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Notes our editors flagged as conceptually noteworthy while seeding the corpus. The set rotates once a day, not on every page load, so a note you find here is still here this evening.

Composition: Durga Saptashloki ✓ 21 Sources

Fame is itself a curse, and Mahamaya drags even the wise into delusion

Fame itself is a kind of curse, the speaker says — saints and babas, once famous, often start considering themselves above even Parameshwar. He cites the Saptashloki's opening verse, that Mahamaya forcibly draws even the minds of the wise into delusion, as describing exactly this pattern.

Tantra: Fundamentals ✓ 74 Sources

Why should a divine person's later state not be imitated directly?

Because you cannot imitate divinity itself. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa cannot be followed at the point where he cut Kali with a sword — you can follow the sadhana that came first. Vama Khepa sat continuously for days under a Semal tree; that part nobody wants to imitate.

Mantra Siddhi ✓ 74 Sources

A minimum recitation is named for making the paath siddh, though the count the phrase intends is not clear

Ordinarily, for making it siddh, the speaker says one should do at least "एक स्वार्थ पाठ" — what could be less than that? The transcript carries the phrase in that form and the count it intends is not clear, so no number is supplied here.

Festival: Holi ✓ 20 Sources

Caution: no ash from the Holika fire once it has gone out

The speaker says divinity is present at the Holika only as long as the fire is present. Once it is out, people cast their household Utara there — which one is indeed meant to do — and various totke, Vidveshana rites, discarded utara and household troubles are also left there; some even pour liquor. If the sadhak was not watching, and takes Bhasma from the quietened fire on which someone has left such a thing, it attaches to his body and costs him dearly. Ash is taken only from the burning fire, the way a little is lifted from the agni corner at the end of a Havan and applied to the forehead with Hunkar mantras. If the fire has died while the mala is unfinished and someone has done something there, he says, do not do it at all; done with purity, it certainly benefits.

Palatna ✓ 8 Sources

What is the well-known mantra for reversing a prayoga?

The speaker says the ordinary process for turning back an attack has one very well-known mantra: "उलटंत भेद पलटंत काया" — everyone knows it, and anyone who takes even a little interest in the field of tantra will have read it. But these things, he says, are not employed in that way; keep this in mind.

Scripture: Durga Saptshati ✓ 78 Sources

Rushing through the Saptashati versus chanting it in chhanda

The speaker says there is a popular saying that the Saptashati should not be sung, but it should be understood correctly: it is chanted in chhanda, and reciting in chhanda is the prescribed vidhan, so that one may do. What people actually do wrong is read very fast — he mimics rushing through the Kavach opening — whereas it should be read calmly, in the manner laid down. If reciting in Sanskrit, know how the Anushtup chhanda in which it is set is voiced; if you do not know, learn it.

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