’ T HE WORSHIP of Siva consists in delivering over to a Siva-Iinga or the like purified substances according to one’s own volition, with faith, and accom panied by activities of mind, speech, and body, such as particularly medita tions, mantra recitations, and mudrds, and accompanied also by the various auxiliaries of worship preceding and following it" (§SPbh p. 37). As in many Hindu schools of ritual, the Smva author Suryabhana defines piija by its core action: the “delivering over” (samarpana) or “presentation” (dana) of substances to the god. He regards other ritual actions such as self-purifi cation and invocation, which have occupied our attention in previous chap ters, as “auxiliaries” that establish the setting in which the transactions be tween human and god may take place. The central and irreducible act of worship occurs only when the worshiper presents his “services” (upacara) or tokens of homage to Siva.
As with any gift, there are three main participants in the presentation of piija: the giver, that which is given, and the recipient. The worshiper, as donor, gives substances and services to Siva, the recipient. For Śaiva siddhanta philosophy, the three parties in the transaction here are, at the same time, the three fundamental categories of the universe. The worshiper who makes the gifts is an embodied soul (pasu), the substances given to Siva are objects of the material cosmos (pasa), and the recipient is the Lord Siva (pati), taking up temporary residence in the linga. When the worshiper presents offerings to the linga, it is soul, substance, and Siva that are brought into relation with one another.
The transactions between the worshiper, the offerings, and Siva during daily worship reflect and express the basic relationships between the three categories of being. For Suryabhatta, the essential character (svabhava) of each participant determines the role it assumes during worship. Siva is the highest Lord, and therefore he is always “to be served” by other conscious beings. So in piija, Siva receives the prestations of those dependent beings. The worshiper is a bound soul, inferior and subservient to his Lord, and consequently he should always remain “fixed in service” toward Siva. Even though the rites of atmasuddhi and invocation have reduced the difference between worshiper and god, their fundamental hierarchical relation persists. In daily worship the worshiper instantiates in a whole series of offerings and actions his attitude of respectful service. And the offerings themselves are the impure, inanimate derivatives of maya, which “should be delivered over to Siva’s feet” (SSPbh p. 37).
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In its simplest formulation, then, Śaiva siddhanta portrays the transac tions of nityapuja as an enactment of the most fundamental relations of the cosmos.
THE THREE CATEGORIES, INTERRELATED
While Sflryabhatta is basically correct in his summary, he oversimplifies both the ontological relationships between the three categories of being and also the transactions established between the three participants in worship. The material world, of which worship offerings are a part, cannot simply be “delivered over” to Siva. Siva is pure; the material world derived from maya is impure. Siva’s essential nature is cit; the material world is made up of jada. The relationship between Siva and substance is too problematic to allow a simple, unmediated delivery of one to the other. Nor can the wor shiper act solely and simply as a servant to Siva. As a bound soul partaking of both consciousness and material fetters, his situation is too ambiguous to allow him the passivity and simplicity of service; his relation to Siva is more complex than that. In both cases, there are complications in the relations between categories of Śaiva metaphysics that we must examine more closely, both as a theoretical concern of jMna and as a practical matter for the krtya of daily worship.
Siva and the Material World
As I have described previously, Śaiva metaphysics posits a firm ontological separation between Siva and the material world. Siva, whose essential form is consciousness (cit), is an animate being whose powers of agency are not constrained by any obstruction. The material world, composed of inanimate substance (jada), is inert stuff that acts only when acted upon by some force or agency outside itself. Siva is essentially one, integral; the material world is a multifarious combination of mixed constituents. Siva is eternal and tran quil; the material world restlessly oscillates between moments of emission and reabsorption, creation and destruction. The two categories might appear to have nothing in common. Yet they inhabit the same universe and neces sarily become involved with one another.
Śaiva philosophy displays two seemingly opposite views concerning the relationship of Siva with the material world. On the one hand, the texts frequently stress his aloofness from matter. Siva is, and always has been, free from all blemishes. As the only being “liberated without beginning” (anadimukta), Siva has never been contaminated by any of the fetters that condemn other souls to lifetimes of bondage. Siva surpasses (atita) or tran
scends the constituents of material being and thereby maintains his state of utter purity.
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On the other hand, texts just as often point to diva’s ubiquity and to his all-performing agency. Siva pervades (vyapti) the cosmos; he is omnipres ent. If he is present everywhere, Siva could hardly remain outside all mate rial creation. Similarly, Siva is the agent (Jcartr) of all creation. Through his activities of emission, preservation, and reabsorption, Siva sets the ele ments of the material cosmos in motion. Not simply present in creation, Siva appears to be its most essential controlling agent, the instrumental cause of the material world.
By turns Siva is said to be aloof and pervasive, outside and within the cosmos. He seems to take a hands-off approach to the created universe, and yet also to involve himself intimately in its most basic processes. How can Śaiva siddhanta reconcile these two apparently contradictory depictions of Siva’s relation to the world of inanimate substance? Does he participate in it, or does he not?
The simplest answer to this apparent dilemma locates it as yet another example of Siva’s incomprehensibility to bound souls. Siva, after all, “sur passes the purview of speech and mind.” It is a measure of his greatness that he encompasses categories or attributes that we with our limited powers of knowledge regard as antithetical. As his exploits narrated in the puranas also attest, Siva MaheSvara can be simultaneously auspicious (ίινα) and fear some (raudra), ascetic and erotic, male and female, and so on. Both purity and pervasion, separation and participation are true attributes of Siva; the habits of thought by which we see these as incompatible with one another result from our bondage. The problem, to put it most simply, lies in our intellects, not in Siva’s character.
This answer does not fully satisfy the Śaiva siddhantins, for they develop in greater detail two other theological solutions to the problem of Siva’s participation in matter. These two solutions focus not on the epistemic limi tations of paSus, but rather on ontological differentiations within the two categories of pati and pasa. In both cases, these differentiations play a me diating role; they introduce hierarchized gradations into otherwise distinct categories and thereby enable Siva to participate and not participate in mat ter simultaneously.
The first solution has to do with the emanating nature of Siva’s lordship. As discussed in the preceding chapter, Siva employs many instruments and agencies to cany out his multifarious activities in the world. He makes use to begin with of the seventy million mantras. To perform the five fundamen
tal activities, for instance, he uses the five brahmamantras that together constitute the five faces of Sadasiva. Sakti acts as his “instrument” (karana), taking on many differing forms according to what needs to be done. Siva also engages the assistance of other powerful beings—VidyeSvaras, Ka
raneSvaras, World Guardians, and others of that ilk—to administer his com mands in other domains. This theological portrait of Siva’s emanating lord-
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ship is best illustrated in the ritual spaces constructed by the worshiper in rlityapiija. Siva sits at the center of these constructions, amidst concentric circles of increasingly active, differentiated entourages. Siva is still; he acts through these other agencies, which are “drawn out” from him.
By postulating this heuristic distinction between Siva and the instrumen talities that emanate from him, Śaiva siddhanta is able to describe Siva as simultaneously “peaceful” (santa) and “all-accomplishing” (sarvakartr). In himself Siva remains absolutely aloof from material creation, a transcendent ParamaSiva. Yet to cany out his far-reaching actions in the world, he em ploys mediating powers and beings, through which he pervades and acts upon every part of the material cosmos, a fully engaged immanent divinity.
This first solution to the paradox of Siva’s presence in the world is impor tant, as we have seen, in the rite of invocation, but it does not have major consequences for the offering of worship. It is the second solution that has greater bearing on the services.
