How to Perform a Samput Recitation of the Durga Saptashloki

The speaker sets out how a Samput path of the Saptashati is done for a particular wish. He says the Durga Saptashati has many kinds of ordinary paath, and the entire Saptashati is also recited with a samput under some wish. The simple, ordinary method of doing that is what he demonstrates, applying it to the Saptashloki. He says that people who cannot complete the full Saptashati, but who have specific wishes, can do the samput paath of the seven-verse Durga Saptashloki instead, and their wish will bear fruit. The base text, he says, is the Saptashloki itself: the Shiva uvacha and Devi uvacha, then the Viniyoga, and after the viniyoga the seven mantras that are read in the Durga Saptashloki. The question the rest of the talk answers is how those seven mantras are given a samput.

The speaker says that in a Samput paath there is, apart from the root text, a samput mantra. Whichever mantra one uses for the fulfilment of one's wish, that mantra is the samput mantra. Later, when showing the order of recitation, he defines the word: samput means binding one mantra in the middle of another mantra, binding it down, enclosing it. The root mantra of the text is enclosed on both sides by the samput mantra.

To show the method, the speaker takes an example. Suppose auspicious works are not getting done in the house and there is a great deal of quarrel and strife. One wants to use a mantra for the completion of auspicious works, for auspiciousness to come into the home, and for every kind of well-being. For that, he says, the Samput mantra used is "Sarva-mangala-mangalye Shive Sarvartha-sadhike, Sharanye Tryambake Gauri Narayani Namo'stu Te". He says he has written the whole paath out to show it, and heads it "Shri Durga Saptashloki samput path for all kinds of mangal and kalyan". It opens, as usual, with the Shiva uvacha and Devi uvacha, the purva-pithika of the text, and then the viniyoga follows. He offers, if viewers want, to prepare and post the full paath separately for each different wish.

The speaker asks what changes in the Viniyoga. The ordinary viniyoga of the Saptashloki, he says, is "Asya Shri Durga Saptashloki Stotra Mantrasya Narayana Rishih, Anushtup Chhandah, Shri Mahakali-Mahalakshmi-Mahasarasvatyo Devatah". Up to this point everything stays the same in every kind of Samput paath. Then comes "Shri Durga Preetyartham", which is also said. But after it, the wish for which the samput paath is being done is spoken as well. In his example that is "Sarva-mangala-praptyartham". So after "Durga Preetyartham" one says "Sarva-mangala-praptyartham Shri Samput Saptashloki Durga Pathe Viniyogah". He says this viniyoga is done once, and after it the samput follows.

The speaker says the way of applying a Samput is the same whenever any kind of paath is given a samput. Taking the first root mantra of the Saptashloki, "Om jnaninam api chetamsi devi bhagavati hi sa, baladakrishya mohaya mahamaya prayachchhati", he shows the pattern: the samput mantra is read twice; then the root mantra; then the samput mantra twice again; and only then the second mantra begins. He points out what people do wrong. They read the samput mantra once, then the root mantra, then the samput once more, and then go on to the next mantra. He says this is the wrong method and asks that it be noted. Two samput readings come first, then the root mantra, then two samput readings, and then the next mantra. In his written example the samput is "Sarva-mangala-mangalye". It is read twice, then the first root mantra once, then twice again; then the second mantra, then the samput twice; and then the third mantra. The third mantra of the Saptashloki is "Sarva-mangala-mangalye" itself, the very mantra being used as the samput. So at the third turn, he says, count how many times it is read: five in a row, twice as the samput before, once as the root mantra, and twice as the samput after, before the fourth mantra is read. That, he says, is how a samput is done, and the samput of any mantra is applied in this same way.