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Now the question is, what is the underlying spirit or essence of dharma? The underlying spirit or essence of dharma is that it carries a person in the direction of greater and greater expansion, and finally establishes that person in the supreme pervasiveness. (By the “essence of dharma” we mean its purest part, its innermost existence.)(1)
The essence of Shaeva Dharma [Shaivism] is all-round expansion – that is, it takes an individual from the lokáyata [mundane] to the lokottara [supramundane] life. Shaivism is that which takes the individual to the supreme fulfilment along a sweet and more and more resplendent path. Shaeva Tantra [Shiva Tantra] is not a cult based on the sayings of the munis and rśis, rather it is concerned with the hopes and aspirations of the masses. It is something which deals with the subtler mystic aspect of human life.
Here let us try to understand the subtle difference between the lokáyata and the lokottara worlds. Suppose there is a bird – take the case of a bird confined in a cage. The bird in a cage eating little morsels of food can be likened to lokáyata sádhaná, and the restless, intense psychic urge to soar freely into the vast distant blue sky can be compared with lokottara sádhaná. Shaeva Dharma in Ráŕh is Tantra-oriented; and as I have said, Tantra means all-round expansion. As the inhabitants of Ráŕh accepted this Tantra from the core of their hearts, even in the distant prehistoric past, they made multidimensional progress: progress in art and literature, progress in dance and music, progress in architecture and sculpture. The inhabitants of Ráŕh made unimaginable progress in all spheres of human life.
The women throughout Ráŕh enjoyed great independence. Women were highly respected in society. Even divorced women of higher caste were permitted to remarry if they so desired.(2) These were direct contributions of Shaeva Tantra.
Footnotes
(1) Editors’ note: Illustration of “essence” omitted here. There should be a harmonious adjustment between movement in the psychic sphere and movement in the external sphere. There should be a healthy social structure as well. All the necessary materials for that structure are fully present in Shaeva Dharma and in Shaeva Tantra.
(2) Editors’ note: In most other cultures of the Indian sub-continent up until recent times, only lower-caste women had been permitted to remarry.