When a Siddha Mantra Stops Working — How Mantra Dosha Sets In and the Makar Sankranti Black-Til Laddu Remedy

The speaker opens with the question of how a mantra becomes joined to a dosha. You have been japping a mantra for a long time and using it for some work. Whether it is a TantroktaStated in the tantras, as against a vedokta form of the same rite or mantra. mantra, a mantra taken from the Puranas or a Sabar Mantra — whenever you used it, by whatever method you had made it siddha, the work you took a SankalpaA formal ritual resolution spoken aloud before an offering or observance, declaring its intent and dedicating its merit. for at the time of prayog was getting done. But for some time now, he says, whenever you use it there is no effect and the work does not get done. This means the mantra has become joined to some kind of Dosha. Either the dosha has come into the mantra, or the dosha has come into you — it can be one of these two causes. He says the subject of the talk is exactly this: how a mantra acquires a dosha, when it lets go of its effect, and how it should be purified by a simple, ordinary vidhan that every householder sadhak can perform.

The speaker first lays out how a mantra is made siddha. Every mantra has its own method: starting from a fixed time and going up to a fixed time, you take a SankalpaA formal ritual resolution spoken aloud before an offering or observance, declaring its intent and dedicating its merit. and perform a fixed quantity of Japa, Havan, TarpanaA libation offering of water or other substances made to a deity or ancestor, typically performed alongside Havan and Marjan. and so on, along with dan-punya. Then the mantra becomes jagrit — awakened — for you. After it is awakened, whenever you use it for some wish, those wishes are fulfilled. He stresses that the question of where you took the mantra from, or whether you are initiated or not, does not arise at all here. The plain fact is that your mantra was working, by whatever vidhi-vidhan you awakened it. Then he describes what the awakened mantra does inside you. Once the mantra is jagrit after sadhana, changes begin within you: the mantra's effect develops your Aura considerably. In the early period you become very sensitive to receiving positive things; your awakening rises a great deal; your influence over people grows; the element of attraction within you grows, and because of all this people are drawn to you. That, he says, is the effect of the mantra — call it indirect or direct, it is giving its effect. Even if the deity of that mantra has not become siddha for you, it is by that deity's grace that the mantra is awake and working for you.

The speaker says that in the period when you do not know how a siddha mantra should be protected, you make the following mistakes. The first: the Mala on which you japped the mantra is, after siddhi, touched by some other person — another member of your own household. Or you were japping with the mala taken out of the GomukhiA cloth rosary bag, shaped like a cow's face, used to conceal the hand and rosary while chanting mantras in public., and while japping some other person's gaze fell on you. Or the mantra — whether puranic, TantroktaStated in the tantras, as against a vedokta form of the same rite or mantra. or sabar — was spoken in a gathering, when it should not have been. Then there is show. To display yourself, because people are being drawn to you, or to get respect from people — "give me importance, I am a sadhak" — you tell someone in that showiness: "I have japped sava lakh of the mantra", "I have completed five lakh japa", "because of this mantra I get such-and-such experiences". Someone asks which mantra, and you recite the whole mantra exactly as it is. The result, he says, is that the mantra's effect becomes weak, because the gopaniyata that had to be observed was not kept. So the mantra's effect begins to be limited, begins to wane, and starts losing its power. He points to what everyone reads and hears in the kathas and Puranas: when rishis and munis gave someone a boon or a curse, their TapobalSpiritual power accumulated through austerity and sustained practice — the counterweight that must exceed accumulated black-magic or negative energy for an affliction to fully lift. became zero and they had to perform tapasya all over again. In the same way, when you reveal your secret — going from place to place saying "I have done so many lakh japa of the Navarna Mantra", "so many lakh of such-and-such bija, ten lakh I have done" — its effect starts to decline and a dosha begins to attach there.

The speaker describes another way a mantra picks up a dosha. You have struck up a good acquaintance with someone, you want to go further in the sadhana field and want guidance. How devoted the other person is to you, how worthy he is, he says, is a matter of separate importance. Impressed by that person, you tell him openly: "you are a sadhak, I have done this japa, I want to go further on this path." But what is in the other person's mind you cannot know. If he turns out to be of tantrik disposition, he has somewhere gained mastery in these things. Whether he binds the mantra or not, he will pollute your body — and then that mantra will not be able to work for you. In this way, he says, there are many kinds and many divisions of dosha.

The speaker says: besides secrecy, look at how you used the mantra. Someone in your house fell ill and you used the mantra to give them abhimantrit water to drink, applied abhimantrit BhasmaSacred ash, used as a substitute for milk in a Shivling's abhishekam when milk isn't available., or blew a breath on them. Doing such things gave you pleasure — that is a separate matter — and when your mantra worked on someone, that person began to respect you from the heart or was impressed by you. You were not very developed in this, but you were doing it. Then at some point, he says, it happened that there was a Sabar Mantra or a TantroktaStated in the tantras, as against a vedokta form of the same rite or mantra. mantra connected with Hanuman or with some such deity where many rules have to be followed. With that mantra you gave Jhada to some girl, some woman, or used its effect on her, when it should not have been done. For instance a woman more than three months pregnant — on her, many things become forbidden. A menstruating woman — using a mantra on her at that time, even to give jhada, becomes forbidden. You have to look at things and decide on whom which mantra is to be used and when. If you have awakened a mantra of Hanuman ji that came through Guru Parampara and you have the guru's direction, then you may do it; but there are many mantras that cannot be used on pregnant women. At such times mantras connected with Bhagavati ParvatiThe daughter of the mountain and consort of Shiva; the questioner to whom much of tantra is expounded. are used, mantras connected with Bhagavati Kamakshi are used. Chiefly, when a menstruating woman is suffering something or has some upari badha, mantras of Bhagavati Kamakshi, or those of Bhagavati Jagadamba"Mother of the World" — an epithet of the Devi. Durga, are used. But you cannot, with one mantra, apply it to everyone for everything and remove anyone's suffering. In such a case, he says, your mantras become ineffective, polluted.

