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 2 - Aspects of Diksa
6 (of 41)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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The Laksmi Tantra has interesting features while dealing with d墨k峁Ｄ�. D墨k峁Ｄ乻 is of three kinds namely gross(Sth奴la), Subtle (S奴k峁a) and transcendental (par膩). The mantras of samk峁pta kind has subtle elements, pradh膩na and I艣vara, Arikusa and others are to be selected to the five elements - ego, buddhi, prak峁泃i, and I艣vara. In the case of madhyama kind of dik峁Ｄ�, those who begin with subtle element have to be added to Vist峁泃a d墨k峁Ｄ伮�. The method of relating the mantra in the vi艣e峁 d墨k峁 to tattvas is much detailed. In the case of the first kind, "vi艣v膩tmane n膩raya峁嚹亂a nama岣�" are to be related to the ego, buddhi and prakrti respectively. In the second also, h峁沝aya, netra, and pra峁嘺va mantras are to be related to the subtle elements, ego and god in the third kind. Vibhava mantras of n峁泂imha, kapila and var膩ha and eight anga mantras subtle mantras and mulamantra, Aniruddha, Pradyumna and Samkarsana mantras, V膩sudeva and Satya are to be 1. LT XVI 12-49 63
