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| Diksha or Initiation into Brahmoism |
The following liturgy for the Diksha or Initiation in Brahmoism has been taken from the Manual of Brahmo Rituals and Devotions by Sitanath Tattwabhushan. The book was first published in 1924 with its second edition in 1971 by the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj. The language is archaeic and can be suitably modified keeping in mind with the occassion and times.
This ceremony takes place usually when the candidate has completed the age of eighteen years and has been under religious training for at least one year. It is held usually in a place of public worship, hut sometimes also in private dwelling places in the presence of a number of fellow believers. When the minister has conducted the usual invocation and adoration, the lady or gentleman, under whose instruction the candidate has been trained, or some other elder brother or sister in God who has watched the progress of the candidate's religious life, introduces him (or her) to the minister with words like the following:
Revered Sir, I have great pleasure in presenting Sriman (Mr.) or Srimati (Mrs.) ..................... for initiation into Brahmoism. I believe that he (or she) understands and is convinced of the truth of the fundamental principles of our faith, and I know that he (or she) has been endeavouring to follow these principles for the last........... I beg to commend him (or her) to you and ask you to admit him (or her) into our brotherhood.
The minister then asks the candidate in the following fashion:
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| Minsiter |
Sriman (Mr.) or Srimati (Mrs.)................Have you made up your mind to declare your faith in and be initiated into the Brahmo religion, in the presence of the All-Merciful God and your fellow - believers? |
| Candidate |
Yes, O revered minister, I have made up my mindw declare my faith in and be initiated into the Brahmo religion in the presence of the All-Merciful God and of my fellow-believers. |
| Minsiter |
Do you know and believe in the fundamental principles of Brahmoism? |
| Candidate |
Yes, I do know and believe in the fundamental principles of Brahmoism. |
| Minsiter |
Who is the object of your worship? |
| Candidate |
I believe in and worship only one God, -the True, the Good and the Beautiful; he is spirit; he is infinite in power, wisdom, love, justice and holiness. He is omnipresent, eternal and blissful. No image, no created object or animal, is to be worshipped as God or an incarnation of God or as a mediator between God and man. |
| Minsiter |
How do you worship him? |
| Candidate |
God is spirit and he is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. His worship is immediate and spiritual. To love God whole-heartedly and to do his will inspired by the love of God, constitutes true worship. No offerings or sacrifices are necessary for divine worship. |
| Minsiter |
What is your idea of the human soul? |
| Candidate |
The human soul is capable of infinite progressible to God for its doings. |
| Minsiter |
What is your idea of Shastras of Scriptures? |
| Candidate |
The voice of God in the heart of man is the true scripture. No book, no saying of any person, is to be regarded as infallible and as the sale means of salvation, but truth is to be reverently accepted from all scriptures. Besides, we are also to study reverently the vast book of nature as well as books on Science, Philosophy, Literature and History and gather knowledge from them for our spiritual welfare. |
| Minsiter |
What do you regard as your guru or religious preceptor? |
| Candidate |
God is my only Guru or unfailing guide who speaks in the heart. All saints and sages of all ages and climes. men who have ever tried in any way to further the pregress of man are my teachers. But no man is to be regarded as an infal1ible guide. |
| Minsiter |
What is your relation with your fellow beings? |
| Candidate |
God is our Father and all men and women are brothers and sisters. |
| Minsiter |
What is your idea of Heaven and Hell? |
| Candidate |
I do not believe that there are distinct regions as Heaven and Hell. These indicate spiritual conditions of individual souls. When God reveals himself in our soul and divine bliss is realised. I call this state Heaven; when the heart is vitiated with evil thoughts. I call this state Hell. God rewards virtue and punishes sin. His punishments are remedial and not eternal. |
| Minsiter |
What is your idea of atonement? |
| Candidate |
Cessation from sin accompained by sincere repentance is the only atonement for it. Atonement consists in change of heart and in the performance of external obsetvances. |
| Minsiter |
What is salvation? |
| Candidate |
Salvation consists on the one hand in freedom from sin in words, thoughts and deeds; and on the other hand in union with God in wisdom, love and holiness. Man will ever approach, God in wisdom, love and holiness. but will never merge his self in the Universal Soul. |
| Minsiter |
Have you heard the call of God for accepting the Brahmo religion? |
| Candidate |
Yes, revered Sir, I have heard in the inmost recesses of my heart the voice of God calling upon me to accept the Brahmo religion. |
| Minsiter |
Then vow thy faith in the principles of Brahmoism. |
| Candidate |
- I believe in G0d as the one only Creator and Sustainer of the world. I believe him to be infinite in power, wisdom, love and holiness.
