Essay name: Diksha (initiation) in Pancharatra
Author:
Shanta Srinivasan
Affiliation: University of Madras / Department of Sanskrit
This English essay studies Diksha in Pancharatra with reference to important texts. Diksha refers to initiation ceremonies into a particular esoteric tradition which is given, for example, by the teacher (Guru) to the student (Shishya). Pancharatra refers to an ancient school of Vaishnavism based on ancient Tantra-like texts called Agamas which were commonly written in Sanskrit verse.
Chapter 1 - Introduction
23 (of 57)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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The most important objection against P膩帽car膩tra is based on the utpattyasambhav膩dhikara峁嘺, which forms part of the Brahmas奴tra of B膩dar膩ya峁嘺. The adhikara峁嘺虏 called utpatyasambhav膩dhikara峁嘺, is the eighth section in the second quarter of the second chapter of the Brahmas奴tra. The second quarter of the second chapter of Brahmas奴tra, after critically examining the importance of the S膩峁噆hya system, the four schools of Buddhism namely Sautr膩ntika, Vaibh膩峁ka, Yog膩c膩ra and Madhyamika, Jaina, P膩艣upata and P膩帽car膩tra finally, rejects the views of all except the last mentioned system. In the adhikara峁嘺 mentioned above, there are four aphorisms. Of these, the first two forms the prima facie view and the next two answers the objections there on. 1. Vide: Manu smrti. II. 16 2. An adhikara峁嘺 contains the mention of the subject treated, the doubt about it, the prima facie view, the reply and the final decision on the problem raised. Vide visayo visayas caiva p奴rvapak峁statottara峁� nir峁嘺ya艣 ca pa帽c膩峁単a峁� 艣膩strea谈 dhikara峁嘺峁� sm峁泃am. - 艢abdakalpadruma.I.I-37. 23
