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Three things are real and have no beginning: Siva (Pati), the countless souls (Pasu), and the bond that holds the souls (Pasam).
Every philosophy must answer a few simple questions. What is God? What am I? What is wrong with my situation? Saiva Siddhanta answers with three words, taken from the life of a village.
✦Pati, the Lord
is Siva: one, everywhere, knowing all things, able to do all things. He is pure being, pure awareness and pure bliss. He is never bound, never lacks anything, and needs nothing from us. Everything He does, He does for the sake of souls.
✦Pasu, the soul
is the individual soul. There are countless souls, and each is eternal and conscious. You are one of them. But the soul is bound: it knows only a little, and it knows even that only with help. It is like clear water that takes the colour of whatever it is poured into.
✦Pasam, the bond
is the bond, everything that keeps the soul from knowing itself and knowing Siva. The next teaching looks at it closely.
Pati Siva
Exists, without beginning
Awareness
Bliss
Knows all; bliss itself
Pasu the soul
Exists, without beginning
Awareness
Bliss
Knows as it is helped to know; no bliss of its own
Pasam the bond
Exists, without beginning
Awareness
Bliss
Knows nothing
All three exist, and none had a beginning. Siva knows all things and is bliss itself; the soul knows only as it is helped to know, and has no bliss of its own; the bond knows nothing at all.
✦Real, all three
In some philosophies the world is only a dream, or the soul is really God and does not know it. Siddhanta disagrees. Siva is real, you are real, and your bondage is real. That is good news: a real problem can have a real cure.
The soul is like…
Images the tradition uses for the soul, the Lord and the bond. Each shows one side of the relation; none shows the whole.Check your understanding3 questions on this teaching. Answer them to light its lamp on the hill.+
Words from this teaching
This teaching's lamp is not yet lit
Answer the few questions under "Check your understanding" to light it on the hill, then walk on.