Tantra Charcha Q&A 17 — Kavach Recitation, the Foot Band, Pratyangira Caution, Pushparchan Vidhi and the Road to Mahabhairav

A listener asks about the Batuk Bhairav Brahma Kavach. The speaker replies that a Kavach is never something you recite silently, and that holds for any kavach at all. The minimum, he says, is that your recitation must be audible to yourself: you should at least be able to hear the paath you are doing.

Answering a listener, the speaker says the TarpanaA libation offering of water or other substances made to a deity or ancestor, typically performed alongside Havan and Marjan. using the 108 names of Bhagavan Datta (Dattatreya) is not to be done on a Narmadeshwar ShivlingThe aniconic form of Lord Shiva worshipped at home and in temples.. As he has said before, it can be done on a PeepalA sacred fig tree dedicated to Lord Dattatreya — Pitru Tarpan performed beneath it calms agitated ancestral spirits causing domestic unrest. tree, which is the special place for it. If it has to be done at home, do it in a vessel only — performing it on a shivling would not be proper.

A listener asks: if one does japa of Bhagavati Tara's Shatnam Stotra, under which name should the havan be done at home? The speaker answers that if you are doing the Shatnam Stotra of Bhagavati Tara, do it only if you are initiated (Diksha). Otherwise, do the japa and its samarpan at a temple of Shiva or of Bhagavati. As for Havan connected with that form of Bhagavati, he warns against doing it casually: it is not necessarily the case that only ordinary energy gets projected. Her havan vidhi, he says, is always somewhat UgraThe fierce mode of a rite or deity, as against the saumya or gentle mode.. When you perform her havan, her shaktis and her attendants (sevikas) come — and if you are not prepared for that, there will be difficulty.

A listener has started reading the Shiva SahasranamaA recitation of a deity's thousand names — a devotional text genre used across many deities, not one single fixed composition. at a temple and finds the Sanskrit a little difficult. The speaker says that if a mistake happens in speaking, there is no problem; correct it gradually. Do not recite hurriedly in the beginning, he says — read slowly, learn the pronunciation properly, and then do it.

The speaker says he has nowhere told anyone to recite the Bagla Pratyangira Kavach. It is a kavach — you can wear it — and meanwhile you should keep doing the anushthan of Bhagavati's ordinary, saumya forms. Having the right to wear a kavach, he says, does not mean you have thereby gained the right to recite it as well. Those who are initiated in that kavach's PurashcharanaA ritualistic repetition of a mantra to prescribed rules — required in Tantra Sadhana., the sadhaks who have done it in that way, are the ones who constructed it; not everyone can construct everything. They have done all of that and given it, so what they have given, all of you can wear. But that in no way means you should also recite it — nowhere has recitation been prescribed. Recite only the saumya forms of Bhagavati that you have been reciting up to now. Do not show extra cleverness in this, he warns; otherwise whatever upheaval results, you yourself will be responsible for it.

The speaker says to always keep in mind that Bhagavati Pratyangira is not some ordinary shakti-punj or form of Bhagavati. She is ati-ugra — the most fierce of fierce forms. And if Bhagavati Maha Pratyangira joins in as well, she becomes extremely ugra. For this reason, he says, there is to be no meddling with any of these shaktis. Bhagavati Maha Mahapratyangira, he explains, is the root form which manifests the Pratyangira form of every shakti — of all the shaktis there are. That is why he has said many times that Bhagavati Pratyangira is not only one. There is Bhagavati Bagla Pratyangira, there is Bhagavati Tara Pratyangira; and whenever the pujan-anushthan of Maha Pratyangira is performed together with any of these, it becomes maha-ugra. One should not tamper too much here; one should proceed according to the prescribed vidhi and rules. Wearing the kavach involves no difficulty or dosha — that you can do. But if, on the strength of having worn it, you start doing its japa, then the proper japa of that shakti is something those who are authorised will do, he says.

A listener asks: those who work in bhagatwal wear a bedi (band) on the foot — of what metal should it be, and with which mantra should it be consecrated? The speaker answers that the band worn on the foot is not something only bhagatwal workers wear; every SadhakOne who undertakes a sadhana; the practitioner as distinct from the ordinary worshipper. should wear it. A foot band is necessary for everyone. There must be a band on one foot. A band on both feet is not for everyone — but one on a single foot is for everyone, and a single-foot band is in fact the best. A band on both feet raises many further matters, including tradition-specific ones. The band should be worn on the right foot, he says, and whatever band is worn on the foot, silver is the best metal for it. Copper and gold are two things that are not for everyone. With those, the question arises of studying your complete original birth chart — which tattva predominates in your body, and which metal is capable of producing what effect on you. Only after that has been properly studied can a copper or gold band be worn. But the best remains silver.

