Of the major subsects of Shaiva Hindus, the Pashupatis are the most notorious. Pashupati means " lord of domesticated animals". Most people, these Shaivities say, are like cows with rings through their noses. They're led here and there by social conventions by their own hopes and fears. The Pashupati practitioners break with social norms and often behave in the most outrageous and upsetting ways- on purpose. They're trying to set their inner world upside down so that they can shake themselves loose from past mental conditioning and begin to move through the world with true freedom.
There are five stages of practice according to this tradition. First is the conventional spiritual aspirant, who meditates and tries to do good. If these aspirants progress, they'll reach the second stage of genuine sainthood. They follow rigorous moral standards and are exemplars of compassion, wisdom, and selfless service. By Pashupati standards, the average saint we recognize in the West is at the second of five levels of spiritual attainment.
The problem with being a Stage 2 saint is that you attract needy souls who waste your time with their constant demands and sycophants who inflate your ego with their constant praise. So at the third stage, practioners are advised to act outrageously, leaping around and shouting as if they're crazy. They make sexual advances to anyone and everyone and break their promises. The crowds of devotees and well wishers who surrounded them in the past now quickly vanish, and the yogi is free to move on to higher practices.
In the fourth stage the aspirants are more "there" than "here" Though still inhabiting a physical body, their awareness is centered in the world within. To normal people, they may seem distracted or even catatonic. Stage 5 is the level of real mastery, where the adept remains centered in the highest consciousness but now acts in the material world for the benefit of all beings helping to free others from their "nose rings".
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