Introduction.

S'aiva-Siddhanta accepts three ultimate, distinct and primor­dial realities, namely, (i) Pati or Brahman identified with Siva,, (ii) paSu or the bound self, and (iii) pasa. or bond in the form of the world¹. Of them, pasu and paЈa are finite and depen­dent on Pati, while Pati is infinite and independent. Pati is the Absolute or the Lord, being the very source and ground of the other two. PaSu or the bound self, being under the grip of pasa or the world of enchantment, cannot realise the real nature of Pati and also of itself. In liberation, the self realises the nature of Pati as well as the true essence of its own being.

According to the S'aiva-Siddhantins, S'iva is endowed with two powers—cit-iakti or conscious power and acit-iakti or non-conscious power. Usually, the cit-sakti is called §akti and the acit-iakti, maya. Maya, the non-conscious power of Siva, is eternal, pervasive, beginningless and endless. It is not an effect, as it has no material cause. II is the root-cause and material of the world. It is pervasive, since it permeates all its effects. It is devoid of the gunas. or qualities of sattva, raj as and' tamas, as distinct from prakfti which is of the nature of these three gunas. Maya has two phases : pure and impure. From the pure phase of it, the bodies of the five pure principles of Siva, S'akti, Sadasiva, Isvara and S^uddhavidya are produced, while from its impure phase, the five kaftcukas and the impure principles evolve².

Nature of the Self

In the view of the S'aiva-Siddhantins, the bound self is no­thing but Siva confined by the kaftcukas. The impure rr gya energised by Siva's power creates kala or time, niyati or destiny, kala or limited creative power, vidya or limited knowledge, and raga or attachment. Thus, impure maya first creates the principle of kala or time which helps production. After the creation of time, maya produces niyati which determines casual relation i. e. relation of dharma and adharma with their effects. After the production of niyati, maya brings forth kala which attaches anava-mala to the bound selves and manifests their limited agency. After kala, comes forth vidya of the nature of manifestation, which manifests limited knowledge and establishes a relation between it and the objects. After vidyft, emerges raga which manifests attachment and causes the self to perform voluntary actions. These five principles of kala, niyati, kala, vidya and raga are called five kancukas, S'iva confined by these five kaficukas assumes the state of purusa-tattva or the bound self, the experiencer of pleasure, pain etc³. Accordingly, purusa or the bound self is an entity which is both pure and impure ; it shares both the aspects of Siva and the five kancukas evolving from the non-conscious power of Siva.

According to the ^aiva-Siddhantins, the self is of the nature of consciousness. In its essence,it shares the nature of Siva and is, therefore omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient and eternal. But because of its relation with the kancukas, it become limited or atomic, as a result of which, it is endowed with limi'ed know­ledge and power, and is subjected to birth and death⁴. It is objected that the self, being of the nature of S'iva, cannot be related to the bonds. To this, the S'aivites reply that the relation between the self and the bond is without any beginning, and is, therefore, not produced by any cause. The bonds or pasas which bind the self are, according to Mfgendra-Tantra, four in number, namely malaja or born of nescience, karmaja or born

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of merits and demerits, mayiya or born of the subtle and gross bodies, and tirodhayaka or Siva's power of veiling. Of them, mala or nescience which is innate and beginning-less is the principal bond for it is nescience that veils the knowledge of the self.⁵

Though during bondage the self, being influenced by taints, is not similar to Siva, in liberation it regains the nature of S'iva by his grace. The self is, thus, not eternally free, while S'iva is, since he is untouched by taints⁶. The selves are different in different organisms, and are, therefore, many. They are of three classes, namely, vijTiana-kala or those tainted only with mala, pralaya-kala or those tainted with mala and karma, and sakala or those tained with mala, karma and maya⁷. The Mfgendra-Tanira holds that the individual self is always endowed with consciousness and knowledge. Consciousness is an essential attribute of the self, and not an adventitious one, as is held by the Naiyayikas. The self is essentially conscious and active. Further, it is all-pervasive, eternal, omniscient and omnipotent. It is held that the self is said to be endowed with these charac­teristics on the basis of the Sruti which declares that with the destruction of the bonds in liberation the self becomes similar to Brahman and is endowed with the qualities of all-pervasive­ness purity, eternality, omniscience and omnipotence. And as a non-existent entity cannot be produced afresh, these natures manifested in liberation are to be regarded not as acquired, but as essential to the self⁸.

The self attains liberation when its bonds or pa&as are des­troyed. The Mrgendra-Tantra says that the practice of eight­fold yoga is the means for attaining liberation. Ultimately, however, Siva is the cause of the self's liberation, since it is by the grace of S"iva that the self attains liberation⁹.

The Self and S'iva

The relation between Siva and the self is one of difference and non-difference. During the state of bondage, pafu or

the bound self is different from S'iva, but yet it is not wholly different from him, because it is Siva who becomes the selfunder the influence oi" the beginningless taints or bonds¹⁰.

In liberation, the self becomes one with Siva, but yet the former remains in the eternal service to the latter. Here the self is said to become one with S'iva not in the sense that it is totally identical with S'iva, but in the sense that it does not look upon itself as other than oiva. The Siddhgntins use the term 'advaita' to denote the relation between the self and Brah­man or S'iva, where the term 'advaita' means not one-ness, but non-duality or ananyatva. In the words of Mr Sivaraman, "It is not negation of two but a case of negation of duality entailed by two. Not-being-two in the sense of positive one­ness is not affirmed of Brahman, but only duality is denied of it. This implies that the relation between Brahman and the self is neither external nor internal, neither bheda nor abheda'"'¹¹.

REFERENCES

1. gaivagamesu muWiyam pati-pasu-pasa Hi kramat tritayam. tatra pati i siva uktah pasavo hy-aijavo'rtha-paBcakam pasah—Tp, 5.

2. K. Sivaraman, Saivism in Philosophical Perspective, p. 478.

3. pumso'jSa-kartrtartham mayatas tattva-paBcakam bhavati. kalo niyatis ca tatha kala ca vidya ca ragas ca—TV, 22.

4. See Vrtti on Mrgendra-Tantra, i. 7 ; sa ca saktih sarva-jnana-kriya- riipa sivavat sarvanunam vidyate—Vrtti on ibid, Vidya-pada, 42, 4. 2

5. Tatparya-dipika on Tp, 5 ; anadi-mala-sambandhat malinatvam aitau sthitam—quoted in ibid', pasas caturvidhahi syuh purf.so mala-karma- jau matau prathamau. mayiya-tirodhayaka-siva-sakti-samud-bhavau canyau—Tp, 17.

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6. 7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

The Self in Indian Philosophy

cf. muktatmano'pi iivafj kimtv-ete tat-prasadato muktaft ;—Tp, 6.

pasavas trividha jneya vijSana-pralaya-kevalau sakalalj. malayuktas

tatradyo mala-karma-yuto dvitlyalj syat. mala-maya-karma-yutah

sakalafc—TP, 8-9.

Mr.gendra-Tantra and Vr.tti, i. 7.

See ibid, yoga-pada ; ete tat-prasadato muktati—TP, 6.

pasante sivata-Srutefc—Mrgendra-Tantra \. 7 ; atyanta-pari suddhat-

mety-ato'yam siva ucyate—quoted in Tatparya-dipika on Tp, 6.

Sivaraman, op cit, pp. 143-4.

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THE SELF IN