Shaivite Hinduism Explained

We are immortal souls living and growing in the great school of earthly experience in which we have lived many lives. Vedic rishis have given us courage by uttering the simple truth, “God is the Life of our life.” A great sage carried it further by saying there is one thing God cannot do: God cannot separate Himself from us. This is because God is our life.

The Sanātana Dharma, or “eternal faith,” known today as Hinduism, is a family of religions that accept the authority of the Vedas. Its four principal denominations are Śaivism, Śaktism, Vaishnavism and Smārtism. The Supreme Deity for Vaiṣṇavites - Lord Vishnu is God. For Śaivites God is Śiva. For Śāktas - Goddess Śaktī is supreme. For Smārtas, liberal Hindus, the choice of Deity is left to the devotee.

Śaivism proclaims:God Śiva is Love, both immanent and transcendent, both the creator and the creation. This world is the arena of our evolution, which leads by stages to moksha, liberation from birth and death.Since the inner intent of all religions is to bind man back to God, Śaivite Hindus seek not to interfere with anyone’s faith or practice. We believe that there is no exclusive path, no one way for all.

God Śiva is all and in all, one without a second, the Supreme Being and only Absolute Reality. He is Pati, our Lord, immanent and transcendent. To create, preserve, destroy, conceal and reveal are His five powers. As Absolute Reality, Śiva is unmanifest, unchanging and transcendent, the Self God, timeless, formless and spaceless.He is our personal Lord, source of all three worlds.

Gaṇeśa, Kārtikeya, Indra, Agni and all the 330 million Gods of Hinduism are beings just as we are, created by Lord Śiva and destined to enjoy union with Him. The Gods are souls of high evolution.The devas are benevolent beings of light abiding in the higher Antarloka. They help to guide evolution from their world between births.

Our soul is God Śiva’s emanational creation, the source of all our higher functions, including knowledge, will and love. Our soul is neither male nor female. It is that which never dies, even when it’s four outer sheaths—physical, prāṇic, instinctive and mental—change form and perish as they naturally do.The soul body matures through experience,ultimately realizing Śiva totally in nirvikalpa samadhi.

Karma is not fate, for man acts with free will, creating his own destiny. The Vedas tell us, if we sow goodness, we will reap goodness; if we sow evil, we will reap evil. Reincarnation, punarjanma, is the natural process of birth, death and rebirth.At death, we leave the body through the crown chakra, entering the clear white light and beyond in quest of videhamukti.

The path of enlightenment is divided naturally into four stages: charyā -virtue and selfless service; kriyā -worshipful sādhanas; yoga - meditation under a guru’s guidance; and jñāna, the wisdom state of the realized soul. Jñāna is divine wisdom emanating from an enlightened being, a soul in its maturity, immersed in Śiva-ness, the blessed realization of God, while living out earthly karma.

There are three worlds of existence: the physical, subtle and causal, termed Bhūloka, Antarloka and Śivaloka. The Creator of all, Śiva Himself is uncreated.As supreme Mahādeva, Śiva wills into manifestation all souls and all form, issuing them from Himself like light from a fire or waves from an ocean.The universe ends at Mahāpralaya, when time, form and space dissolve in God Śiva.

The intrinsic and real nature of all beings is their soul, which is goodness. Ultimately, there is no good or bad. God did not create evil as a force distinct from good. He granted to souls the loving edicts of dharma and experiential choices, thus to learn and evolve.Āṇava, karma and māyā are the source of the seeming suffering.

When we act wrongly, we create negative karma for ourselves and must then live through experiences of suffering to fulfill the law of karma.God is the God of all—of the believers within all religions, and of the nonbelievers, too. God does not destroy the wicked and redeem the righteous; but grants the precious gift of liberation to all souls.

Dharma is God’s divine law prevailing on every level of existence, from the sustaining cosmic order to religious and moral laws which bind us in harmony with that order. When we follow dharma, we are in conformity with the Truth that inheres and instructs the universe, and we naturally abide in closeness to God. Adharma is opposition to divine law.

Good conduct is right thought, right speech and right action. It is virtuous deeds in harmony with divine law, reflecting the soul’s innate purity. Good conduct, or sadāchāra, for the Hindu is summarized in five obligatory duties, called pañcha nitya karmas.The yamas and niyamas are scriptural injunctions for all aspects of thought and behavior. They are advice and simple guidelines, not commandments.

Ahiṁsā, or non-injury, is the first and foremost ethical principle of every Hindu. It is gentleness and non-violence, whether physical, mental or emotional. It is abstaining from causing hurt or harm to all beings.The actions of all Hindus living in the higher nature are rendered benign, or Ahiṁsā. One would not hurt that which he reveres.

The two purposes of marriage are: the mutual support, both spiritual and material, of man and wife; and bringing children into the world. Marriage is a religious sacrament, a human contract and a civil institution.They are equal partners in joy and sorrow, companions and helpmates, yet their functions differ.The purpose of sexual union is to express and foster love’s beautiful intimacy and procreation.

A happy marriage is based first and foremost on a mature love, not a romantic ideal of love. It requires selflessness and constant attention. For marriage to serve its spiritual purpose to the highest, husband and wife should hold the same beliefs and share the same religious practices. Their harmony of minds will be reflected in the children.The couple should be prepared to work with their marriage.