The second solution has to do with gradations of purity and impurity within the material cosmos. Here we must begin with the principle of emis sion and reabsorption, as outlined in Chapter 2. Generally, we saw, the path of emission moves in a direction of greater differentiation, less subtlety, and greater impurity; the path of reabsorption leads toward integrity, subtlety, and purity. This can be seen clearly in the case of the constituents of the material cosmos, the tattvas. At one end of the scale, undifferentiated maya is completely pure; at the other end, the five Elements (bhiitas) are ex
tremely impure. The world is made up of a hierarchy of things of greater and lesser purity.
The notion of graduated purity reveals a possibility. If there are portions or states of being within the created cosmos that are completely pure, then Siva could participate there directly without compromising his own immac ulate nature. Śaiva siddhanta, in fact, does envision such domains. For in stance, the agamas speak of two separate paths along which the thirty-six tattvas are emitted: the “pure path” (Suddhadhvan) and the “impure path” (aiuddhadhvan). The pure domain is made up of the source-substance mahamaya and the five constituents emitted from that source; the impure domain, in which our world is located, consists of the source-substance maya and the thirty-one emitted tattvas. (See Figure 1.) In the pure domain, say the texts, Siva acts directly, without intermediary. In the impure do main, however, Siva assigns the Vidyesvara Ananta and other agents to carry out his lordly functions. Similarly, beings of greater powers and few fetters such as the VijSanakevalas and Pralayakevalas, who generally oc cupy the pure domain, are said to receive initiation directly from the hand of Siva, while we humans of many fetters and lowly powers, living in the impure domain, receive only a mediated initiation from Siva. For the initia tion of humans, Siva uses the guru as his intermediary.
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While worship remains the action of a human being offering substances and services derived from maya, the principle of hierarchized purity is nonetheless crucial. If Siva participates more directly in domains of greater purity, it follows that objects and services, when purified sufficiently, may be offered to and received by Siva directly. Consequently, what appears initially as an insurmountable ontological separation of Siva and matter may be recast in ritual as a practical problem. Siva does not remain completely aloof from all matter, only matter that is too impure. The worshiper’s con cern, accordingly, is to make sure that all the material offerings he makes to Siva are suitably pure. He must ritually transform them into amfta (“nec
tar”), substances imbued with the quality of “Siva-ness.” Then Siva may “enjoy” them directly.
Siva and Bound Souls
At its most fundamental, the relationship between Siva and bound souls is one of absolute hierarchy. Siva is the One, the absolute Lord, without a second. Humans by contrast are beings of limited powers, veiled from a correct apprehension of the nature of things. Siva is lord over all divinities; how much more so is he master over bound souls.
This hierarchical relationship determines a basic attitude of devotion and subservience toward Siva on the part of humans. For Suryabhatta, these atti tudes are duties (viniyoga) deriving from the fundamental character of the two categories pati and paSu. One should fix one’s attention on Siva through yogic concentration because Siva is “to be meditated upon” and the human being is “to be meditator.” One should make one’s offerings of worship because Siva is by nature “to be served” and the bound soul “should be directed toward his service” (SSPbh p. 37). But our engagement with a fig
ure so central to our destiny is necessarily more complex than Suryabha{ta’s emphasis on difference in rank would suggest.
This becomes clear when one looks at stotras addressed to Siva. Stotras are hymns of praise, originally the spontaneous poetry uttered by gods, sages, and seers when in the manifest presence of Siva, and now employed as regular, repeated panegyric during puja and other Śaiva rituals. Because these stotras exemplify the way humans should address Siva, they serve as a good precis of the basic relationship between bound souls and Siva, which underlies the services of daily worship.
Consider the paradigmatic case of the great sage Matanga.1 Once his med itations were interrupted by the sweet hum of wind whistling across a hol low in a bamboo stalk, where a bee was making its home. Thinking that Siva too might find the sound pleasing, he cut down the stalk and made it into a flute, which he then played with great feeling. Matanga’s desire to please his lord does not appear motivated by any specific aim, at least not
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initially. Suddenly Siva “displayed his own bodily form” to the amazed flautist, much as Siva comes to inhabit a manifest form in piija. “Falling to the earth like a stick, Matanga worshiped his feet, and overcome with a feel ing of devotion toward Siva, he sprinkled those feet with the pure water of his own eyes. And then the sage began to praise Siva” (MPA vidya 1.13-
14). Matanga’s first response was a mixture of submissive homage, dutiful hospitality, and devotional joy. Just as one should offer guests “foot-water” (padya) to refresh them after a journey, he washed Siva’s feet—but here with foot-water from the tears of his own effusive happiness.
Then Matanga expressed his praise to his lord in seven impromptu stotras (MPA vidya 1.15-21). He begins by declaring Siva’s superiority over all other divinities: “O Blessed One, Lord over what has been and what is to be! Ruler over Brahman, Vi$nu, and Indra! The divinities in the sky, filled with the excellence they have received through your grace, sing your praise.” This common trope of Śaiva panegyric relies on the human analogy of king
ship: Siva is to other gods as a human king is to his subjects. As their lord, Siva receives their praises and dispenses grace to the gods, just as he does with us.
Matanga goes on to acknowledge Siva’s ubiquity: “You completely per vade the creatures of the world, both immobile and mobile.” Though Siva stands before him in a limited bodily form, Matanga does not forget the com pleteness of Siva’s presence in the world and the limitless extent of his agency. Similarly, the worshiper should look beyond Siva’s synecdochic presence in the linga to the full character of Siva revealed in the actions of invocation.
Finally Matanga speaks of Siva’s penetrating benevolence.
Merely by recalling the power of your lotus-feet, even sinners have all their sins destroyed and come to enjoy success; how much more so wise sages whose minds are fixed upon you, who have relinquished all sins, who are disciplined, whose desires are extinguished, who are free from passion and from sorrow, and who have passed beyond emotional agitations. And for that matter, men have also obtained what they desired as boons.
Siva is, of course, the one who grants all grace, and he may even favor—as the commentator Ramakantha here points out—sinful demons like Andhaka and Ravana (MPAV vidya 1.17). But often, as here, the praise is two-sided: it both acknowledges Siva’s generosity and seeks to persuade Siva to extend that grace in the supplicant’s direction. Matanga concludes by describing his previous sorry state and pointing to the ripening of fetters already brought about through Siva’s grace, and he makes an earnest request for Siva’s con
tinued favor.
I was one of small fortune, filled with sorrow and abandoned by happiness. My own sin was great and hard as diamond, O Lord. But your powers are strong in
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rescuing souls from samsara; they have taken up my store of sin and made it soft and light. So therefore, Lord, may you grant my wish.
There was no compulsion in this request. But Siva was pleased by Matanga’s outpouring and allowed the sage to request a favor. Matanga requested sivajnana, and Siva proceeded to deliver the discourse that has been handed down by Śaivas as the MataAgaparameivardgama.
The worshiper should repeat these same seven verses, AghoraSiva tells us, along with other stotras, near the end of daily piijd, when he too wishes to praise Siva’s greatness (KKD p. 123). As the model sage Matanga did, the worshiper may, through his desire to please Siva, his submission, his hospi
tality, his recognition of Siva’s full nature, and his praise, persuade Siva to look favorably on him. Through daily worship, one may even hope to re ceive the boon of SivajMna.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF SUBSTANCE
The worshiper and Siva are not the only ones who must be prepared for the transactions of worship. All participants in the ritual domain undergo a pro cess of purification and transformation. The agamas speak of “five purifica tions” the worshiper must perform prior to offering worship: purification of
himself, of the place, of the mantras, of the linga, and of the substances. He purifies and protects the place of worship by constructing fortifications with mantras to keep away intruders. He purifies the mantras by reciting them in an ascending manner (uccdrana), removing them from contact with impure substances and transporting them to the higher level of pure tattvas.
