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
25 (of 57)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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An objection to the validity of the Pa帽car膩tra system was raised, for the first time, by Sankara in his Brahmas奴trabh膩峁a. Sankara admits the vy奴ha forms and the worship of the Lord in the five divisions of the day. He raises his objection to the statement in the P膩帽car膩tra text that one soul called Sankar峁峁嘺, is born out of Vasudeva. But, it is emphatically stated in the Upanisads that the self is eternal and has no birth. The P膩帽car膩tra statement is, therefore, anti-Vedic and so the portion containing such statements of the P膩帽car膩tra Agama cannot be admitted as valid. This objection is answered by stating that in the Mah膩bh膩rata it is said that Vasudeva is the soul of Sankar峁峁嘺, Pradyumna the mind of Sankar峁峁嘺 and Aniruddha the ego of Pradyumna'. Here it is not stated that the soul, mind or ego are born out of Vasudeva. Yamuna states that the statement of Sankara, that the soul is born is not found in any of the Pa帽car膩tra works虏. 1. Vide MBh santiparvan. 358; 39,40 2. 膧gamapr膩m膩峁噛a, p. 109, 10-14. 25 25
