Nowadays, many people consider the process of DIKSHA-initiation as an empty ritual which actually doesn’t do anything as far as enlightening you in any way.

They even go as far as to claim that DIKSHA is not required and therefore not really necessary.
As evidence they produce Srila Jiva Goswamipada´s words in his Bhakti Sandarbha.

In his Bhakti Sandarbha, Srila Jiva Goswami first says that arcana is not absolutely required since philosophically all items of bhakti can lead to perfection. But then he also writes:

“Yet those who follow the path recommended by sages, such as Sri Narada, AND WHO DESIRE A SPECIFIC RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD CONSUMMATED BY A WORTHY GURU THROUGH THE PROCESS OF DIKSHA, SHOULD CERTAINLY PERFORM ARCANA AFTER FIRST ACCEPTING DIKSHA.”

 

“Those who desire a SPECIFIC RELATIONSHIP.”

Then in Anuccheda 284, Srila Jiva Goswamipad writes:

“So, when even the name alone is independent of any process and can bestow all results up to the supreme goal of life, how can a mantra, whose power is greater even than the name, be dependent upon diksha? This may be answered as follows:
By constitution mantras are not dependent on diksha. Nevertheless, human beings are by nature prone to unvirtuous conduct and mental disturbance due to identifying with their bodies….”

 

So, yes, on the absolute platform, philosophically speaking, mantras are not dependent on diksha. That is what Srila Jiva Goswami is saying here.
Not once is he saying that “diksha is not necessary”.

He strongly recommends it BECAUSE of our fallen nature…otherwise, why even take initiation at all?

“Nevertheless, human beings are by nature prone to unvirtuous conduct and mental disturbance due to identifying with their bodies….”

Very often, a verse from Caitanya Caritamrita cited as evidence that DIKSHA is not at all required:

eka kṛṣṇa-nāme kare sarva-pāpa kṣaya
nava-vidhā bhakti pūrṇa nāma haite haya
dīkṣā-puraścaryā-vidhi apekṣā nā kare
jihvā-sparśe ā-caṇḍāla sabāre uddhāre
(Caitanya Caritamrita, Madhya-lila 15.107-108)

“Simply by chanting the holy name of Krishna once, a person is relieved from all the reactions of a sinful life.
One can complete the nine processes of devotional service simply by chanting the holy name.
One does not have to undergo initiation or execute the activities required before initiation.
One simply has to vibrate the holy name with his lips. Thus even a man in the lowest class (candala) can be delivered.”

 

Absolutely true. The Holy Name is all-powerful and like Srila Jiva Goswamipad wrote, it is not dependent on DIKSHA.

But which kind of chanting is meant here?
“Simply by chanting the Holy Name of Krishna once”…so, we all chant every day. Are we relieved of all sins in an instant?  Are we steeped in PREMA?
Can we stop performing SADHANA-BHAKTI and just do our chanting?
Nope. This is NOT what this verse is about.

This verse is a glorification of the Holy Name.
Sriman Mahaprabhu nicely taught us in verse 2 of His Siksastakam about the power of the Holy Name.
And yes, by uttering SUDDHA NAMA, the Holy Name in pure consciousness and WITHOUT offenses, ALL our sins are destroyed, our hairs stand on end and tears stream down our face.

But until we chant SUDDHA NAMA, it is absolutely required to perform sadhana-bhakti.

If the Holy Name can lead to all perfection, why not just chant and attain perfection? Why even surrender to Sri Gurudeva?
So, guru-tattva would be obsolete. But we will come to this later…

My beloved Gurudeva, Srila Ananta das Babaji Maharaja writes:

eka kṛṣṇa nāme kore sarva pāpa nāśa
premera kāraṇa bhakti korena prakāśa
premera udaye hoy premera vikāra
sveda kampa pulakādi gadgadāśru dhāra
anāyāse bhava kṣaya kṛṣṇera sevana
eka kṛṣṇa nāmera phale pāi eto dhana
heno kṛṣṇa nāma yadi loy bahubāra
tabu yadi prema nahe, nahe aśrudhāra
tabe jāni aparādha tāhāte pracura
kṛṣṇa nāma bīja tāhe na hoy aṅkura
(Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, chapter 8)

“One utterance of Kṛṣṇa’s name destroys all sins and causes devotion and love of God to appear. When prema arises, the devotee shows all its symptoms, such as sweating, shivering, horripilating, a faltering voice and crying streams of tears. Liberation from the material world, which is attained by serving Kṛṣṇa, is easily attained by simply once uttering the name of Kṛṣṇa. When you chant this name of Kṛṣṇa many times, but still you don’t feel love and there are no tears of love streaming from your eyes, then I know that there must be many offenses committed, so that the seed of Kṛṣṇa’s name cannot sprout.”

