Pashupatha Brahmana Upanishad

Pashupatha Brahmana (pāśupatabrahmopaniṣat) is one among the 108 Upanishads mentioned in the Muktika canon. The Upanishad  talks about very high philosophical truths. It doesn't contain any 'Mantras' for the sadhakas. As the name of the Upanishad suggests, It straight away deals with Pashupati,the Absolute Brahman.  The Upanishad is almost similar to Kena Upanishad in its approach to the Absolute. So the people who are in the path of knowledge( Jnana Marga) can understand it. But Others may find it very hard to comprehend the advanced teachings of the Upanishad. It says, paśupatiḥ is beyond eyes, ears, mouth, mind..etc. paśupatiḥ is not an object of perception. The perceiver perceives the object only because of Pashupati. In fact, The Perceiver, The perceived object and The very act of Perception, these three are but Pashupati alone. 

Pashupatha Brahmana ( translated in prose style)

Shiva, who is the Lord of all beings (paśupatiḥ), is always witness for everything. The minds of all people are controlled as well as sent to different topics by Him only. The soul acts because of him. The words talk because of Him. The eyes see shapes because of Him. The ear hears everything because of Him. Even other organs only perform the actions allotted to them because of Him. This act of His is not due to the nature but by illusion. Whatever has been taught as “What is heard?”, to the beings, has been taught so by Shiva who is Pasupathi and He gives the nature of “What is heard?” to them. He enters the minds of souls, sits there as its nature and gives it the position of the mind. He is different from all things that are known to us through organs. Of all that knowledge taught to the different organs, He is the one who is there taking suitable forms, and gives the being the relevant experience. Therefore eyes, speech and other organs do not go to His great self-shining form. That shine of the soul, which is not due to its action, is due to the soul itself and not the organs. Suppose we decide to do away with rules of logic, it can be told that he who understands Brahman himself becomes the great knower of Brahman.

This type of outside knowledge should be attained by truth, penance and other rules of life dictated by celibacy and by the paths shown by Vedanta. People in whom there are no faults see realistic object of self shine in their own body. Others do not see it. By having a discipline in food habits, mental discipline develops. By mental discipline, one gets wisdom. Step by step. the problems in the mind are solved. By the knowledge of the form of Brahman when the world becomes that which should be enjoyed, he eats the form which is he himself. There is nothing else except oneself. The savant who knows Brahman, whenever he sees the world does not see it as something different from himself. This is the Upanishad.

(Translated by P. R. Ramachander Published by celextel.org)

Lakuliśa's Pashupatha System

Lakuliśa was a prominent teacher of the Pashupata, one of the early sects of Shaivism. Lakulisha, (literal meaning: the lord with a club) is believed as the founder of the Pashupata sect. Some believe that the Pashupata doctrine was already in existence before him, and Lakulisha was its first formal guru (teacher). It is believed that he was born into a traditional Vedik brahmin family and lived in Kayavatara or Kayavarohana (currently known as Karvan), located in Vadodara district of Gujarat state in western India. According to a tradition stated in the Linga Purana, he is considered as the 28th and the last avatar of Shiva and the creator of Yoga. According to the same tradition, he had four disciples: Kaurushya, Garga, Mitra and Kushika. According to another tradition mentioned in the Avanti Khanda of the Skanda Purana, he and his four disciples while residing at Mahakalavana, installed a linga at that place, known as Kayavarohaneshvara.This school is represented today in the broad sadhu tradition, and numerous Pashupata sites of worship are scattered across India.

The Karavana Mahatmya recounts the birth of Lakulisha and refers to the temple of Somanatha as one of the most important Pashupata centers. Lakulisha propounded a Saiva monism, though indications are that Pashupata philosophy was previously dualistic, with Siva as efficient cause of the universe but not material cause. It is thought to be the source of various ascetic streams, including the Kapalikas and the Kalamukhas.

Traditionally, the deepest Pashupata teachings have been kept secret, reserved for initiates who were tried, tested and found most worthy. Central scriptures are the Pashupata Sutras (ascribed to the Bhagawan Lakulisha), Kaundinya's commentary on them, Panchartha Bhashya (ca 500) and the Mrigendra Agama.

The principal text of the Pashupata sect, the Pāśupata Sūtra is attributed to him. The manuscripts of this text and a commentary of it, the Pañcārtha Bhāṣya by Kaundinya (c.500 CE) were discovered in 1930. The Pāśupata Sūtra formalizes various canons of the Pashupata sect, and contains the basic theology of the sect.

His images have been found in Gujarat, a state on the western coast of India and also in some parts of the eastern India. Some of his images depict him as a naked yogi and he carries prayer beads, a club, a cup of human skull. He is shown as accompanied by animals. Almost all of his images depict him urdhvareta (ithyphallic).

