After Navratri: Preserving What Nine Days of Sadhana Accumulated

What has to be done after a mala or Kavach is worn through birth or death Sutak?

A thread is changed; a copper Kavach is immersed; a silver one on a thread needs only the thread changed. The japa mala and Gomukhi are washed, bathed in Panchagavya or Panchamrita and Gangajal, scented, and then passed rapidly through camphor flame three or five times.

The speaker answers a question left over from a previous session, taking the cases in order. After birth or death Sutak, whatever is worn on the body: if it is on a thread, the thread is to be changed. If the Kavach is in copper, it is immersed. If it is in silver but worn on a thread, only the thread is changed. The japa mala and the Gomukhi are washed. The mala is bathed with Panchagavya or Panchamrita and with Gangajal, then scented with Tri-Agaru and sandal water, and after that given Agni Sparsh — contact with fire, which holds the boon that whatever it touches becomes pure. The method: on a copper plate or in a copper vessel, kindle pure Bhimseni camphor; invoking Agni Devata and Bhagavati Swaha and meditating on them, pass the bathed mala very rapidly through the middle of that flame, right across. It should not burn. Even once done rapidly is enough, but it should be done three or five times. That contact makes the mala fully pure and destroys any Patak or Ashaucha fault present in it. He notes when this becomes especially necessary: where the place of worship is not separate — where the same room everyone comes and goes through holds the worship space, so that someone's body may have touched it. On the thread itself he is permissive: there is no need to cut the whole thread apart, remove every knot and have it restrung. Do that when it actually breaks. And whenever a mala breaks and is restrung, Prana Pratishtha should be performed again.

What should be included in the Sankalp when accomplishing a mantra?

Alongside the grace of the deity being propitiated, add that whenever this mantra is applied after its Siddhi, its full effect should be obtained at the time of application — the speaker gives the Sanskrit form and says plain Hindi serves equally.

The speaker gives the Sankalp formula he tells listeners to use whenever they undertake an Anushthan on his advice. Always take the Sankalp for obtaining the grace of whoever you are performing the Anushthan for; and if you are additionally taking a Sankalp for mantra Siddhi, add this too — that whenever we apply this mantra after its accomplishment, its full effect should be obtained by us at the time of application. He gives the form as it would run for a Mahabhairav mantra, and notes immediately that an ordinary Hindi Sankalp serves just as well. His reason for pressing self-performed Anushthan generally: even if Brahma himself were acting as your priest, it remains necessary that you perform the Anushthan yourself.

What happens when a person with means deliberately skimps on the worship?

Bhagavati will certainly forgive it — but that forgiveness serves you in the next world only, not in this one. Where you create a deficiency in material substance, a deficiency in your material life is certain to follow.

The speaker distinguishes shortfall from negligence. Some more, some less — we are human. But where you have the capacity and knowingly create a deficiency, that becomes your offence. His reading of the reasoning people use is unsparing. Where a person with financial and physical capacity thinks that it is not really necessary to offer Bhog or Naivedya or a betel leaf today, that the Mother is pleased by Bhava alone, it means one thing only: through laziness and negligence he deliberately does not wish to complete the worship. Disgust is entering it. He is thinking, who will do all this — let us do it short. He grants the forgiveness and then places it precisely. Bhagavati will certainly forgive that negligence, but remember that it will serve you in the next world; it will not serve in this one. He works the point through the case of a demon taking refuge at the moment of his death: the Goddess will still slay him, and having taken refuge at the end, his onward motion afterwards will be divine and he will be worshipped among her Ganas — but he will not receive material happiness in this life for taking her name at the end. Applied back: a person who has the capacity for a thousand deceits, who knows how to practise deceit professionally in an office, who has the intelligence for office politics and for oppressing juniors and troubling seniors, becomes clever before Bhagavati alone and offers Bhava in place of substance. Where you create a deficiency in material substance, he says, there will certainly be a deficiency in your material life.

Where means are genuinely absent, a Manas Stuti offered with Bhava satisfies Jagadamba and is held the highest worship.

The genuinely poor practitioner. Where Jagadamba has not made someone materially capable, a Manas Stuti offered with Bhava satisfies the household deities and Jagadamba alike — mental worship has always been held the highest, and is best of all for one without means.

