.³ In the perfect experience of ānanda, Śiva and Śakti are indistinguishable. The two coalesce in one being. Śiva answers to the indeterminate Brahman in a state of quiescence; Śakti is determinate Brahman endowed with icchā (will), jñāna (knowledge), and kriyā (action), projecting the whole objective universe. Śiva and Śakti are one, since force is inherent in existence. The force may be at rest or in action, but it exists none the less in both the states. The potentiality of the whole object-world exists as the Śakti of Śiva.

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¹ Śivaḥ śaktyā yukto yadi bhavati śaktaḥ prabhavitum Na ced evaṃ devo na khalu kuśalaḥ spanditum api.

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² See his commentary on Lalitasahasranāma under Vimarśarūpiṇī, p. 548.

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³ Ānandalaharī, pp. 2 and 24.

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Śakti is differentiated as gross and subtle. She is the mother of all things. The five functions of illumination (ābhāsa), coloration (rakti), examination (vimarśana), sowing the seed (bījāvasthāna) and lamentation (vilāpanatā) are attributed to her. There is also the non-conscious matter which corresponds to the prakṛti of the Sāṃkhya system.

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Prakṛti or māyā is looked upon as the substance of Devī.¹ Within the womb of Śakti is māyā or prakṛti, the matrix of the universe, potential in pralaya and active in creation. The Sāṃkhya account of evolution from prakṛti is followed. Under Śakti's direction, māyā evolves into the several material elements and physical portions of all sentient beings. In all living beings, caitanya or consciousness is present, though it appears as broken up into a multiplicity of beings on account of the varying physical adjuncts. Instead of the twenty-five tattvas of the Sāṃkhya, we have thirty-six, which are classified into: (1) Śivatattva, the supreme; (2) Vidyātattva, or the subtle manifestations of Śakti; (3) Ātmatattva, or the material universe from māyā down to earth. These three answer to prakāśa (Śiva), vimarśa and the not-self. The supreme spirit of the Śākta scheme has inner differences, though frequently we meet with ideas of salvation and oneness of the world, which remind us of Śaṃkara's more rigorous non-dualism.² We have, first of all, the absolute Brahman; next, we have the determinate subject endowed with Śakti. Nāda issues immediately and from nāda bindu appears,³ and then the Śuddhamāyā. These five answer to Śiva, Śakti, Sadākhya, Īśvara and the Śuddhamāyā of the Śaivas. The rest of the evolution is not different from the Śaiva scheme.

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¹ Sāmyāvasthā guṇopādhikā brahmarūpiṇī devī.

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² It is said to be a non-dualism. Kulārṇava Tantra, i. 108. Sir John Woodroffe, who has made a special study of the Tantra school, believes that its philosophy "occupies in some sense a middle place between the dualism of the Sāṃkhya and Śaṃkara's ultra-monistic interpretation of the Vedānta" (Indian Philosophical Review, vol. i, p. 122).

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³ Śaradātilaka, i.

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The jīva, under the influence of māyā, looks upon itself as an independent agent and enjoyer until release is gained. Knowledge of Śakti is the road to salvation,⁴ which is dissolution in the blissful effulgence of the Supreme. It is said that "for him who realises that all things are Brahman, there is neither Yoga nor worship."⁵ Jīvanmukti, or liberation in this life, is admitted.⁶ Liberation depends on self-culture, which leads to spiritual insight. It “ does not come from the recitation of hymns, sacrifices or a hundred fasts. Man is liberated by the knowledge that he is himself Brahman.”¹ “ The state of mind in which it is realised that Brahman alone is (brahmasadbhāva), is the highest; that in which there is meditation on Brahman (dhyānabhāva) is the middle; praise (stuti) and recitation (japa) of hymns is the next, and external worship is the lowest of all.”² There is a protest against ritualistic religion. Kulārṇava Tantra says: “If the mere rubbing of the body with mud and ashes gains liberation, then the village dogs who roll in them have attained it.”³ The distinctions of castes are subordinated; and the discipline of the Tantras is open to all.⁴ Bhakti is regarded as helpful to salvation. Freedom of worship is allowed. “As all streams flow into the ocean, so the worship offered to any God is received by Brahman.”⁵ The subordinate deities are however subject to the force of karma and time.⁶

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⁴ Śaktijñānaṃ vinā devi nirvāṇaṃ naiva jāyate (Niruttara Tantra).

