T H E   P A S H U P A T A   S H A I V I S M

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The Pashupata group is the oldest known Shaivit group, made of ascetic monks. Their name derives from Pashupati, a name of Shiva , meaning the "lord of animals", in fact of all creatures.

The members of the Pashupata Shaivism were said to have wandered across the country, making the dust of the roads rise, having with them their iron tridents or solid cans, their hair oiled and wild, or kept in a loop, their faces burning with intense devotion, and having keen eyes that see Shiva more than the surrounding world. They wore deer leather or bark on their hips.

The Pashupata were the devotees (bhakta-s) and the white magicians of Shiva, estranged from a Vedic society dominated by priests.

The religious unrest from India intensified with the coming over the Ganga’s field of the two waves of agama-ic Shaivit and Buddhist theism.

The Pashupata’s evolution and way of life were described by several historians of the time, who sometimes were hostile and left an ambiguous impression on their life and philosophy.

Initially, the Pashupata’s would allow anyone to follow their path, disregarding their caste and social status.

However, once the Pashupata’s popularity increased, a great number of Brahmins joined this movement in order to worship Shiva in unconditional abandon.

So, in many cases it became preferable for a Pashupata to come from the Brahmin caste. The relationship between these Pashupata monks and the sadhu-s covered in ashes is uncertain. They may be the same or they may be different.

The Pashupata sadhu-s imposed religious respect wherever they would go. Their path was tough, a path of destroying the ego, designed to infuse the seeker with the karunya (Shiva’s compassionate grace).

Their austerity was combined with rites ( puja ) of worship devoted to Shiva, with a profound awareness of the Cosmos as being the perpetual becoming of Shiva, and with a playful spirit of love for Him.

The sadhana (spiritual practice) usually begun with the deepening of an ethical code (yama and niyama), the accent being laid on brahmacarya (abstinence, continence ), ahimsa (nonviolence) and tapas (discipline and austerity).

As it was detailed in their scriptures, their discipline was practiced on stages. For the beginning they would assume various vows, and would practice various techniques for the release of energy blockages.

These techniques included laughing, singing, dancing, all impregnated with the shaivic spirit.

In the next stage, they disappeared into society and lived incognito. Here, they would practice various shocking actions, with the purpose of attracting public disapproval and condemnation, gossiping, making strange sounds while in public, snoring, walking about as if they had been crippled, and so on.

This sadhana was a means of self-purification, of annihilating the ego, of eliminating of the instinctual need of being accepted in a group and in society, and to implant into the subconscious the idea that liked or disliked, good or bad, all the opposites are equivalent if one’s love for Shiva is truly powerful.

This stage of their practice was designed to break their ties with society and even with one’s own attachment for the human situation in which they appeared in this world.

Coming back to their sadhana, the Pashupata’s were said to perform various austerities, and to abandon any other action in order to practice kundalini yoga, so that they would come ever closer to Shiva.

When this union with Shiva grew in maturity, they would obtain super-natural powers (siddhis).

The Pashupata’s believed that when a person was firm in his or her virtue, and capable of serenely taking any abuse and insult, that person is well-established on the path as an ascet.

Shri Kaundinya wrote in his commentary from the VIth century, Pancartha Bhashya on the Pashupata Sutra that the Pashupata yogi "must appear as a lunatic, a beggar, with a dirty body, grown beard, long hair and nails, with no care whatsoever towards outward appearance. Thus, the devotee cuts off his or her access to fortunes (varna) and possessions (ashrama), and only thus is the power of detachment truly produced".

Pashupata-ism is first of all an ascetic path that does not value dialectic logic and values instead sadhana as a means of obtaining Shiva’s grace.

The seekers on this path embrace strict vows regarding the observance of the ethical code yama and niyama, their sadhana ranging from "action" to "non-action".

Their devotional actions included puja, penitence's, Namah Shivaya japa, wearing the sacred ashes, and the proof of their infinite love for Shiva.

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