sivasakti.net - Vira Shaivism. Part 2

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V I R A S H A I V I S M

PART 2
The Vacana-s are incandescent poems, full of humor, ridiculing the stupidity and vanity of people, and filled with the ardor of the search of Truth. Rising from all these, as an essence, is a monotheist path recommending the adepts to enter the terrible realm of personal, inner spirituality.

Here are a few examples: Ganacara wrote: "they say I was born, but I have no birth. O, Lord! They say I have died, but I have no death! O, Lord!"

Allama Prabhu, in his turn says: "when there was no beginning and no end, when there was no peace, no no-peace, when there was nothing, no no-nothing, when everything was un-created and un-ripen, You, Guheshvara (Shiva, as master of Mysteries), were alone, just with yourself, present on the same realm and in the same time not present."

Ironically, during the centuries that followed, the Vira Shaivism absorbed many of the things that Basavanna rejected.

Thus, the worship in the temple reappeared, the rituals, the institutionalization of the crucial guru-disciple relationship, in an exterior way. There were great efforts to derive the Vira Shaiva technology from the Hindu traditional scriptures.

Until those times, the lingayats, rejecting the Veda-s, have placed themselves outside the main Hindu stream, but through the acceptance of several Shaiva Agama - Saivit writings considered as having been revealed, they aligned themselves to other Shaivit groups.

The Vira Shaivits regard their belief as a distinct, independent religion. The original ideals remain however included in the lingayat scripture, which also contains the vacanas, the historic stories and the verse biographies.

Among the most important texts we may mention here the vacanas of Basavanna, "Mantragopya" by Allama Prabhu, "Karana Hasuge" by Cennabasavanna and the corpus of writings "Sunya sampadana".

The monist teist doctrine of the Vira Shaivism is named Shaktivisistadvaita, and is a version of modified non-dualism, also accepting the difference and the non-difference between the individual Self and the Divine, through the comparaison with the beams of the sun.

In short, Shiva or the cosmic force are one, (Shiva is you, and so you must come back, you must return to Shiva, to yourself - as the lingayat writings indicate).

However, Shiva is also beyond His creation, which is real not illusory. God is the effective cause as well as the material cause. The individual Self, in its liberated state attains the undifferentiated union with Shiva.

The Vira Shaiva saint Ranukacariya said: "just the water put in water, and the fire in fire, the individual Self that becomes one with Brahman, is not seen as being distinct from Him."

The true unity and identity between Shiva (Linga) and the individual Self (anga) is the goal of life described as sunya (the void), which is not an empty void, but a creative void, full of potentialities.

The adept becomes united with Shiva through satsthala, a progressive path, with six steps of devotion and abandon: bhakti (devotion), mahesa (disinterested service), prasada (honest search of Shiva�s grace), pranalinga (the experience of the Whole as being Shiva), sarana (refuge in Shiva) and aikya (uniqueness in Shiva).

Each phase brings the seeker closer and closer to the final goal, until the individual Self and God are unified into one final state of perpetual Shivaic consciousness, just as the rivers flow into the ocean.

The Vira Shaivism has the means to attain this purpose and these means depend on pancacara (five codes of conduit) si as�avarana (eight shields to protect the body as the abode of the Divine).

The five codes of conduit are: lingacara (the daily worship of shivalinga), sadacara (the attention towards vacation and duty), shivacara (the knowledge and acceptance of Shiva as unique God and equality among adepts), bhrityacara (humbleness in front of all creatures), and ganacara (the defense of the community and of the faith).

The eight shields are: guru, linga, jangama (the identification with the wandering monk, one having no possessions), paduka (the water from the ritualic bath of the guru�s linga or feet), prasada (the consecrated offering), vibhuti (the holly ashes), rudraksa (the holly seed) and mantra (Namah Shivaya).

Anyone can adopt the Vira Shaiva religion through a formal initiation, named linga diksa, a rite that replaces the traditional ceremony of the sacred belt, consenting in the same time to the daily wear and worship of a shivalinga.

The lingayat-s place a great deal of stress on this life, the equality of all the members, regardless of cast, education, sex, etc., on an intense social implication, and the service brought to the community. Their faith underlines the free will, asserts a determined world and confesses a pure monotheism.

Today, The Vira Shaivism is a vibrant belief, particularly powerful in its origin area, Karnataka, in Central and Southern India. Almost 40 million people live here, out of which approximately one fourth are lingayat-s.

One can hardly find a village in India without a jangama (lingayat monk) and a matha (monastery). On the occasion of a birth taking place in a lingayat family, the child is brought to their religion this very day, by a jangama, who offers the child a sivalinga in a pandant, attached to a belt. This is the linga the child will wear throughout his or her entire life.