Elements of Hindu Iconography v2.c15.27

v2.c15.27

In this kind of *dīkshā*, the fiction is that the bonds (*pāśas*) are cut off even when the *śishya* is in his material body; for this purpose, a few strands of string are taken and suspended from the tuft of his hair to the toe of the right foot; in these strings, the *chaitanya* (or energy) of the *śishya* is invoked and the *guru* conceives in his mind as having undergone, even then, the several births which the *śishya* has otherwise to take to absolve himself from the various bonds known as *mala*, *māyā*, *karma* and *kalā*, and then cuts the strings into pieces. To check the further growth of these *pāśas* or bonds, the *guru* throws the bits of strings into the fire. After these ceremonies are over, the soul of the *śishya* is believed to have become equal to Śiva in purity. Another formality is also gone through to establish this identity of the soul with Śiva, namely, the *guru* yokes on to the soul of the *śishya*, the six qualities which distinguish Śiva, namely *Sarvajñatva*, (omniscience), *pūrna-kāmatva* (filled with love) *anādi-jñāna*