Shaiva Upanishads (A Critical Study)
by Arpita Chakraborty | 2013 | 33,902 words
This page relates ‘Atharvashira upanishad on “Pashupata vrata”’ of the study on the Shaiva Upanishads in English, comparing them with other texts dealing with the Shiva cult (besides the Agamas and Puranas). The Upaniṣads are ancient philosophical and theological treatises. Out of the 108 Upanishads mentioned in the Muktikopanishad, 15 are classified as Saiva-Upanisads.
25. Atharvaśira upaniṣad on “Pāśupata vrata”
[...] Atharvaśira Upaniṣad V.67
What is Agni is ashes; what is air, is ashes; what is water is ashes; what is earth, is ashes; what is ether is ashes; what is all this (phenomenal world) is ashes; what are the mind and such as these the eyes, are ashes alone; the Avyakta from which all these originate, is also ashes; having converted all these into ashes by applying the fire of the knowledge of the Brahman, and taking the ashes with the Mantra, “Agni and so on” (mixing it with the water of the knowledge of the Ātman alone), one should smear the limbs with it and touch them. Hence is the vow known as the Pāśupata.[1]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Atharvaśira Upaniṣad V. 67. [...]