SAIVA SIDDHANTA AND ADVAITA - Harish Damodaran (ebook offline reader TXT) 📗

as Indra is predominant in the Rig Veda, Rudra is predominant in the Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda. The Yajur Veda deviates from the Rig Vedic way of ascribing supperority to Indra by gradually replacing him by Rudra, who is identified with Lord Siva8. The YajurVeda is full of chants addressed to Rudra. In the YajurVedic line, Rudra is described as the Lord of the Skies, the Mighty Controller of the Time (Kala), as the Master of lighting, thunder and rains, as the gracious Lord who mercyfully grands us fearlessness and refuge (abhaya) and as the great Lord who over came death.
Later Upanisads identify Rudra with Paramatman. He is called the Prana or the Life force. The Swethaswathara Upanisad mentions the names Rudra, Siva, Hara and Isana as the names of the Brahman. There is undoubtedly, an attempt to interpret the theory of the Brahman of the previous Upanisads in terms of the worship of Lord Siva.
The Saivism has different schools Viz; Saiva Siddhanta, Vira Saivism, Kasmira Saivism and SivAdvaita etc. Of these, the former two belongs to South India; (to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka respectively) and the latter two belongs to the extreme north of India, Kashmir. This is enough evidence to infer that Saivism once occupied the entire subcontinent as a religion and philosophy.
The earliest reference to different schools of Saivism is seen in the Sutrabhashya of Sri Sankara9. Here Sri Sankara refers to the doctrines of the Saivism as having been written by Lord Maheswara himself. Sri Sankara calls the upholders of Saivism as Isvara karnins; because they regarded God as the instrumental as well as material cause of the world. Sri Sankara, here seems to be referring to the Pasupata system of saivism. The other systems are Saivas, Karunika Siddhantins, Kapalikas, Nakulisas etc. Sri Ramanuja, in his Sri Bhashya10 on the Brahma Sutra mentions the name of Kapalikas and Kalamukhas as Saiva sects.
In short, the literature of Vedantic era which covers Advaita, Dvaita and VisistAdvaita speaks of various Saiva sects, lines of thought and various marks and signs on their bodies and with different kinds of robes to distinguish themselves from one another. Some were regarded as Vedic and some others as non-Vedic. The sect of Vratyas who owned the Atharva Vedic tradition was given high esteem. But the Kapalikas were treated as non-Vedic, since they indulged in horrid practices of drinking and eating in skulls as a part of their rituals. The tradition says that Sri Sakara did not hold any discussion with the Kapalikas, as their views were professedly anti-Vedic. He simply had them chastised and whipped. But he accepts Pasupatas as real Saivites and regards their doctrines as being derived from the Agamas.
The Pasupata sutra gives names of 18 teachers beginning with Nakulisa(Lord Siva). Names as mentioned in Pasupata sutra are 1)Nakulisa 2)Kausika 3)Gargya 4)Maitreya 5)Kaurusha 6)Isana 7)Paragargya 8)Kapilanda 9)Manusyaka 10)Kusika 11)Atri 12)Pingalaksha 13)Pushpaka 14)Brhadarya 15)Agasti 16)Santana 17)Kaundinya or Rasikara and 18)Vidyaguru. However the Sivamahapurana gives 112 names of which most prominent are Lokakshi, Jaigisavya, Rshabha, Bhrgu, Atri, Gautama, Laukika Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana, Kapila, Asuri, Panchasikha, Parasara, Garga, Bhargava Angira, Suka, Vasista, Brhaspati, Kuni, Vamadeva, Svetaketu, Devala, Salihotra, Agnivesa, Akshapada, Kanada, Kumara and Ruru.
The Jaina writer Rajasekhara of the middle of the fourteenth century mentions the name of Saiva philosophy in his Sad Darsana Samuccaya and calls it ‘yoga-mata’11. He describes the Saiva ascetics as holding staves in their hands and wearing long loin cloths. They had also blankets for covering their bodies, matted locks of hair and their bodies were smeared with ashes. They ate dry fruits, bore a vessel of gourd and generally lived in forests. Some of them had wives, while others lived a lonely life. Rajasekhara further says that the Saivas admitted 18 incarnations of Saiva, the Over Lord who creates and destroys the world. They were adored as teachers of the system. Interestingly he adds Nayayikas and Vaisesikas to the list of Saivites.
