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Initiation

Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

Initiation is like opening the doors of another reality, another room in the house. We live in a house with many rooms and many of the rooms are still locked. T he chakras are the locks. What has been def ined in religious terminology as removing the veil and in yogic terminology as awakening the chakras indicates that there are still many unopened rooms. T here are dif f erent f orms of initiation to open dif f erent doors. One door opens when you are initiated into mantra, another when you are initiated into sannyasa and another with shaktipat. Mantra diksha, initiation into mantra, is the f irst and simplest initiation. Any mantra exerts a very powerf ul control on ajna chakra. Ajna chakra is the chakra of sensitivity, the chakra which has to become active bef ore mooladhara chakra can be awakened. T hat is the theory of kundalini yoga. So the f irst initiation, mantra, opens a door. Apart f rom all the other ef f ects, this is one of the f unctions. In the tantras, emphasis has been given to the use of mantras f or inner transf ormation, whereas the Vedas emphasize the use of mantras to propitiate nature and the elements. So vedic mantras and tantric mantras are dif f erent. In yoga we deal with tantric mantras f or inner purif ication and inner transf ormation. Once you become a master of that, then other things can f ollow. T he spiritual name is an aim to f ollow and attain in lif e. It should work like a carrot dangling in f ront of a donkey. As long as the carrot is in sight, the donkey keeps walking towards it. You should all become like the donkey and f ollow the carrot. T he only dif f erence is that the carrot will not be illusive. By walking a f ew steps towards it, you will have the carrot in your mouth. T he name provides the f ocus and aim to attain. A name has a relationship with an aspect of your nature and spirit which can be f elt intuitively by a f ew people who are aware of it. T hat name represents the need, the aspiration of the human spirit in this lif e to become that, to attain that. Being Sanskrit, the name also evokes a particular vibrational response because Sanskrit is a combination of sounds which creates a f requency change in the vibratory aspect of our personality. When we say the name in Sanskrit using a combination of sounds which has the power to harmonize, alter and change the pattern of our vibratory waves, spandan, then that quality of spirit is now lived. It doesn't only remain an aim to attain, but we become that. Of course, this has to be taken as sadhana and not f or granted. If a plate of f ood is placed in f ront of you, you can eat it and satisf y yourself . If you choose to ignore it and just wear the name like a label, or use the mantra as an aid to deepen meditation, that is f ine too but the potentials are much greater. Sannyasa diksha opens another door, another chakra. Karma sannyasa diksha and the conviction to live like a karma sannyasin, not just being initiated but actually wilf ully living like that, opens another door. It is creating harmony between the various dimensions of your expression and experience. By sensitizing the mind you are able to perceive and become aware of many other situations, events and happenings which previously you would have chosen to ignore. Initiation def initely cannot be escapism, rather it is becoming aware of areas which you ignored in the past and which created some psychological, emotional, intellectual, psychic or spiritual obstruction in your personality. T he third f orm of initiation af ter sannyasa is shaktipat. In this also there is the vedic way and the tantric way. T here are dif f erent types of shaktipat: drig diksha, initiation through sight, sparsha diksha, initiation

through touch, kurma diksha, initiation by thought, swapna diksha, initiation by dream. Only the guru can decide which type the disciple qualif ies f or. If there is aspiration f or spiritual uplif tment, then the choice has to be the guru's. Ganga Darshan, October 10, 2000