GURU AND MANTRA INITIATION

Kulrava Tatra, Gurugt ad various other Scriptures talk ot oly about the
qualities of a Guru, but also speak about the qualities of a good disciple. Though
there are may Scriptures that highlights Guru-disciple relatioship, Kulr ava
Tatra lays more emphasis o this associatio. The ame of this Scripture origiated
from the word kaula, which meas a group or groups, mostly associated with left
had worship kow as vmamrga or vmcra, also kow as left-had doctrie
ad practiced secretively. What we see ad hear about left had doctrie today is
ot truly vmcra, but the combiatio of both vmcra ad daks i cra (right
had worship). They stick exclusively to akti worship. Though vmcra is ot
practiced widely, still it exists here ad there. However, daks icra (opposite to
vmcra or upright worship) is widely practiced ad advocated both uder Vedic
ad Ttrik schools. I both daks icra ad vmcra, cocept of Guru is highly
emphasised. Each Guru has a lieage. Lieage cosists of Svaguru (oes ow
Guru, also kow as r Guru), Svagurus Guru, kow as Paramaguru ad
Paramagurus Guru kow as Parames t higuru. The lieage of Guru is kow as
Guru Parampara (parampara meas successio). First, Parames t h
iguru is
worshiped followed by Paramaguru ad Svaguru. Svaguru is the oe, who takes the
disciple forward with the blessigs of Paramaguru ad Parames t higuru ad iitiates
him by givig a matra. The ature of matra depeds upo the lieage or Guru
Parampara. It is importat for a disciple to worship all the three Guru-s. I other
words, oe should worship Guru Parampara ad should be coversat with all the
three Guru-s. It does ot matter whether or ot, all the three Guru-s live with their
physical bodies.
As far as vmcra is cocered, iitiatio is doe through a ritualistic procedure
called dks (meaig cosecratio or preparatio to perform various rituals) ad
oe without dks is ot eligible to perform rituals associated with the cult. Same
procedural formalities are also adopted by certai daks icra schools. However, it
is oly the Guru who decides about the kid of rituals that are ecessary to iitiate a
particular disciple. There are differet types of dks
-s ad the type of dks
is
decided by the Guru cocered. Dks
also meas iitiatio. Before iitiatio, a
Guru tests his proposed disciple. A disciple ca also equire about the Guru before
iitiatio. Qualities of a Guru are elaborately described both i Kulr a
va Tatra ad
Gurugt. Both these Scriptures are i the form of Um-Mahevara sa vda
(coversatio betwee akti ad iva). Gurugt explais oly about the qualities of
a Guru ad how he is to be worshipped by his disciples. Kulr ava Tatra, apart
from describig qualities of a Guru, also describes certai rituals at the time of dks .
However, there are three types of iitiatios without ivolvig rituals ad they are by
touch, by sight ad through mid. They are kow as spara (touch), dr s t i (sight)

ad masa (mid). Kulrava Tatra also speaks about seve types of dks -s.
Apart from the three discussed above, the other four are iitiatios through rituals,
writig, verbal ad by trasmittig eergy. I ritualistic iitiatio, vessels (kalaa)
cotaiig water, fire pit (homa kud a), etc are used ivolvig elaborate rituals.
Majority of the iitiatios take place verbally combied with rituals. The highest forms
of iitiatios are through sight, mid ad trasfer of eergy. These three iitiatios
wake up the sleepig kud ali, provided Guru has extraordiary capabilities. I rare
cases, distat iitiatios also take place, provided Gurus ku d
a
li is extraordiarily
active ad his divie eergy level is very high. Similarly, the level of cocetratio of
the eergy of the disciple should also be very high. This process is like radio
trasmitters. I distat iitiatios, geerally j cakra-s are used to trasmit ad
receive eergies. Guru might also use his sahasrra istead of j cakra.
Oce iitiated, a disciple should ot look for aother Guru. But certai exceptios are
made such as iadequacy of kowledge, moey midedess ad immoral behaviour
of a Guru. Guru accepts a aspirat after puttig him to test for several moths,
miimum period beig three moths. It is also said that a disciple is freed of all his
sis, if he is properly iitiated by a Self-realised Guru, ad the disciple meticulously
follows the istructios ad teachigs of his Guru. A leared Guru also kows which
matra is to be give to which disciple. Some matras are capable of yieldig fruits
quickly, some matras are capable of givig material wealth ad some matras are
capable of offerig oly liberatio. Matras such as Soda give oly liberatio; but
this does ot mea that it is ot capable of coferrig material wealth. Pacada
becomes Soda by addig Laksm bja r () ad therefore, capacity to give
material wealth is iheret i Soda. I kta cult, Soda is the ultimate matra
ad geerally ot give by a Guru that easily. This matra is give by a Guru
depedig upo the disciples spiritual progress. The oe who is seekig liberatio
will ot be iterested i accumulatig material wealth ad a perfected Guru kows
the itetios of a disciple. Further, matras like Pacada ad Soda are ot
give straightaway; first, Gaapat ad Bl are give ad depedig upo the
progress of the disciple, higher matras are iitiated. But, the effects of a matra
primarily deped upo disciples perseverace, dedicatio ad followig the
istructios of Guru meticulously. For most of the matras, umber of recitatios is
prescribed to get the matras fructified. Mai reaso for matras ot gettig fructified
is lack of cocetratio ad cotemplatio o the deity cocered. May aspirats
cocetrate oly o the recitatios ad ot o the visualisatio ad cotemplatio of
the cocered deity. A Guru will istruct his disciple how to recite the iitiated
matras ad his istructios are to be strictly followed. Gurus istructios override
all other istructios, icludig those prescribed by dharma stra-s.
Gettig a blessed Guru, fructificatios of matras, spiritual icliatio, spiritual
kowledge, capacity to meditate properly, arousal of ku d a
li, good spiritual

