Shiva is considered to be the Creator and the Created. Shiva means pure, auspicious. Shiva is one who is not affected by the 3 gunas of Sattva, Rajas and Thamas. Hence He is also referred to as Trigunateetha. Lord Shiva is the Supreme Reality, Eternal, Formless, Beginningless, Endless, Causeless, ever free and not limited by time and space. Shakti is the conscious energy of the Lord which pervades the whole universe.
Lord Shiva frees all souls from the bondage of birth and death. He assumes the form of a Guru due to his intense love for mankind. Maya is the cause of the universe and human beings go through endless cycles of birth and death due to their karma which is due to maya and avidya or ignorance.
The reason for its popularity is that its teachings and doctrines are considered to be very logical and scientific. There is no place for superstition or blind faith. It postulates three entities Lord, Jiva and the relationship between the two through maya. The jivas can transcend maya only by the grace of Lord Shiva through a guru who has already been liberated.
Liberation can be achieved through serving the Lord, performing devotional tasks, practice of yoga and meditation and through the path of knowledge. After liberation the jivas experience bliss and though duality between lord Shiva and the jiva still exists, the unity of experience prevails. The jivas who become free continue to live on the earth, maintaining inner purity and practicing austerities.
Siddha Yoga teachings stated that Self realization was the goal of all human beings and it could be achieved by all through ‘Shaktipat’ or spiritual initiation. By this we gain entry into our inner spiritual realms. Then through our spiritual practices, spiritual awareness unfolds. These teachings spring from the timeless scriptural traditions of Kashmir Shaivism as well as from the experience of various Siddha masters. It advocates scriptural study, meditation, chanting and selfless service as a means to self realization. There are two main saivite sampradayas known as
Nandinatha Sampradaya; traces its beginning to at least 200 BCE. Its founder and first known spiritual preceptor was the Maha Rishi Nandinatha. Nandinatha is said to have initiated eight disciples (Sanatkumar, Sanakar, Sanadanar, Sananthanar, Shivayogamuni, Patanjali, Vyaghrapada, and Tirumular) and sent them to various places to spread the teachings of non-dualistic Shaivism all over the world. Other popular Saivite sampradayas are Veerashaiva Samprdaya, Lingayat Sampradaya and Srouta Sampradaya. Also Nandinatha and Meykandar Sampradayas are associated with the Shaiva Siddhanta while Adinath Sampradaya is associated with Nath Shaivism.
Adinath Sampradaya; Shri Dattatreya, Matsyendra nath and Gorakshnath are ansha /Avatara of Shankar Himself. Shiva of Bhu Kailasa who does leelas, foremost amongst them are Navnath. Dattatreya also the Adi-Guru of the Adinath Sampradaya. Shri Dattatreya was merged Veda and Tantra to become one simple cult. Yogi Matsyendra Nath adopted both Vamachar and Dakshinachar.
There is lierature available called Gorakh Puran which details the leelas of great powerful Navnath and 84 Siddhas, and worship Shakti and Shiva equally and path is mainly Yog and Tantra based, The famous hath yoga is system of Nathas only. There have been many famous kings queens who took sanyas in Nath Sampradaya, like king Bhrit hari, our beloved Yogi Aditya Nath is bonafide nath Yogi. Read more about Nath Sampradaya :
Dattatreya is usually depicted with three heads, symbolising Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva; past, present, and future; and the three states of consciousness: waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep. He is portrayed sitting in meditation with his shakti beneath the audumbara (wish-fulfilling) tree. In front of him is a fire pit, and around him are four dogs. According to Brahma Purana, after an order from his father, sage Atri, Dattatreya sat on the banks of river Gautami and prayed to Shiva and finally earned the Brahmagyaan (Eternal Knowledge).
This is possibly the reason why Dattatreya is considered as Adisiddha in Nath Sampradaya. In the Bhagavata Purana, Dattatreya enumerates a list of his twenty-four gurus: earth, air, sky or ether, water, fire, sun, moon, python, pigeons, sea, moth, bee, bull elephant, bear, deer, fish, osprey, a child, a maiden, a courtesan, a blacksmith, serpent, spider, and wasp. The disciples of Dattatreya are: Sahasrarjun Kartavirya, Bhargava Parasuram, Yadu, Alarka, Ayu, Prahlad and Sankruti.
Main characteristic of Saivite Philosophy with an indepth focus on the four stages of Hinduism evolution, chariya, kriya, yoga and jnana. Many of the Agamas are now extant only in South India. Description of temple rituals and the correct achara to be used for the worship of different Gods and Goddesses in the Saiva pantheon is the primary concern of the Agama literature.
The Saiva Agamas form the foundation and circumference of all the schools of Saivism. The system of philosophy set forth in the Agamas is common to a remarkable degree among all these schools of thought. These Agamas are theistic, that is, they all identify Siva as the Supreme Lord, immanent and transcendent, capable of accepting worship as the personal Lord and of being realized through yoga. This above all else is the connecting strand through all the schools.
Philosophically, the Agamic tradition includes the following principal doctrines: 1) the five powers of Siva: creation, preservation, destruction, revealing and concealing grace; 2) The three categories, Pati, pashu andpasha: God, souls and bonds; 3) the three bonds: anava, karma and maya; 4) the three-fold power of Siva icchha, kriya and jnana shakti; 5) the thirty-six tattvas, or categories of existence, from the five elements to God; 6) the need for the satguru and initiation; 7) the power of mantra; 8) the four padas: charya, kriya, yoga and jnana.
Philosophy of Trika yoga practice which develops awareness of kundalini energy to the point where it flows without obstruction and gives rise to the experience of the infinite self, the spirit that underlies all reality. It puts us in touch with our subtle body which is a system of energy channels and chakras and gives us an understanding of the way it functions. As we stay attuned to this energy, we become established in a state of joy and well being.