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⁵ Mahānirvāṇa Tantra, xiv. 123. See also 124-127.

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⁶ Ibid., xiv. 135.

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¹ Mahānirvāṇa Tantra, xiv. 115, 116.

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² Ibid., xiv. 122.

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³ i.

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⁴ Antyajā api ye bhaktā nāmajñānādhikāriṇaḥ Strīśūdrabrahmabandhūnāṃ tantrajñāne 'dhikāritā. (Vyomasaṃhitā).

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⁵ Mahānirvāṇa Tantra, ii. 50.

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⁶ Ye samastā jagatsṛṣṭisthitisaṃhārakāriṇaḥ Te' pi kāleṣu līyante kālo hi balavattaraḥ.

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The mystic side of the Yoga system plays a large part throughout. Mantras are sacred and are regarded as divine creations, in a sense, identical with Śakti, who is Śabda, or eternal word. Great emphasis is laid on the awakening of the forces within the organism. The perfected man will awaken the Kuṇḍalinī and pierce the six cakras.⁷ The theories of karma, rebirth, gross and subtle bodies, are accepted by the Śākta thinkers.

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⁷ See Avalon: The Serpent Power. A cloud hangs over the sādhanā of the Śāktas. Though much of the obloquy is undeserved, there is apparently something which can be improved.

VI Madhva

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A leading form of reaction against Śaṃkara’s Advaitism is the dualistic philosophy associated with the name of Madhva, which has many points in common with Rāmānuja’s view of reality.¹ Madhva stands out for unqualified dualism and insists on the five great distinctions of God and the individual soul, God and matter, the individual soul and matter, one soul and another, and one part of matter and another. The doctrines of exclusive mediatorship through Vāyu, the son of Viṣṇu, eternal hell as well as the missionary fervour of Madhva’s faith, suggest the influence of Christianity, though there is little evidence in support of it. In view of the fact that Madhva’s commentary on the Kena Upaniṣad is taken from Brahmasāra, it is reasonable to think that there was the tradition of dualism even prior to Madhva. As we shall see, Madhva makes a clever use of the Sāṅkhya and the Nyāya-vaiśeṣika theories.

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¹ The main differences are that while Rāmānuja thinks that the individual souls are similar in their natural essence, Madhva makes them different. Madhva denies that Brahman is the material cause, which Rāmānuja admits. For Madhva, the universe is not the body of God. In Rāmānuja there are no souls disqualified for salvation and there are no differences in the enjoyment of bliss for freed souls.

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LIFE AND LITERATURE

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Madhva,² also known as Pūrṇaprajñā and Ānandatīrtha, was born in the year 1199 in a village near Udipi, of the South Canara district. He became early very proficient in Vedic learning and soon became a saññyāsin. He spent several years in prayer and meditation, study and discussion. He developed his dualistic philosophy in discussions with his preceptor Acyutaprekṣa, an adherent of Śaṃkara’s school. He proclaimed the supreme godhead of Viṣṇu and admitted the validity of branding one’s shoulders with the arms of Viṣṇu, a practice accepted by Rāmānuja. He made many converts to his faith in different parts of the country, founded a temple for Kṛṣṇa at Udipi, and made it the rallying centre for all his followers. Prohibition of bloodshed, in connection with sacrifices, is a salutary reform for which he is responsible. He died at the age of seventy-nine.

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² Nārāyaṇācārya’s Madhavavijaya and Maṇimañjari contain the orthodox account of Madhva’s life and work. If we eliminate the miracles and supernatural incidents which the piety of his followers attributed to him, we may get the historical basis of Madhva’s life and mission.