Having said the earlier cases were described in detail so that you know in how many ways a dosha can attach, the speaker adds one more kind. You charge some object with a mantra and feed it to a person you should not have fed it to. The person in front of you — at your business premises or in your office — may himself be of tantrik disposition, may himself be a sadhak, and may have obtained some siddhi. Unknowingly you thought: I will charge this with my mantra, take the sankalp that this person should come into my favour, and you fed him some PrasadWhat returns from the deity after an offering, and is then eaten rather than discarded. or the like. In that condition, he says, what will happen is that your mantra will somewhere be weakened by the effect of that person's TapobalSpiritual power accumulated through austerity and sustained practice — the counterweight that must exceed accumulated black-magic or negative energy for an affliction to fully lift.. This too can happen. There are many kinds.

The speaker says that whenever a dosha attaches to your mantras or comes into your sadhana, there is a very simple and exact vidhan you can do on Makar SankrantiThe sun's passage into Capricorn, from which the uttarayana begins and many anushthans are timed.. It is specifically for Makar Sankranti; you may do it on the Makar Sankranti of any year. The day on which the Sun enters Makar rashi — it falls on 14 or 15 January, so check — on that day, in the morning. He gives his example: in 2022 the entry was on 14 January after about 1 PM, so the prayog is done early that morning. What is needed: laddus of black til — they must be of black til only. Bring 108 small black-til laddus, or make them at home. They must be pure and clean: the til well washed and dried or otherwise purified, with no dust or soil in it. If brought from outside, sprinkle GangajalWater from the Ganges, used to purify and re-consecrate ritual items exposed to impurity. on them to purify them. Then keep the laddus aside, take your bath and dhyan, and do your opening puja. The mantra that has become ineffective or dosha-struck is to be japped 108 times. Take one laddu, do one japa, and set it down; spread a black cloth, sprinkle a little gangajal on it, and place each laddu on that cloth. If the mantra is long, do at least 27 japa: for each japa hold four laddus in the hand, jap once, set them down. Once all 108 are done, tie them into a potli. The bhog and puja you give your ishta are all still to be done — this is only a separate vidhan. The SankalpaA formal ritual resolution spoken aloud before an offering or observance, declaring its intent and dedicating its merit. can be taken right at the start: "in the auspicious parva of Makar Sankranti I take the sankalp of this prayog to free my mantra of dosha, for the shaman of the dosha" — "I take the sankalp of the prayog of mantra-dosha shaman", said as leta hoon or leti hoon. He stresses that the guru pujan, Ganpati pujan and ishta pujan you normally do come first, then this; light your dhoop and deep; there is nothing else extra — do your daily puja as always and then this prayog.

After the japa, the speaker says, the potli is to be given in dan in one of three ways. First vidhan: take the whole potli the same day to a sattvik, pure BrahminOne of the priestly varna, fed or given dakshina at the close of many anushthans. and give it in dan. Take care that the Brahmin is pure and sattvik — not one who does puja-path but eats meat; you should know this. Have him make the sankalp for you, the ordinary SankalpaA formal ritual resolution spoken aloud before an offering or observance, declaring its intent and dedicating its merit. a pandit has you make, and give the dan with some DakshinaThe offering made to a guru or officiant that completes a rite; a ritual is held incomplete without it. alongside. Second vidhan: go to a river bank with cow-dung cakes and raw cow dung. Smear a little of the ground with it, make a small rangoli there with abir and gulal, arrange the dung cakes, light the fire with camphor, and offer the entire potli into it. Say to Surya Narayan: "O Surya Narayan, Agni Dev is your own form. Into him I offer this whole samagri to free my mantra of its dosha. Kindly free my mantra of dosha and make it fully effective." Saying this, offer it, and there give dan to the poor as you can. Third vidhan: if you are near a Shakti Peeth, a tirtha kshetra, or a temple on a river bank where a Havan is being held on Makar Sankranti — the kund should be large — then when the Purnahuti is being done, offer the potli into that yajna kund. And to whoever organised the yajna, whoever is doing the havan, the chief brahmin or sadhak there, be sure to give some dakshina in the name of Yajna Bhagavan.

The speaker says that if in any circumstance you are unable to do all three of those things, you can also deliver the entire lot of laddus to a BrahminOne of the priestly varna, fed or given dakshina at the close of many anushthans.'s home within a week — within seven days. It may be that the temples are not open, or the temples nearby are closed, for any reason — because of corona or some other cause. In such a situation deliver the potli with DakshinaThe offering made to a guru or officiant that completes a rite; a ritual is held incomplete without it. within a week. Each day keep putting some dakshina into it. This is a kind of burden, he says, so put ₹10 in it every day; over seven days take out some separate money, ₹100 set aside, put it in, and then give that dakshina to someone — to a good Brahmin. When you do it this way, he says, your mantra becomes free of dosha.

Once the mantra is free of dosha, the speaker says, you should again do an AnushthanaAn extended ritual observance — such as 108 recitations of a scripture — carrying its own strict rules. of it. Whether five or seven days, eleven days or twenty-one days — do an ordinary anushthan of that mantra, and then take it fully into use once more. He closes by saying this vidhan is to be performed in full on the day of Makar SankrantiThe sun's passage into Capricorn, from which the uttarayana begins and many anushthans are timed. only. For doing something on other days, he will tell a different prayog.