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It should be noted that the analogies of river uniting with sea, hailstone melting in a pond and the like, must not be misinterpreted to mean that the liberated soul passes from one place to another in order to unite with Linga. Such a passage is actually conceived by the Agamic Vīrašaivas, who regard sayujya, not, sâmarasya, as the supreme goal of life. The soul eligible for mokṣa moves after the death of the body from the mortal world to Kailāsa. The concept of sayujya is congruent with the concept of transcendent God, whose abode is Kailäsa. But since the Lingayatas believe in the omnipresent Linga, they cannot think of a passage of the soul from a Godless place to Kailāsa, where it gains proximity (sāmipya) to God and, though it attains pure form (sårūpya) of God it remains aloof from him. The union of anga and Linga is best expressed by employing the analogy of parts of space uniting with the greater space. When the pots, jars, houses, etc which contains limited parts of space are destroyed the parts of space merge in the greater space without traversing any distance. So also, the souls transcend their limitations and merge in the cosmic soul without traversing any
distance.
From the foregoing discussion it follows that according to Lingayatism, man is a synthesis of physical, biological, psychological and spiritual forces, which can work alternatively: left to themselves, they bind us to the sorrowful samsāra for ever; or, if they are controlled and guided to flow in the right direction or made to manifest their hidden nature, we cease to be separate form Linga and consequently form sorrow, and attain eternal blissful union with Linga. The forces, which bind us to samsāra, are the same forces, which liberate us.
Secondly, man is already divine and what is in Linga is also in arga, like gold present in golden ornaments. Because of forgetfulness (marevu) or ignorance (avidyā) he has forgotten his original nature. Șat-sthala-yoga is the way of recollecting one's original nature.
Thirdly, Şat-sthala-yoga is able to strike a balance between worldly life and a life of renunciation, as a result of which it looks neither abnormal nor impracticable nor irrational SYNTHESIS:
For a Şat-sthala-yogi, who wants to attain the original blissful union with Linga, his life from the earliest spiritual life to the stage in which he attains it his entire