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The standard treatises of this school of thought are, of course, the works of Madhva. He wrote a commentary on the Brahma Sūtra, and justified his interpretation of it in another work called Anuvyākhyāna. His commentaries on the Bhagavadgītā and the Upaniṣads,¹ his epitome of the Mahābhārata called Bhāratatātparyanirṇaya and gloss on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa help to elucidate his philosophy. He also wrote a commentary on the first forty hymns of the Ṛg-Veda and discussed many philosophical and other themes in his Prakaraṇas. Throughout his works he gives the impression that he relies more on the Purāṇas than on the Prasthānatraya, the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavadgītā and the Brahma Sūtra. It is not quite easy for Madhva to interpret these authoritative works in the interests of his dualistic metaphysics. Jayatīrtha’s commentary on Madhva’s Sūtrabhāṣya and that on Madhva’s Anuvyākhyāna called Nyāyasudhā, are works of great importance. Vyāsarāya wrote a gloss called Candrikā on Jayatīrtha’s commentary on Madhva’s Sūtrabhāṣya. Pūrṇānanda’s Tattvamuktāvali² is a bitter attack on the Advaitavāda.

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¹ See S.B.H., vols. i, iii and xiv.

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² Translated by Cowell. See J.R.A.S., vol. xv, pt. ii.

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THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE

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Madhva accepts the three sources of knowledge, perception, inference and scriptural testimony. Comparison (upamāna) is regarded as a variety of inference. Perception and inference by themselves cannot help us to solve the riddle of the universe. Perception is confined to the facts open to the senses. Inference is incapable of supplying us with new facts, though it helps us to test and systematise the facts obtained through other means. We have to depend on the Vedas for a true knowledge of reality. Madhva accepts the authoritativeness of the Vedas as a whole, and does not discriminate between the different parts of it. The Hymns and the Brāhmaṇas are as useful and valid as the Upaniṣads. Madhva distinguishes between testimony due to personal authority (pauruṣeya), which may be fallible, and that which is not the composition of any person (apauruṣeya). The latter is of absolute validity and infallible. The Vedas, of which Madhva’s philosophy purports to be the right interpretation, are regarded by Madhva as apauruṣeya or uncreated by any personal author, and are therefore said to be authoritative in character.

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Apprehension, through whatever means, is the direct evidence of the thing that is apprehended. The instruments which mediate apprehension are not present in the apprehension itself. The relation between the knower and the known is direct and immediate. The pramāṇas of perception, inference, and Vedic testimony, are so called simply because they are instrumental in producing knowledge—which fact comes out when we study knowledge externally. Every apprehension of fact that we have is valid, and implies the existence of the fact, even though it may exist only for the moment of apprehension. If we repudiate it as invalid, it is because of some other apprehension whose validity we accept. Sunrise and sunset are occurrences, until we have the further knowledge that the sun neither rises nor sets. Madhva accepts the intrinsic validity of apprehension as such, and disputes every theory which regards our knowledge as a mere appearance. If our knowledge does not reveal the structure of reality and indicate objective existence, but simply gives us a wrong lead, then the unreal cannot even appear, cannot be the object of even erroneous apprehension, and cannot be related to knowledge as cause to effect. If all knowledge is erroneous, the distinction between true and false ideas disappears. An analysis of illusion tells us that there is an object presented to consciousness, though we mistake its nature, owing to some defect of the senses or other means of knowledge. The elements of false perception are not false. They are facts of experience. Through some defect, we do not take a full view of the object, but what we see of it recalls something like it in nature, though different from it, with which we confuse the given datum. Every case of illusion implies two positive entities, a given thing and a suggested object. The notion of the unreality of the world means that there is something real which we mistake for something else. It does not mean that there is nothing real at all.

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Madhva takes his stand on experience or knowledge and argues that there can be no knowledge without a knower and a known. To speak of knowledge, independent of a knowing subject or a known object, is meaningless. Knowing subjects and known objects must exist. The world is not an unreality. If we do not admit distinctions of things, we cannot account for distinctions of ideas. Our knowledge tells us that differences exist. We cannot regard them as merely conventional, for convention does not produce the distinctions.

