Talk:Transcending Karma through Moksha:Integral Yoga in the Shaiva Hindu Tradition

By Vishal Agarwal

The corresponding path or paths for those who worship Shiva as the Supreme Lord are:

Saivism, like Vaishnavism, is more like a religion rather than a sect, with a mass following of itself. It is perhaps the oldest of the Hindu sects. In Saivism, there are many sub sects like Siddha Saivism, Kashmiri Saivism, Veera Saivism, Pasupatha Saivism and so on, besides some tantric sects. It is difficult to detail the variations and the different approaches followed by each of the sects in this essay. So we limit our discussion to the broader aspects of Saivism in dealing with the subject of karma.

In Saivism, the absolute highest lord of the universe is identified as Siva or Pati (Lord), who is eternal and unbound, in contrast to jivas (beings) or pasus (animals), who are bound to Prakriti, or the dynamic energy of Siva, through the three pasas (bonds) or malas (impurities), namley, anava or egoism, karma or actions with consequences and maya or delusion. Because of these three bonds, a jiva undergoes repeated births and deaths, till it is liberated. Pati, pasu and pasas are thus the three most important concepts of Saivism.

Since Saivism recognizes all the three malas as responsible for the bondage of the beings, the emphasis is not on just karma but on how to achieve salvation by severing all the three bonds. Different solutions are suggested for this purpose. The Tantric texts of Saivism prescribe four methods, or padas, namely scriptural knowledge (vidya pada or jnana pada), practice of rituals and pooja (kriya pada or mantra pada or karma pada), practice of yoga and meditation such as kundalini yoga (yoga pada) and right conduct (charya pada).

The Pasupatha sect suggests four means for liberation: moral conduct (vasacharya), prayers (japa), meditation (dhyana) and remembering Siva (rudra smriti). Followers of Pasupatha Saivism are usually initiated into the path by a guru. It is believed that when a seeker is initiated into the path by a guru, the latter frees the former from all his previous karmas. At some stage in their development, they engage in anti social behavior in public, as a part of their spiritual practice, in order to attract public criticism with the belief that when they are criticized, there will be an exchange of karmas, so that all the good karma of those who criticize them would be transferred to the ascetics and whatever bad karma that is left in the ascetics would be passed on to their critics.

Followers or Saiva Siddhanta school of Saivism recognize three types of souls: those who are bound by only one fetter only, namely anava or egoism, those who are bound by two fetter only, namely egoism and karma, and those who are bound by all the fetters namely, egoism, karma and maya. This school accepts all the four padas, jnana, kriya, yoga and charya, as the means of liberation. Diksha or initiation into the path by a guru is considered the first and most important step. Depending upon the caliber of his followers, a guru prescribes one of the our margas or methods: dasa marga (path of servant), which consists of the practice of charya (right conduct) , satpura marga (path of son), which consists of the practice of kriya (rituals), saha marga (path of friend), which consists of the practice of yoga (meditation) and san marga (true path), which consists of the practice of jnana (knowledge). As can be seen, jnana or knowledge is considered more important than bhakti as the means of salvation.

Whatever may be the path, the main emphasis in Saivism is on the liberation of the soul, by making the jiva realize their Siva tattva (or nature of Siva) through initiation into the path by a guru, performance of certain rituals in a dispassionate way and acquiring the right knowledge by serving the guru and earning the grace of Siva through him. The rituals are usually either simple such as temple rituals or body rituals or mental rituals or rituals of service to God, or complex rituals such as the ones practiced by the followers of tantricism.

The parallels between the four Yogas of Vaishnavas (and their integration) and the four Padas or Mārgas of the Shaivas can be seen quite easily.