eviromet, eager to move to higher stages of spirituality, etc deped upo oes
karmic accout. It is also said that a Sadguru (Self-realized Guru) ca bur all the
remaiig karmas of his best disciples. Whe God caot remove accumulated
karmas, it is said that a perfect Guru ca do so. Whe God lets dow, Guru ca save
ad whe Guru lets dow, eve God caot save; hece the role of a Sadguru is
paramout i fial liberatio. Karma is the sum total of various acts performed
through freewill i the past births. Freewill i the preset birth if i right directio, ca
stop further accumulatio of future karmas. However, past karmas, also kow
as adr s t a
karmas, caot be wiped out ad oe has to experiece past karmas
through his physical ad subtle (mid) bodies ad they are together kow as pais,
miseries ad sufferigs. It is said that a Sadguru ca wipeout all these karmas.
Guru-disciple relatioship should be built up o oe to oe basis, as the
developmet of all the disciples will ot be the same. Some disciples advace faster
tha others. Whe Guru kows that a disciple is fit eough to liste to his teachigs
regardig the Self, Guru begis to teach him about Brahma, fially leadig to
affirmatio by the disciple I am That (That refers to Brahma). Beyod this, there is
othig to be doe or practiced. That is the ed of oes spiritual jourey. However,
before reachig the fial stage of spiritual path, oe will ecouter too may hurdles
ad these hurdles are to be overcome with determiatio ad devotio to Guru.
There should ot be ay differece betwee Guru, Deity ad the disciple. Whe the
disciple realizes this, by makig equires withi, results will be pheomeal.
There are two topics that eed special metio here. Oe is tmabja, which is ot
widely kow ad practiced. At the time of iitiatio, Sadguru gives to his disciple, a
matra kow as pdukmatra. Pduk does ot merely mea imprits of Gurus
sacred feet, mostly o woode sadals ad sometimes o silk cloth. Iterpretig
Pduk as sadals is o the grosser side. Pduk is the oe that ot oly protects
the disciple, but also gives what is desired (kmitrtha). At the time of iitiatio,
Sadguru (also kow as Svaguru or r Guru) gives three types of matras ad they
are r Guru pduk {comes uder Gurumad ala i r Vidy cult, where
Mahpduk (iva) is also worhsiped}, mla matra (like Pacada ad Soda
matras) ad disciples ow pduk. Disciples ow pduk is kow as tmabja,
where Sadguru iitiates with a sigle bjks ara. tmabja is to be prefixed ad
suffixed to a matra, which is kow as matra samput karaa (samput karaa
meas ecasig or coverig). As far as Mahs o
da is cocered, the secod OM is
to be replaced by tmabja. r Guru will advise his disciple how to use tmabja at
the time of givig it. Some Gurus might ask his disciple to recite his or her tmabja
certai umber of times a day. Others might istruct his disciples to prefix ad suffix
tmabja to the iitiated matra. Oe has to strictly follow what his or her Guru says.

The most commoly raised doubt is whether to add Om at the commecemet of

Mahsoda matra. Kulrava Tatra clearly says that a matra without prefixig
Om is defective ad will ot fructify. Hece, without ay doubt, pra a
va is to be
prefixed to all the matras without ay exceptio. It is also said that pra a
va is to be
recited at the ed of a matra, but this is ot geerally practiced. As far as suffixig
praava, oe has to go by Gurus decisio.
There is oe ritual called prbhiseka, where kalaa-s filled with water are kept ad
various Vedic matras are recited ad eergy of the matras recited are trasferred
to water iside the kalaa-s. After completig matra recitatios, homa (offerig
oblatios ito the fire) is performed with various matras ad agai the eergy of the
homa is trasferred to the kalaa-s by meas of durba grass (kua grass). Durba
grass has the capacity to receive the eergy ad pass it o to the water i kalaa-s.
Geerally this procedure is doe oly after a disciple has completed puracara a of
a matra. Puracaraa is the combiatio of matra japa, homa, tarpa a
, mrjaa
ad bhojaa. For every matra to attai matra siddhi, certai umber of recitatios
is prescribed. For example, if 100,000 japas are prescribed for a particular matra,
after completig 100,000 recitatios, he has to do 10,000 homa oblatios, 1000
tarpaa-s, 100 mrjaa-s ad has to feed either 10 Vedic scholars or 10 persos
who have attaied matra siddhi of the same matra for which puracara a
is
performed.