One may ask here: If the glories of the holy name are so unhindered, then why is there still consideration of offenses? If offenses dim the greatness of the name, then how can the holy name be called unrestricted? The answer is that mist cannot cover the sun, it can only cover the sun from our eyes. Because mist may cover the sun, the sunrays cannot fall on us. Similarly, nothing can actually cover the self-manifest greatness of the holy name, but offenses cover our hearts in such a way that its powers cannot fall into our hearts. But when the mist dissolves, the sunrays can fall on us unhindered. Similarly, when offenses disappear, the strength of the holy name is freely experienced in the heart. It is just like a king, who is able at any time to make any poor man rich. But if the king is displeased with someone, and he does not want to give his wealth to him, it does not mean that he is not able to give that wealth! In the same way, the holy name is able to give prema to the offensive chanter, but he will not give it because he simply does not want to give it. That is why the practising devotee should chant the holy name without committing offenses. Even if one chants for a long time, prema will not come in the heart as long as one commits offenses. That is why the devotional scriptures are always warning the practising devotees to beware of offenses.
(tika to verse 2, Siksastakam)

 

This is exactly what Srila Jiva Goswami wrote: “By constitution mantras are not dependent on diksha. Nevertheless, human beings are by nature prone to unvirtuous conduct and mental disturbance due to identifying with their bodies….”

Again, many say that DIKSHA is an empty ritual which actually doesn’t do anything as far as enlightening you in any way.

It surely is a ritual but a very very important one. It may from the outside look like the “permission to do archanam (deitiy-worship)” and it may be looked upon rightly  as a purification-process, but there sure is an INTERNAL aspect of DIKSHA too.

What is meant with dīkṣā, or initiation?
In his Bhakti Sandarbha (283) Śrīmat Jīva Gosvāmīpāda quotes the śāstras to describe the glories of initiation —

divyaṁ jñānaṁ yato dadyāt kuryāt pāpasya saṅkṣayam
tasmād dīkṣeti sā proktā deśikais tattva kovidaiḥ

“That which bestows divine knowledge and destroys all sins is called dīkṣā by the ācāryas who know the truth.” Śrī Jīvapāda adds: divyaṁ jñānaṁ hyatra śrīmati mantre bhagavat svarūpa jñānaṁ tena bhagavatā sambandha viśeṣa jñānaṁ ca —
“Here divine knowledge means the knowledge about the Lord’s intrinsic identity which lies within the mantra, along with specific knowledge of the living being’s relationship with the Lord.”

jīvera svarūpa hoy — kṛṣṇera nitya dāsa
kṛṣṇera taṭasthā śakti — bhedābheda prakāśa (C.C.)

“The intrinsic identity of the living entity is that he is Kṛṣṇa’s eternal servant. Being Kṛṣṇa’s marginal potency he is both different and non-different from Him.”
Although the living being is Kṛṣṇa’s eternal servant, he has been averse to the Lord since beginningless time. Hence he has been swallowed by ignorance and illusion, and being under such illusion, he identifies with his false body, senses and mind. Forgetting his own intrinsic identity he calls his false body “I” and forgetting his eternal relationship with Śrī Hari, he becomes bound to his wife, children and money.

kṛṣṇa nitya dāsa jīva tāhā bhuli gelo;
sei doṣe māyā tāra golāya bāndhilo (C.C.)

“The living being has forgotten that he is Kṛṣṇa’s eternal servant, and due to that fault māyā has bound him around the neck.” In this way, although the living being is intrinsically a transcendental entity, he is bound by māyā and wanders around in the miserable material world, reincarnating from one painful species of life to the other. That through which Śrī Guru mercifully slackens the bondage of māyā and infuses transcendental energy into the disciple’s heart, thus awakening his awareness of his eternal or special relationship with Śrī Hari — this is called dīkṣā.
Then again the mantra is the intrinsic form of the Lord, and by the grace of the sādhus and the Guru, who are Śrī Hari’s kāruṇya ghana vigraha, the embodiments of His deep mercy, the Lord enters into the disciple’s heart in the form of the mantra to make his body, mind and life-airs transcendentally suitable for serving the Lord. Śrīman Mahāprabhu Himself said —

dīkṣā kāle bhakta kore ātma samarpaṇa;
sei kāle kṛṣṇa tāte kore ātma sama
sei deha korena tāra cid ānandamoy;
aprākṛta dehe tāra caraṇa bhajoy (C.C.)

