Pāśupata Yoga

Pāśupata Yoga is the highest path of yoga revealed by Bhagavān Śiva. Śiva is called Paśupati, “master of the paśus,” where paśu means the individual soul, bound like an animal by its ropes. Pāśupata Yoga is his path for freeing the soul. The Vāyu Purāṇa teaches it as a complete discipline. It covers prāṇāyāma (breath control), āsana (sitting posture), the obstacles and powers that come in yoga, and final liberation, all arranged under five basic dharmas.

The system teaches that Śiva himself is the prāṇa-ātmā, the life-breath and inner self, of all beings. So the inner fire offering made with the five prāṇas (life-breaths) is the highest form of upāsanā (worship).

The Five Pāśupata Dharmas

At the start of its section on yoga (beginning with the chapter on the Manvantaras), the Vāyu Purāṇa lists the five basic dharmas of the Pāśupata path:

1. Jñāna: spiritual knowledge; telling the real from the unreal
2. Dhyāna: meditation; steady contemplation of Parameśvara (Śiva, the Supreme)
3. Niyama: disciplined observances; the code of conduct of the Pāśupata sādhaka (practitioner)
4. Prāṇāyāma: control of the breath, the main method of this yoga
5. Vairāgya: dispassion; turning away completely from the objects of saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death)

Together these five make up the Pāśupata mārga (path). The one who masters all five reaches Rudraloka (the world of Rudra) and in the end sāyujya (union) with Mahādeva.

Prāṇāyāma: The Central Practice

Four Benefits of Prāṇāyāma

The Vāyu Purāṇa names four benefits that come, one after another, to the one who practises prāṇāyāma steadily:

1. Śāstrī: mastery of the śāstras (sacred texts); the practitioner gains an extraordinary memory and understanding of scripture
2. Praśāstrī: the ability to teach and explain; the Śāstrī becomes a Praśāstrī
3. Dīpti: radiance; the body begins to shine with an inner divine light (tejas)
4. Prasāda: grace and calm; the mind becomes completely peaceful

Three Levels of Prāṇāyāma

Prāṇāyāma is divided into three levels, by how long the breath is held (measured in mātrās, units of time):

Each level is also linked with particular mantra sounds and with particular degrees of the four benefits above.

Sitting Posture

The Purāṇa describes the proper āsanas for practice: seated postures on a mat of darbha grass or kṛshṇājina (the skin of the black antelope), in a clean and quiet place. The practitioner should sit with a straight spine and fix the gaze on the tip of the nose (nāsāgra-dṛshṭi) or on the point between the eyebrows (the ājñā region).

Side Effects and Remedies

During intense practice, some symptoms appear, and they should be understood:

• Tṛshṇā (great thirst): take warm milk
• Bhaya (fear without a cause): keep practising; the fear will fade
• Dosha-vṛddhi (the bodily doshas becoming disturbed): slow down the practice for a while

The Purāṇa assures the practitioner that these are not signs of failure but signs of progress.

Dhāraṇā, Yoga and Aiśvarya

The Vāyu Purāṇa gives an exact count:

• 12 prāṇāyāmas make 1 dhāraṇā (fixed concentration on one object)
• 12 dhāraṇās make 1 yoga (steady meditative absorption)
• 2 yogas make 1 aiśvarya (a state of divine mastery and more-than-human power)

So, step by step, 288 prāṇāyāmas of steady practice give one complete yoga, and 576 give the state of aiśvarya: mastery over the elements and over beings.

Obstacles in Yoga (Upasargas)

The Vāyu Purāṇa carefully lists the upasargas, the obstacles in yoga.

Outer obstacles include social distractions, attachment to family, and worry about honour and wealth.

Inner obstacles include:

• The seven sūkshmas (subtle elements) making themselves felt: earth (pṛthivī), water (jala), fire (agni), air (vāyu), space (ākāśa), mind (manas) and intellect (buddhi). Each of these can become something one gets attached to, pulling the practitioner back into gross experience.
• Unhealthy states: things seen and heard that are not really there, and sensations in the body. These arise and should simply be watched without reacting.

Unusual experiences come as side effects of yoga and must not be mistaken for liberation. They include seeing far-off things, smelling divine fragrances, hearing divine music, and seeing divine beings.

The practitioner who stops at these states falls back into saṃsāra. The true practitioner keeps going.

