Living Examples
ISKCON, for example, commonly advise those that want to be initiated into the movement to begin by repeatedly chanting the name of Krishna. This chanting is a sort of unofficial induction. The official initiation as a disciple occurs during an organized ceremony. Additionally, followers are required to wear a string of beads, or kanthi, around their neck.
Transcendental Meditation (TM) began initiation under the guidance of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the late 1950s. New members were initiated through a “devotional ritual (puja) whose focus was Brahmananda Saraswati and the Shankarcharya lineage. Initiates were given a specially suited mantra, and taught how to practice meditation.”
BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha initiates new members via a ritual known as vartman. This ritual involves taking water in the right palm and repeating a mantra that is spoken by the ritual initiator, often a renunciate. After the mantra is repeated, the water is poured away, signifying the acceptance of a lifestyle as established by the movement. A kanthi is adorned and vows are taken. Vows for new initiates include abstaining from meat, alcohol, adultery, stealing, and harmful addictive substances.
Read more about this topic: Initiation In Hinduism
Famous quotes containing the words living and/or examples:
“Human beings are compelled to live within a lie, but they can be compelled to do so only because they are in fact capable of living in this way. Therefore not only does the system alienate humanity, but at the same time alienated humanity supports this system as its own involuntary masterplan, as a degenerate image of its own degeneration, as a record of people’s own failure as individuals.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
“No rules exist, and examples are simply life-savers answering the appeals of rules making vain attempts to exist.”
—André Breton (1896–1966)