The word ‘Trika’ means three fold. It is based on the three energies of Shiva para, parapara and apara(supreme, intermediate and lower or wordly. The Trika system helps us to rise from the lower wordly energy to the Supreme energy of Lord Shiva through the cognitive intermediate energy. Development of the intermediate cognitive energy through various methods is the goal of trika philosophy.
It considers the Shakti aspect or the phenomenal world as real which exists in Chit or consciousness. Its goal is to merge in Shiva or Universal Consciousness. This is done with the help of knowledge, yoga and divine grace. It is a monistic philosophy, all are one and that one is Shiva. Their devotion began with external worship leading to internal knowledge ending with communion and union with the Divine. Their hymns glorified the Vedas and the ancient sacred way of life.
Everyone is endowed with free will and all are essentially divine but are unaware due to ignorance which can be dispelled only by the light of knowledge. Divine grace or ‘shaktipat’ through an enlightened master eliminates this ignorance provided the disciple has totally surrendered to the Guru. It is believed that there are twenty-eight primary Saiva Siddhanta texts and over 200 upagamas (smaller texts) which define the rituals and methods to be employed in the worship of Sadasiva in temples.
Monism, dualism and philosophies in-between are all conveyed in the Saiva Agamas. The various schools based on Agamas similarly vary in philosophic stance. Kashmir Saivite tradition says that Siva revealed different philosophies for people of different understanding, so that each could advance on the spiritual path toward the recognition of the innate oneness of man and God.
Few worshipers of Siva are now or were in the past familiar with the Agamas. Reading and writing were the domain of a few specially trained scribes, and today the Agamas remain mostly on the olai leaves upon which they have been transmitted for generations. Agamic philosophy and practices are conveyed to the common man through other channels, one of which is the Saiva Puranas. These oral collections of stories about the Gods are interspersed with Agamic philosophy. For example, the Siva Purana proclaims: "Siva is the great atman because He is the atman of all, He is forever endowed with the great qualities. The devotee shall realize the identity of Siva with himself: 'I am Siva alone.'"
A second channel is the Saivite temple itself, for the construction of the temples and the performance of the rituals are all set forth in the Agamas -- in fact it is one of their main subjects. The priests follow manuals called paddhati, which are summaries of the instructions for worship contained in the Saiva Agamas, specifically the shodasha upacharas, or sixteen acts of puja worship, such as offering of food, incense and water. A third channel is the songs and bhajanas of the sants, which in their simplicity carry powerful philosophic import. A fourth is the on-going oral teachings of gurus, swamis, panditas, shastris, priests and elders. Saiva Siddhanta is rich in its temple traditions, religious festivals, sacred arts, spiritual culture, priestly clans, monastic orders and guru-disciple lineages.
Through history Saivism has developed a vast array of lineages and traditions, each with unique philosophic-cultural-linguistic characteristics, as it dominated India prior to 1100 from the Himalayas to Sri Lanka, from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea. Here we seek to present the essential features of six major traditions identifiable within the ongoing Saiva context: Saiva Siddhanta, Pashupata Saivism, Kashmir Saivism, Vira Saivism, Siddha Siddhanta and Siva Advaita.
It should be understood that this formal and somewhat intellectual division, however useful, is by no means a comprehensive description of Saivism, nor is it the only possible list. In practice, Saivism is far more rich and varied than these divisions imply. Take for instance the Saivism practiced by thirteen million people in Nepal or three million in Indonesia and fifty-five million Hinduized Javanese who worship Siva as Batara. Ponder the millions upon millions of Smartas and other universalists who have taken Ganesha, Murugan or Siva as their chosen Deity, or the legions of Ayyappan followers who worship devoutly in Lord Murugan's great South Indian sanctuaries.
Consider the fact that only a handful of Kashmir's millions of Siva worshipers would formally associate themselves with the school called Kashmir Saivism. Similarly, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where there are over fifty million worshipers of Siva, only a well-informed minority would knowingly subscribe to Saiva Siddhanta.
Such matters of agreement belie the fact that Saivism is not a single, hierarchical system. Rather, it is a thousand traditions, great and small. Some are orthodox and pious, while others are iconoclastic and even like the Kapalikas and the Aghoris fiercely ascetic, eccentric or orgiastic. For some, Siva is the powerful, terrible, awesome destroyer, but for most He is love itself, compassionate and gentle. For nearly all of the millions of Siva's devotees, Saivism is not, therefore, a school or philosophy; it is life itself. To them Saivism means love of Siva, and they simply follow the venerable traditions of their family and community.
Even though there is very little philosophical content in the Agamaic texts, yet it is widely agreed that the Saiva Agama-s have a dualistic worldview. There are three main components of this system: Shiva (pati), the fettered soul (pashu), and the factors that chain the soul (pasha). Thus Shiva is the Lord of all pashus or Pashupati.
Kashmiri Saiva texts record that the founder of this path was a great acarya named Amardaka, whose seat was located, some scholars believe, in modern-day Ujjain which is the primary center of the Mahakaleshwara jyotirlinga. Amardaka’s successor, Purandara, formed another sect of Siddhantika Saivism known as the Mattamayura which was predominant in Punjab region.
The third important sect that emerged from the lineage of Amardaka was the Madhumateya whose founder was Pavanasiva, and some of the royal dynasties of the Kalachuri in Central India adhered to this sampradaya. The two sampradayas born from Amardaka, and his original one, spread across Western and Southern India from Maharastra to Kerala, particularly in the Konkan belt, building monasteries for the monks of their order, in the form of rituals that are followed in Siva temples.
Less known facts about Sadhu Sanyasi Yogi
Authored by Anadi Sahoo