“At the time of initiation the devotee surrenders himself and at that time Kṛṣṇa makes the practising devotee equal to Himself. The Lord then makes the devotee’s body transcendental and in this transcendental body the devotee can worship the Lord’s lotus feet.”

It is easily understandable that those who know these glories of taking shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide Guru and taking initiation, but still think that it is not necessary to take initiation and that chanting the holy name alone will suffice, will find so many obstacles and defeats on their spiritual paths. This is factually not the opinion of the Gosvāmīs. The śāstras and the sayings of the Mahājanas have shown the glories and the eternality of taking initiation, and from the ancient Mahājanas down to the present day sādhaka samāja (society of practising devotees) such purificatory rites have always existed. If someone knows this, but is still averse to taking shelter of the lotus feet of a bona fide Guru, it will result in an offence to the chanting of the holy name. It is not only an offence to the scriptures and the sayings of the Mahājanas, but it is also a sign of disrespect to the Guru-principle — these two powerful offenses will be committed.
(Śrīmat Ananta Dāsa Bābājī – Guru tattva vijnana)

 

So, here we see the very important INTERNAL aspect to the process of DIKSHA and FOR SURE not an empty ritual from which we gain nothing:
Diksha leads to attaining svarupa siddhi, realizing the “identity of the Supreme Lord (bhagavat-svarūpa) as well as the knowledge of the sādhaka-jīva’s particular relationship with the Lord.”
There can be no relationship with Krishna without knowing our own svarupa.

By the way, my Gurudeva here is perfectly in sync with Srila Vishvanatha Cakravartipad, who writes in his famous tika to Srimad Bhagavatam 6.2.9-10:

ye go-gardabhādaya iva viṣayeṣv evendriyāṇi sadā cārayanti, ko bhagavān, kā bhaktiḥ, ko gurur iti svapne’pi na jānanti, teṣām eva nāmābhāsādi-rītyā gṛhīta-hari-nāmnām ajāmilādīnām iva niraparādhānāṁ guruṁ vināpi bhavaty evoddhāraḥ | harir bhajanīya eva bhajanaṁ tat-prāpakam eva | tad-upadeṣṭā gurur eva | gurūpadiṣṭā bhaktā eva pūrve hariṁ prāpur iti viveka-viśeṣavattve’pi—no dīkṣāṁ na ca sat-kriyāṁ na ca puraścaryāṁ manāg īkṣate mantro’yaṁ rasanā-spṛg eva phalati śrī kṛṣṇanāmātmakaḥ || iti pramāṇa-dṛṣṭyā ajāmilādi-dṛṣṭāntena ca kiṁ me guru-karaṇa-śrameṇa nāma-kīrtanādibhir eva me bhagavat-prāptir bhāvinīti manyamānas tu gurv-avajña lakṣaṇa-mahāparādhād eva bhagavantaṁ na prāpnoti, kintu tasminn eva janmani janmāntare vā tad-aparādha-kṣaye sati śrī-guru-caraṇāśrita eva prāpnotīti.

Those who are like cows or mules and whose senses are constantly seeking after sense gratification, they have absolutely no idea of who is God, or what is devotion, or what is Guru—not even in their dreams. Even so, some, like Ajamila have been liberated through the shadow of the Holy Name even though they never took a spiritual master.

I know that Hari is the object of worship and that bhajan is the means to attain him; the person who instructs one is such bhajan is the spiritual master and that in the past, only those who have followed the directions of such spiritual masters have attained the Lord. Even so, the scriptures elsewhere say, “The mantra of Krishna’s Holy Name needs only to touch the tongue of the devotee to give results, and depends on neither initiation or any other ritual, including puraścaraṇa.”

There is also the example of Ajamila, who attained Vaikuntha without all these complications, so why should I bother going to the trouble of taking a guru. I will simply chant and I will be sure to attain the Lord.” This however is a great offense to the Holy Name known as guror avajñā, which will block one’s progress and assure that he does not attain the Lord. Rather he will have to return birth after birth until this particular offense has been rectified by taking shelter of a spiritual master

 

If DIKSHA is not required or not really necessary, then WHY DID Krishna take DIKSHA? WHY SRIMAN MAHAPRABHU?
To set an example for us to follow.

