pati, pashu, pasha

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Shiva’s flock is all living beings: gods, animal, human. Each of the three differ by role and level (in a hierarchy) but aspects of each are evident in each of the other two.

Pati are people in which the god element predominates. Pashu are people in which the animal element predominates. Pasha is the bond that connects all living things.

Pasha is the natural divine law to which all other human laws and conventions must bend. All morality hinges on the pasha which is the bond between god, human, animal and vegetable species.

Wherever the Shiva Dionysus cult spread the pasha respect for the animal and vegetable worlds can be seen.

“Rudra lives in forests and jungles. He is called Pashupati, Lord of the wild beasts.” (Shatapatha Brahmana, XII, 7, 3, 20.) Shiva’s flock comprises all living beings, including man. The difference between beasts, men and gods is only one of role and level in a continuous hierarchy. The various aspects of being are present in varying degrees in all forms of existence. No god is without animality, no animal without humanity, no man without a part of divinity. Three components are distinguishable in all men: pati, pashu and pasha. Those in whom the pati (master) element is dominant are the wise, who are close to the gods, understand the rules of divine activity and creation, and take part in it. Men in whom the animal element predominates are called pashu (cattle). The abstract element, pasha (bond or snare), expresses the unity and interdependence off all forms of life. Pasha, the bond is the body of laws connecting the various elements of matter and living being bound up in creation.

There is no morality other than that of respecting the pasha, or bond, meaning the interdependence of the animal world, the divine and ourselves, and of realizing the place we occupy in the overall plan of the divine work, the affinities which bind us to the animal and vegetable species and the responsibilities which are implicated thereby. Pasha may be defined as the natural law, which is divine law. All other moral law is only social convention, which can have no value on a universal level. All true morality must confirm to these basic laws on which creation is founded. Social conventions established by human laws have nothing to do with religion. Wherever the influence of the Shiva-Dionysus cult has spread, great importance is given to the animal and vegetable world. The aspect of religious history seems often to have escaped the modern scholars of the ancient world.

Gods of Love and Esctasy, The Traditions of Shiva and Dionysus, Alain Danielou


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Filed under: Uncategorized

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