Ishavasya Upanishad: Mantra 9

अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्यामुपासते । ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्याया रताः ॥ ९॥ andhaa¹ tamaa¸¥ praviśanti ye 'vidyām upāsate tato bhÅ«ya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyām ratāa¸¥ Translation: Those who are dedicated to the cultivation of ignorance (avidyā) will enter the region of blinding darkness, but even into greater darkness will enter those who are attached to knowledge (vidyā). Commentary: Although generally, the word avidyā is translated as "ignorance", its true and authentic etymological meaning is "no knowledge" or "the absence of knowledge". In the upania¹£adic meaning, rather than ignoring something, avidyā refers to certain exteriorization. It is a search for happiness and well-being in the phenomenal reality of forms, through the physical body. Ignorance of our authentic nature, of what we really are, leads us to a false identification with the body. When we consider ourselves to be only a coarse body or a sack of flesh and bones, our search for happiness and well-being will be limited exclusively to the physical plane. The life of a human being then coarsens to a form of life which does not go beyond eating, sleeping, mating and defending oneself. It is thus evident that avidyā leads us to darkness... On the other hand, there is vidyā or "knowledge", which refers to knowledge about God, the soul, the Self, and all religious knowledge, including intellectual knowledge about the Holy Scriptures. What may appear surprising is that the opinion of the Upania¹£ads about vidyā or knowledge of the Self is not different from its opinion about avidyā, whose cultivation it describes as leading to even greater darkness... Knowledge can flourish and develop into wisdom, but if we become attached to and limited by it, we are in danger of falling into the darkest murk of intellectual religiosity. You may know a great deal about the holy books and even about God, His Name and address, you may know by heart every chapter and verse, but you will remain imprisoned in the jail of the mind. Although very similar, religiosity and religion form two completely different phenomena.

Śaiva-siddhānta: Accepts 28 Āgamas, of which 10 are Śivāgamas and 18 are Rudrāgamas, which are principally Pratiṣṭhā-tantras, that is to say, guides to the installation and worship of the deities in the temple.

At a very basic level, we experience only a familial love, in which we feel the need to provide security and well-being to those who are closer to us in physical terms. We are concerned about our loved ones: our children, our husband or wife, our parents and our brothers and sisters, etc.As we develop, we discover the limitations of family love and we expand to love our community, or perhaps we experience patriotic love. We are capable of making great sacrifices for our country, because we relate our physical body to a geographical location. We are ready to give our life for our flag and motherland, but are unconcerned about the pain and suffering of those human beings who have been born on another soil or who love another flag. We identify with our heroes, but demonize the soldiers of the opposing nation. We view our soldiers as brave warriors sacrificing their lives for their country, while we perceive the members of the opposing army as demonic, evil, bloodthirsty assassins who are without any feelings.Although I was born in Chile, I lived for several years in the Middle East and I can say from my own experience that in times of war the public is trained to see reality as a film, in which “they” are the evil ones while “we”, naturally, are the good.When we elevate ourselves further, we expand to love all of humanity. He who loves humanity as a whole adopts pacifism, because for a person like this there are no differences between shields and flags.However, in our love towards human beings we may forget to be compassionate towards animals. Our love for humanity will remain limited and sectarian as long as we continue to feed upon poor innocent creatures.To the extent that we develop our capacity to love, we not only expand, but deepen. God is love and thus He is limitless. To love God is to experience universal love without limits or borders, which implies the realization of our authentic nature, the realization of God. The love of one who has awakened is free of borders or limits; it is all-embracing.