If DIKSHA is not required or not necessary, then the whole concept of GURU-TATTVA would be useless.
And why would Srila Rupa Goswami name diksha as one of the first three items of sadhana-bhakti?

The first three of the 64 items of bhajana that are described by Śrīmat Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda are  –
guru padāśrayas tasmāt kṛṣṇa dīkṣādi śikṣaṇam viśrambheṇa guroḥ sevā
(Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu 1.2.74)

1) Taking shelter of Śrī Guru’s feet
2) Taking initiation into Śrī Kṛṣṇa-mantra and learning Bhāgavata-dharma (the religion of worshipping the Personality of Godhead) from him
3) Serving Śrī Guru with faith.
guru padāśraya, dīkṣā, gurura sevana (C.C.)

“guru padāśraya” means that a person who wishes to do bhagavad bhajana must live near Śrī Guru’s feet for a while before taking initiation, and sincerely render service to him according to his wishes, so that Śrī Guru’s lotus feet are pleased.
(Śrīmat Ananta Dāsa Bābājī – Guru tattva vijnana)

Krishna took initiation, Sriman Mahaprabhu took initiation…it is therefore PERFECTLY clear that we as fallen sadhakas should also follow their examples.

Svayaṁ Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa defined the principle of Śrī Gurudeva as follows to His dear devotee Śrī Uddhava (Bhāgavata 11.17.27) —

ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit
na martya-buddhyāsūyeta sarva devamayo guruḥ

Śrī Bhagavān said: “O Uddhava! You should consider the ācārya, meaning the Guru, to be Me Myself, and never disrespect him. Do not find faults in him, taking him to be an ordinary human being, for Śrī Guru is the aggregate of all the gods.”

guru kṛṣṇa rūpa hon śāstrera pramāṇe;
guru rūpe kṛṣṇa kṛpā korena bhaktagaṇe (C.C.)

“The Guru is another form of Kṛṣṇa, that is proven by the scriptures. Kṛṣṇa bestows His mercy upon the devotees in the form of the Guru.”

One who wants to worship the Supreme Lord must first of all take shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Guru. bhajana-sādhana is far removed from one who does not take shelter of the lotus feet of Śrī Guru, because this is the gate through which one enters the path of bhakti. This does not only count for the path of bhakti, there is no practice in the world that does not require the shelter of a Guru’s (teacher’s) feet! If it is necesary to take a learned and experienced teacher to learn something in this mundane world, then it is needless to say that one needs a Guru to learn bhakti from, which is the highest science in the spiritual world.
(Śrīmat Ananta Dāsa Bābājī – Guru tattva vijnana)

_______

Another argument for DIKSHA being “outdated”:

Not everyone can actually be in a position where they can take diksha. The world is a big place and the number of people giving  diksha is small in comparison. Is Krishna going to abandon all who cannot fly to India, move there, and find someone to give them diksa?

Reply:

Some people think that a bona fide Guru is very rare in this world and it is not easy to recognise and attain a bona fide Guru.

Thinking like this, they do not endeavour to take dīkṣā-mantra and thus waste the precious moments of their rare human lives.
In this connection it must be said that when the Lord descends as the bona fide Guru for the benefit of the world, He is never hard to attain or unattainable for the genuine seekers of bhajana and those who are eager to take shelter of the bona fide Guru.

Those who give up crookedness and associate with the saints with a simple and innocent mind, for the cessation of their material miseries, and earnestly take shelter of the feet of a bona fide Guru, for the sake of worshipping the Lord, praying to the Lord with an eager heart, while hoping to attain the bona fide Guru, will certainly be blessed with the shelter of a bona fide Guru — of this there is not even the slightest doubt. Merciful Śrī Hari will certainly provide good luck and opportunities to such people, who are so eager to do bhajana.’
(Śrīmat Ananta Dāsa Bābājī – Guru tattva vijnana)

_______

And another argument:

Today Vedic knowledge is everywhere due to the Internet and countless books… Lack of diksa will not make someone any less knowledgeable or less realized, it’s not as if you can learn everything there is to know about self-realization and if you aren’t initiated there will be a block put on you by Krishna – which is why all the shastras say knowledge is the key to unlock the door to the highest plane of existence, not diksha.

Reply:

Nowhere is it stated that KNOWLEGDE (jnana) is the key to all success. BHAKTI (genuine LOVING SERVICE) is the key to all success, and without being initiated by a genuine Sri Gurudeva nothing will be gained.