He must likewise prepare and purify the substances (dravyaiuddhi) to be offered as services before they may be received by Siva. In their “natu ral” state, substances are considered highly impure and completely inappro priate for offering to Siva. It is necessary, therefore, to employ ritual means to purify them, to remove them from their material origins and transform them into “nectar” (amrta), the undying food of the gods. The worshiper carefully selects only excellent specimens of each substance and submits them to a complex ablution that metamorphoses them into nectar suitable for Siva, imbued with the quality of Siva-ness. (As will be shown in the discussion of pure remains, the substances are transmuted still again when Siva consumes them.) To illustrate this transforming process, let us follow one category of substance, flowers, as they are readied for presentation to Siva. The same scheme applies, with some variations, to most substances used as services.
Kdmikagama provides detailed instructions for the initial selection and collection of flowers for worship (KA 5.40-65). To begin, only flowers from certain sources should be used. “One should worship with flowers grown in one’s own garden, or grown in the forest, or with flowers pur-144 · Chapter Rve
chased for money, and not otherwise” (KA 5.65). Even among these, only certain species are appropriate for ritual. The text lists thirty suitable types of white flowers, thirteen red, eight yellow, and one species of blue flower; it lists as well nine types to be avoided. The text also ranks the suitable flowers, with the blue lotus considered the finest. Some types are particu
larly appropriate for worship during the day, while others should be pre sented only at nighttime services.
Of the proper species, only perfect specimens at the peak of their bloom are acceptable.
One should exclude all flowers that have been eaten by hair-lice, those which are broken or wilted, flowers that have fallen by themselves, and those that are dam aged. One should not offer worship using unopened buds, nor should one present immature flowers to the god. (KA 5.60-61)
Fragrance is another important criterion, since flowers, consisting of Earth, must please Siva’s sense of smell. The worshiper should not select flowers that lack scent or have an unpleasant odor, and he should not use flowers that have been smelled previously. Finally, in gathering and carrying them, he must not allow the flowers to be polluted by the touch of an unbathed person or by an impure container.
Given these rather strict guidelines, it may be impossible for the wor shiper to procure suitable flowers. He is then allowed to make substitutions.
If flowers are unavailable, one may offer leaves. If leaves are also unavailable, one may present fruits. If fruits are also unavailable, then grass, shrubs, and herbs are acceptable. But if herbs as well are unavailable, the god may be wor shiped with devotion (bhakti) alone. (KA 5.61-63)
Within the domain of maya, one should select the best available objects for offering, but when only inferior substances are available, these are still pref erable to none at all.
The ritualist has these most excellent flowers brought to the place of wor ship and placed with the other offerings. But no matter how “pure” sub stances may be in their natural state, they are not yet fit for offering to Siva. Flowers, water, sandalwood paste, incense, and the rest are, after all, deriv atives of the source-substance maya and therefore inherently impure. Nir malamani puts it this way:
Aren’t substances like flowers, water, and the like pure in and of themselves? They are not These substances are derivatives of maya arising in the impure worlds, and they are not worthy for Siva’s consumption because they do not have Siva-ness (iivatva). Nor may it be argued that they do have Siva-ness because they are connected with all-pervading Siva. Siva does not blend with substances, as a drop of water does not merge with a lotus leaf. (KKDP p. 80)
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To raise his offerings out of their impure origins in the realm of mdya, the worshiper must perform dravyasuddhi, a purification of the ritual sub stances that transforms them into nectar. This, says Mrgendragama, renders
them suitable (yogyata) for Siva’s consumption (AijrA kriya 3.32-33). To carry out the purification, the worshiper first prepares a special ritual concoction called arghya (“reception-water”)· The term arghya literally means “valuable,” that which is to be honored, and it refers most commonly to the water offered as a respectful reception to a guest. In Śaiva ritual, arghya is employed in a similar fashion: one presents reception-water as an offering of hospitality to Siva and other divinities who come as “guests” to one’s temple or shrine. But arghya also has for the Śaivas a special purify ing capacity, and therefore they use it to prepare other substances as well that are to be presented to Siva.2
The worshiper begins his preparation of arghya by first purifying the arghya vessel with the ASTRA mantra. As the substance to be contained in it will be highly pure, it is necessary that the container itself be without impu rity. AghoraSiva takes this concern one step further by directing that the vessel should be made of gold or some other excellent material (KKD p. 79). (“Made of gold, silver, copper, or clay, free of flaws, and round,” Nir malamani pragmatically specifies.) The worshiper then fills the pot with pure water, reciting the HRD mantra.
Water always has a certain capacity to cleanse, but here the addition of other substances and mantras enhances its purifying power. The worshiper first adds a set of substances, most often milk, tips of ku£a-grass, rice, flow ers, sesame, barley, and white mustard.3 Then he imposes onto the mixture a sequence of mantras that follow the paradigm of invocation: ASANA (throne), ΜΟΚΠ (embodiment), the five brahmamantras, VIDYADEHA (body of mantras), NETRA (eye), MOLA, the six angamantras, then again MOLA, brahmamantras, and angamantras. He recites here all the mantras that, else where, bring about Siva’s presence in the linga or other support. The mantras infuse the water with Siva’s powers.
Like all highly pure things in the world, the arghya must be protected from the possibility of contamination. The worshiper protects it with ASTRA (weapon) and surrounds it with KAVACA (armor). Finally he “pleases” it with the cow mudrd, which finally transforms the arghya into the highest nectar.
With arghya ready at hand, the ritualist proceeds to purify the other sub stances. He first sprinkles a bit of arghya on his own head, restoring his own state of purity, and then sprays the offerings with arghya, reciting the pro tective mantras ASTRA and KAVACA. Next he recites HRD, protects the offer ings once again with KAVACA, and then forms with his hands the cow mudra (dhenumudrd). The cow mudrd, consistently employed when transforming substances into nectar, imitates the udders of a cow; Nirmalamani suggests
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it is like “nectar flowing from the forehead to the ten channels near the ten fingers” (KKDP p. 79).4 At this moment, the worshiper has successfully transformed the flowers and other substances into nectar, suitable for offer ing to Siva.
Food destined for diva’s consumption undergoes a somewhat different purificatory procedure. Perhaps because Siva will ingest it, food receives a more elaborate purification than materials meant for Siva’s exterior use. As with flowers, the worshiper must be careful in his choice and preparation of the foodstuffs. The Kamikagama gives strict guidelines not only for procur
ing the best possible ingredients, but also for the kinds of pots fit for cook ing Siva’s meal and for mantras that should be recited during the cooking. When the cooking is completed, however, it is not enough simply to sprin kle the food with arghya; instead, the worshiper must perform upon it a “fourfold consecration” (catussamskara).
As its name suggests, the fourfold consecration is a set of four purifying rites, always deployed in the same order: “divine glance” (niriksana), “sprin kling upward” (proksana), “striking” (tadana), and “sprinkling downward” (abhyuksana). One uses this consecration for a variety of purposes in Śaiva ritual, such as purifying the pots that are to hold Siva’s bathwater, purifying the fire pit when preparing for a fire oblation, and purifying the ghee that is offered into the fire. Here the worshiper begins his consecration of the cooked food by touching the thumb and ring finger of his right hand to his eyes, pronouncing the MOLA mantra, and gazing at the food with the result ing “divine glance.“5 He next sprinkles some arghya water upward, his palm raised, and recites ASTRA; then he strikes the food with his index fin
ger, again reciting ASTRA; and finally he sprinkles arghya downward, his palm this time toward the ground, and recites the KAVACA mantra. To gether, the four consecrating acts turn the food into naivedya, food worthy of offering to a divinity.
