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Ritual in an Oscillating Universe
Worshipping Siva in Medieval India
By Richard H. Davis PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © 1991 Princeton University Press
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-691-07386-6
CHAPTER 1
Ritual and Human Powers
Saiva ritual is grounded in and grows out of the world that is known metaphysically through Saiva siddhanta philosophy. It is within this world that the worshiper acts ritually. Accordingly, we must begin our reenactment of puja by comprehending in a preliminary manner how that world is fashioned: its fundamental constituents, the situation of human beings within it, the most important goals of human endeavor, and how purposeful action such as ritual may enable one to gain these goals. This preliminary description delineates a Saiva "theory" of ritual, or, to put it more accurately, a matrix of propositions that constitute the world within which Saivas conceptualize and practice ritual.
Let us start, then, where the Saiva siddhantins themselves start, with the three basic components of the world, as revealed by the agamas.
The Three Categories
For Saiva siddhanta philosophy, the entire universe is composed of three fundamental ontological categories (padartha: pati (the Lord), pasu (bound souls), and pasa (fetters). Although these three categories interact with one another in countless complex ways to constitute phenomenal existence (samsara), they remain ultimately separate and distinct. Together, they include all that there is. "No other category at all," emphasizes Narayanakantha, "exists outside of pati, pasu, and pasa" (MrAV vidya 2.2).
Pati denotes Siva, Lord of the Universe. The term pati in general usage refers to a relationship of lordship or mastery, in which one being commands the allegiance of others within some defined domain. As a householder (grhapati) is supposed to hold sway within his home, and a king (bhupati, narapati) exercises dominion over a portion of the earth and its inhabitants, so too Siva, Lord of All Creatures (pasupati), is the master of the created universe and all beings within it. The material worlds we live in are emitted and reabsorbed through his command. We are maintained in bondage and eventually granted grace by his activities.
Other entities as well are included in the category of pati: the multifarious Sakti, a group of eight Vidyesvaras, Mantresvaras, and assorted other divine lords. According to Saiva theology, Saiva shares his sovereignty with these other beings. (I describe Siva's segmentary overlordship more fully in Chapter 4.) One crucial difference, however, distinguishes Siva from all other lords, both human and divine. Lesser patis rule over domains that are limited and always encompassed within other, larger spheres of lordship, and they are therefore subject to the commands of greater sovereigns. Siva, by contrast, is completely autonomous (svatantra); there is no other sphere beyond that ruled by Siva. Siva commands other lords, but there is no other lord capable of commanding him. Siva is the highest of all lords, the ultimate locus of all lordship. All movement in the cosmos takes place finally under his all-pervading direction.
Pasu designates the multiplicity of individual souls in their various states of bondage. In common usage, the term pasu denotes cattle or similar tethered domestic animals; it also refers to the victim of an animal sacrifice. Like these other fettered beings, human pasus are considered by Saiva philosophy to be creatures that are constrained by powerful forces restricting their freedom and that depend ultimately upon the good graces of their master, the Lord Siva. As with the animal chosen to be a sacrificial victim, the culmination of the human soul's journey is to reach a divine state, freed of all earthly fetters, through ritual action. But unlike domesticated animals, as we will see below, the human pasu even in the state of bondage retains some capacity to alter his circumstances through his own efforts, and to help effect his own liberation.
Human pasus are bound by a variety of pasas, or "fetters." Pasa generally denotes a chain or rope used to catch something or to tie it up. A hunter's snare and a birdcatcher's net are both included in the semantic field covered by pasa, as is the noose carried by Yama, god of death. According to Saiva siddhanta, the human pasu is bound by fetters of a less obvious but much more tenacious sort. The body, the mind, and the world in which the body lives—in fact, the entire multifarious cosmos—all ensnare and imprison the soul in profound bondage. The fetters shackling a human soul are persistent, often lasting over many lifetimes. Fortunately, however, it is possible to remove or destroy them through human effort and divine grace.
Two fundamental dualities underlie these three ontological categories. First, everything that exists is either cit (consciousness) or jada (inanimate substance). Cit denotes "consciousness" in the broadest sense, the principle of animation that distinguishes living, conscious, active entities from the inanimate and inert. Always inherent in cit, the Mrgendragama tells us, are the two powers of knowing and acting (jnanakriyasakti). A conscious entity, then, is able to exercise agency through the innate capacities of its consciousness.
