अवधूत

Meaning

The Liberated One. This is Shiva at his most anarchic and radical. An Avadhuta has no house, no caste, no clothes, and no rules. He has discarded even the 'spiritual' identity. He is radically free from social approval and the judgment of others. He represents the state of consciousness that is beyond the dualities of pure and impure, right and wrong. To call Shiva Avadhuta is to acknowledge that the highest truth cannot be contained by any religious or social tradition.

Story · From tradition

The Avadhuta Gita, attributed to Dattatreya (an incarnation often linked to Shiva), describes this state as being like the sky—untouchable and ever-pure. Shiva as the original Avadhuta wandered through forests and cremation grounds, appearing sometimes like a madman, sometimes like a child, and sometimes like a ghost. He showed that the true self is not affected by what the body wears or where it stays. When the gods tried to define him by rituals, he simply 'shook off' their definitions and remained in his naked truth. Source: Avadhuta Gita and Skanda Purana.