Paśu-Pāśa-Pati

Paśu-Pāśa-Pati is the basic three-part teaching of Śaiva Siddhānta, as explained in the Vāyavīya Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa. Paśu is the bound soul, the jīva. Pāśa is the bond, the fetters that tie the soul to saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death). Pati is Śiva, the Master who sets the soul free.

All Śaiva sādhanā (spiritual practice), from dīkshā (initiation) and shaḍadhva śodhana (purifying the six paths) to japa and yoga, aims to cut the pāśa. Then the paśu recognises its true identity as Pati, or rather, becomes one with Pati through Śiva’s anugraha (grace).

The Three Realities

Pati: Śiva, the Master

Pati is Śiva in his supreme aspect, the free and self-shining reality (svatantra-cetana). He is:

  • Nirguṇa: beyond the three guṇas (qualities of nature); pure awareness without limit
  • Saguṇa: with qualities; the gracious Śiva who shows himself as the Pañcabrahma (five faces), the ashṭamūrti (eight forms), and as the universe itself
  • Ksharāksharapara: beyond both the perishable (kshara, which is prakṛti, nature, and all that comes from it) and the imperishable (akshara, the unmanifest)
  • The one who carries out all five divine works: sṛshṭi (creation), sthiti (sustaining), saṃhāra (dissolution), tirodhāna (concealment) and anugraha (grace)

Śiva declares in the Vāyavīya: “I am neither guṇa, nor form, nor activity — I am the witness of all, the ground of all, the joy in all. I do not create out of want or need; creation flows from my playful will (līlā).”

Paśu: The Bound Soul

Paśu means “that which is bound” (from the root paś, to bind). It is the jīva, the individual soul, in its limited state of avidyā (ignorance), also called āṇavamala. The Vāyavīya Saṃhitā says the paśu’s bondage comes from three main pāśas (fetters):

  1. Āṇavamala: the first impurity, of smallness; the sense “I am limited, incomplete, separate from Śiva”
  2. Māyāmala: taking oneself to be māyā and what it produces (body, mind, ego, world)
  3. Kārmamala: the leftover traces of karma from past lives

In the bound state, the jīva takes itself to be the ego, feels itself to be a separate doer and enjoyer (kartā and bhoktā), and wanders through the cycle of saṃsāra.

Pāśa: The Bonds

The pāśas (bonds or fetters) are the forces and structures that keep the paśu in ignorance. The Vāyavīya names the main pāśas as:

  • Māyā: the creative power that makes limitation and separation appear. It is described as one with Mūlaprakṛti (root nature), and as the liṅga (Śiva’s creative śakti) in the Śaiva teaching on the liṅga
  • Kāla (time), Niyati (fate), Kalā (limited power to act), Vidyā (limited knowledge) and Rāga (attachment): the five kañcukas (sheaths) that shrink the paśu’s limitless abilities into limited ones
  • The three guṇas: sattva, rajas and tamas, which colour all experience and keep rebirth going

Shaḍadhva śodhana (the purification of the six paths) and dīkshā are made precisely to burn away these pāśas.

The Path to Liberation

The Vāyavīya Saṃhitā presents liberation not as the destruction of the paśu, but as its purification, until it sees that its true nature is not different from Pati. Among Śiva’s five works, anugraha (grace) is the last and most important. Without Śiva’s grace, no amount of effort can cut the pāśas.

The Role of Dīkshā

Dīkshā (initiation) is the act by which Śiva, working through the guru, directly cuts the main bond, āṇavamala. The guru is not only a teacher. He is Śiva’s instrument, passing śakti (divine power) straight into the śishya (disciple). After dīkshā:

  • The śishya is a paśu on the way to freedom (a mumukshu, one who longs for liberation)
  • The remaining pāśas are weakened but not yet removed
  • Continued practice (japa of the pañcākshara, dhyāna, caryā and yoga) slowly burns away the bonds that remain

Śaktipāta

The Vāyavīya teaches that liberation depends in the end on śaktipāta, the descent of Śiva’s śakti on the sādhaka (practitioner). Śaktipāta may be:

  • Tīvra (intense): liberation comes in this very life
  • Madhyama (moderate): liberation comes after a few more lives
  • Manda (gentle): liberation comes after many lives of slow purification

The guru’s Śāmbhavī dīkshā is the direct means of śaktipāta. Even without visible effort, a sādhaka on whom intense śaktipāta has come becomes a siddha (perfected one) at once.

Śiva on Both Sides of the Bond

A special teaching of the Vāyavīya is that Śiva himself is present on both sides of the paśu-pāśa-pati relation:

  • As Pati, he is free, limitless, self-shining awareness
  • As the ground of māyā, he is the source of the pāśa itself (through his power of concealment, tirodhāna-śakti)
  • As the giver of grace, he dissolves the very pāśas that he placed

“Śiva is the paśu’s imprisoner and Śiva is the paśu’s liberator — he plays both roles as a father disciplines and then comforts his child.”

The Six Aṅgas of Śaiva Jñāna

Chapter 11 of the Uttara Khaṇḍa lists six aṅgas (limbs or aspects) of Śaiva jñāna (knowledge), which match the paśu-pāśa-pati teaching directly:

  1. Jñāna: the knowledge of paśu, pāśa and pati itself
  2. Jñeya: what is to be known (Śiva as Pati)
  3. Anushṭheya: what is to be practised (the sādhanā)
  4. Adhikāra: eligibility (who is fit for sādhanā)
  5. Sādhana: the means (dīkshā, japa, yoga, caryā and kriyā)
  6. Sādhya: the goal (moksha, the freeing of the paśu from all pāśas)

This teaching lies beneath the whole structure of the Vāyavīya Saṃhitā.

Sources

  • Śiva Purāṇa, Vāyavīya Saṃhitā (Book 7), including Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 11