Jada, on the other hand, signifies real, material substance. In common usage, jada is an adjective connoting torpor, dullness, inertia, apathy, coldness, stupidity. Saiva philosophy uses this term to characterize the entire physical world. In fact, the agamas include within the sphere of jada many human faculties that we (with our very different, Cartesian-based ontology) would generally characterize as immaterial and mental or psychological: the ego (ahamkara), the synthesizing mind (manas), the intellect (buddhi), and so on. In contrast to cit, jada is inert. Substances may be altered or transformed by external forces, but they have no autonomous powers or initiative. They require consciousness to act upon or through them.
According to Saiva philosophy, Siva is composed solely and eternally of cit. The fetters, conversely, are entirely made up of inanimate substance. The ontological composition of these two categories is constant. However, the third category—the bound soul—is not so fixed. One constituent of the pasu is the individual soul (atman), which like Siva consists in consciousness. But unlike Siva, a human soul is not altogether free from fetters and substance. The soul inhabits a body composed of substantive jada and lives in a world that is substantive. Thus, the bound soul partakes of both cit and jada, in an unstable and finally alterable mixture. This ambiguity and mutability inherent in the human situation are at the center of all Saiva philosophy and ritual action.
The second basic dichotomy is between souls and Siva. Both the soul and Siva are characterized as cit; that is, both are conscious entities. Siva exists always in a single state; he is "liberated without beginning" (anadimukta). The soul, in contrast, exists in one of two basic conditions. The normal condition of the soul is bondage (bandhatva), the state of a pasu, in which the soul is attached to fetters. In this condition, the fetters alienate the soul from Siva. The other condition of the soul is liberation (muktatman), in which all fetters are removed from the soul once and for all. In liberation, the soul becomes equal to Siva in almost all respects. Yet even then, according to Saiva siddhanta, the soul never merges or becomes united with Siva, as nondualist Saiva schools would contend. The liberated soul is a separate, autonomous Siva-like entity, but not one with Siva. So the separation of souls and Siva is not, for this school, based solely on the contingent presence in the soul of ignorance, fetters, or other alienating forces that may someday be overcome. Rather, it is a permanent and ontological distinction.
Fetters, Powers, and Human Effort
With this doubly dualistic metaphysical framework in mind, we can begin to see how the Saivas understand the human condition and the possibilities of human attainment.
At the center of one's being lies the soul (atman). The soul, for Saiva siddhanta, is the irreducible essence of the person; other constituents are contingent and expendable. The soul animates and instigates all other ingredients making up the person; without the soul, these ingredients would remain an inert, torpid mass of substance. Sadyojyoti compares the relation of soul to other constituents with that of a king to his army.
As a king commands his troops toward victory, so the soul (anu) commands the intellect and other faculties toward their proper purposes of cognition and the like. And so, while victory lies with the army, agency belongs to the king; here also, while cognition and the like are located in the intellect and other faculties, their agency belongs to the soul. (BhK 50–51)
The soul is eternal, while other parts of the person have a beginning and an end. When its current body passes away, the soul transmigrates to another one. Even when the entire world is reabsorbed during the cosmic dissolution, the soul remains, patiently awaiting the next creation. And when final liberation is attained, it is the soul that attains it.
The soul possesses consciousness. To put it more precisely, the innate form (svarupa) of the soul is consciousness. Consciousness, we have seen, entails the twin powers of knowing and acting, and so these powers too inhere in the soul. As humans, we are empirically aware that we possess the capacities to know things and to initiate action, of course, but that empirical recognition gives us only a partial view of the true situation. In fact, say the Saivas, the soul's powers of knowing and acting are potentially infinite, amounting to omniscience and omnipotence, just like those of Siva.
Unfortunately, in the ordinary human condition, our unlimited powers are not available to us because they are constrained by fetters. As a tether impedes a cow's power of movement, the fetters subdue the soul's own inherent powers. The fetters are said to "cover over" (avarana) the soul's qualities; they "suppress" (rodhana) its powers of knowledge and activity. Bhojadeva compares one particular fetter, mala ("primordial stain"), to the tarnish that blackens a copper pot (TP 18); AghoraSiva uses the analogy of a cataract covering the eye to indicate the "blindness" caused by mala (TPV 9). In addition to mala, Saiva texts speak of two other types of fetters that bind the soul: karman, the residue of past actions, and maya, the constituents of the material cosmos. Together, these three impediments overpower the soul's innate capacities, reducing it to its "normal" state of bondage.