- I believe the human soul to be immortal and eternally progressive.
- I believe that God manifests himself directly to the soul of man and that there are no mediators between God and the soul in the shape of prephets or scriptures.
- I honour and accept all religious teachers and books so far as they are in harmony with direct revelation of God in the soul.
- I resolve to worship God daily and to practise holiness with all my heart and soul.
- I abjure caste and idolatry, and resolve to perform all domestic ceremonies according to the principles of the Brahmo Samaj. May God help me in being faithful to the vow I take today.
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The candidate then offers a short prayer. The minister then charges the inititate thus:
"Sriman (Mr.) or Srimati (Mrs.)................ , this is a most happy day to you and to us all. You have today declared your faith in Brahmoism, the highest and the most valued truth to us, and entered the Brahmo Samaj, the visible embodiment of that truth. We, your fellow believers,and fellow-worshippers, shall watch your career as a Brahmo (or Brahmika) with real interest. Endeavour with all your might to keep the solemn vow you have taken today, and to realise in your life the lofty ideal which your faith sets before you. Take all possible care to preserve its purity, its spirituality and its liberality. Theism is not a new doctrine in India, Many of our ancient and medieval sages and saints held it in all its loftiness. But they could not keep it free from the popular ceremonialism and idolatry of the country. And though the early teachers of our faith clearly conceived the idea of God's direct revelation to the soul, the doctrine of the blind acceptance of external revelation latterly came to mar the purity of that conception. The Brahmo Samaj movement inaugurated by Raja Rammohun Roy and fostered and developed by our later leaders, is a serious attempt to. preserve the purity of Theism, to save it from the dangers to which it has hitherto been liable, and to make it suited with the changed state of the country and the world. While you should entertain deep reverence for the ancient teachers and scriptures of this country and of the world in general, I charge you solemnly, never to lose sight of the reforming character of Brahmoism and the Brahmo Samaj. The history of the Brahmo Samaj may be said to be one long struggle to keep up the purity, spiritually and liberality of its faith and in your life as a Brahmo (or Brahmika), you should keep up that struggle in its earnestness. Never be tempted to make the slightest compromise with caste and idolatry and thereby bring upon our religion the torpor, the practical death, from which the Brahmo movement has saved it. On the other hand, in your praiseworthy zeal for social reform, which indeed is an integral part of the programme of the Brahmo Samaj, never forget that reform is only the outer expression of Brahmoism,and that its life and essence is spirituality, conscious communion with the Supreme Spirit. Worship God every day with reverence, have communion with him, consecrate your life to him and do his will. Seek his guidance in every concern of your life. In your reverence for the teachers and sacred books of your own and other churches, be ever careful that they do not take the place of the direct revelation of truth in your soul by the inspiration of the Divine Spirit. And, however devoted you may be to your own church or the particular section of the church to which you happen to belong, always guard your soul against bigotry and narrowness; and remember that there are wise and holy men in all churches and sects, and that sincere love and honour are due to them. Lastly, keep yourself free from selfishness by all means, selfishness which attacks even the highest spiritual life. While endeavouring to be a faithful and devoted Brahmo in your private life, take always a living and practical interest in the propagation of your faith and in the progress of the Brahmo Samaj. Serve Brahmoism and the Brahmo Samaj in all possible ways with, your money, your tongue and your hands. May God be ever with you and help you in your endeavour to live a truly Brahmo life."
The ceremony concludes with the minister's prayer and a hymn, after which the initiate bows down to the minister and other elders and receives their blessings. |
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