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The fact of difference is generally traced to the force of space and time, which are considered to be mere forms of the subject's intelligence. If space and time were identical with the knowing self, it is difficult to see how the notion that they are identical with the subject could arise. If the self as knowledge is all-pervading, we cannot have distinctions of space and time. To attribute the latter to the force of avidyā does not help us, since the status of avidyā and its relation to the self cannot be explained satisfactorily. Every explanation of avidyā implies the presuppositions of space and time, and so the latter cannot be explained away as the products of avidyā. Space and time are regarded as real wholes having parts. If they have no parts, we cannot have distinctions of here and there, now and then. We are presented with parts of space, for it is incorrect to hold that everything presented to us occupies all space, unlimited and indivisible. We are conscious only of limited bodies occupying portions of space and resisting one another. We perceive parts of space and time, and so they must be regarded as existing. According to Madhva, they are objects of perception to the witnessing self (sākṣin).

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Reality (padārtha) is of two kinds, according to Madhva, independent (svatantra) and dependent (paratantra). God, the supreme person, is the only independent reality. The dependent beings are of two kinds, positive (bhāva) and negative (abhāva). Of the positive we have two varieties, conscious (cetana) souls, and unconscious (acetana) entities, like matter and time. Unconscious existence is either eternal like the Vedas, eternal and non-eternal like prakṛti, time and space, or non-eternal like the products of prakṛti.¹

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¹ According to Madhvasiddhāntasāra (2), there are ten padārthas. Dravyaguṇakarmasāmānyaviśeṣaviśiṣṭāṃśiśaktisādṛśyabhāva daśa padārthāḥ.

IX God

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GOD

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There are three entities existing from all eternity to all eternity, fundamentally different from one another, which are God, soul and the world. Though these are all real and eternal, the latter two are subordinate to God and dependent on him. Independent (svatantra) reality is Brahman, the absolute creator of the universe. We can know his nature through a study of the Vedas,¹ and so his nature is not indefinable. When the Supreme is said to be indefinable, all that is meant is that a complete knowledge of him is difficult to acquire.² The Supreme transcends all perception.³ The form seen during meditation by imagination is not Brahman. Madhva has no sympathy with the view that the different parts of the scripture relate to different kinds of Brahman. Though the supreme being and his qualities are identical, they can be spoken of in different terms.⁴ The famous passage that Brahman is one only without a second (ekam evādvitīyam brahma) means that Brahman is unsurpassed in excellence and without an equal, since it penetrates everywhere. The attributes of God are absolute in their character and so do not limit him. Brahman possesses every kind of perfection. He is identified with Viṣṇu and is said to direct by his will the world and all that is in it as an absolute ruler. He creates and destroys the world again and again. He is endowed with a supernatural body and is regarded as transcendent to the world as well as immanent, since he is the inner ruler (antaryāmin) of all souls.⁵ He manifests himself in various forms (vyūhas), appears periodically in incarnations (avatāras), and is said to be mystically present in the sacred images. He creates, maintains and destroys the universe, imparts knowledge, manifests himself in several ways, condemns some and redeems others. By his side is Lakṣmī, capable of assuming various forms, but without a material body, coeternal with him and all-pervading. She witnesses the glory of God through eternity. Unlike the gods and goddesses who acquire release after many existences, Lakṣmī is eternally redeemed (nityamuktā). Lakṣmī is the personification of God's creative energy. She is intelligent prakṛti, though God is greater than she in point of subtlety and the extent of qualities.⁶ God rules the souls and matter, though he does not create them from nothing or reduce them to nothing. He is the efficient but not the material cause of the universe. An unintelligent world cannot be produced by a supreme intelligence. God's activity is the result of his overflowing perfection. Simply because God takes into account the karma of the individuals, it cannot be said that the Lord is dependent on karma, for, as Madhva says, " the very existence of karma and other things depends on the Lord." ¹

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¹ M.B., iii. 3. 1.

