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Today in a short discourse I shall try to say something about diikśá [initiation] and its importance relative to the existence of a microcosm.
You know that in every sphere of life there is a need for some goal, or for some guiding factors that show the way to a goal. And if the sphere we speak of is human progress, in that sphere also such factors are necessary.
I have already told you that human existence is an ideological flow. To accelerate human progress, we need very powerful guiding factors. The factor of will, for example, connects the physical and physico-psychic existence of human beings to spiritual existence, and merges it into that spiritual existence.
Guiding factors should come from a subtler source, and in the case of the spiritual initiation of a human being, those guiding factors emanate from Parama Puruśa. And this is why in Ánanda Sútram(1) it has been clearly stated, Brahmaeva Gurureka náparah – that is to say, “Parama Puruśa alone is the Guru.” All kinds of inspiration for human beings come from that source.
As far as initiation is concerned, there are two types. The first type is usually known as Vaedikii diikśá, and the second type is usually called Tántrikii diikśá.
As you all know, the word veda means “knowledge”. In this sense Vaedikii diikśá means that when inquisitive persons want to know what they should do, how they should do, and why they should do, they pray to Parama Puruśa, “O Lord, I cannot see clearly because I am enveloped in blinding darkness. Out of Your grace, You show me the way. I cannot move by myself. Tell me, out of Your kindness, how I can move forward.” When they receive a lesson in how to pray in such a way, this is called Vaedikii diikśá. The “Savitr Rk” [a Vedic rk, or verse, composed in Gáyatrii rhythm and therefore often known as the Gáyatrii Mantra] and a few other rks of the Rgveda are mantras of this sort.
And thereafter, when the same persons, by His grace, learn the proper way to progress in the physical, psychic and spiritual spheres, that is called Tantrikii diikśá.
Janmaná jáyate shúdrah saḿskárát dvija ucyate;
Vedapáthát bhavet viprah Brahma jánáti Bráhmańah.
[By birth, everybody is a shúdra, with an animal-like mentality. Going through a renewal, the person becomes a dvija, i.e., expresses the desire to become human. A person next becomes a vipra, an intellectual, by studying scriptures. And finally, when the person begins to realize Brahma (through psycho-spiritual initiation) he or she becomes a Bráhmańa.]
What is saḿskára? Here saḿskára means Vaedikii diikśá.(2)
After diikśá, the concerned person acquires considerable knowledge regarding how to do, what to do, why to do, and what his or her actual path should be. The person learns all these things. This is what is called Tántrikii diikśá. After following this path, that individual reaches the zenith of spirituality. He or she becomes a Brahman.
The word diikśá in Tantra has been defined:
Diipajiṋánam yato dadyát kuryát pápakśayam tatah; Tasmátdiikśeti sá proktá sarvatantrasya sammatá.
[The process which produces the capacity to realize the inner import of mantra and which expedites the requital of the saḿskáras, or reactive momenta, is called diikśá.]
Diipajiṋána means “torch”, that is, the knowledge that takes a human being from the darkness of animality towards the effulgence of divinity. In the initial stage, human beings require a torch to light up the way for them. This is what is called diipajiṋána. The initial letter of diipajiṋána is dii.
And when a spiritual aspirant moves from the most negative point towards the ultimate positivity, what happens? His or her accumulated saḿskáras start to become exhausted. That is, all his or her saḿskáras start to wane. For this “waning of sins” the Sanskrit word is pápákśayam. The initial letter of kśayam [waning] is kśa. So the dii of diipanii together with the kśa of kśayam becomes diikśa. And with the addition of the feminine suffix t́a, the word becomes diikśá.
Lord Sadáshiva is the father of all Tantric scriptures. According to Him, this is the real interpretation of the term diikśá. For psychic development and spiritual elevation, people will invariably have to pass through this process of initiation. There is no alternative.
Footnotes
(1) Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti, Ánanda Sútram, 1962. –Eds.
(2) Literally saḿskára means “renewal”, or changing from one’s original form to another form. –Eds.