On the question of which mantra to consecrate the foot band with, the speaker says it is best to consecrate it with the mantras of the rakshak — the protector — deities. Before wearing it, dedicate it to the shakti of any one of four forms: Bhairava ji, Hanuman ji, Ganesha ji, or Narsimha ji. Do their pujan, have the band bathed in raw milk, offer dhoop and deep, scent it nicely, offer it to them, and leave it there for at least one day. If it stays longer, all the better. For example, in Navratri, if you bathe the band and offer it to Bhairav ji on the PratipadaThe first tithi of a fortnight, on which navaratra anushthans begin., then on dashami you put it back on your foot. The offered band can certainly be worn on the foot, he says — but once it has gone onto the foot, it is never again to be placed at the puja place or anywhere similar, at any time.

A listener asks whether the siddhi anushthan of the Panchmukhi Hanuman Kavach can be done in a house afflicted by abhichar. The speaker says that will depend on the level of the situation in your house. If there is already upheaval going on in the house and you take up the Kavach, the upheaval will increase — and you will start saying that doing the kavach made the trouble worse and that the kavach should not be done. The reality, he explains, is this: you have only just started the practice, and it will take time for your energy to build up to the level of that shakti's energy. Meanwhile, that shakti gets troubled by your paath — and because it is troubled by your paath, it then troubles you. Therefore, he says, people afflicted by Abhichara who are thinking of making Bajrang Baan or Hanuman ji's Panchmukhi Hanuman Kavach siddh, or of doing its anushthan or purashcharan, will do best to do it outside the house, in some temple of Hanuman ji.

To a listener who wants to take up Bhagavati Tara or Batuk Bhairav ji, the speaker says: for Bhagavati Tara, do either NavamiThe ninth tithi of a fortnight, on which a navaratra anushthan is completed. or Chaturdashi. For Bhairav ji, there is the monthly Kalashtami vrat — the AshtamiThe eighth tithi of a fortnight, held especially favourable for shakta rites. of the Krishna Paksha. And for Bhagavati, he repeats, the Navami or the Chaturdashi of the Krishna Paksha.

A listener says his mind never stays happy and asks what to do. The speaker replies that there are many reasons for a lack of happiness in the mind, but the Moon is the karaka of the mind, and whenever the Moon is afflicted you will remain sad for no reason at all. So check this: either in transit, or with the Moon in the 6th, 8th or 12th house, or with a Moon-Ketu or Moon-RahuThe shadow graha of the ascending node, associated with occult affliction and sudden reversal. yoga — then this difficulty arises. The best remedy for it, he says, is upasana of Bhagavan Shiva done by singing his StutiA passage of praise offered to the deity, shorter and less formal than a stotra.. When you sing the stuti with bhava, this trouble goes away at once. But if you recite only in name, without connecting to that cosmic energy, you get no benefit from it. The point is to make the mind strong — to join the mind to that divine energy. Once you succeed at that, he says, you too will feel great joy, and then whatever yoga has formed, it will not be able to make you unhappy.

A listener asks for the complete pushparchan vidhi from the start. The speaker says pushparchan is done the way it is ordinarily done, whether as shatarchan or sahasrarchan, but he gives the full sequence. First do the entire opening process: achaman and so on, pranayam, pavitri dharan, ShikhaThe tuft of hair at the crown, knotted before certain rites. bandhan, and the vidhi of the asana. Then do SwastivachanA Vedic invocation of auspiciousness and well-being, recited alongside Yajna, offerings, or Havan., and then SankalpaA formal ritual resolution spoken aloud before an offering or observance, declaring its intent and dedicating its merit.. After the sankalpa, do the pujan of the guru and Ganpati, then the pujan of Bhairav, Narsimha ji and Hanuman ji — brief or elaborate, as you wish. After that come Bhagavati's AvahanThe invocation that calls a deity to be present in the image or yantra before worship begins. mantras and then DhyanHolding the deity's form in the mind, the step that precedes japa in most vidhis.: in the dhyan mantra you meditate on the specific form whose archan you are going to perform. For the invocation, use the Tantrokta Devisuktam. Bhagavati will certainly come, he says; her tattva will certainly be present, and if you have a consecrated vigraha or a consecrated Yantra, its energy will be awakened. After that, if you recite the Kavach of that deity, it is best to do so. Then do the archan: mix flowers with KumkumVermilion powder offered to the Goddess and applied as a tilak., haridra (turmeric) and other fragrant substances, and with each name of the Shatnamavali or Sahasranamavali — whichever you are using — take the material and release it onto the yantra or the vigraha. That, he says, is the complete elaborate vidhi. Once the whole SahasrarchanaA worship method involving a thousand-fold offering or recitation count, used by Shabar-tradition practitioners on especially potent occasions like Aghor Chaturdashi and Tara Amavasya. is finished, do AartiA ritual of waving a lit lamp or flame before a deity's image, performed here at the close of Deepdan once the lamps begin to burn down., Kshama PrarthanaThe plea for pardon made at the close of a rite for whatever was done wrongly or left out., stuti and the rest, and make the samarpan.