One text provides an explanation of the metamorphosis effected by the fourfold consecration in theological terms.
One should know that the divine glance distinguishes between what is inert (Jada) and what is animate (cit) through diva’s own power of vision. Sprinkling upward renders an object suitable [for offering to Siva] by separating it from jada. Striking brings about the manifestation of cit in that object, as the striking of stones [man
ifests sparks], and sprinkling downward nurtures these sparks still more.6
The transformation of normal food into naivedya, then, requires that the worshiper remove it from its normal status as inert matter and infuse into it the animating energy of consciousness. This process instills “Siva-ness” into the substance, since Siva’s own nature is consciousness, and thereby makes it suitable for intimate contact with Siva.
There is yet one final stage in this transfiguration of worldly substance. At the moment they are presented to Siva, some offerings need to be raised up
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to a still higher level. Here the worshiper employs the method of “ascending pronunciation” (uccarana), which he has used previously in invoking Siva into the linga. Taking the flowers, food, or other object in his hand, he recites the MOLA mantra in a gradually rising manner, reabsorbing the constituent parts of the mantra as he raises it. At the same time, he directs the breath along the sufumna in an upward direction and correspondingly raises the ob ject in his hands. The movement follows the path of reabsorption, bringing the offering toward a reintegration with Siva.
According to Appayadiksita, for instance, the first four offerings presented to Siva must each be transported upward to its own appropriate level. Be ginning from the miilMhara, the worshiper should raise foot-water (padya) up to the level of the eyebrows (corresponding to the Iharatattva), sipping water (acamana) to the level of the aperture at the top of his head (which corresponds to the sadasivatattva), and arghya all the way to the dv&da santa, twelve fingers above the crown (corresponding to the sivatattva). Finally, says Appayadiksita, he raises flowers up to Siva, residing in the dvadasanta, and imagines that this offering brings him into communion with Siva (SAC p. 68). Just as the technique of ascending pronunciation enables the worshiper to approach Siva and summon him into the linga dur ing invocation, here it allows him to transport offerings to the point where Siva may partake of them.
The route substance takes to become suitable for Siva’s enjoyment, then, is one of progressive purification and transfiguration. Starting with careful selection of the materials to be offered, the worshiper purifies them with arghya or the fourfold consecration, turning them into amrta, and finally
raises them up to Siva with an ascending pronunciation of Siva’s own man tra. In the process, objects that are initially inert substance attain the quality of Siva-ness and are therefore eligible for presentation. In daily piija, the worshiper ritually resolves the theological problem of Siva’s participation in matter by transforming matter into something akin to Siva himself.
THE PATTERN OF SERVICES
In daily worship Siva is a divine person, superior above all others, to whom the worshiper must express his respect and subservience. He is a guest, summoned to stay temporarily in the shrine, and must be treated to the finest hospitality that his host, the ritualist, is able to provide. Siva is, moreover, a lord ruling over the entire cosmos and must be served in ritual as one would serve a human king. Siva is the granter of all grace, a beneficent Lord, whom the worshiper may supplicate for favors. All these themes— respect, subservience, hospitality, royal service, and petition—play a part in the pattern of services that the worshiper now offers.7
It is essential to realize, however, that the services of worship do not simply imitate human prototypes, “playing at” or “reflecting” human hospi-
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tality or royal service. In the Śaiva view, Siva is a person, a soul temporar ily inhabiting a body; he has made a journey from the dvadaianta to the IiAga; he is a lord, a king over all other kings; and he is the source of all grace to bound souls. The same principles of proper conduct that determine, for instance, the way a host should receive a respected guest or the way one should pay homage to a sovereign also govern die activities of the worshiper here. The ritualist expresses and enacts through his services the actual rela
tionship existing between himself and Siva.
Incarnated through invocation in a body of mantras, Siva is refreshed, bathed, clothed, adorned, entertained, fed, and praised during worship just as any superior person might be. The agamas present various lists of ser vices that the worshiper must perform for Siva, ranging from a minimal list of four upacaras up to sixteen or even more (KA 4.372-76).8 Further, each service offered may vary quantitatively, according to the means of the wor
shiper. The Kcimikagama (4.377-400) specifies nine ranked grades of wor ship, from “lowest of low” to “highest of high” forms, based on such crite ria as the quantity of rice served, the number of lamps lit, and the musical instruments employed to serenade the Lord.
food
rank (in quarts) lamps instruments dancers 1. highest of high 280 500 50 216 2. middle of high 208 200 34 50 3. lowest of high 56 108 24 10-34 4. highest of middle 28 70 all — 5. middle of middle 14 24 — — 6. lowest of middle 8 12 — — 7. highest of low 6 8 — — 8. middle of low 4 4 — — 9. lowest of low 2 — — —
One should make offerings “insofar as one is able” (yathaSakti), with larger numbers of services and larger quantities of substances appropriate for wealthy sponsors and well-endowed temples. But whatever the number of services the worshiper employs and however munificent the substances of
fered, the relationship established between the worshiper and Siva is in es sence the same.
Receiving Siva as Guest
When Siva has arrived in the linga, the worshiper first presents him with refreshing waters, a suitable reception for one who has just completed a journey. He gives Siva foot-water (padya) to rinse off his feet, sipping water (acamana) to cleanse his mouths, and arghya to sprinkle atop his heads. Flowers and other soothing substances may also be showered upon
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his heads. Each offering is presented to the appropriate part of the linga, following the ascending order of reabsorption.
Next the worshiper bathes (sndna) Siva, and he may also give him an anointment (abhi$eka). In private worship, diva’s bath may consist of only a single drop of special arghya accompanied by visualizations of the other parts of bathing. In public rituals, by contrast, bathing the Lord is an elabo
rate affair, involving repeated ablutions with various substances.
[One bathes Siva], using bowls of various colors, with diamonds and other jew els, with cow dung [and the other products of the cow], with nicely prepared powders, with black mustard seed and salt, with tepid water, sandal-water, and herb-water, with milk, curd, ghee, honey, and jaggery…. If money permits [one may also bathe Siva] with coconut milk or the juice of other succulent fruits, with flowers and the like, with gold-water, with jewel-water, and with sandal
water. (KA 4.405-9)
After this bath of many colors, the ritualist anoints Siva, using the pots that he has earlier prepared. While an ablution is appropriate for any person, anointment is particularly suitable for kings, preceptors, and others who have extensive powers and responsibilities. In a royal anointment, the cere
mony constructs or constitutes the king’s sovereignty by depositing mani fold powers, instantiated in the bathing pots, onto a single man. In the anointment of a guru (acaryabhifeka), similarly, Siva’s fundamental ener gies are infused into water-pots, and the contents of these pots are poured over the preceptor-to-be, thereby transmitting to him the ritual powers nec essary to his new priestly status. Both these anointment rituals are substan tive and accretive in character: they add “lordly” qualities or powers to the subject through an affusion with substances bearing or embodying those qualities.
The anointment of Siva during daily worship likewise involves the instan tiation of powers in pots and the pouring of their contents over a recipient. As described in Chapter 2, the priest sets up anointment pots numbering from S to 1,008 in a specified geometrical order, fills them with water and an array of substances, and then invokes into each pot an aspect of Siva’s
kingship. He pours the contents of the pots over the linga, and with each drenching the divine power of that pot is reabsorbed within the linga. What distinguishes this abhiseka from those onto human subjects is that here the recipient of powers is also the ultimate source of them. The powers and divinities the worshiper infuses into the abhiseka pots are Siva’s inherent lordly powers and his delegated agents; by affusing the linga with them he simply returns them to their proper fount. With each successive pot the wor shiper ritually reconstructs Siva embodied in the linga as the Lord of the Uni
verse, adding onto him all the powers and agencies through which he per petually exercises his lordship over the cosmos.