The intrinsic powers of the soul and the extrinsic fetters attached to it therefore stand in opposition to one another. Each person is an arena of struggle. The powers of knowing and acting tend toward their own fuller expression, while the obdurate forces of the fetters aim to subdue them. It is a contest not between good and evil, nor precisely between life and death, but rather between empowerment and suppression, animation and torpor.
The conflict of these forces in every living person accounts for the variations we observe in the capacities of different humans to know and to act. Some persons are evidently wise, while others are clearly foolish. Some are powerful and others weak. The Saivas envision a vast hierarchy of beings, divine as well as human, arranged on the basis of the relative distribution of powers and fetters. At the highest level of this hierarchy stand Siva and those souls who have attained liberation (muktatman)—beings whose powers of knowledge and action are entirely unimpeded by any fetters. Below them is a group of divine beings classified as Vijñanakevala, which includes the eight Vidyesvaras and the seventy million mantras. The Vijñanakevalas have removed certain categories of fetters (karman and maya) but continue to be affected by one fetter, mala. Because of their relative freedom from fetters, they enjoy vast—though not yet infinite—powers, and they use these powers to carry out Siva's commands. Next comes another group of divinities, the Pralayakevala, who are free from maya but not from karman or mala. They too use their lesser but still immense powers to act as Siva's lieutenants throughout the cosmos. Finally, at the bottom of this hierarchy, are beings such as ourselves (termed sakalas), whose innate powers are largely suppressed by all three types of fetters.
Among humans as well there are differences. As in any battle, the balance of the opposing forces may shift. While all humans are in thrall to all three fetters, the degree of their hold over us can change. In some persons, due to bewilderment and imprudent conduct, fetters gain the upper hand. As a result, such a person becomes increasingly unable to understand the true state of things, and his behavior becomes more and more controlled by fluctuating desires and insatiable craving. Sivagrayogin classifies him as a prakrta, commenting that his thought, "like dream-knowledge," is a confusing mixture of knowledge and ignorance, and that he is proud of his "self," which he mistakenly identifies with his body, senses, and other impermanent derivatives of the material world (SPbh pp. 152–53). Fetters stifle the innate powers of his soul, and he spirals ever deeper into bondage.
In other persons, fetters "ripen" (paka) or are "consumed" (bhoga) through a combination of well-directed human action and divine grace. As a result, the grip of the fetters on such a person's soul loosens, and his innate powers are able increasingly to emerge. The emergence of powers, in turn, serves as the basis for further effort aimed at removing fetters, which reciprocally allows the person still greater access to his own formerly suppressed powers. According to Sivagrayogin's classification, this is the path followed by the vainayika, the one who is "purified in mind, speech, and body" by following the Saiva teachings, and who becomes truly knowledgeable both in worldly matters and in the Saiva system (SPbh pp. 152–53).
The end point of his increasing empowerment, when the fetters are completely removed and the soul's capacities are fully manifest, is liberation (moksa). This is the "victory" toward which the soul ought to direct all its efforts. At this point, the soul recovers its inherent omniscience and omnipotence and becomes fully equal in its powers to Siva.
Clearly, from the Saiva perspective it is desirable to tilt the scales in favor of the soul's innate powers. But how is this to be done? In contrast to some nontheistic Hindu schools, Saivas insist that it cannot be done entirely through human agency. Nor does it happen of its own accord. As AghoraSiva puts it,
Souls are not able to attain worldly pleasures or liberation themselves, since their own powers are not free due to bondage, just as a bound animal (pasu) like a ram cannot free itself. And fetters will neither act nor cease acting by themselves just for the sake of the soul, because they are inanimate (jada), just as a rope or the like will not untie itself. (TST 50–51)
If neither pasu nor pasa can decisively shift the balance, the task must be left to pati. Ultimately, it is only through Siva's grace (anugraha) that souls may escape fetters and realize their full powers. In the Sivapurana, Vayu uses the analogy of refining metal: "This soul, which must be purified, is purified only through contact with Siva. When a metal rod is placed in fire, it is the fire alone, not the metal, that brings about the burning" (SPur Vayaviya 1.31.46). AghoraSiva concludes, "So therefore, Siva himself is the one who brings about worldly pleasures and liberation for souls" (TST 50–51).
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Ritual in an Oscillating Universe by Richard H. Davis. Copyright © 1991 Princeton University Press. Excerpted by permission of PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS.
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