In Hinduism, Nayana Diksha is the initiation through sight. In Saiva Siddhanta, the foremost duty of the guru is to eliminate the ignorance of the disciple and infuse in him spiritual power. This process is known as deeksha (initiation), which is done in different ways such as through nayana (sight), sparsha (touch), vak (speech), manasa (mental) and so on.
Nayana Deeksha is also known as Chakshu Deeksha, which means ‘initiating the disciple through sight’. It is one among the anga deekshas (bodily initiation). The preceptor assumes himself to be Shiva through anga nyasa (touching some parts of the body with the fingers, while pronouncing the appropriate mantras) and kara nyasa (assignment of the fingers of the hand severally to different deities with appropriate mantras and gesticulation), and with this preparation and assumption the guru looks intently at the disciple. The very look of the master destroys the accumulated sins of the disciple.
According to Sivagra Yogin, initiation through sight is of three kinds. The first one is by contemplating oneself as an eagle (garuda bharana). One achieves identity with an eagle and gets the power to remove through a mere look the poison inflicted by a snake bite. Immediately the person is made to bathe in the amrita kata (ambrosia) by identification with the moon, and his fatigue is removed. The whole process is known as Srigara. The second one is nigraha avalokana, which is performed by the preceptor to eliminate the deep involvement of the disciple in worldly bondage by identifying himself with the disciple’s intelligence. The third is the identification to fill the disciple with grace, and this process is known as anugraha avalokana. Thus the process of nayana deeksha enables the soul to sever wordly ties and became the recipient of Shiva’s grace.