After these watery affairs, Siva must be newly dressed and ornamented.
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(Parallel rites of investiture follow the inundations of the king and preceptor in their abhi?ekas.) In private performance, the worshiper may dress and decorate Siva through visualization, imagining that Siva puts on mentally constructed decorations. In the public worship of temples, however, the adornment of the linga should use the finest physical materials available.
The priest should ornament the Mga with golden diadems, with crowns and leaves made of gold, with golden shoots of durva-grass, with many golden Lak$ml me dallions, with a crescent moon, and with many golden flowers. He should orna ment it suitably with a triple string of pearls, an upper cloth, a waistband, a golden skin and a golden garment, with other ornaments such as flowers, with a covering made of gold, and also with various kinds of gems. (ΚΑ 4.428-31)9
As throughout the services, one offers ornaments according to the principle stated by Kamikagama: “one should offer small or large services in accord with one’s wealth” (KA 4.372). A greater quantity of offerings is of course considered superior, and should be given if possible, but greater or smaller amounts do not affect the fundamental relationships involved in worship.
Pleasing Siva
When the worshiper has attended to diva’s outer needs by bathing, clothing, and adorning him, he shows his hospitality with services meant to gratify Siva’s senses. He presents sweet-smelling flowers. He perfumes the sanc tum with incense while ringing a “handsome, deep-voiced bell.” He pleases Siva’s eyes with “perpetual lamps, circular gateway lamps, trident lamps, lamp garlands, and various other kinds of lamps” (KA 4.443). He decorates the sanctum with hanging flower garlands.
Further, the priest should present entertainments for the eye and ear. Kamikagama suggests a veritable variety show for Siva, including songs made of mantras, recitations from other sacred texts, songs in several lan guages, instrumental music, and dances from different regions.
He should have songs consisting of mantras sung, or else vina music may be played. After the offering of incense, there should be Vedic recitations or read ings from other sacred texts, and after that songs in the Gauda and other lan guages. Afterward he should have performed songs composed in the Dravidian language, or in uncorrupt Sanskrit, joined with dance, or songs in the eighteen languages using many tones. (KA 4.436-39)
In the “highest of high” form of worship, 50 instruments supply the music and 216 temple dancers perform.
All these services aim to provide Siva with pleasurable sensory experi ences while he is embodied and present in the shrine. In fact, the worshiper strives to please all of Siva’s perceptual faculties (the five jnanendriyas) by
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offering him the finest representatives of each category of matter (the five bhOtas). According to one text, the worshiper honors Siva
with sandal-paste, flowers, etc., consisting of Earth; with drinking water, clothes, etc., consisting of Water; with jewels, lamps, ornaments, and the like made of Hie; with yak-tail fans, incense, and so on made of Wind; and with songs, music, and the like consisting of Ether. (SP 1 p. 199)
The goal of the worshiper here is to be complete in his offerings: the ser vices he presents partake of all five material elements, they contain all five perceptible qualities, and they engage all five sense organs of diva’s embod iment. As Suryabhatta would have it, all matter is “to be delivered” to Siva.
Every king has a court, and the Lord Siva is no exception. His court is made up of the mantra powers and subordinate divinities who carry out his commands. As described in Chapter 2, these agents of diva’s lordship are now drawn out from Siva, in the order of emission, so that the ritualist may show his homage to them as well. The worshiper invokes from one to five
entourages (Hvarana), concentric circles of diva’s agency, onto thrones sur rounding Siva in a specified order, and offers to each divinity a set of eight consecrations. Later he feeds them and pleases them with other services. The arrangement of these subordinate lords around Siva follows a pre scribed order of priority. All particularized agencies are inferior to and en compassed within Siva’s sovereignty, just as feudatory rulers are sub ordinated to the dominion of their overlord. Yet the services offered the members of Siva’s court indicate a second hierarchical relationship. The worshiper expresses his homage not just to Siva, but also to the powers and divinities who carry out Siva’s command. By participating in Siva’s sover eignty, albeit in an inferior station, each member of Siva’s entourages be comes worthy of the ritualist’s respect.
Next it is time for Siva’s meal. The services of worship follow a pattern of increasing intimacy with respect to Siva’s body. First concerned with the outer surface of his lord’s body, then gratifying his senses, the worshiper now presents a food offering that not only pleases Siva’s sense of taste, but will also be “consumed” and incorporated by him. Carefully prepared, puri
fied food is brought and placed before the linga. As we have seen, this meal has been transformed through the fourfold consecration into a suitable state of Siva-ness, so that Siva himself may consume it. According to ISanaSiva, one last round of purifications remains to be performed, for safety’s sake: the worshiper “protects the food with ASTRA, encircles it with KAVACA, as perses it [with arghya] reciting ‘BHOR, BHUVAR, SVAR,’ and sprinkles all around.“10 Then he offers the food to each of Sadasiva’s five faces and also to the limbs of his divine body.
The worshiper should express his hospitality to all attending divinities comprehensively, yet in proper order. He first serves his preeminent guest,
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Siva, and then proceeds outward, feeding all the members of Siva’s entou rages, starting with the innermost circle. In temple worship, the priest must leave the sanctum and feed as well the surrounding divinities (parivarade vata) who make up Siva’s outer entourages (bahyavarana) outside the sanc tum, and he presents food to the lords guarding the doors (dvarapala). Last, and least, he feeds—or gives “tribute” (bait) to—the lesser spirits (bhutas) who have also managed to be present at the ceremony. The priest thus gives offerings of sustenance to all, in order of rank and (correspondingly) in
order of their proximity to the centermost divinity, Siva. After the meal, naturally, come the after-dinner accompaniments. When Siva has finished eating, the worshiper gratifies him by giving him sandal powder for washing his hands, sipping-water to rinse his mouth, mouth perfume for freshening the breath, and betel-leaf to aid his digestion. Then he delights Siva with the sounds of a five-headed drum, with mirror, para sol, and yak-tail fan, and with more entertainment. At the completion of all this hospitality, the worshiper finally meditates “that SadaSiva is happily seated together with the goddess” (KA 4.501), or that “Siva is delighted by the praises of Ananta and the other VidyeSvaras” (KKD p. 115). He has achieved his goal, to please Siva through his generous offerings.
Requesting Siva’s Favor
There remains one more major service for the worshiper to perform: the recitations of mantras (japa). The focus shifts here from Siva to the ritualist himself, for in offering recitations of mantras the worshiper seeks his own ends more than Siva’s pleasure. A new aspect of the relationship between Siva and worshiper becomes apparent. Acting less the host than the suppli
cant, the worshiper requests Siva’s favor.
Mantra recitations gain results for those who perform them. In Mrgen dragama’s definition, mantra recitations “make the object of meditation fa vorable” to the reciter (MrA yoga 8). For this reason, japa is frequently used for restitution, attainment of powers, and propitiation. When a Śaiva trans gresses proper conduct, the most common expiation (prdyaScitta) consists in repeating the purifying mantra AGHORA a specified number of times. For instance, a Saivite who voluntarily fails to perform his daily worship should perform one thousand recitations of AGHORA (SP 2.3.13-14); if one’s per sonal Siva-Iinga is lost or destroyed, one should recite AGHORA one hundred thousand times (SP 2.3.19-20); and so on. For an adept (sadhaka) who seeks particular powers, recitations of a “mantra to be attained” (sadhya mantrd) form a major part of his discipline. An adept performing his mantra vow, for instance, might recite his mantra a million times, accompanied by one hundred thousand oblations (KirA carya 20.8—15). In daily worship as well, one recites Siva’s mantras in order to make Siva favorable.
