Siddha-deha and initiation
tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva-darśinaḥ Know the ways of sacrifice [i.e., sādhanās ] should be learned by submission, exhaustive inquiry and by service [i.e., obedience to instruction]. Those who have seen the truth are knowledgeable about the means, and they will instruct you if you have the above qualifications. (Gita 4.34) This instruction is given in relation to the series of yajñas listed in Gita 4.25-33. Yajña is used in the Gita as a synonym for sādhanā . One should take one's sādhanā from the guru. Mañjarī-bhāva is a sādhanā . You don't get the siddhi , you get the sādhanā . A siddha-deha doesn't mean you are siddha . The sādhanā is performed internally with the siddha-deha . And that which you practice is the unripe form of what you achieve, which is the ripe form. All India sādhanā traditions are oral as well as written. We tend to value the written traditions over the oral, but that would be a mi...