Vaishnavite ramblings :

While searching through GOOLE, i've found several web forums in which Vaishnavites abuse Shaivism. They say that "The very act of worshiping Shiva" is anti-vedik per se. To support their claims they give references to Brahma Sutras of Badarayana maharshi. This shows the ignorance of those vaishnavas about the vedantic tradition. A careful study of Brahma Sutras reveals a different thing.

Badarayana refutes only the dualistic pasupata system but not monistic pashupata system. Further, he never denied Lord Shiva. If he really want to deny pashupatha system for the very reason of worshiping false God ( ie., Lord shiva as per vaishnavas) who is not Brahman then there wouldn't have been a lengthy discussion at all. Badarayana would have written only one sutra which may look something like ''since pashupati is not Brahman the system is rejected'' . But Badarayana never said so. Let us see what Brahma sutras say about dualistic pashupatha.

Patyurasamanjasyat II.2.37 (208)

ie., The Lord (cannot be the efficient or the operative cause of the

world) on account of the inconsistency (of that doctrine).

Sambandhanupapattescha II.2.38 (209)

ie., And because relation (between the Lord and the Pradhana or

the souls) is not possible.

Adhishthananupapattescha II.2.39 (210)

ie., And on account of the impossibility of rulership (on the part of

the Lord).

Karanavacchenna bhogadibhyah II.2.40 (211)

ie., If it be said (that the Lord rules the Pradhana etc.,) just as (the

Jiva rules) the senses (which are also not perceived), (we say)

no, because of the enjoyment, etc.

Antavattvamasarvajnata va II.2.41 (212)

ie., (There would follow from their doctrine the Lord’s) being

subject to destruction or His non-omniscience.

If badarayana felt that worshiping Shiva itself is wrong then he wouldn't have written so many sutras. He would have negated worship of Shiva with one sutra. But that was not intention of badarayana. His intension is to attack the dualism. Badarayana refuted Bhagavata Vaishnavas too.

Lakulisha'a Pashupata Saivism is Monistic and theistic. This school of Saivism reveres Siva as Supreme Cause and Personal Ruler of soul and world, denoted in His form as Pashupati, "Lord of souls." This school centers around the ascetic path, emphasizing sadhana, detachment from the world and the quest for "internal kundalini grace."

Appayya Dixitar, The hero who stood against the malicious attacks of Vaishnavas on Lord Shiva.

Appayya Dikshitar (IAST Appayya Dīkṣitar), 1520–1593 CE, was a performer of yajñas as well as an expositor and practitioner of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy but however, with a focus on Shiva or Siva Advaita. Appayya Dikshitar was born as Vinayaga Subramanian in Adayapalam, near Arani in the North Arcot district, in the Krishna Paksha of the Kanya month of Pramateecha Varsha under the Uttara Proushthapada constellation of the Hindu calendar. His father’s name was Rangarajudhwari. Appaya had the name Vinayaka Subramanya after the Namakarana or naming ceremony took place. Acharya Dikshitar or Acchan Dikshitar was the younger brother of Appayya. Appayya studied the Hindu scriptures under his Guru, Rama Kavi. He completed the fourteen Vidyas while he was quite young. Dikshitar travelled widely, entering into philosophical disputations and controversaries in many centres of learning. He had the rare good fortune of being revered and patronised in his own life-time by kings of Vellore,Vijayanagaram, Tanjore,venkatagiri..etc.

Mission against Vaishnava attacks on Shaivism

Dikshitar threw himself heart and soul into this mission for several years and often had to face grave personal danger, which he did with courage and faith. He preached, organised and wrote incessantly, enlisting the cooperation of several enlightened monarchs. He undertook frequent travels and challenged his adversaries to open disputation, as was the custom of those days. He brought to bear on his widespread activities, his resourceful personality and created an atmosphere of tolerance and goodwill, in the place of the prevailing antipathies and narrow-mindedness.

The Great Yogi

In addition to his poetic skills and achievements on the philosophical propagations and Saivite missionary work, Dikshitar was a great Siddha-yogi. One of his yogic experiments was as great as it was thrilling. In the later years of his life, he was subject to attacks of colic pain. He was convinced that it was due to his Prarabdha and past karma. Whenever he wanted to meditate deeply or worship the Almighty, he made a bundle of his towel and put it in front of him. By his yogic power he transferred his malady to the towel and sat in meditation. His disciples watched the towel jumping about the place. To them he explained later that he transferred his ailment which was in the form of an evil spirit to the cloth and then took it back soon after his meditation was over.