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² M.B., i. 1. 5.

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³ M.B., iii. 2. 23.

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⁴ See Nyāyasudhā, i. 1. 2; i. 1. 6. Cp. also Madhvasiddhāntasāra: Bhedābhāve 'pi bhedavyavahāranirvāhakā anantā eva viśeṣāḥ (21).

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⁵ i. 2. 13.

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⁶ iv. 2. 9.

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¹ ii. 1. 37; iii. 2. 39-42.

The Individual Soul

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Everything on earth is, according to Madhva, a living organism. The universe is a vast expansion of animated nature with every atom of space filled up with jīvas. In his *Tattvanirṇaya*, he says, " Infinite are the souls dwelling in an atom of space." ² Madhva regards the distinction between Brahman and jīva as real,³ and holds that it is wrong to think that the jīva and Brahman are non-different in release and different in saṃsāra, since two different things cannot at any time become non-different or vice versa. Though absolutely dependent on Brahman, the jīvas are essentially active agents and have responsibilities to bear.⁴ The soul is not an absolute agent, since it is of limited power, depending, as it does, on the guidance of the Lord.⁵ The jīva is said to be of atomic size as distinct from Brahman who is all-pervading.⁶ Though limited in size, it pervades the body on account of its quality of intelligence. The organ of knowledge is called sākṣin, to which the material manas presents its impressions. It is the cognising principle to which is due the consciousness of I-ness, which is the basis of individuality. The soul is by nature blissful, though it is subject to pain and suffering, on account of its connection with material bodies due to its past karma. So long as it is not freed from its impurities, it wanders about in changing forms of existence. The qualities like bliss become manifest at the time of release.¹ Though the souls are eternal, they are said to be born with reference to their embodied connection.² No two jīvas are alike in character. Each has its own worth and place in the scale of existence. The jīvas are dependent on the Lord, who, however, impels them to action according to their previous conduct.³

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² Paramāṇupradeśeṣv anantāḥ prāṇirāśayaḥ.

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³ i. 2. 12.

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⁴ ii. 3. 33-42.

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⁵ ii. 3. 38; ii. 3. 28.

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⁶ ii. 3. 23.

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¹ ii. 3. 31.

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² Madhva on B.S., ii. 3. 19.

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³ ii. 3. 41-42. Even the rise of dreams is assigned to the will of God (iii. 2. 3 and 5).

v2.c27.s7.10

The conscious souls are of three kinds: (1) those eternally free (nitya), like Lakṣmī; (2) those who have freed themselves from saṃsāra (mukta) devas and men, ṛṣis and fathers; and (3) the bound (baddha). The last class includes both those who are eligible for release (mukti-yogya) and those who are not eligible for it. These latter are either those intended for hell or the blinding darkness (tamoyogya) or those who are bound to the circuit of saṃsāra for all time (nityasaṃsāriṇaḥ). While some are preordained for salvation by their inherent aptitude, others are destined for hell, while a third class keeps revolving on the wheels of saṃsāra from eternity to eternity, now enjoying, now suffering, in endless alternation. This threefold classification is based on the three guṇas. The sāttvika soul goes to heaven, the rājasa revolves in saṃsāra, while the tāmasa falls into hell. The living beings are divided into a number of classes, gods (devas), men, animals and plants. A fixed gradation dependent on distinctions (tāratamya) of souls is worked out on an elaborate scale. Even among the souls who are entitled to salvation, no two souls possess the same degree of eligibility. In the celestial hierarchy, Brahmā and Vāyu occupy the most prominent places. At Viṣṇu’s command, Brahmā creates the world. He is also the greatest teacher and the first exponent of Madhva’s philosophy, which is also called Brahmasaṃpradāya. Vāyu is the mediator between God and the souls. He helps the souls to gain saving knowledge and obtain release. He is also called the dearest image (pratimā preyasī) or the son of God (hareḥ sutaḥ).⁴ It is not right to hold that the souls are Brahman. The perfect and the imperfect souls cannot merge together.

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