About Griahastha Diksha

Question: Swami, I understand that it is not enough to talk about the Dharma, you have to do something really. I want to receive diksha from you, initiation into your lineage, but I cannot yet become a full sannyasi . I have a family, work, duties and karma still hold me. I also feel that karma sannyasa is a rather serious status for experienced students, and I am still not ready to immediately follow all eight principles for karma sannyasis. For example to go through retreats every month, do long-term sadhana or regularly participate in seva ... but I want to practice, get a name, a guru mantra ... how can I still get a dikhsa?

Answer: You can get a diksha, but you don't have to take exactly karma-sannyasa, you just get a diksha and accept the status, and also take on the obligations of a householder - grihastha. We have such a status, it is just for the people like you. Grihasthas are family people, householders who do not take on many obligations, they practice as much as their karma allows. Faith, ethics, commandments, pilgrimages, sowing, worship are more important for grihasthas.

Even ordinary people - householders, can come to the Dharma and find themselves in the Dharma simply by visiting ashrams, observing simple commandments, living more simply than karma sannyasis, for example, doing a small upasana, reciting a mantra, participating in festivals. Their clothes are ordinary mundane or ordinary sari for mataji and punjabi for prabhu.

For a diksha as grihastha it is enough to have a symbol of Faith, it is desirable for them, but not necessary, to study in order to pass exams, it is not necessary to pass retreats, but they also have their own minimum of commandments and sadhana. And karma-sannyasa can be taken later, when there is an opportunity to follow all its principles. After all, following the taken principles of diksha is very useful and important for spiritual growth, it gives spiritual strength and wisdom. But it is also important to take what you can do and like, and not take what is beyond your power.

Question: Yes, that's understandable. And what are these principles for the grihasthas?

Answer: There are only six of them, two less than that of the karma sannyasi.

• 1. The first principle is related to dharmic behavior, these are general.

  The "five great vows" (maha-vrata) are the same as that of the karma-sannyasi, that is:

  • - ahimsa, non-violence - not to harm anyone;
  • - asteya - do not steal and do not appropriate someone else's;
  • - satya - always adhere to the truth;
  • - brahmacharya - yogic control of sex life, loyalty to your spouse or partner, also not to create other problems with your sexual behavior;
  • - do not drink alcohol and do not use various harmful substances - tobacco, drugs, etc.

In addition, the following principles for the grhasthas:

• 2. Upasana - simple daily worship, including bhajans, arati at the altar in the ashram or home, simple offerings.
• 3. Utsava - the practice and celebration of special days (special spiritual holidays such as Shivaratri, Guru Purnima, Datta Jayanti, paramguru appearance day, etc.).
• 4. Sadhana is a simple practice that includes the recitation of a mantra, meditation, into which there was transmission.
• 5. Vegetarianism, that is, the rejection of meat, fish, eggs or their use in extreme cases, only as medicine.
• 6. Study of scriptures or satsangs (svadhyaya).

Thus, six main principles emerge.