The Eight Siddhis of Yoga

Chapter 13 of the Vāyu Purāṇa presents the eight classic siddhis (powers) of yoga:

The eight siddhis are arranged in three levels:

• Sāvadya: siddhis gained while faults (doshas) still remain; they do not lead to liberation, only to greater enjoyment
• Niravadya: siddhis gained without faults; these are stable
• Sūkshma: the innermost siddhi, the recognition that one’s own ātmā is Rudra; this alone leads to Rudraloka

The perfected yogī who has the sūkshma siddhi conquers death and lives in a state that cannot be told apart from Śiva’s own consciousness.

Saṃsāra and Liberation

The Wheel of Saṃsāra

Chapter 14 describes the wheel of rebirth as having fourteen stations, from highest to lowest. The stations named are:

1. Birth as Brahmā (the highest devas)
2. Indra and the hosts of devas
3. Gandharvas
4. Yakshas
5. Rākshasas
6. Asuras
7. Nāgas
8. Human beings, the turning point
9. Paśus (animals)
10. Pakshins (birds)
11. Reptiles and insects
12. Plants
13. Beings that cannot move (sthāvara)

Each soul passes through these stations according to its karma. Human birth is the only station from which a person can choose to rise upward through yoga.

Narakas

The Purāṇa names several narakas (places of punishment after death) for particular kinds of pāpa (wrongdoing):

• Asipatra: a forest of trees with leaves like sword blades; for those who did violence to the innocent
• Kumbhīpāka: being boiled in iron pots; for those who killed cows or brāhmaṇas

Inner Fire Offering to Vaiśvānara

Chapter 15 presents the highest inner practice: offering the five prāṇas into Vaiśvānara, the universal fire within:

For the advanced Pāśupata sādhaka, this inner yajña (sacred offering) takes the place of all outer fire rituals. The body itself becomes the altar (yajña-kuṇḍa), the prāṇas are the offerings, and the one who receives them is Śiva as the prāṇa-ātmā.

The Purāṇa also identifies Oṃ with Rudra: “Oṃkāra eva Rudro’smi”, “I am Rudra as the syllable Oṃ.” The practitioner who meditates on Oṃ as the prāṇa within the heart realises that the individual prāṇa is one with Mahādeva.

The Code of the Sannyāsī and Yati

Chapters 16 to 18 give the practical code for the Pāśupata yati (renunciant).

Foods allowed for the yati: yavāgū (thin rice gruel), takra (thin buttermilk), mudga (green gram) and seasonal fruits. All food is to be received through bhikshāṭana (going for alms) from pure households.

The Cāndrāyaṇa Vrata: a strict fast in which the amount of food rises and falls with the moon: one mouthful on the first tithi (lunar day), two on the second, and so on through the lunar month. This is the main prāyaścitta (act of atonement) for a yati’s faults.

Tridaṇḍa: the three daṇḍas (staffs) stand for control over the three instruments of action: vāk (speech), karma (bodily action) and manas (thought). The Purāṇa says: “The one who controls all three daṇḍas does not return to the cycle of birth and death.”

Ten yamas and niyamas for renunciants: the five yamas (restraints), ahiṃsā (not harming), satya (truthfulness), asteya (not stealing), brahmacarya (celibacy) and aparigraha (not possessing); and the five niyamas (disciplines), śauca (purity), santosha (contentment), tapas (austerity), svādhyāya (study of scripture) and Īśvara-praṇidhāna (surrender to Īśvara).

Parakāya-Praveśa: Entering Another Body

Chapter 12 describes a special siddhi: the power to enter another’s body. The advanced yogī makes his prāṇas so refined that they can leave the body at will. He can then enter a dead or empty body and bring it to life for a time, using this for teaching, healing or a mission. This power comes after long practice of dhāraṇā.

Rudraloka-Prāpti: Reaching the World of Rudra

The final goal of Pāśupata Yoga is Rudraloka-prāpti, reaching the world of Rudra. The yogī who completes the whole system (the five dharmas, prāṇāyāma rising to dhāraṇā, yoga and aiśvarya, the inner fire offering, and the realisation of Oṃ as Rudra) goes directly to Rudraloka. From Rudraloka, sāyujya (union) with Mahādeva is within reach.

Sources

• Vāyu Purāṇa, Chapter 10
• Vāyu Purāṇa, Chapter 11
• Vāyu Purāṇa, Chapter 12
• Vāyu Purāṇa, Chapter 13
• Vāyu Purāṇa, Chapter 14
• Vāyu Purāṇa, Chapter 15
• Vāyu Purāṇa, Chapters 16–18
• Vāyu Purāṇa, Chapter 20