diksha
दीक्षा dīkṣāInitiation; the rite by which a teacher transmits a mantra and the authority to practise it. Tantra distinguishes several kinds, from formal ritual initiation to initiation by a look, word, or touch.
Explained in depth in What is Diksha?Where this term appears
- Āgama and Veda: two revelations Lineages
The Veda and the Āgama are the two revelations of Hinduism. The Veda is śruti, "heard," held to be authorless and eternal; the Āgama or Tantra is the revealed word…
- The 28 Śaiva Āgamas Lineages
The 28 Śaiva Āgamas are the revealed scriptural canon of the Śaiva Siddhānta, the dualist, ritual-centred mainstream of tantric Śaivism. They are counted as ten…
- The Aghorīs Lineages
The Aghorīs are a small Śaiva ascetic tradition of the cremation ground, who worship Shiva in his Aghora, or 'non-terrible,' aspect. Their transgressive practices,…
- The Kularnava Tantra: The Kaula Path and the True Guru Lineages
…hy it insists so firmly on initiation: there is no liberation without diksha , it says, and no diksha without a true teacher, and it devotes real attention to how guru and disciple must test one another before …
- The Nāth Sampradaya Lineages
The Nāth Sampradaya is an order of Śaiva yogis, ascetic and antinomian, known above all as the tradition that carries haṭha yoga and the pursuit of an immortal,…
- The Pāñcarātra Saṃhitās Lineages
The Pāñcarātra Saṃhitās are the Vaiṣṇava Āgama, the revealed scriptures governing much of Vishnu temple worship. The tradition counts 108 Saṃhitās, though more than…
- What are the Āgamas and Tantras? Lineages
The Āgamas and Tantras are the revealed scriptures of the tantric traditions, a second body of revelation standing alongside the Veda. The word āgama means "that…
- What is Shaktipat? Lineages
On their account diksha is the constitutive act, the thing that makes a transmission a transmission.