By the
Hindu or Buddhist devotees, the pattern of intentional language is viscerally
understood; though none but the scholars among them could or would hazard
speculations about the origins of intentional language, it is, as it were,
unconsciously operational with them. The same, of course, holds for mantra. In
a critical study like ours, therefore, it was necessary to establish the status
of mantra and of intentional language, before proceeding to the fundamental
routine of the Tantric devotees' career, diksa or initiation.
The
word diksa is defined as 'preparation or consecration for a religious ceremony,
undertaking religious observances for a particular purpose and the observances
themselves (Atharvaveda and other Vedic passages); dedication, initiation
(personified as the wife of Soma in ggveda); any serious preparation as for
battle; self-devotion to a person or god, complete resignation or restriction
to, exclusive occupation with. The underlying root is diksa to 'consecrate,
dedicate', and it may be a rare desiderative of diksa to grow, to increase, to
be able, to be strong'.
The
word diksa" is used in all Indian vernaculars and is one of common though
slightly sophisticated religious parlance every-where, but it retains its
connotation as 'spiritual initiation' only, in the modern languages, the other
meanings being no longer covered by the word in any of the languages.
The
dictionary omits the most important aspect of diksa, how-ever, i.e. that its
content must be a mantra of some sort, or that a mantra must be part of its
content. A person may be initiated into the use, say, of a manclala, a yantra,
or into the performance of a yajila (ritualistic sacrifice), but along with it
a mantra is invariably imparted. Herein lies an important difference between diksa
and abhisekha 'anointment' for the latter never requires the conferring of a
mantra on the neophyte.
The
notion and the practice of diksa is common to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism
alike; tribal groups who were listed as 'animists' and do not belong to any of
the three high religions also employ a sort of diksa, probably in emulation of
their Hindu surroundings; the Todas of the Nilgiris in south India impart a
regular mantra to their sons, in analogy to the upanayana (investiture with the
sacred thread) ceremony of the twice-born Hindus; instead of the Gayatri, a
mantra commencing with 'UM' is given to the boy, in the Toda language.
The
notion of diksa provides us, as a semantic by-product so to speak, with a
definition of a guru for a guru is one who has received diksa from one or more
gurus, is capable of conferring, and has actually conferred diksa on another
person or persons. All other qualifications spiritual maturity, age, renown,
learning, etc. are marginal to guru-hood. lithe question 'who is a guru?' is
put to any practising Hindu, he will usually say 'one who gives diksa '. As we
shall see a bit further down, the formal conferring of diksa is not always
regarded as prerequisite of guru-hood yet it is implicit even when there is no
formal act.
The
types of diksa correlate with the adhikdra or 'specific entitlement' of the
conferee. A person receives the diksa of the divine form or principle which he
is fit to worship or approach. One and the same mantra may be used in various
diksas, according to the spiritual adhikara of the adept and to the purpose of
the initiation. Thus, the Mrtymijaya-mantra is used for initiation into the
worship of iva-Paiupati; into the worship of Ardhandrigvara, i.e. the
hermaphrodite form of iva; into the worship of the goddess as in the
Mahanirvana Tantra; for removing illnesses (or, rather, for initiating a person
who wants to achieve the capacity to cure illnesses); among the Viraiaivites of
Mysore, to initiate a jangama, a Viragaivite monk, into the Order of Lingiyats;
and to initiate a person into miscellaneous aivite and; -ikta rituals.
The
study of adhikara-bheda is part of the daily schedule in almost all monastic
training institutions in India. What the students learn are chiefly the
laksanas or 'signs' by which to recognize what person is capable for a
particular rite, as also what kind of meditation, etc., is likely to yield
proper results for a particular aspirant.
I shall
now list some important categories of diksa.
The
distinction made by some Indian author between 'group' and 'individual'
initiation is not really functional, because diksa is strictly a one-to-one
interpersonal process between one guru and one disciple. The fact that several
persons are frequently initiated at a time does not mean that a 'group' diksa
is involved; it is usually done for convenience's sake, especially if the guru
is a famous and well-sought-after teacher who consents to give diksa to
hundreds of people every year. What actually happens in such cases is that he
assembles those whom he regards as having the same adhikara; he then gives them
the common instruction jointly; but, subsequently, each of the aspirants comes
up to him separately and he whispers the latter's particular mantra into his
ear; but this is no 'group' diksa. The Hindu and the Buddhist alike distinguish
very sharply, though perhaps not in a formulated manner, between group
instructions, individual instructions, and diksa, which is always a one-to-one
affair. Group and individual instruction (upadda) may seem, to the outsider,
very similar to a formal ; but it is never the same. Upadeia does not have the
spiritual power of diksa nor has it any charismatic function. In the whole
history of diksa, there has actually been only one known case where something
like a genuine group diksa took place. That was when the medieval founder of
the Visistadvaita School, Sri Ramanuja, proclaimed the man from NAMO
NARAYANAYA' to all the peope assembled at the riraligarn shrine, flouting the
injunction of his own guru to keep the mantra secret and to impart it only to
deserving and well-tested individuals. The Sthalapurana then says 'the ciairya
thus gave diksa to all the hundreds, all the hundreds were thus initiated at
once'. Similar stories are told about Ramanuja's Bengali counter-part ri
Caitanya Deva, the famous Vaisnava reformer. The Caitanya Caritiimrtal narrates
how the saint initiated thousands at the threshold of the jagannaha Temple in
Puri (Orissa); but the narrative is a complete analogy to the Rima-nuja episode
and it seems almost beyond doubt that it is a copy, whatever the authenticity
of the former story had been. Learned Hindu opinion rejects any such
possibility, for individual conferring of diksa is felt to be part of its
definition. What has been said about mantra" holds, mutatis mutandis, for diksa
as well.
Writer – Agehananda Bharti
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