The speaker sets the exemption against the case he has just condemned. If a person is not capable — if the poor man simply has no money, if Jagadamba has not made him materially capable — the matter is different. A destitute practitioner who performs even a Manas Stuti from the heart with Bhava satisfies every one of them: his household deities, his family deities, and Ma Jagadamba. The fruit of mental worship, he says, has always been held the highest; and it is said alongside that where a person is not capable, if he performs mental worship its fruit is the best of all. He adds a rule that applies even to those performing full physical worship: whatever Upachara you use — Shodashopachara, Rajopachara — a Panchopachara worship must also be performed mentally within it. No worship at all is held complete without Manasopachara. He is careful not to alarm anyone: do not think that because you have not been doing this, something is wrong; as you advance in the subject, these things become known to you of themselves.

Why is a practitioner who has moved to Advaita exempt from the same charge?

Because he is not performing pretence. Having obtained Dharma, Artha and Kama and become satisfied, he has no material desire left, so his Manasopachara worship carries both fruits — and no fault attaches, because a capable man performing no ostentation is not the same as one skimping.

The speaker describes the second exempt case. A practitioner who through physical worship has moved towards Advaita now sees no difference between Shiva, Vishnu, Jagadamba, Narayana and Ganapati. His mental strength has become so firm that wherever he sits, his Jagadamba is seated there. He has no desire for material substance and does not want wealth or a car or anything else — he is satisfied. Whether he is a millionaire, a billionaire or beyond, the three Purusharthas of Dharma, Artha and Kama have been obtained and his desires are fulfilled. If he sits and performs Manasopachara worship, both fruits will come to him: he has no material desire remaining, the Mother has already given him material comfort, and the unseen category of worship he is performing is enough to carry him onward. No fault attaches to him, he says, because he is not performing ostentation — a capable man performing no ostentation.

Why should a divine person's later state not be imitated directly?

Because you cannot imitate divinity itself. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa cannot be followed at the point where he cut Kali with a sword — you can follow the sadhana that came first. Vama Khepa sat continuously for days under a Semal tree; that part nobody wants to imitate.

The speaker's caution is that people take up the endpoint and skip the road. Know the whole subject before following divine persons. His examples are specific. You cannot follow Ramakrishna Paramahamsa — you are going to imitate his divinity directly, and that will not happen for you. Vama Khepa is being imitated after he had already become a divine person; that is not possible. Why, he asks, do you not want to imitate his early period, when he was performing sadhana? He would sit continuously for two and four days at a stretch under a Semal tree without rising, and lie in the cremation ground for days without getting up — and it was not theatre. On Ramakrishna he is blunter still: people today do not discuss the excellent Vamachara sadhana he performed. Before he became Paramahamsa there was his full Panchamakara Kaula sadhana, and before that his early Dakshinachara sadhana, and how the Goddess used to enter his body. Discuss those and people stand up at once — but it is not ostentation, he says; it is the actual subject. You simply do not have the capacity to digest it, which is why nobody puts it in front of you. Whoever wishes to walk truly, he says, should get into these subjects, look, know, understand, and then increase progressively.

What is the rule to adopt from the day after the fast is broken?

From the day after Paran a rule must be established, permanently. That rule is what preserves the japa, austerity, Havan and recitation of the nine days — not only holding the energy for a long period, but increasing it, and bringing the divine experiences and the piercing of secrets that follow.

The speaker marks the transition. When the nine-day fast is complete, the Havan performed, the Kanya Pujan done, the Paran taken and the Visarjan finished — everything complete — then from the day after you broke the fast, a rule should be established for you, permanently. That rule, he says, is what will preserve this nine-day Navratri sadhana. The merit and the energy that the japa, the austerity, the Havan and the recitation are about to yield will not merely be preserved for a long period; it will be increased, progressively increased, and along with it the divine experiences will come and what is called the piercing of secrets will be obtained. He contrasts the two outcomes he sees. Many ordinary practitioners obtain various kinds of divinity and reach the secrets. And how many practitioners perform worship with a great deal of noise and display — everything present — and the matter becomes hollow from inside. The reason, he says, is that it remains a mere nine-day show, where a status has to be maintained: look how loudly worship is performed at our house. After that, the matter is finished.

