Tantric Body: The Secret Tradioion of Hindu Religion by Gavin Flood

Author:Gavin Flood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Tantra

The Saiva Siddhantin is constructed through the rites, with the texts of tradition being mapped on to the body. The occasional rites refer especially to initiation (diksd) and funeral rites (antyesti) which reflect the former. Most important for the Saiva Siddhantin is initiation, for through this he is given access to the tradition, its texts and rites, and guaranteed eventual liberation.

Initiation presupposes the master. The master of the tradition, called the dcdrya, guru or desika, is crucial in the transference of power to the disciple and in teaching the rites and mantras. The master has knowledge of Siva and the traditions, and mediates between the practitioner and transcendent goal. 54 This is not a comment on the inner awareness of the master; rather, the master is socially defined as having himself undergone a particular kind of consecration (the dcdrydbhiseka) that is itself indicative of his degree of traditional knowledge and ability to install icons, consecrate temples

and perform initiations. It is less the intellectual and moral qualities of the master that are important (although these are desirable, along with no bodily impurities) and more the ability and authority (adhikdra) to perform the correct rites at the correct time; the ability to act as a channel for the transmission of tradition. This ability is a formal, socially acknowledged qualification that functions independently of the inner qualities or personality of the teacher. Indeed, during the rites of initiation the master becomes Siva. It is Siva who initiates the disciple through the master. The most important quality that the disciple (sisya) should possess is the quality of devotion to the master (gurubhakti), which is thereby devotion to Siva."

The Tantras contain many kinds of initiation, and there is variability in the texts from formal acceptance by the master with minimal rites to more elaborate ritual procedures. In some texts, those of the Saiva Siddhanta among them, initiation is formalised with no anticipation of the disciple's inner condition; in others the disciple is required to display signs of possession by the deities of the mandala, such as trembling which reflects important differences within tantric traditions. Somasambhu, basing his account on Saiva revelation, describes three initiations - the general (samaya), particular (visesa) and liberating (nirvana) - although Brunner-Lachaux shows how the particular is assimilated into the general and how the distinction into three initiations is later.''' The general initiation (samaya-diksa) provides entry into the tradition, while the liberating liberation (nirvana-diksa) ensures final liberation at death. The structure of initiation follows the pattern of types of disciple as we have seen in the Pancaratra. Thus one who has undergone the samaya-diksa is called a samayin and one who has undergone the nirvana-diksa is a putraka, a son of Siva. There can be one or two further stages in the development of the disciple, should he become a teacher (dcdrya) through the rite of consecration (dcdrydbhiseka), 5 ' which means he then has the authority to initiate disciples. Alternatively there is formal recognition for someone to become a seeker of power and pleasure in higher worlds, a sddhaka, through that consecration (sddhakdbhiseka).

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