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For the Śaivas, the recitation of mantras is not merely an inward disci pline or verbal meditation. Mantras are, as we have seen, real external pow ers, and in this rite the worshiper seeks to direct these powers outward, pre senting them to Siva as a service. To do so, it is not enough simply to recite
the mantras for diva’s audition. Rather, the worshiper must first substantiate the mantras in some material object before he can give them to Siva. As in invocation, flowers serve here as the medium by which a subtle entity may be objectified and transported. Nirmalamani explains that flowers are “the place where the mantra recitations become manifest” (KKDP p. 116).
The worshiper holds a flower and repeats the appropriate mantra a speci fied number of times. The mantra thereby becomes embodied in the flower. Once embodied, the mantra flower must be carefully protected with an en closure (samputa) of other mantra powers. As AghoraSiva describes the
method:
Holding a flower in his hand, the worshiper should recite the MOLA mantra one hundred and eight times, using a rosary which has been worshiped with HRD. He emboxes [the flower] between ASTRA, KAVACA, and HRD mantras, then HRD, KAVACA, and ASTRA mantras. Protecting the flower with ASTRA and encircling it with KAVACA, he holds it in his right hand and, with his knee on the ground, offers the recitation [substantiated in the flower] to Siva, accompanied by arghya and the mudra of emission. (KKD p. 115)
When the worshiper places the flowers on the linga, Siva receives the man tras that are manifested in them and looks favorably upon the one who has presented them.
The ritualist, however, gives more than just his recitations of mantras. Reciting three verses directed to Siva, “the worshiper presents his mantra recitations, his karman, and his soul, in order, to the boon-granting hand of Siva” (KKD p. 116). From offering substances apart from himself, he has now moved to giving his own inner constituents to Siva, ending with his most essential part, the soul. In these offerings of an increasing intimacy, the worshiper betokens a complete humbling before his Lord, a prostration that is enacted physically a bit later when the worshiper “bows with all eight limbs, like a stick” (KKD p. 123), in front of Siva.
Yet the verses contain a request as well.
‘Ό Protector of the secret and the very secret, accept this recitation I have made. [The recitation] remaining in you, may success come to me, by your favor.
“O Lord, consume and destroy all my karman, good and bad. I am at your feet, O Beneficent One.
“Siva is the donor; Siva is the one who consumes; Siva is this entire world. A Siva worships everywhere. I am indeed that Siva.” (KA 4.511-14)154 · Chapter Five
As the prayers stress, Siva is a protector, a beneficent lord, one who grants favor. Having pleased and honored Siva to the best of his ability, the wor shiper now makes his petition, asking that the undertaking be successful and that his karman be consumed. The undertaking, if successful, will “increase the longevity, health, victory, and prosperity of the ruler” and will “make the villagers and others thrive” (KA 4.5). Removal of karman brings about the liberation of the soul. Thus, the worshiper requests no less from Siva than the two goals of human activity, worldly enjoyments (bhoga) and liber
ation (moksa). If these all-encompassing requests are not enough, he may also ask for more specific benefits by reciting optional (kamya) mantras after the three verses.
Finally the worshiper gladdens Siva with verses of praise (stotra). The verses proclaim in words Siva’s preeminent place in the universe, just as the worshiper has proclaimed it in action through his services.11 Not coinciden tally, they also seek to remind Siva of his benevolent character, with the implicit hope that some of Siva’s favor may grace the worshiper.
Siva is indeed “to be served” in the offerings of daily worship, and this service takes many forms. The relationship between Siva and a human wor shiper is a multifaceted one, and accordingly the worshiper enacts a com plex relationship through his services to Siva. The worshiper receives Siva, bathes him, clothes and decorates him, entertains him, does homage to his court, feeds him, worships him with mantras, and praises him. He treats Siva as a guest and a king, a superior and a benefactor; he seeks to please him by offering substances of every category, gratifying all of Siva’s senses; he even offers his own inner constitution.
THE PROBLEM OF PURE REMAINS
We have seen how the worshiper collects and refines substances to a high state of purity so that they are suitable for Siva’s enjoyment, and how he presents these substances as expressions of his homage, meant to gratify his Lord. Yet the substances do not cease to exist when Siva consumes them. Siva eats only the most subtle part of his meal, the portion that shares in his sivatva. The material remains (ucchista) of the meal are left on his plate after he has finished, as are the remains of all the flowers, unguents, and other offerings used in worshiping him.
It is a general principle of Hindu science that the use or enjoyment of substances alters their condition. Among humans, the leftovers from one person’s meal become impure for most others, due to their contact with his inner fluids such as saliva. Such polluted remains are fit only for consump
tion by a social inferior.
The situation is somewhat different with the meals of the gods. The con sumption of food by a god alters the leftovers not to a lower status, but to a higher one, as far as humans are concerned. Since the highest gods are so
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far superior to humans, even their remains—which may very well be impure in relation to other gods—are highly pure and imbued with good qualities with respect to humans. Contact with a god, even through his spittle, is beneficial.
For this reason many Hindu sects, including some Śaiva ones, distribute the material remains of the god’s meal to worshipers and devotees for sec ondary consumption. The god eats the subtle portion; his human followers eat the remaining “gross” portions. The leftovers are prasada, a form of divine “favor” returned to humans, and vast powers are ascribed to it. For instance, AppayacQksita extols diva’s leftover bathwater:
Water from Siva’s feet and his leftovers should be used zealously by his devo tees; sins born of mind, voice, or body will not touch them The Prthiidaka, the Mahatirtha, the rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Narmada, Sarayu, K§ipra, as well as Godavan, are always present in Siva’s bathwater, O sages. One should use the water of Siva’s bath, since it is made of all tlrthas. (SAC p. 119)
Eating the remains of a divine meal likewise confers many benefits: it puri fies, destroys sin, cures cases of poisoning, and much more. Śaiva siddhantins agree that Siva’s enjoyment of substances alters them to a higher state. In fact, they argue, the contact of a substance with Siva so transfigures it that it can no longer be used by humans at all. “Humans can not bear it, and should avoid it diligently,” as Kamikagama (4.S27) suc cinctly puts the case. And consequently, there can be no distribution of Siva’s edible leftovers to human devotees in a Śaiva siddhanta temple. When Siva enjoys a substance, that substance becomes nirmalya.12 Ac cording to Nirmalamani’s practical definition, the term refers particularly to flower garlands: “Nirmalya denotes garlands (malya) that have been re moved (nirasta) [from the linga]…. [Garlands] which first have mantras recited upon them, are consumed by Siva, removed, and given to Lord Canda are said to be nirmalya” (KKDP p. 132). From garlands, nirmalya is ex tended to cover all substances that undergo the same process of preparation, consumption, and removal. Kamikagama gives a more philosophical def inition to the term. “It is called nirmalya because it has reached a state of stainlessness (nirmalata)” (KA 6.86). Without mala, nirmalya is utterly pure.
The final transfiguration of substance through Siva’s use is, in one sense, another stage in the process begun with the worshiper’s careful selection, preparation, and purification of the substance before offering it. Ap payadiksita brings this point out by comparing the transformation with that of a stone linga.
