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XXXVIII] Doctrine of the Pāśupata-sūtras 135
When the mind is purified, and one proceeds on the line of yoga with the Maheśvara, the supreme Lord, one attains various miraculous powers?.
The Maheśvara, regarded also as Brahman, is beginningless and indestructible; He is unborn and without any kind of attachment. When one knows the nature of the Lord, one should take refuge in Him and follow the practices described by Him in His scriptures.
The supreme Lord is regarded as producing and destroying all things out of His nature as a playful being. The Lord is supreme as he controls the movements and tendencies of all beings. His eternity consists in his continual knowledge and action, by which he pervades all. He is called Rudra because he is associated with fear on the part of all.
The supreme Lord, being in Himself, creates, maintains and destroys the universe, that is, in Him the universe appears and dissolves like the stars in the sky. God creates the world at His will, as the world of effects exists in His own power and energy, and remains also by virtue of His power.
In explaining the position further, it is said in the bhāsya (11. 5) that the category of Maheśvara is the all-pervasive one, and that the twenty-five categories like puruṣa, pradhāna, etc., are permeated by the supreme category. So also the category of the puruşa, being the category of the self, is the all-pervading one, and the twenty-four categories of pradhāna, etc., are permeated by puruṣa. So also in the field of the categories, the buddhi is allpervasive and the twenty-two other categories, beginning with ahankāra, are permeated by buddhi. So also the ahankāra is allpervasive and the eleven senses are permeated by it; so again the eleven senses are the all-pervasive ones and the subtle five tanmātras are permeated by them. So also in the case of gross matter, where the same processes may be assigned to ākāśa, vāyu, tejas, etc.
The question is raised as regards the starting-point of difference between the cause and the effect. The writer of the bhāşya (11. 5) says that it has to be understood on the analogy of a mixture of
1 See Pāśupata-sūtras I. 21-37. rutasya bhayasya drāvanāt samyojanad rudrah.
Pāśupata-sūtras II. 4 (commentary).
