Diksha

(“initiation”) A religious initiation
involving the reception of secret religious teachings; the term is said to be
derived from the verb dis, “to point out.”
The word diksha carries a different
sense from the life-cycle rite known as
upanayana, the adolescent religious initiation that is the ritualized “second
birth” conferred on young men from the
three “twice-born” groups—that is,
brahmin (priestly), kshatriya (martial),
or vaishya (mercantile). Both are
religious initiations, and both involve
the creation of new capacities and
entitlements. Yet diksha is not a rite
usually seen as a transition point in the
life cycle, but a religious initiation in
which the initiate gains secret knowledge from a religious teacher (guru),
usually given in the form of the verbal
formulas known as mantras. Whereas
upanayana takes place while a boy is
an adolescent, the time for diksha
is based not on physical age, but
on a person’s willingness and
readiness. Diksha is a particularly
important concept in the ritual
tradition known as tantra, in which
such personalized initiations are the
way of transmitting the tradition from
master to student.