sadhaka
साधक sādhakaA practitioner - one who undertakes sadhana, a disciplined spiritual practice, toward a defined goal (siddhi or liberation). In Tantra the sadhaka is the initiated aspirant who performs the rites, as distinct from the ordinary worshipper.
Where this term appears
- Bhuta Shuddhi: The Rite That Burns the Body to Ash Lineages
Bhuta shuddhi ('purification of the elements') is the preliminary tantric rite in which the worshipper mentally dissolves their own body, element by element, back…
- The Kularnava Tantra: The Kaula Path and the True Guru Lineages
The Kularnava Tantra ('the ocean of the Kula') is one of the most important and most quoted scriptures of the Kaula school of Tantra, a comprehensive manual of the…
- What is Diksha? Lineages
Beside these stands the sadhaka , the practitioner who seeks siddhi , particular powers and attainments, through a more specialised consecration.
- Ishta-Devata: Choosing a Personal Deity Deities
Through nyasa , the ritual placing of mantras upon the parts of the body, the sadhaka builds the deity into himself limb by limb until, in the tradition's own language, he is devata-maya , made of the deity.