How to Do Mantra Japa on Holika Night for Siddhi

The speaker says that before Holika night, one should never plan to recite a Sabar Mantra for the very first time — doing so brings no special benefit. The mantra should already be committed to memory (kanthastha), one the practitioner has been reciting regularly. He says a sabar mantra received from a guru is already fully potent (sarvasamarth siddha), and if that same mantra is given a repeat PurashcharanaA ritualistic repetition of a mantra to prescribed rules — required in Tantra Sadhana. and awakened again on Holika night, it becomes amogh (unfailing). However, he says that if someone has taken a mantra on their own — from the internet, YouTube, Facebook, or a text — for their work, protection, advancement or welfare, and wants to purify it, they should begin at least four or five days before Holika, or from Ekadashi, reciting one Mala of that mantra daily at a fixed time.

He says the manner of japa should follow the subtle form (sukshmata-anusar swaroop) of the deity being addressed. For fierce (ugra) deities such as Bhagwati Kali, he advises keeping red cloth; for Hanuman ji, red or yellow cloth; for Bhagwati Pitambara"The Yellow-Robed One" — an epithet of Bhagavati Baglamukhi., yellow cloth; and for Bhairava ji, yellow or red cloth. The seat should be of wool or a Kusha Asana, and the practitioner should always face east or north. A single continuous Akhand Jyot should stay lit for as long as the japa continues, and he says a RudrakshaA sacred seed strung into rosaries and worn during shiva worship. mala is the best choice. He says the practitioner should remember Bhagwati Sabari — a form of Jagdamba Bhagwati Durga — and the Kirateshwar form in which Bhagwan Shiv and Bhagwati Parvati once appeared, along with their own Kula Devata, before beginning at least one full round (108 recitations) of the sabar mantra. He adds that in the three or four days available this way, the mantra becomes memorized and its japa is already under way before Holika night arrives.

He says Agni Dev carries the boon that anything he touches becomes pure. Because a Mala is strung on a thread, when a home passes through a period of ritual impurity (Sutak-patak) and the sadhak later resumes their sadhana, there is a provision for touching the mala to fire to restore its purity and cleanliness. He describes the method: light a camphor flame, meditate on Agni Dev, and pass the mala lightly through the flame — the mala becomes pure by that mere touch.

He says there are two things to attend to regarding timing on Holika night. First, whatever time the sadhak begins Japa, midnight must fall within that session, regardless of what time Holika Dahan itself is observed — 7pm, 9pm, midnight, or 2am. Second, japa should also be done during the actual local time at which Holika Dahan takes place in one's own area, following the local convention for when it is held. As an example, if the dahan is at 9pm, he suggests sitting from 8:30pm and continuing japa until 9:30pm, so the dahan falls fully within that window. If a temple courtyard or other good place has arranged the dahan properly, the sadhak can sit a little to the side, out of others' view, and continue the Sabar Mantra japa for the full duration the fire is lit — for instance from 8:30 until 9:30 or 10pm. He says there is no need to count how many malas have been completed during this time — whether it is one, ten, or a hundred — because as long as the japa continues while the fire burns, the mantra's potency increases greatly and it becomes amogh (unfailing).

He describes a third point, which he calls the most important: whatever grain or dish (anna) has been prepared at home that evening for the night's meal should be offered into the fire about to be lit for Holika Dahan — either before or after the japa session, depending on how the timing falls. He says the sadhak doing the japa should personally carry that food and present it as NaivedyaThe food offering (Bhog) presented to a deity during worship, accompanied by water offerings and dedicatory mantras. to the Holika fire. When this is done and the sadhak then sits for japa during the dahan, the mantra becomes poshak (nourishing) and pushta-vardhak (prosperity-increasing).

He gives examples such as the Shmashan Kalika mantra and various shmashan forms of Raksha Kali, along with the Shmashan Chandika mantra — mantras people awaken in their fierce (ugra) aspect to defeat an enemy. He says that when such sabar mantras (Sabar Mantra) are made siddha without the correct method, it brings on illness (rugnata) in the body, and the body's Shri TattvaThe principle of auspicious abundance and prosperity, invoked as the element a rite is meant to draw into the household. is said to be diminished or harmed. He names Shamshan Kali and other fierce, cremation-ground-linked shaktis specifically, saying that if their sabar mantras are recited without the proper vidhi-vidhan, something is inevitably lacking. He adds that a householder (grihastha) awakening such mantras is invoking mahashaktis and yoginis (Yogini) of an alakshmi nature, because the mantra itself carries a duhai (an invocation addressed at someone) — and this, he says, is genuinely why loss of Shri often follows. He acknowledges that only those who practice these things directly will understand this, while those who only ever listen can say anything they like about it — but he maintains it is true. He gives further examples: the Aghor Kali mantra, and Aghor Kali's shmashan sabar mantra. He says that making any of these shmashanik sabar mantras siddha tends to bring various kinds of illness and the residence of alakshmi in the body, which in turn causes loss of wealth.

He says that if, during Holika time, the sadhak offers home-cooked food into that fire as NaivedyaThe food offering (Bhog) presented to a deity during worship, accompanied by water offerings and dedicatory mantras. and only then does japa of such a mantra, the oblique (tiryak) adverse effect that otherwise follows from japa of fierce mantras will not occur. He says this means no food-related suffering, no major loss of wealth, and no loss of Shri TattvaThe principle of auspicious abundance and prosperity, invoked as the element a rite is meant to draw into the household. or prosperity — because the sadhak is pleasing a form of pure (pavak) fire itself and doing japa in its presence, which is itself increasing of Shri and of a Narayani nature.

He says that once Holika Dahan is complete but the fire is still lightly burning and has not yet turned fully to ash, the sadhak should watch it directly. While the fire still remains, BhasmaSacred ash, used as a substitute for milk in a Shivling's abhishekam when milk isn't available. drawn from that moment should be applied to the forehead, the heart, both sides of the chest, the navel and similar places, while remembering God or continuing the japa of the very mantra one has been reciting. Done this way, he says, the mantra becomes established in the sadhak's subtle body (sukshma sharir) with full power.

He says divinity is present only for as long as the fire remains alight. Once the fire has died down, people bring their household's Utara (items used to ritually discard misfortune) and simply drop them there — he notes many people do this, and says that casting it there is in fact what one is supposed to do. While a divine fire purifies everyone, various inauspicious rites (Vidveshana kriya) also take place there after the fire goes out: someone brings something to discard and leaves it, someone brings their household's alai-bala (troubles) and sits with it. If the fire has quietened, the sadhak wasn't watching, and they then take ash from that calmed fire, and someone has left something of their own there, it can attach itself to the sadhak's body and cause serious trouble. He compares it to the practice in a Havan, where at the end a little fire is drawn from the agni-kona corner and applied to the forehead with hunkar mantras while the fire is still burning — the same should be done at the Holika fire. But he cautions that once people have left and there is no one to stop others, someone may arrive and do something there while the sadhak's own mantra-mala is still incomplete; the fire may go out, someone may come and dump their utara, some may even pour alcohol there, and various such rites take place. In that situation, he says, this practice of taking ash should not be done. If it is done in purity, he says, one certainly gains its benefit. He closes by saying these are divine methods by which one's mantras become highly capable, and that listeners should take their benefit.