How a New Tantra Sadhak Should Begin Sadhana, Part 2: The Guru Principle

The speaker frames this as the second part of how someone who is completely new to the path of sadhana should build a strong base and where to begin. He says the earlier part must be heard first: it covered the absolutely basic beginning, the vidhan that comes before lighting the lamp in puja, the very first procedures. He adds a correction of order: those six vidhans are to be performed after the Karma Sakshi lamp has been lit. His reason for insisting is simple: without these vidhans, whatever else you do will not give its full fruit. Only after these six opening acts does he move on to the next steps.

After the six opening acts, the speaker says, the first subject is Svastivacana. In it the auspicious shlokas are recited. These include Vedic mantras and also Puranic mantras and shlokas. He divides who recites what. If you wear the YajnopavitaThe sacred thread ceremony marking initiation into Vedic rites (Janeu) — if lapsed across generations, expiation (Prayashchitta) for each known generation is required before it can be resumed. and have learnt the full svastivacana, or learn it from the many places it is available on YouTube, then you, the thread-wearers, should do the complete svastivacana. Learning the correct recitation of mantras such as "Aano Bhadra" is necessary. If you do not want to learn that, or do not wear the yajnopavita, or you are mothers and sisters, then all of you take the Puranic auspicious shlokas. He lists them: the 12 names of Bhagavan Ganapati, the "Shuklambaradharam" mantra, the mantra of Bhagavati Durga, some verses of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, and some matter on Bhagavan Bhairav and the Kashi kshetra. These are found in books such as Nitya Karma Puja Prakash, and you simply recite them. So the Puranic shlokas come first of all for this group.

The next subject after svastivacana, the speaker says, is the SankalpaA formal ritual resolution spoken aloud before an offering or observance, declaring its intent and dedicating its merit.. He is firm that the sankalpa has to be done in daily puja. It is not that we take a sankalpa only for the 40-day or 9-day observances; in nitya pujan too the sankalpa is extremely necessary. The reason he gives is that without a sankalpa the goal will not stay clear. There should be a goal: even if you are doing one day of something, anything at all, the sankalpa of daily puja is mandatory. So the sankalpa is taken.

On the sankalpa itself, the speaker says: use KushaThe sacred grass used for seats, rings and purificatory sprinkling; treated as spiritually insulating. if at all possible. If you have put on a kusha PavitriA ring woven from kusha grass and worn on the ring finger, required for pitr karma and many other rites., or wear a gold ring, then there is no issue. But if you are wearing neither a gold ring nor a pavitri, then kusha must be in the hand at the time of the sankalpa. As for how the sankalpa is taken, he says to keep one thing in mind. If you know how to take the whole sankalpa in Sanskrit, good; if not, a simple sankalpa in Hindi also works. The full vidhan for taking it is on this channel, in the video on Bhagavan Dattatreya's Dev Diksha Vidhan: listen there for how the sankalpa is taken in Hindi, and a PDF is available there too, which you can read from while taking the sankalpa.

Once the sankalpa is taken, the speaker says, the first pujan is the pujan of Gurudev. From here the first stage of sadhana begins: you have learnt the opening things, you have taken the sankalpa, now you will do Guru pujan. He raises the obvious objection: for guru pujan there is no guru at all, no guru Diksha has happened, so how? His answer is that the most accessible and simplest recourse is Bhagavan Dattatreya. The descent of Dattatreya's form, its manifestation, happened for this very reason: wherever in the whole world any inquirer or devotee needs the Guru Tattva, needs it unavoidably, and has the longing within that a guru must be found, "I need a guru", there he appears instantly, that very moment. So if we merely remember Bhagavan Dattatreya, the pujan of all the guru principles of the whole Guru Mandala is accomplished.

The speaker points to Dattatreya's form: in it you will see the unified, integrated form of Brahma, Vishnu and Bhagavan Sadashiva together. From this he draws a guarantee. Whenever in the future you become endowed with merit and are initiated into any kula tradition at all, whatever it may be, Vaishnava, Shaiva, Shakta, Kaula Sampradaya or Aghor, the worship of Bhagavan Dattatreya will be there in it in one form or another, without fail. And when your guru teaches you the method of Mandala pujan, and the whole extended method of patra sadhana and the rest, Dattatreya's place will certainly be there in the yantra pujan, the mandala pujan, the adhar pujan. Therefore, he says, be free of worry: bring surrender towards Bhagavan Dattatreya and do the pujan related to the guru tattva.