What is the first mistake made the moment Navratri ends?

Eating heavily the moment the fast ends, and especially turning to onion and garlic on Dashami itself. The body's heat rises abruptly, and the effort you made to avoid that trouble begins to be spent from that point.

The speaker names the first offence and works through what the fast actually did. A fast is above all the renunciation of taste. In Navratri the state is such that the organs within the body also go into fast: they have to work as little as possible. A person takes a little sherbet, a little juice, as much liquid diet as possible — by which the body's toxicity is also removed — and alongside it a very little fruit according to the body's capacity, or where even that is not possible, one meal of ordinary grain such as a kuttu flour roti, just enough to keep things moving. He interrupts himself to exclude the people this does not apply to: those who prepare various kinds of delicacies and eat them, and those who during the fast eat fruit until the stomach is full and they are belching — for them the fast has no meaning and the worship is pointless anyway. The mistake, then: as soon as Navratri is complete you begin eating a great deal of grain at once, reasoning that the diet must be maintained or the body will weaken. Even that, he allows, is acceptable — but there you were taking Satvik food, and here, if you begin eating onion and garlic immediately, saying that today the Dashami Paran has happened and you must have onion pakoras today, that becomes a problem.

What does the Navratri fast do to the Annamaya Kosha?

It purifies it — and only when the Annamaya Kosha is pure does the aura become white in colour. As whiteness rises, the quantity of Satvik energies in the subtle body rises, and no lesser or negative power can establish dominance over it.

The speaker gives the mechanism behind the dietary rule. Ours is the Annamaya Kosha, the sheath made of food. In Navratri you purified it. Only when the Annamaya Kosha is purified does the presence of our aura become white in colour. When it is white, the quantity of Satvik energies within it rises — and however many lesser or negative or un-white powers there may be in the world, whether emerged from divine elements, separated from them, or dwelling under their shelter, none of them can ever establish dominance over such a person. The more your whiteness increases and the more Satvik energy your subtle body holds, the more radiant you become. He asks the listener to check it directly. After Navratri, once you have broken the fast, slept a night and let the body relax for a day or two, look at your own aura. You will be fully satisfied; the mind will be entirely at peace; the face will look bright. That divinity of the days during and after Navratri is different. The conclusion is practical: this is the thing to be maintained, and eating a great deal of grain at once immediately disturbs the Koshas. Follow a limit and a diet; do not tamper with it heavily. Increase gradually and come back to your original diet by around Purnima.

How long should Brahmacharya be maintained after Navratri?

To Purnima at least. Ending it on Dashami is the single greatest mistake — spending in that way the energy and merit collected with so much effort. The speaker acknowledges this will offend some listeners and says so directly.

The speaker names the second renunciation the nine days involved: Brahmacharya observed mentally and physically throughout Navratri. The mistake is ending it the moment the fast does. Now that Navratri is over, going straight back to household relations; those with partners going at once to meet them. It should not be so, he says — this becomes the greatest mistake of all. To take energy and merit collected with that much effort and spend it in that way is not proper. His rule: first of all, Brahmacharya should certainly be observed up to Purnima. There should not be that much fire. He anticipates the reaction and does not soften it. Many people will feel badly about this, he knows; there are followers who find these subjects difficult, and to them he says in advance not to listen, because otherwise it will trouble them and gnaw at them from within. You have received a human life — bring humanity within. You have not received the life of a dog, to go putting your mouth about on this side of the road and that. If that is your condition, he asks, why perform Navratri at all. He fences the rule by tradition: you are a householder walking the Dakshinachara path, you are not a Kaula, you are not a Shakta, you have had no initiation of the kind where Shakti worship must be performed by that route.

Why is spending a mantra's energy immediately called your own loss?

Because you performed a sava-lakh japa or more, did the tenth-part Havan, gave your time, spent your energy and spent your money. Spending ten days of that effort immediately is your loss alone — the speaker points out that nothing of his goes into it.

The speaker puts the case in plain terms of cost. Gradually, through however much japa and austerity you performed — perhaps a sava-lakh japa, perhaps more — you did the tenth-part Havan. Your time went into it. Your energy was spent. Your money was spent. And after that you take these ten days of effort and spend them at once. That is your own loss, he says. What is going from me in this? Nothing of mine is going; it is yours that is going. And he adds that he would never want effort of that kind to go to waste — so let it be preserved.