Without studying under a qualified guru it is not possible to have proper understanding of śāstra.
In Chandogya Upaniṣad (6.14.2) it is emphatically said, that only a person who studies from a teacher aquires the proper knowledge “acaryavan puruso veda”.

We find a similar statement in Bhagavat Purāṇa (3.7.39):
“How can a human being have knowledge or love of God or even true renunciation by his or her own endeavor?”

pustaka-pratyayādhītaṁ nādhītaṁ guru-sannidhau |
sabhā-madhye na śobhante jāra-garbhā iva striyaḥ ||

Learning taken from books according to one’s own impressions, but not learned with a guru, is unfit for the public space, like a woman who is pregnant with an illegitimate child. (Chanakya)

jāha bhāgavata paṛa vaiṣṇavera sthāne
ekānta āśraya kara caitanya-caraṇe
caitanya bhakta-gaṇera nitya kara saṅga
tabe ta jānibe siddhānta-samudra-taraṅga
(Cc Antya 3.131- 32):

“Go and study the Bhāgavatam from a self-realized Vaishnava if you want to understand the meaning of Bhagavatam. Take exclusive shelter of Sri Chaitanya Mahāprabhu’s lotus feet. Always associate with Sri Chaitanya Mahāprabhu’s devotees. If you do all this, you will be able to plunge into the ocean of His divine teachings.”

 

For the sake of fun, let us see what the scriptures say about DIKSHA:

The Hari-bhakti-vilāsa is the king of Vaishnava scriptures dealing with the rules for behavior. At the very beginning of this book, the rules for initiation or diksha are given, based on the Krama-dīpikā, a work by Keshavacharya. There it is said,

vinā dīkṣāṁ hi pūjāyāṁ nādhikāro’sti karhicit
Without being initiated, no one has the right to engage in deity worship. (HBV 2.2)

ato guruṁ praṇamyaivaṁ
sarva-svaṁ vinivedya ca
gṛhṇīyād vaiṣṇavaṁ mantraṁ
dīkṣā-purvaṁ vidhānataḥ
(Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 2.10)

“It is the duty of every human being to surrender to a bona fide spiritual master.
Giving him everything-body, mind and intelligence-one must take a Vaiṣṇava initiation from him.”

adikshitasya vamoru kritam sarvam nirarthakam;
pashu-yonim avapnoti diksha-virahito janah.
(Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 2.6)

“Unless one is initiated by a bona fide Spiritual Master, all one’s activities are useless.
A person who is not Initiated will surely descend again into the animal species in his next life.”

tathātrādīkṣitānāṁ tu mantra devārcanādiṣu
nādhikāro’sty ataḥ kuryād
ātmānaṁ śiva saṁstutam

A person who has not received Vaishnava initiation has no authority to chant the mantra or to worship the deity form of the Lord. Therefore one should take initiation, by which he will become praised by even Lord Śiva. (HBV 2.3-4, Bhakti-sandarbha 283)

tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta
jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam
śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṁ
brahmaṇy upaśamāśrayam
[SB 11.3.21]

“Any person who seriously desires to achieve real happiness must seek out a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation.
The qualification of his spiritual master is that he must have realized the conclusion of the scriptures by deliberation and be able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, are to be understood as bona fide spiritual masters.”

guru-pādāśraya, dīkṣā, gurura sevana
sad-dharma-śikṣā-pṛcchā, sādhu-mārgānugamana
( CC Madhya-lila 22.115)

“On the path of regulative devotional service, one must observe the following items: (1) One must accept a bona fide spiritual master. (2) One must accept initiation from him. (3) One must serve him. (4) One must receive instructions from the spiritual master and make inquiries in order to learn devotional service. (5) One must follow in the footsteps of the previous ācāryas and follow the directions given by the spiritual master.

tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet
samit-pāṇiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham

“In order to learn the transcendental science, one must approach the bona fide spiritual master, who is fixed in the Absolute Truth.”
Muṇdaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12

grhita-visnudiksako visnu-pujaparo narah
vaisnavo ‘bhihito ‘bhijnairitaro ‘smadavaisnavah

One who is initiated into the Vaisnava mantra and who is devoted to worshiping Lord Visnu is a Vaisnava.
One who is devoid of these practices is not a Vaisnava. (Hari-bhakti-vilasa, 11, quoted from Padma Purana)

tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ
[Bg. 4.34]

“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him.
The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.”

brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja
[Cc. Madhya 19.151]

“According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Kṛṣṇa. By the mercy of both Kṛṣṇa and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service.”

sarva-deśa-kāla-daśāya janera kartavya
guru-pāśe sei bhakti praṣṭavya, śrotavya
( CC Madhya-lila 15.22)

“It is therefore the duty of every man-in every country, in every circumstance and at all times-to accept a spiritual master,
question him about devotional service and listen to him explain the process.”

