Chapter 1 - The doctrinal background

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the Lord. A Sidana, i.e. the man who has attained the union, is capable
of annihilating all that he has produced so far (PS, 45 ). For this
system, "yoga" has a particular meaning. Thus, the first stage consists
in pervading the mind with the thought of Siva by close application
to the study of scripture or by concentration on Siva (adhyayana dhyana-
dilakṣaṇaḥ kriyayogah PS, 41). There is particularized here, a conception
that traverses the whole Saiva thought concerning ireedom. The union
(yoga) with Siva is not due to the activity or the limited subject only,
but is a product of co-operation between god and man. This is a corollar
of saiva theory on subject, object and means of realization. Their
correlation, as it appears in Saivism, confluences with the modern
epistemological theories. Although the Pasupata Sutra accepta
f
accepts the
traditional classification of yoga in eight stages, their content
diifers as I have already stated above. For instance, the aspirant has
to embrace asceticism, batn and sleep in ashes as many times as he
gets polluted (PS, 8-13), live in the vicinity of a Saiva temple, stick
to the vow of non-violence in thought, words and deed (PS, 16) and so
on, from the very beginning of his practice. The system presents a lot
of tantric elements in the path of self-realization as: acting against
the social conventions, meditation in the cremation grounds, eating
meat etc. (Gana Karika, 19, & PS passim). The final emancipation is
duḥkhana which is the aim of all these techniques the end of the
misery of life (GK, 9), and the atteinment of omniscience and omnipotence
( PS, 45-44 ).
A different view was upheld in the Srikantha bhāṣya.