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458
The Unknown Pilgrims
śrāvakas and śrāvikās - and be capable, in accordance with her capacities, of imparting some teaching. 39
Diksă is always both a personal and a community event. The profound joy experienced at dikşă is certainly that of the vairāgini, but it is also that of the samgha, for it now counts one more member dedicated to this highest of all states, to those transcendant values that each and every one is endeavouring to live by in accordance with their own state of life and with the means at their disposal. The diksā, or conscecration of a person who is already a member of the community, takes place in a rite that is very exact, sober, simple and meaningful, in the presence of numerous mêmbers. There are two dikṣās in succession marking two distinct stages, with an interval between them that may very from several days to several months. These are the bhagavatidikṣā and the mahädikşā.
a) The bhagavatidikşă: The Blessed Consecration
This is the ceremony of definitive consecration to the anagări state, which seals membership of the śramaņisamgha and separation from everything else. It constitutes a very solemn moment; the mahādikṣā only confirms and consolidates it. Hence the great importance attached to this first celebration.
The vidhi or rite of dikşă is essentially the same in all the sampradāyas, but the celebration may be invested, in different sampradāyas and localities, with having degrees of both solemnity and pageantry. The order of events in the rite, as here presented, is that found among the Sthānakavāsi sådhvis.40
Preparation
39 Cf. P 548 ff.
40 The description which follows is that of a dikşā which took place at Mulun on March 25th 1976; owing to the extreme kindness of Šri D.K. Khetani, Mahāsati Tarulatā and sådhvis of the group concerned, I was able to follow the ceremony very closely. Subsequently Mahasati Tarulată was kind enough to reply in writing to my supplementary questions.
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