A listener asks whether it was right that a stranger at a temple asked him for his water to offer on the ShivlingThe aniconic form of Lord Shiva worshipped at home and in temples.. The speaker asks what the issue is — some unknown person asked for your lota of water. Well, he says, that person must have been short of water and needed to offer it, so they asked. He describes the Vindhyachal temple: if you sit there doing paath with your water beside you, the village women who come simply walk up, pick up your lota and say, Baba, we are taking a little water — and they take a little, not much, and go and offer it. Keep snatching your lota back if you like; they will ask what you are going to do with so much water and take it anyway. So there is no great matter in someone taking a little water, he says. Do not think so much about it. We have to make our faith strong — but we must not become superstitious.

A listener asks: if one does Tara Ma Stotram for 43 days, what should be done on the last day? The speaker says that about all the questions people ask regarding Tara Ma, he always says the same thing — all of this sadhana should be done after becoming initiated (Diksha). He does not know where the listener is doing this from. A 43-day or 41-day sadhana is something he has never even discussed on this channel. So it would be better, he says, to learn the complete vidhi-vidhan from wherever you saw or heard it, or from whoever is your guru or guide. Remember, he says, Tara is not something to play with. Bhagavati Tara, the tantric form of Kamakhya Mai, Bhagavati Dhumavati, Tripura Bhairavi — these are no joke.

The speaker says Ganga Dashahara and Batuk Bhairav Jayanti are coming, and this year too the 5th will be a most divine day. Three mahaparvas are approaching. The first is the Amavasya of Jyeshtha, on which the Jayanti of Gupta Durga falls, along with the Jayanti of Shani Dev — whom he describes as the avatar of Bhagavan Mahakal and a worshipper and devotee of Shri Krishna (Shani Jayanti). That is probably on the 25th. After that, on the 1st, come Aranya Shashthi, Vindhyavasini Jayanti and Van Durga Jayanti. Then on the 5th comes a Thursday Dashami tithi joined with Hasta NakshatraOne of the 27 lunar constellations used to time rituals — certain occult procedures, such as acquiring a cremation Handi, must be performed within a specific Nakshatra's window.: the day of Ganga's descent, Ganga Jayanti, Ganga Dashahara and Batuk Bhairav Jayanti. The biggest thing, he says, is that when the Dashami of Ganga Dashahara falls on a Thursday, it becomes in itself a sarvartha-siddha muhurta, a sarva-siddha MuhurtaAn elected span of time in which an act is begun. — the whole day is a most divine tithi. And secondly, it is not only a Thursday and a Dashami, but is joined with Hasta, the nakshatra in which Bhagavati Ganga descended — so it becomes divine, extremely divine. He says separate video discussions will be made on each of these, and preparation is under way on what anushthan can be done; but all listeners should also prepare themselves for these dates — the 25th, the 1st and the 5th.

Replying to a listener, the speaker says that when some negative shakti gets bound during the pheras of a wedding, the matter becomes quite different from an ordinary case. The biggest issue, he says, is that such a shakti binds itself to both — to husband and wife together. The full process of removing it will not work out in any ordinary way; the entire vidhi-vidhan must be carried out only with the help of someone who knows.

A listener says he has done no sadhana so far, there is trouble at home, and he wants to do a 41-day anushthan of the Mahabhairav mantra with an Akhand Jyot. The speaker tells him to watch the full Mahabhairav video: at the outset it never told anyone to do that sadhana at home. The first time, one is not to do his sadhana directly at home at all. And if you have done no sadhana until now and go straight to Mahabhairav, then without 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. he will make you very unbalanced — keep that in mind. There are two or three rules in it, he says, which are covered across the separate videos of the full Mahabhairav playlist; listen to all of them and things will become clear. Possibly a few points were missed in the first video, but he has repeated this subject many times since. First of all, do at least five lakh japa of the Panchakshari Mantra. If you cannot do five lakh, then do sava lakh — one and a quarter lakh — without fail. Only once the sava lakh Panchakshari japa is complete should you begin the Mahabhairav japa, at a temple, according to the vidhi. When the mantra is done, then start your paath-prayoga of the stotra and the rest with Samput.