A Siva-linga, which is at first only a particular form of a worldly piece of stone, comes to partake of consciousness (cinmaya) by the consecration of establish ment (pratiffha), which removes its impure form resulting from mdya, and after
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that the IiAga should not be touched by those who are not initiated. In the same way the nirmalya [which is initially a worldly substance] also comes to partake of consciousness by the group of four consecrations beginning with “divine glance,” after which it is considered suitable for diva’s consumption, and then becomes even more pure when consumed by Siva. Therefore it too should not be touched by the uninitiated, φ AC p. 119)
Substances already highly refined by the ritual actions of humans become even more so when Siva consumes them.
While human leftovers are unfit for subsequent use because they are im pure, diva’s leftovers are unsuited for human enjoyment because they are too pure. Contact with Siva has rendered the nirmdlya immaculate, yet human worshipers continue to inhabit bodies infested with mala and so are not able to bear contact with so much pureness. Says Siva in a purana, “A foul person of impure soul who, out of greed, consumes that which I have enjoyed and which is highly pure will be destroyed, like a siidra who studies the Vedas.“13 If one does imbibe some nirmalya through some ill fortune, however, he may avert the ensuing destruction by performing a stiff expia
tion. SomaSambhu prescribes that one recite the purifying mantra AGHORA twenty-five thousand times (SP 2.3.58), roughly the same expiation as is required for such grave transgressions as drooling on the lihga or touching it with one’s feet. Consuming nirmalya, like mistreating a linga, is a serious infringement requiring serious restitution.
These overly purified substances pose a practical problem: how should one dispose of them? If humans cannot receive them, who can? Fortunately, there is an apt recipient for Siva’s pure, powerful leftovers right within the temple complex: the Lord Canda.
Canda is one of the GaneSvaras, a member of Siva’s household entourage, where he is stationed in the northeast direction.14 In Śaiva temples of South India, Canda most often occupies an independent shrine situated immediately to the northeast of the main sanctum. The term canda means “fierce,” “vio lent,” “angry,” and Kamikagama describes him accordingly, claiming that Lord Canda is “an angry emanation (αιμία) of ParamaSiva” (KA 4.S25). Ifhis meditation form is any indication, Cagda lives up to his name.
Arising from Rudra’s fire, and fierce (raudra), Cancla is the color of lampblack, dreadful, carries trident and hatchet, and has four faces and four arms. He spits great flames from his mouth, and has twelve red eyes. The crescent moon adorns his matted locks, a snake is his bracelet, and another snake is his sacrificial thread. He holds a rosary and an ascetic’s water-pot, and sits on a white lotus throne. He removes all pain from those who bow with devotion. (SP 1.5.2-4)
One of the final acts of daily worship is to worship Lord Canda and to pre sent to him the leftover nirmdlya.15 “Whatever remains on the linga, ritual
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platform, or sand-linga, and has been enjoyed and left by Siva is for Canda’s consumption” (KA 4.526-27). In contrast to humans, Canda is able to bear the intense purity of nirmalya, presumably by virtue of his own ardent charac ter. Worshiping Canda has a second purpose as well. Not only does it pre sent the nirmalya to an appropriate recipient, it also removes any faults (do$a) the priest may have committed while worshiping the linga (KKDP p. 132). Like Siva’s own power of reabsorption, the fierce Cagda removes and absorbs a host of things: the afflictions of his devotees, mistakes made in worshiping Siva, and Siva’s too-pure leftovers.
The worship of Cancla is a relatively simple rite. The priest goes to Canda’s shrine northeast of the sanctum, ritually constructs an appropriate throne and embodiment for Canda using CANPASANA and CANPAMORTI mantras, visualizes Canda’s form as described above, and invokes him with the DHVANICAWESVARA, Canda’s equivalent of Siva’s MOLA mantra. The invo
cation of Canda, then, follows the paradigm of Siva’s invocation described in the previous chapter, but it is considerably less complex. The worshiper performs the proper consecrations, gives Canda arghya, and then presents to him the nirmalya that has been collected from the linga and pedestal. As he offers the leftovers, the priest repeats two verses that articulate the two main purposes of Canda worship.
“By order of Siva, I give to you what is licked, sucked, eaten, drunk, or other wise consumed, the betel leaf, garlands, unguents, and the food that is nirmalya. “O Canda, whatever in the entire ritual I have done either deficiently or exces sively due to delusion, may that be perfected for me through your command.” CSP 1.5.7-8)
Even after Canda’s secondary consumption of the nirmalya, there are still substantive remnants, and they are still not fit for humans. One final dis posal remains. At this point, says one agama, one should give it “to cattle and elephants, or throw it in the water, or else burn it in fire, or bury it.“16 And so ends the trajectory of substances used in worship. Perfect specimens carefully prepared, refined into nectar, presented to Siva and consumed by him, transmuted thereby into nirmalya, and offered to Canda, these substances are finally disposed of among those universal recipients: cows, elephants, Water, Fire, and Earth. Human worshipers at no point enjoy these offerings themselves.
DISMISSAL
In addition to feeding Canda and disposing of the remains, other acts are nec essary to complete worship. Most important among these concluding rites, the worshiper must “dismiss” (visarjana) Siva from his embodiment in the linga. Though a much simpler rite, dismissal is in many respects the converse
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of invocation. Where invocation instantiates a “special presence” of Siva in the linga, dismissal enables Siva to “turn his face away” (paranmukha) from his worshipers, remaining in the Mga as a latent presence only. Where invocation laigely follows the path of emission, dismissal is an act of re
absorption.
The worshiper begins the rite of dismissal by presenting to Siva pa rafmukMrghya, a special form of arghya that allows Siva to avert his face, and by displaying the mahamudra. In the mahamudrS, one holds the two hands together, outstretched, and moves them upward over some object, from the feet to the head, in the order of reabsorption.17 Then the worshiper merges the members of Siva’s court back into Siva, from where they had been drawn out, using the mudra of reabsorption.18 “He causes the divini ties surrounding the linga to get up with ASTRA and the mudra of reabsorp tion, and joins them so that they are united in Siva’s embodiment, using the MORTI mantra” (KA 4.518-19). Finally, he allows Siva to return from his embodied state to that of undifferentiated Paramasiva.
Reciting MULA followed by the HRD mantra, the worshiper visualizes Siva freed from his limbs, liberated from all differentiated (sakala) attributes, and returned to a state of nondifferentiation (niskalata) through the part of the iivatattva situ ated in the heart [of the embodiment]. (KA 4.519-20)
By this means, Siva’s special presence in the linga for the duration of wor ship comes to an end.
One might expect that the worshiper too would undergo some sort of “exit” rite at the completion of puja, removing himself from the high state of Siva-ness he attained through self-purification. But there is no such rite. As far as I am aware, Śaiva authors do not consider this an omission worthy of comment, and so we are left to postulate its significance. Of course, the worshiper wishes ultimately to maintain a state of similarity to Siva; this is the definition of moksa. If the rite of self-purification offers a quotidian taste of this climactic status, why not let its effects linger as long as possible? One will lose this unworldly purity soon enough anyway, through the im
pact of nonritual activities. So there is neither motivation nor necessity for the worshiper to undergo a rite counteracting the earlier effects of his self purification.
Instead, after dismissing Siva from the linga, the worshiper does clean-up duty. He washes the linga and pedestal and decorates them with flowers and the like. He cleans the pots used for arghya, bathing water, drinking water, and so on, and puts them back on their shelves. He wipes the floor with three balls of cow dung. As well as cleansing these physical objects, the worshiper must also “clear up” the ritual action he has just completed. Says Kamikagama, “he should repeat the mantra collection [consisting of MULA,
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the brahmamantras, and the angamantras] in order to purify any deviations or errors” he may have committed (KA 4.536). Then, the text continues, “the priest rinses his hands and feet, sips water according to the rule, pros trates himself on the ground like a stick, and says, ‘Forgive me’” (KA 4.537-38). With this final propitiation worship comes to a close.
