In the सिद्धन्त-शैव system, the various levels of impermanent and, therefore, lower मुक्तिस्थान-s are mapped onto the 36 तत्त्व-s (see below). An exponent can only reach the highest तत्त्व-allowed by his उपासन.
Initially, I wondered if all some of these तत्त्व-s were legitimate soteriological goals. For example, who would think of sense-organs as the highest, which the सिद्धान्ताचार्य-s describe as the highest aspiration for some? Or so I thought.
But in fact there were such people, even if they don’t exist today. I had read these passages from the बृहदारण्यक-उपनिषद् before but it did not click till just a few minutes ago, completely out of the blue.
You can read the original & translation here: wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/…
A better resolution of the picture. Various such मुक्तिस्थान-s are scattered through the वेद texts. I have found them to be made part of the bigger picture only in the सिद्धान्त.
Indeed,
वेदसारमिदं तन्त्रं तस्माद् वैदिक आचरेत् ।
-श्रीमन्मकुटागम
वेदान्तार्थमिदं ज्ञानं सिद्धान्तं परमं शुभम् ॥
“वेद’s essence is this तन्त्र (सिद्धान्तम्); therefore वैदिक-s follow [this सिद्धान्त];
वेदान्त’s essence is this ज्ञान (शिवज्ञानम्); the सिद्धान्त is supremely auspicious!”
Contrary to what some modern scholars may think, the attribution of मुक्तिस्थान-s by सिद्धान्ती-s to different adherents is not at all superficial. In fact, as I suggested in the previous tweet, there are other मुक्तिस्थान-s in the वेद which are covered only in सिद्धान्त.
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