Observations placeholder
The Means of achieving spiritual experience - Shaivism – 08 Squash the big I am and Suppressing obligations
Identifier
022510
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Alain Danielou – Gods of Love and Ecstasy: The traditions of Shiva and Dionysus
It is at the level of spiritual realization, of the progress of the human being, as well as in rites and religious and magical practices, that Shivaism recognizes no difference between one man and another.
Its teaching is open to all, which is why it is so severely censured by the Aryan Vedic texts. The highest spiritual realization is in fact considered easier for the humble than for the powerful. In the Kali Yuga, the most favoured are working men, and women, since their social duties and responsibilities are more limited than those of priests and princes. Detachment and the abandonment of daily tasks does not involve any omission of important duties, It is easier for the poor man than for the rich to lead the life of a Bacchant, draw near to the divine, identify himself with Shiva the wandering god, and enter the god's kingdom.
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Shivaite society was originally matriarchal. Property, houses, land and servants belong to women. Man is only a fecundator, a wanderer occupying himself with arts, war, or games, or else dedicating himself to a ....spiritual life.
- In sedentary, agricultural societies, property usually belongs to women, and is handed down from mother to daughter: the dowry is a survival of this custom.
- In nomadic societies based on stock-raising the male is predominant.
The main problem of societies stemming from the Aryan invasions lies in the fact that they have become sedentary while retaining the patriarchal system of nomadic society.