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
38 (of 57)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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while Pradyumna helps in the practice of the theories." Aniruddha offers the fruit of the acts to the individual soul. Each of the four vy奴ha deities has a concrete, individual form marked by ornaments, weapons and others. These forms are constituted on non-material matter虏. The four vy奴ha deities together constitute an aggregate called c膩tur膩tmya. Four kinds of c膩tur膩tmyas are treated in the Pa帽car膩ta texts鲁. Those who worship this c膩tur膩tmya remain in four stages called j膩grat (waking), svapna (dream), su峁pti (deep sleep) and turiya (transcendental). The activity of the vy奴ha deities is of four kinds namely, 艣膩nta (in-active), udita (active), s膩ntodita (spasmodically active) and nityodita (ever active). Para Vasudeva is said to be in the first stage; Vy奴ha marks the active stage; 艣膩ntodita is the stage of vyuha Vasudeva, and Sankar峁峁嘺, Pradyumna and Aniruddha represent the ever active stage. All these, namely, the 1. See Schrader p.39, 2. SS.V.82-86b; LT X.27-39 3. LT X.22-42 38
