Mumbai: In preparation for their diksha or religious initiation, 59 Jain mumukshu - seekers of spiritual knowledge and truth - received the muhurat from their guru in a ceremony in Mumbai on Sunday.
The initiates will formally adopt an ascetic life in a grand five-day ceremony planned from February 4, 2026, in Borivali West, Mumbai. The mumukshu, 18 males and 41 females, came from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and the United States. Among them are a chartered accountant, an information technology engineer, a physics scholar, a septuagenarian businessman, and a 66-year-old woman from the United States.
There is also a seven-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy from a four-member Raipur family who are taking diksha. The initiates were inspired to take up a life of by the teachings and spiritual guidance of Acharya Yogatilaksuri, who holds a revered place in the Jain community, being the only monk to have bestowed over 350 dikshas in the past 10 years. He currently has more than 100 disciples, an extraordinary accomplishment according to his followers.
The organisation sponsoring the ceremony said that Sunday's event is a 'historic spiritual' moment for the state because of the unprecedented number of people involved. Over 5,000 devotees, including Member of the Legislative Assembly from Malabar Hill, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, gathered inside a massive 14,000 sq ft pandal at N S Road (Hughes Road). The ceremony was held in the presence of Jain spiritual leaders, Somsoondersuri, Shreyansprabhsuri, and Yogatilaksuri.
Bal diksha has been a controversial subject, with some Jains themselves discouraging the practice. Suraj Shah, a psychologist and a Jain, said that Jainism has always held that the soul’s maturity is not tied to biological age. In principle, an eight-year-old can possess a depth of spiritual readiness that an older adult may not.
"Yet in practice, in today's era, it is rare to have the avadhigyaan (clairvoyance) to reliably verify a child’s karmic maturity or past-life evolution. When past life spiritual development cannot be conclusively assessed, the most compassionate choice is to offer a child the time and environment needed to develop holistically before committing to a lifelong renunciant path," said Shah who added that a constructive way forward is to create a dedicated Jain residential learning campus for spiritually inclined children, one that combines formal schooling, structured training in Jain philosophy, and opportunities for meditation and self-regulation under the guidance of experienced monks and scholars. "Such a space would not suppress a child’s inclination toward monkhood; rather, it would nurture it responsibly."
Others said that there are enough safeguards in the process to ensure that the children are not forced into taking diksha. Lalit Gandhi, businessman and president of Jain Minority Financial Development Corporation, said that there is no coercion. "The children volunteer to take diksha because of the influence of the spiritual atmosphere in their homes and communities. Children who take diksha are placed under the care of a guru who monitors them and evaluates their will and strength to take up the life of an ascetic. This training lasts for two years," said Gandhi.
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