THE SIXTY-FOUR LIMBS OF BHAJANA
etai˙ karma-phalair devi nyüna-jåti-kulodbhava˙ çüdro ’py ågama-sampanno dvijo bhavati saμsk®ta˙ As a result of these activities, O Goddess, even a çüdra born in a low-caste family becomes twice-born and endowed with the ågama (the scripture).
In a conversation between Rukmå∫gada (a king) and Mohinî quoted from the Skanda Purå√a it is said: adîkßitasya våmoru k®taμ sarvaμ nirarthakam paçu-yonim avåpnoti dîkßå-virahito jana˙ Hari-bhakti-vilåsa (2.6) O Våmoru (O woman with beautiful thighs), all the auspicious activities of men are worthless without accepting dîkßå. A person who is bereft of dîkßå obtains birth in the animal species of life.
In Bhakti-sandarbha Çrîla Jîva Gosvåmî has said that without undergoing the upanayana-saμskåra4 even children appearing in twice-born families are unfit to study the çåstras and to perform yajñas. Similarly without dîkßå one is unfit to worship the presiding deity of the mantra. It is seen in the çåstras in connection with the glories of bhagavan-nåma that there is so much potency in the Lord’s name that even without undergoing dîkßå, purificatory ceremonies (satkriyå) or preparatory rites (puraçcaryå), harinåma is competent to produce results as soon as it comes in contact with the tongue. This is expressed in the following statement of Çrî Lakßmîdhara, cited from Padyåvalî (29): 4. Upanayana-saμskåra is a ceremony in which a guru initiates a boy into one of the three twice-born classes and by which the boy is invested with the sacred thread, thus becoming qualified to study the Vedas.
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