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Vira-saivism
[CH. and the word gorakṣa also means the protector of the cattle. In the lexicons the word go means the name of a țși and also the name of cattle. There is thus an easy association of the word gorakṣa with the word paśupati. Gorakşa's views are also regarded as the views of Siddhānta. This reminds us of the fact that the Saiva doctrines of the South were regarded as having been propounded by Maheśvara or Siva in the Siddhāntas, an elaboration of which has elsewhere been made in this work as the Agama philosophy of the Siddhāntas. Only a few Sanskrit books on the philosophical aspects of the teachings of Gorakşa-nāth have come down to us. There are, however, quite a number of books in the vernaculars which describe the miraculous powers of the
ānphātā Yogis of the school of Goraksa-nāth, also called Gorākh-nāth.
One of these Sanskrit works is called Siddha-siddhāntapaddhati. It is there that the ultimate reality of the unmoved, and the immovable nature of the pure consciousness which forms the ultimate ground of all our internal and external experiences, are to be sought. It is never produced nor destroyed, and in that sense eternal and always self-luminous. In this way it is different from ordinary knowledge, which is called buddhi. Ordinary knowledge rises and fades, but this pure consciousness which is identified as being one with Siva is beyond all occurrence and beyond all time. It is, therefore, regarded as the ground of all things. It is from this that all effects, for example, the bodies, the instruments or the karanas (senses, etc.), and the agents, for example, the souls or the jīvas, shoot forth. It is by its spontaneity that the so-called God as well as His powers are manifested. In this original state Siva shows itself as identical with His śakti. This is called the sāmarasya, that is, both having the same taste. This ultimate nature is the original ego, called also kula, which shows itself in various aspects. We should distinguish this ultimate nature of reality, which is changeless, from the reality as associated with class concepts and other distinguishing traits. These distinguishing traits are also held up in the supreme reality, for in all stages of experience these distinguishing features have no reality but the ultimate reality, which holds them all in the oneness of pure consciousness. Since the distinguishing characteristics have no further reality beyond them than the unchangeable ground-consciousness, they ulti