What is the minimum daily practice to continue after Navratri?

From Ekadashi, continue a minimum of one Mala daily of whatever you accomplished — up to ten if you can, and for a short mantra like the Ekakshari or Panchakshari eight to ten malas at least. The Kavach and the mantra must both continue.

This is the core of the session's practical instruction. The best way to preserve it, the speaker says, is that some portion of the japa and the recitation you performed during Navratri should continue — of whatever you accomplished. He rejects the alternative flatly: it is not that we performed japa and austerity for ten days and now sit free of it. That should not happen; you cannot sit free. The counts he gives: whether you performed the Chakra-method recitation of the 32 Namavali of Bhagavati Durga with Havan, or 11,000 or 1,100 japa, or 11,000 of the Jayanti Mangala, or the japa of the second mantra of Vindhyavasini's Ratri Sukta — from Ekadashi at least, you should continue a minimum of one mala. At most, do ten if you can. Where the mantra is long, do one mala only. Where you performed an Ekakshari, a Panchakshari or a Navakshari, eight to ten malas should certainly be done — with less than ten malas, he asks, what will really come of it. For Bhagavan Datta's Ekakshari and the like, ten malas should certainly run. And alongside the mantra, the Kavach: both the Kavach and the mantra should continue together.

Should anything else be done on the Purnima after Navratri?

Yes — those continuing the japa should perform a small Havan again on Purnima. Not an extensive one; even a single mala's worth will serve, but that Havan should certainly be done.

The speaker adds one observance to the daily japa. Those who are performing japa in this way should, on the day of Purnima, perform a light Havan once again. He sets the scale deliberately low so that it is not skipped: not a very extensive one — even of a single mala, that is fine — but that Havan should certainly be performed.

Why does negative energy come towards a practitioner right after Navratri?

Because these energies can see it. They cannot tell what Siddhi you hold, only that this person has performed japa and austerity and has mantra capacity — so they come asking for their own onward motion, or saying they are hungry and you are capable of feeding them.

The speaker calls this a pointed matter and asks the listener to hold it separately from their ordinary troubles — debt, disease, family conflict, police cases, land disputes all remain where they are. What happened in the nine days is separate: through the fast, the method, the worship, the japa and the Havan, a whiteness came to be present in the body, an abode of auspicious powers came to be present in the subtle body and the aura, and the divinity of the mantra came to be present. And which power, he asks, is most attracted by that? Negative energy, soonest of all. Because you are now positive — so why would negative come towards you? It will come saying: give me too my onward motion; or, we are hungry, feed us, you have the capacity, you are a capable practitioner. It does not care in the least what Siddhi you hold, he says. It sees only one thing — and it is able to see. These energies are capable of seeing. You and I may not be, but it can see that this person has performed japa and austerity, that he has the capacity of the mantra, that he has energy.

Why do good practitioners fall ill a few days after Navratri?

Because they dropped everything the moment the fast ended — no Kavach, no japa, no small Havan. The speaker's image is of gathering the whole treasure and then standing with it at a crossroads: there is no shortage of people ready to take it.

The speaker points to a pattern he says listeners will recognise: practitioners who were doing very well during Navratri, and two or four days after it, ill health. Some begin to be possessed. It was fine during Navratri — what happened now? Then comes the conclusion that the Navratri worship went to waste, that so much was done and nothing came of it. His explanation is the reverse. This is happening precisely because you took the whole treasure you were holding and left it out to be looted, all at once. It is not to be dropped like that. He presses the reader to look at it as a science rather than a fright: this is Para Vigyan, understand it. You have not acquired the mastery to bind that energy in proportion at once, to filter it at once, to put an obstruction on it at once — you do not know that technique yet, you are entirely raw. And the raw practitioner, the unripe one, is in the greatest difficulty of all. His image for what follows: you gathered the whole sum — spiritually this is the entire wealth of sadhana — and after that there is no cordon; you went straight and stood at the crossroads saying, yes, I have it, who will do anything. And those who will, he says, are present in abundance and will begin at once. Every Preta and Pishachik power, whether of your house, from outside, from the neighbourhood, or from a spouse's family, will cling to you the moment it gets the chance.