Children are the greatest source of happiness in marriage. Householder life is made rich and complete when sons and daughters are born, when the marriage becomes a family and a new generation begins.The fundamental duty of parents is to provide food, shelter and clothing and to keep children safe and healthy. The second is to bestow education, including instruction in morality and religious life.

In the subconscious mind, there are subliminal traits or tendencies, called vāsanās, which shape our attitudes and motivations. The troublesome vāsanās clouding the mind must be reconciled and released.There are beneficial tantras by which absolution can be attained for unhindered living, including āyurveda, jyotisha, daily sādhana, temple worship, selfless giving, the creative arts and the several yogas.

Hindus celebrate life’s crucial junctures by holy sacraments, or rites of passage, called saṁskāras, which impress the subconscious mind, inspire family and community sharing and invoke the Gods’ blessings.Through Vedic rites and mantras, family members or priests invoke the Gods for blessings and protection during important turning points, praying for the individual’s spiritual and social development.

Festivals are special times of communion with God and Gods, of family and community sharing and sādhana.Among the major Deity festivals are Mahā Śivarātri, Vaikāsi Viśākham, Gaṇeśa Chaturthī, Skanda Ṣaṣṭhī, Kṛittikā Dīpam, Vināyaka Vratam, Ārdrā Darśanam and Tai Pusam.Besides the temple festivals, there is a multitude of home, community and national celebrations.

The Śiva temple is the abode of God Śiva and Gods and the precinct in which the three worlds consciously commune. The three pillars of Śaivism are the temples, the scriptures and the satgurus. These we revere, for they sustain and preserve the ancient wisdom. Śiva temples, whether they be small village sanctuaries or towering citadels, are esteemed as God’s home and consecrated abode.

The traditional rite of worship, called pūjā, is a sanctified act of the highest importance for the Hindu. It is the invoking of God Śiva and the Gods, the expression of our love, devotion and surrender.We worship God Śiva and the Gods who by their infinite powers spiritually hover over and indwell the image, mūrti, which we revere as their temporary body.

Temple worship is for all men and women at every level of spiritual development. Its meaning and experience deepen as we unfold spiritually through the service, devotion, yoga and enlightened wisdom. Every Śaivite home centers around the home shrine, a special room maintained to create a temple-like atmosphere in which we conduct pūjā, read scripture, perform sādhana, meditate, sing bhajana and do japa.

Certain men are by nature inclined toward realization of the Self, and disinclined toward desires of family, wealth and property. Some among them are sādhus dressed in white,living as anchorites in the seclusion of distant caves and remote forests or wandering as homeless mendicants, itinerant pilgrims to the holy sanctuaries of Hinduism. Others dwell assembled with fellow monastics, often in the āśrama.

The saints, sages and satgurus who commune with God and Gods through devotion and meditation are Hinduism’s holy men and women. We revere them and strive to follow their example and words of wisdom.It is very difficult to be so disciplined and devoted, and so we honor and love those who have attained God’s grace, and worship the Divine within them, not their personality or humanness.

The Vedas and Āgamas, revealed by God, are Hinduism’s sovereign scriptures, called śruti, “that which is heard.” Their timeless truths are expressed in extraordinarily profound mystical poetry known to man.Veda, from vid, “to know,” means “supreme wisdom or science.” Similarly, Āgama, which names the sacred sectarian revelations, means “descent of knowledge.In imparting religious practice, rules and doctrine, the Vedas are general and Āgamas specific.”

Smṛiti means “that which is remembered” and is known as “the tradition,” for it derives from human insight and experience and preserves the culture. While śruti comes from God and is eternal and universal, the ever-growing smṛiti canon is written by man.In addition to the epics, legends and supplements to the Vedas and Āgamas, there is a wealth of Hindu metaphysical, yogic and devotional writings.

Namaḥ Śivāya is among the foremost Vedic mantras. It means “adoration to Śiva” and is called the Pañchākshara, or “five-letters.” Om Namaḥ Śivāya is the most holy name of God Śiva, recorded in the Vedas and elaborated in the Śaiva Āgamas. Sages declare that mantra is life, action and love, that the repetition of mantra, japa, bursts forth wisdom from within.

At one end of Hinduism’s complex spectrum is monism, Advaita, which perceives a unity of God, soul and world, as in Śankara’s cosmic pantheism and Kashmīr Śaiva monism. At other end is dualism, dvaita—exemplified by Madhva —which teaches two or more separate realities.In between are views describing reality as one and yet not one, dvaita-advaita such as Rāmānuja’s Vaishnava Vedan­ta.

There are two Śaiva Siddhāṅta schools: pluralistic theism, in the lines of Aghoraśiva and Meykandar, and Tirumular’s monistic theism. While differing slightly, they share a religious heritage of belief, culture and practice. In South India, their points of agreement are summarized as guru, preceptor; Linga, holy image of Śiva; saṅga, fellowship of devotees; and valipadu, ritual worship.

Nātha means “lord or adept,” and sampradāya refers to a living theological tradition. Today two main Nātha streams are well known: the Nandinātha Sampradāya, made famous by Maharishi Nandinātha (ca 250 bce), and the Ādinātha Sampradāya, carried forth by Siddha Yogi Gorakshanātha (ca 900).Kailāśa Paramparā honors the illustrious Rishi Tirumular and his generations of successors.