Of the modern scholars, Schomerus describes the particular form of Saiva-monism (Saiva Siddanta) and gives names of various other schools of Saivism as he picks them up on a commentary on Siva Jnanabodham.
Schomerus puts Saiva schools into two groups i) Pasupata, Mahavrta, Kapalika, Varma, Bhairava, Aikyaveda, ii) Urtha Saiva, Anadi Saiva, Adi Saiva, Antara Saiva, Guna Saiva, Nirguna Saiva, Adhvan Saiva, Yoga Saiva , Jnana Saiva, Anu Saiva, Kriya Saiva, Nalu-pada Saiva, Suddha- saiva12.
Shcomerus is concerned primarily with Saiva Siddhanta. According to him, with the exceptions of Pasupata, Virasaiva and Prastyabhijna, all the sects of Saivism are more or less the same as it is taught in Saiva Siddhanta.
As stated earlier, Saiva Siddhanta is the special philosophy of Saivism. It is unique in nature, because of its ardent love for reason. What one would expect from a religious philosophy is nothing but as huge bundle of dogmatic principles, mixed up with a number of shouts at the crowds of non-believing Sinners and at Its own followers to believe in the power of the supreme Lord, sitting far away in the heaven, and to strictly obey his rules of conduct without any questions, in order to escape the fear of awaiting fires of the hell. But Saiva Siddanta is a surprise for such a prejudiced seeker. Prof. G. Subramania Pillai says that Saiva Sidanta "gives more value for reason than anything else. Religious ecstasy is not allowed to surpass the daylight of reason"13.
And Tamil Nadu has always been a land of wonders. It is inhabited by one of the oldest populations of the world, for whom, philosophy, religion, art and culture are not entirely different watertight compartments, but complementaries to one another. The Tamils always went on enriching their fields of knowledge by adding new, polishing the old and removing the needless. Above all other things, they valued reason and always believed in the best. This explains the greatness of Saiva Siddhanta.
As Vedas and Upanisads give general ideas on Saivism, the Agamic literature equips us with particular directions on Siva Siddhanta. The Agamas are 28 in number. They contain elements of Philosophical thought and religious details of the cult of Saivism.
Each Agama consists of four legs or padas. They are Sariya pada, Kriya pada, Yoga pada and Jnana pada. The Sariya pada gives instructions upon the collection of flowers and other items for offerings (puja). Kriya pada deals with construction of temples, setting up of phallic symbol of Lord Siva and the ways in which pujas and festivals are performed. Yoga pada describes the details of performing yogas (sacrifices). Finally the Jnanapada illustrates philosophical aspects of Saiva Siddhanta.
After Agamas, Tirumurais are taken with reverence. They are believed to be divine messages in the best order, true according to the meaning of the term. They are written in Tamil language and this helped the Siddhanta a great deal in becoming popular among the common people. The twelve Tirumurais are written by 27 poets. These persons belong to a special kind of making, since each and every one of them represents a wonderful combination of saint, seer, poet and musician in one. They are from different arenas of life. They include: Karaikal Ammaiyar (a lady), Cheraman Perumal (the Emperor of Chera or Kerala) and to crown it all, Lord Siva Himself as Thiualavaiyudayar. In short , Agama is the word of the Lord and Tirumurai is the song of the devotee.
Another important source of the Saiva Siddantha philosophy is a group of 14 books called Meykanda Sastras. Of them, SivaJnana Bodham by Saint Meykandar is the most important treatise on the Siddantha. In about 40 lines, the saint covers the entire field of Saiva Siddhanta. We can divide the text in to four parts viz; Piramanaviyal (Epistemology), Ilakkanaviyal (characteristics of the ultimate principle), Sadanviyal (means of release), and Payanaviyal (fruits of release). Other note worthy texts of the group are the Sivajana Siddhiyar, Unmaivilakkam, Sivaprakasam etc.
