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9. SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
the dosas, stands like a man who has traversed a forest; he is kşemin with his mind concentrated on Rudra. All actions have ceased, and he is devoid of activity; he is sat with his mind firmly devoted to Rudra. All thoughts relating to pursuits of good and evil have ceased; and the Sadhaka is now vitasoka, free from anxious thoughts.'
Having reached this stage, the unerring devotee comes to the end of all forms of pain and misery through the grace of Maheśvara. This is duḥkhānta, but it is not a negative condition, as pointed out by Kaundinya. For emancipation is not merely absolute cessation of all forms of misery but the attainment of gunas or excellences, that is, the supernormal powers which figure so prominently in the Pasupata system.3
It will be seen that the interpretation of the Pasupata view of salvation as a condition devoid of the specific attributes of the soul, put forward by later writers like Bhaskara and Yamuna Muni, finds no support in the Pasupata Sutras and Kaundinya's commentary. The latter clearly states that, while in the Samkhya-Yoga view the emancipated beings abide in a condition similar to a swoon without the knowledge of self and others, the Mukta in the Pasupata view is fully endowed with knowledge.* The Pasupatas were, however, a very widely spread sect; and it is possible that there were adherents of the school who held views similar to those recorded by Bhaskara and Yamuna Muni.
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The Pasupata system is honourably mentioned along with the Vedas, Samkhya, Yoga, and Pañcaratra in the following verse cited by Aparaditya (12th century) in his commentary on Yajnavalkya Smrti 8. 7: aix : 0 वेदाः पाशुपतं तथा । अतिप्रमाणान्येतानि हेतुभिर्न विचारयेत् ॥ इति अनूष्यत्वेन हेत्वविचारणीयत्वेन च देवीपुराणयोगयाज्ञवल्क्ययोरदूष्यत्वेन तस्य स्मरणात्.
There is no doubt that the Pasupatas continued to be an influential sect till as late as the twelfth century. They as well as the Saivas regarded God (i. e. Śiva or Pasupati) as the efficient cause of the universe, unlike the Bhagavatas or Pañcaratras who regarded Vasudeva, the Supreme Soul, as both the efficient and the material cause of the universe, as pointed out by Samkara in his Bhasya on the Vedantasütras 2. 2. 37, 42. Aparaditya
1 Kaundinya 5. 39.
2 5. 40.
3_Kaundinya says : संहारं प्राप्तस्य निगळमुक्ताधिकारवन्मुक्तावतिशयितगुणप्राप्त्यर्थम् उच्यते गच्छेद् दुःखानामन्तम् ।
दुःखानामत्यन्तं परमापोहो गुणावाप्तिश्च परं भवतीति । तदुभयमपि इत एव भवतीति.
4 'अथ सांख्ययोगमुक्ताः किं न विशेषिताः । उच्यते - विशेषिताः । कथम् । तद्ज्ञानातिशयात् कथम् । सांख्ययोगमुक्ताः" कैवल्यगताः स्वात्मपरात्मज्ञानरहिताः संमूर्च्छितवत् स्थिताः । अस्य तु ज्ञानमस्ति ।' (5.39 ) ' एवं यत् सांख्यं योगश्च वर्षयति असगादियुक्ताः मुक्ताः शान्ति प्राप्ता इति, तदविशुद्धं तेषां दर्शनम् ।' ( 58 ).
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