________________
XXXVII] Saica Philosophy in the Sita-mahāpurāna 103 admitted by the followers of the Wādhva school of Vaişpavas. And this liberation is only granted by Siva who is beyond all the gunas of prakrti.
The ultimate nature of Siva is described here (IV. 41) as being changeless (nircikärin) and beyond prakti. He is of the nature of pure knowledge, unchangeable, all-perceiving. The fifth kind of liberation called the kaivalya can be attained only by the knowledge of Siva and His ultimate nature. The whole world springs out of Him and returns to Him and is always pervaded by Him. He is also designated as being the unity of being, consciousness, and bliss (sac-cid-ānanda); He is without any qualities or conditions, pure, and cannot be in any way made impure. He has no colour, no form and no measure. Words cannot describe Him and thoughts cannot reach Him. It is the Brahman which is also called Siva. Just as space (akāša) pervades all things, so He pervades all things. He is beyond the range of māyā and beyond conflict (dcandcātīta). He can be attained either through knowledge or through devotion, but the way of devotion is easier to follow than the way of knowledge. In the next chapter (IV. 42) it is said that it is from Siva, the ultimate Brahman, that praksti as associated with puruşa (individual souls) is produced. This evolution of prakrti as associated with puruşa is called the category of Rudra, which is onlr a transformation of Siva, the highest Brahman, just as golden ornaments may be regarded as transformations of gold. The formless Siva is considered as having a form only for the advantage of meditation.
All that one can know or see in the universe, in the highest or the lowest, is only Siva, and the character of things in their plurality is formed from Him. Siva alone remains the same unchangeable reality before the creation, and at the dissolution of the creation. The pure Siva is regarded as qualified only when one considers Him as being the possessor of sakti or energy with which in reality He is identical. It is through the will of Siva that all operations in the world can go on. He knows them all, but no one knows Him. Having created the world He remains away from it and is not involved with it. But it is in His form as pure consciousness that He is seen in and through the world, as the sun is seen in tasmāt praktir utpannā purusena samancitā.
Ibid. rv. 42. 3.
