Indian Philosophy v2.c27.s2: Doctrines

Indian Philosophy v2.c27.s2

Language: English

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

Linked texts (7)

Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha — Mādhava, Sanskrit
சிவஞானசித்தியார் — Aruḷnanti Civācāriyār, Tamil
திருமந்திரம் — Tirumūlar, Tamil
Mṛgendra — Sanskrit
Taittirīyāraṇyaka — Sanskrit
சிவஞானபோதம் — Meykaṇṭār, Tamil
Pauṣkarāgama — Sanskrit