The Bhakti-sandarbha (298) gives the following quotation from the Tattva-Sagara:

yatha kanchanatam yati kamsyam rasa-vidhanatah; tatha diksha-vidhanena dvijatvam jayate nrinam.

“By chemical manipulation, bell metal is turned into gold when touched by mercury; similarly, when a person is Initiated by a bonafide Vaishnava Spiritual Master, he or she acquires the qualities of a brahmana or second birth.”

“A Mantra is purified when chanted with proper knowledge.” (SB 11.24.32). In the purport to this verse Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura says, “A Mantra becomes very effective when it issues from the mouth of a bonafide Spiritual Master who instructs the disciple in the method, meaning and ultimate purpose of the Mantra.”

yo mantraḥ sa guruḥ sākṣāt yo guruḥ sa hariḥ svayam
gurur yasya bhavet tuṣṭas tasya tuṣṭo hariḥ svayam
Vāmana-kalpa/Hari Bhakti Vilasa 4.353

The mantra (received from Śrī Guru) is the Guru himself, and Śrī Guru is directly the Supreme Lord Hari.
There is no difference between Śrī Guru, the mantra given by him, and Śrī Hari.
He with whom Śrī Guru is pleased, also obtains the pleasure of
Śrī Hari Himself.

svayaṁ brahmaṇi nikṣiptān jātān eva hi mantrataḥ
vinītān atha putrādīn saṁskṛtya pratibodhayet
Nārada Pañcarātra/Bharadvāja-saṁhitā 2.34

When the Guru gives the mantra to his disciple according to the rules and regulations of pāñcarātrika vidhi,
then, by the influence of that mantra, the disciple never takes birth again.

A humble disciple conducts himself with great respect for his spiritual master as if he is son of the Guru.
To such a humble disciple, who has been purified by the appropriate saṁskāras, the Guru teaches the meaning of the mantra.
This is the way that spiritual initiation is performed according to the rules and regulations of scripture.

yathā kāñcanatāṁ yāti
kāṁsyaṁ rasa vidhānataḥ
tathā dīkṣā vidhānena
dvijatvaṁ jāyate nṛṇām

Just as bell metal turns into gold through the correct alchemical process (by touching it with pure mercury); a person becomes twice-born through the process of initiation. (HBV 2.12)

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura:
There are three kinds of birth:
(1) śaukra-janma— seminal birth by mother and father,
(2) sāvitra-janma—a ceremony in which a boy is initiated into one of the three twice-born classes by being invested with the
sacred thread,
and (3) daikṣa-janma—birth by the process of dīkṣā or spiritual initiation.
Even a śūdra or an untouchable person (antya-ja) who is born in the lowest family obtains the saṁskāras for being a dvija upon being initiated in accordance with the regulations of the Pāñcarātra.

guru-dīkṣā vihinasya na siddhim na sad-gatim
tasmat sarva-prayatnena guruṇā dīkṣitaṁ bhavet
Purāṇa vakya

Without proper dīkṣā from Śrī Guru, no one can attain perfection or the supreme destination.
Therefore, with utmost care and attention one should accept dīkṣā initiation from Śrī Guru.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī states: “As illustrated by Dhruva’s history, the acceptance of dīkṣā is absolutely necessary
in order to perform the sādhana and bhajana for realising
Śrī Bhagavān.”

Lord Brahma instructs Shrila Narada in the Skanda Purana, Kartika-Mahatmya:

te narah pasavo loke, kim tesam jivane phalam;
yair na labdha harer diksa, narcito va janardanah.

“They are animals in the human world, what’s the result of their lives?
Those who did not attain hari-diksa and did not do arcana of Janardan (Vishnu/Krishna)”

tapasvinah karma nistha, sresthaste vai nara bhuvi;
prapta yaistu harer diksa, sarva dukha vimocani.

“Ascetics are the best of the fruitive workers in this world.
But those who attained hari-diksa are freed from all suffering.”