For the actual pujan of Bhagavan Dattatreya for the sake of guru pujan, the speaker gives three options: recite the shlokas dedicated to the guru, "Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu" and so on; or recite Bhagavan Datta's 108-name namavali, the ashtottara shatanam; or recite his 12 names. Through any of these the pujan of the whole Guru Mandala is done. He adds two further things about Datta. Bhagavan Datta is the cause of the uplift of all the Pitrs. And the 64 Yoginis and the 52 bhairavs have a root tattva shakti form that drives them and gives them orders, and that, somewhere among the Mahasiddhas, is the siddha Bhagavan Datta. So when you merely worship Datta's form, merely remember it, he is satisfied even by that, and being satisfied he bestows the grace of the entire guru mandala on you. Then gradually, as your merits begin to increase and the present impure PrarabdhaThe portion of destiny already set in motion by past actions — spiritual practice and good deeds can lessen its severity, but not eliminate it. begins to decay, discrimination will awaken within you by itself, the path will start to show, and when the time comes you will also obtain a guru. This, he says, is the pujan of the guru mandala.

The speaker turns to the question of which sadhana to do first. When sadhaks enter the field of sadhana and have learnt all these opening things, their first sadhana should be that of the guru. He names two forms endowed with the guru tattva. The adi guru, who is in the form of the greatest Mahashakti, is Bhagavan Dattatreya. The second is Sadashiva's form as Dakshinamurti Shiva. Dakshinamurti's form, he says, is unique in Tantra: whichever of the ten Mahavidyass is being worshipped, he too certainly has a place in it. You may go for these forms as well, but for their pujan you should first learn a little of the vidhi-vidhan from some qualified person. You can also take recourse to the Guru Gita and do guru pujan through it. His own view: for everyone, the power that is most effective at working instantly, giving you an effect and giving you guidance is Datta, because neither you nor he knows which tradition you will belong to further on. So take the refuge of Bhagavan Datta and do his pujan. He notes that the related material on Datta is available extensively on the channel, and one can do the sadhanas by listening to those videos.

The speaker says that, if you wish, for as long as there is no guru you can perform the Dev Diksha Vidhan, and make the very first PurashcharanaA ritualistic repetition of a mantra to prescribed rules — required in Tantra Sadhana. anushthan you do for the sake of Bhagavan Dattatreya, for the sake of the Guru Mandala. He addresses the discouragement directly. It is not that, because you have been born and in this birth no guru has been found, none was found in previous births either; one certainly was. A guru is obtained, without fail, if we do this sadhana with longing. It is Bhagavan Dattatreya's very duty to grant a guru to whoever presents a longing for one and, with surrender and a piteous heart, calls out. Then, whatever share of guru tattva and kula parampara there is from your past births, from your merits, as that begins to grow in a large, expansive way, so you begin to come near that kula parampara. So, he says, first do the Dev Diksha Vidhan if you have no guru.

If you have no guru, the speaker says, the first thing is to do the Dev Diksha Vidhan. How that diksha vidhan is done and what is involved is all in a video on this very channel; you only need to search YouTube for "Dev Diksha Vidhan Grihastha Tantra". Watch those, perform that vidhan, and do the japa of the Ekakshari. He acknowledges the doubts attached to it: whether anyone has the adhikar to do the Ekakshari japa, and the belief that whoever does it will become detached from the world, will become a messenger of Bhagavan Dattatreya, will become a sanyasi. He says all of these have been addressed several times, properly, in separate lives and separate videos where these doubts were resolved. His instruction is to listen to those, remove all your doubts, make your surrender firm, and do your first sadhana of Bhagavan Datta.

When the Ekakshari is complete, the speaker says, then come the dattatreya-mala-mantra and the Vajra Kavacham. These two things you should practise. He makes the rule general: you may be a sadhak of any level, completely new or already practising for a long time, but the first sadhana will be of Bhagavan Datta. On Thursday you will do his special pujan; on purnima and the like you will do his Deepdaan; in the time of a maha parva you will do his deepdaan. The whole tantrokta vidhi-vidhan of deepdaan, all of it, and the experiences of it keep coming on the channel from time to time. Seeing and hearing these, he says, you will be motivated, you will get guidance, and you will walk the right path. Doing this in a spirit of seva and puja, there is no tiryak, crooked, effect on you, and your 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. is also increasing. This, in his view and from his own experience, is the first sadhana to be done. Afterwards you may do others, the Panchakshari Mantra and everything else; that is a matter for after this. Once the guru sadhana is complete, what to do next will be taken up in later videos.