WORSHIP AND EXCHANGE
In nityapuja, then, the worshiper gives the totality of matter, and finally himself as well, to Siva. He supplicates Siva, requesting (according to his aims in life) worldly pleasures or final liberation. The god Siva is present in the linga to receive the offerings and may subsequently favor the worshiper by granting his wishes.
This recapitulation of the relations established in worship suggests a num ber of questions about the general significance of puja within the Śaiva world. Should daily worship be interpreted as a ritual of reciprocal ex change? What is the relationship between the services of worship and Siva’s bestowal of grace? Does the gift given in offering assure a return to the giver? Are the presentation of services and Siva’s boons causally linked to one another? Scholars of Indian religions have often employed terms and models drawn from human economic activity, such as “exchange,” “recip rocity,” and “redistribution,” to explicate Hindu rituals, and so it is worth reconsidering these questions here from a Śaiva perspective.
Earlier in this chapter, I stressed the absolute hierarchy existing between Siva and the bound soul. A parallel, and related, hierarchy subsists between a human’s gift of worship and Siva’s granting of favor. For the Śaivas, these are gifts of unequal motivation, proportion, and value.
The worshiper is motivated to offer worship, as Suiyabhatta suggests, by the very nature of his relationship to Siva. To perform nityapuja is part of his “general code of conduct” (samayacara), incumbent on all members of the Śaiva community; not to do so constitutes a fault, a sin. Siva, by con
trast, dispenses grace freely, without any compulsion. There cannot be any obligation to Siva’s favor, for that would contradict his autonomy. Rather, he grants his boons out of his favorable disposition to the souls (though the forms that benevolence takes may sometimes be difficult for us to compre hend), and with due regard for the propensities and capacities of those to whom he shows favor.
The agamas repeatedly direct the worshiper to give his offerings ya thasakti, that is, in proportion to his abilities, insofar as he is able. For him, the giving over of material resources in worship represents a real and sub stantial “abandonment” (tydga). While there is no reason for a householder
to impoverish himself making offerings, the services of puja should consti-
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tute a personal sacrifice, a significant voluntary giving up of worldly posses sions. And in his final supplications, the worshiper even gives up his own self to Siva. Siva’s exercise of grace, on the other hand, is but one of his activities and does not diminish through his exercise of it. Siva suffers no loss. There is no need for him to abandon anything else in favoring a partic ular soul, for he is omnipotent. Just as he is present in many temples and shrines simultaneously, Siva can also favor many persons at the same time, without any effect on his own store of grace.
All that the worshiper gives to Siva does not in any way add to Siva, since he is already complete. While the offerings may represent a real sacrifice for the donor, they are without significant value for the recipient. Siva has no need of such offerings. By contrast, the grace that Siva may give is a thing of absolute value for the worshiper. Siva’s boon can have a complete trans
formative effect on the one who receives it. While bestowing grace does not subtract from Siva at all, it may alter the human recipient totally. The worshiper’s gift and Siva’s grace, then, cannot be considered com modities of equal and exchangeable value.
Another way to consider the question of worship and exchange is to re trace the path of substantive offerings in nityapuja. As we have seen, the worshiper selects the best specimens available of each article, prepares them carefully, and subjects them to a purification that renders them suitable for Siva’s consumption. Finally he presents them to Siva, who enjoys the most subtle portion of each offering. The substantive portion left over becomes transfigured through contact with Siva into highly pure nirmalya.
In many Hindu ritual schools, priests redistribute these substantive re mainders of the divine meal to other participants in the ritual for secondary consumption as prasdda, the god’s “favor.” Such reuse suggests an auto matic distribution of divine grace in palatable form and may lead one to
think of puja as a communal exchange with the divinity: the community of worshipers gives offerings of purified food, and he gives in return transfig ured food to his devotees. Śaiva siddhanta, however, denies the second phase of this apparent exchange. Food transubstantiated through Siva’s con
sumption is unfit for subsequent reuse by humans, because it is too pure. One cannot mechanically acquire Siva’s grace by eating his leftovers. So here too, the Śaivas stress the hierarchical distinction between Siva and bound souls, and in so doing they confute the view that sees worship as reciprocal exchange between divinity and humanity.
If the offerings of puja are entirely incommensurate with Siva’s grace, if Siva stands beyond any obligation or constraint, and if humans cannot even touch the food left on Siva’s plate, what does puja do? Does offering wor ship have any effect on Siva at all?
While the Śaiva formulation of nityapuja emphasizes the “otherness” of Siva in many respects, it also envisions Siva’s personalization, through in-
Relations of Worship · 161
carnation in a mantra body. Siva allows himself to become embodied in a material form, and with this embodiment it is possible for the worshiper to enact a relationship analogous to certain human relations, such as that be tween host and guest, or between attendant and lord.
Throughout their descriptions of daily worship, the agamas speak fre quently of the worshiper “pleasing” Siva. He invites Siva to inhabit a mate rial form as a guest in his home shrine or temple and presents to him the best he can offer in order to “satisfy” (to$ana) and “refresh” (tarpana) him. He en tertains Siva as the king of a divine court and sings his praises in order to
“delight” (abhinandana) and “stimulate” (pramcana) him. He supplicates Siva in order to “make Siva favorably disposed” toward him. This notion of pleasing Siva of course presupposes the personalization of the divinity brought about through invocation. Pleasure is not a meaningful category with respect to Paramasiva, since Siva in his highest state is beyond all such dualities as pleasure and pain. However, when Siva becomes embodied as Sadagiva and is viewed as a divine person, attempting to please this person
age through one’s ritual actions is eminently feasible.
In considering the efficacy of worship, it is useful to keep in mind the analogous human transactions. A host seeks to please and to satisfy the wishes of a respected guest not in any expectation of a return from the guest, but because it is dharma. The relationship itself compels the householder to observe certain principles of hospitality, and his own feelings of respect toward his visitor should reinforce the obligation. Similarly, one in atten dance upon a king should hope to serve and gratify his lord and master pre
cisely because the other is lord. The attendant is in no position to enforce or expect any return of favors, for he is in thrall to his king, but it is only human for him to make some petition for his lord’s recognition and aid.
For the Śaivas, puja follows a similar course. The worshiper aims, through his services, to please Siva who has become present close at hand. He does so not expecting an automatic recompense, but because service is his natural mode of relating himself to his lord, Siva. Service to Siva is dictated by the metaphysical relations persisting between categories of pati and pasu, by the general rules for conduct of all initiated Saivites, and also by the worshiper’s own spontaneous sentiments of devotion toward Siva. The return on any such offering is at best uncertain, for Siva operates according to designs beyond our comprehension in granting his favors.
The stress Śaivas place on the hierarchy of the relationship between wor shiper and Siva, and on the contingency of any profit accruing from one’s donations, might lead one to regard puja as an uncertain and useless exer cise. This is not a fitting conclusion. Śaiva texts obviously would not give the ritual of nityapuja so much attention if it were simply uncertain, nor would they emphasize its efficacy if they considered it ultimately ineffec tual. To view the full efficacy of the ritual, however, it is necessary to dis-
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sent from Suryabhatfa’s definition of piija. Rather than identifying worship primarily by its core transactions between god and human worshiper, we must remember the relationship between the conscious powers of knowl edge and action and view it in terms of the worshiper’s own gradual mastery of a complex body of thought and practice, which does lead one ever closer both to the Lord Siva and to attaining Siva-ness in oneself.