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
32 (of 57)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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On the contrary the Pa帽car膩tra system seems to have a reverential regard for the Vaikh膩nasa tradition'. The critical passages containing such remarks were written later than the early P膩帽car膩tra text. In reality, there is no contradiction between the concepts of either of the two. Ved膩ntadesika observes that Vaikh膩nasa Agama is as much authoritative as the P膩帽car膩tra, only the deeds enjoined in the Vaikh膩nasa system may be different from those presented in the P膩帽car膩tra. Such a difference should be viewed as in the case of the difference from one Kalpas奴tra to another. For this reason, a system cannot be held to be invalid. As both the systems hold N膩r膩ya峁嘺 as the supreme being, there is no contradiction between them and hence both of them are equally valid.虏 1. 鈥淪amyam Vaikh膩nasam proktam膩gneyam p膩帽car膩trakam鈥� SA Ch. LXXVIII.56 2. Vide: S膩ra峁嘺gati d墨pik膩 32