2.2. General Study on Advaita
The four Vedas- Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda- contain the oldest record of philosophical thinking in the world. Besides Vedas and Upanisads, each system of Indian Philosophy, which is designated as darsana, has its own source books such as sutras, bhashyas etc. Sutras contain highly condensed form of philosophic thought and hence require interpretations and commentaries for ordinary men to follow their meaning. Examples of Sutras are: Nyaya Sutra of Gautama, Samkhya Sutra of Kapila, Yoga sutra of Patanjali, Vedanta Sutra of Badarayana etc.
A commentary on the Sutra is called Bhasya. For example Sutra Bhasya of Sankaracharya, SriBhasya of Sri Ramanuja-both are commentaries on Vedanta Sutra of Badarayana.
Six orthodox Indian Schools of thought or Sad darsanas namely - Nyaya of Gautma, Vaisesika of Kanada, Samkhya of Kapila, Yoga of Patanjaly, Mimamsa of Jaimini and Vedanta of Badarayana - accept the authority of the Vedas: Yet, the Nyaya, Vaisesika, Samkhya and Yoga do not originate from vedas; but from corresponding sutras. Mimamsa and Vedanta, unlike the other four thoughts of the Orthodox group are direct interpretations of Vedic Philosophy. Jaimini in his Mimamsa Sutra, interprets Karmakanda (Mantras, Brahmanas and Aranyakas) portion of Vedas, as giving the real purport of Vedas; where as, Vedanta Sutra is upholding Jnanakanda portion (Upanisads) as of philosophic worth. The two sutras; Mimamsa and Vedanta, together investigate the whole of vedic philosophy.
The term ‘Vedanta’ literally means the end of the vedas , which are the Upanisads. The views of Upanisads also constitute the final aim of the Vedas or the essence of the Vedas. The Vedanta sutra of Badarayana, the classical Upanisads such as Isa, Kena, Katha , Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Aitareya, Taittiriya, Chandogya and Brihadaranyaka together with Bhagavat gita constitute the fundamental texts of Vedanta school. These three sources -Upanisads , the Vedanta Sutra and Bhagavat Gita- belong to three different catagories or prastanas. The Upanisads belong to Sruti prasthana, Vedanta Sutra to Nyaya Prasthana, and and the Bhagavat Gita to Smriti Prasthana. Hence these three texts are together called prasthana thraya (three prasthanas) of the Vedanta darsana.
The Vedanta Sutra is also known as Brahma Sutra because it is an exposition of the doctrine of the Brahman. This is again called Saririka Sutra because it deals with the embodiment of the unconditional self. Thus unlike the Mimamsa Sutra of Jaimini that investigates the duties enjoined by the veda, together with rewards there to, the vedanta Sutra of Badarayana describes the philosophical and theological views of the Upanisads. It is a systematic investigation of the various views of the Upanisads.
The Vedanta Sutra consists of 550 Sutras. The sutras are highly intelligible by themselves and leave everything to the interpreter.
As a result, we get different kinds of Vedantic schools, of which Sankaracarya’s Advaita, Sri Ramanuja’s VisistAdvaita and Madhvacarya’s Dvaita are most famous. These three Schools are noteworthy because they represent three distinct ways of understanding the ultimate reality, the Brahman. Advaita stresses the non-dualistic view, VisistAdvaita stands for the qualified non-dualistic view and dvaita puts forward the dualistic view, and all these schools base their different arguments on Brahma Sutra by giving different interpretations.
The Vedanta Sutra has four adhyayas (chapters)-Samanvaya, Avirodha, Sadhana and Phala. The first namely Samanvaya adhyaya deals with theory of Brahaman. Its purpose is reconciliation of the different views on the Brahman such as cosmic view, acosmic view etc.
The second chapter is called Avirodha adhyaya where the author meets the objections brought against these views of Brahaman and he criticizes the rival theories.
The third chapter is called Sadhana adhyaya in which the ways and means of attaining