Voluntary adoption of inebriation

About his mystic devotion, there is another story that is related to his work called Atmarpana-stuti. In this small work of fifty stanzas he makes the inner self melt as it were by his exquisite mystic poetry. We can see here the profound maturity of true devotion to the Supreme. It reflects the inner mental state of a great devotee, in whom the ego has become fully extinct. There is a traditional account of how this work came to be written. It appears once he wanted to test the maturity of his own devotion to the Lord. Hence he swallowed the juice of the `datura' fruit, which introduces intoxication, and told his disciples that they should write down whatever he says, during the stage when his consciousness was disturbed. In the stage of inebriation generally all suppressed ideas would find release and come out into the open. And in his case it was the Atmarpana-stuti that came out. It is therefore also called Unmatta-panchasati

He was well read in every branch of Sanskrit learning and wrote as many works, large and small. Only 60 of them are, however, extant now. These include works on Vedanta, Siva-Advaita,Mimamsa, Vyakarana, Alankara and devotional poetry. By conviction he was an advaitin and true worship of Lord Siva was the religion of his heart. Though the followers of the Siva-advaita school claim him as belonging to their school, it is not so easy to determine whether he was more inclined to Sivadavaita or advaita. Sivadvaita is very much akin toVishishtadvaita of Ramanuja, except for the role of Vishnu being taken by Shiva.

Reconciliation of traditions

As an advaitin, Dikshitar saw no differences between the different manifestations of the Supreme Absolute. Partly because of Vaishnavite attacks on Shaivism during the previous century, one of his missions was a reconciliation of creeds, cults, and philosophy. He did not think that rival interpretations of the Vedas and Puranas were entirely in the wrong, asking: Who can prevent different interpretations when the Brahma Sutras themselves are capable of different meanings?

He wrote the Chatur-mata-sara to illustrate the philosophical thoughts of the four prominent schools of interpretation of Brahma sutras. The Naya-manjari deals with advaita, the Naya-mani-mala with Srikanta mata, the Naya-mayukha-malika with Ramanuja's philosophy, and the Naya-muktavali with Madhava's philosophy. His remarkable catholicity of outlook, his thoroughness in writing, his impartiality, his unerring sense of values, and his concern for truth are all so evident in these writings that the Vaishnavas have adopted the Naya-Mayukha-Malika as their manual for study, and the Madhvas the Naya-Muktavali.

Multi-faceted Vedanta

Among the Vedantic works of Appayya Dikshitar, the Siddhanta-lesha-sangraha is most famous. In this elaborate and original treatise, he brings together in one place, all different dialectical thinking belonging to the advaitic school. Traditional students of Vedanta begin their study of Vedantic commentaries only after studying this Siddhanta Lesha sangraha. All the different views of different subschools of advaita, like those of `eka-jiva-vada', `nana-jiva-vada', `bimba-pratibimba vada' `sakshitva-vada' etc. are all discussed and the contrary views properly explained in this work with Appayya Dikshitar's masterly touch. And in his characteristic eclectic style, he answers the question "How can there be contradictory views among the advaita acharyas themselves on the same point?" He says: All the masters agree in affirming the unity of the soul and the unreality of the phenomenal world. For the world of fiction different explanations are given according to the ingenuity of each acharya. What if different explanations are given for a mere fiction?

Parimala

It is a Vedantic work, an extremely readable commentary on the very difficult commentary called Kalpataru by an advaitic teacher named Amalananda. That Kalpataru is itself a commentary on Bhāmatī by Vācaspati Miśra, which in turn is the famous commentary on the Sutra-Bhashya of Adi Shankara.

Magnum Opus

While the Parimala follows the advaitic approach, Dikshitar has written another commentary Sivaarka-mani-deepika on the Brahmasutras. But this is written from the point of view of Siva-visishtadvaita.. These two works – Sivaarka-mani-deepika and Parimala – are his magnum opus both in bulk and importance. Though both are commentaries on the Brahma sutra,Parimala aligns itself to the advaitic interpretation while the other work expounds the Sivadvaita philosophy of Srikanta-acharya. Dikshitar's patron, King Chinna Bomma Nayak of Vellore made endowments for the maintenance of a college of 500 scholars who studied Sivaarka maniDipika under Sri Dikshitar himself, thus equipping themselves for the Saivite propaganda work, which had been organised with a view to stemming the tide of Vaishnavite attacks and encroachments.

Other schools as approximations to advaita

Dikshitar graphically describes dvaita as the lowest step, vishishtadvaita as the middle step and sivadvaita and advaita which are very close to each other as the highest steps. He makes it clear in his work that Srikantha-Bhashya on the Brahmasutra has been written in very close approximation to the trend of thought of Adi Sankara in his own bhashya.

Dikshitar's great dialectical skill is fully reflected in the work called 'Anandalahari chandrika', where he tries to narrow down the differences between the apparently divergent schools of thought and tries to show that the advaita of Sankara is the real eternal truth to which all others try to approximate.