Most of those who dispense knowledge neither practise themselves nor wish others to, so their advice produces loss.

The ten people who dispense knowledge, in the speaker's account: 99% do not wish to practise themselves and also do not wish others to — so the knowledge they give is exactly the kind that produces loss and decay in whoever takes it.

The speaker names what he considers the biggest single hazard for a raw practitioner. The greatest difficulty, he says, is the ten people who dispense knowledge; they are the cause of the greatest difficulty. His reading of the motive: ninety-nine percent of people do not want to practise themselves and also want that others should not. So the knowledge they give will be exactly of the kind by which harm comes to those others, by which their decay follows. He returns to the point later in the session when discussing pilgrimage sites, and again when discussing the people who tell listeners that the Mother is pleased by Bhava alone — the same class of counsel, aimed at producing the same shortfall.

Should a newly accomplished mantra be used on someone else's affliction right away?

No. The spirit may well leave, but your energy is spent — and you do not know how much went, because that depends on what power is on the other body and how much merit they have left. Kama Prayoga always spends; it is not inexhaustible energy that you obtained.

The speaker turns to the mistake he treats as costliest: having just completed the japa, beginning at once to apply the mantra — for exorcism, against enemies, for any desired end. He describes the case he means. You had been performing japa of the 32 Namavali, you completed it, everything is done. Today someone in your neighbourhood has a Pishachik possession, and you blow the mantra straight into water, consecrate it, and dispense it. The spirit fled — fine. But your energy has also been spent. What you do not know, he says, is how much was spent. If you had done 11,000 japa, who knows how much of it went there. That depends on which energy is on the other body and how much merit that person has left — theirs and yours both. His correction of the underlying assumption is direct: do not remain under the illusion that you obtained inexhaustible energy. You did not. Merit is what will be inexhaustible; and merit too is being reduced — that fruit you will receive in the next world, as discussed at the start. Here you will have difficulty. He distinguishes the case that does not cost: Nishkama application is not really an application at all — for Bhagavati's pleasure, for grace, for increase in the mantra's own capacity, that is increase rather than expenditure. But where you take a Sankalp that the negative power upon someone should be destroyed and throw consecrated water at it, what you performed as japa is what goes.

Where does the backlash of a premature application of a mantra land?

On whoever in your household is not protected. You do not know what level of energy is on the other body or how hard it will strike; unable to reach you, it will reach your brother, sister, parents, spouse or children — who cannot be at your level even if you gave them a Kavach.

The speaker gives the second reason for not applying a mantra immediately. You also do not know what level of energy is upon the person in front of you — what its metaphysics is, at what velocity and from what level it will strike at you. And where it cannot reach you, it will act on the other members of your household: on your brother, your sister, your parents, your wife, your husband, your children — on anyone at all. His reasoning is that you are protected by the mantra's energy and the rest are not. Even if you have made them wear a Kavach, their level cannot be what yours is, because they have not done for themselves what you have. So it will leave you and trouble them.

How much practice should precede any application of a mantra?

Let four or five Navratris pass, performing the Purashcharana each time — Gupt, Prakat or otherwise — with 11 or 21 malas continuing between them, repetition and Havan at every festival period, and surrender at a Shakti Peeth.

The speaker gives the schedule he wants followed before any Kama Prayoga is attempted. Before applying, at minimum let the Purashcharana you performed in one Navratri be repeated across four Navratris — whether Gupt, Prakat or others — and let five Navratris pass. Perform surrender at a Shakti Peeth. Between those, the practice does not stop: 11 malas, 21 malas of that mantra should keep running in the remaining time, and at every festival period both repetition of that mantra and Havan should keep happening. He gives a worked example for a longer festival: in the five-day Diwali period in the month of Kartik, take up a five-day Anushthan. If you have the capacity, perform 250 malas a day — 1,250 malas makes a sava-lakh. Offer 25 malas of oblations each day, so 250 malas of japa with 25 malas of Havan, and do three malas of Tarpan with 30 Marjan. His condition on all of it is physical: if you have the capacity, then bring capability into the body — eating, drinking, sitting and rising, exercise, yoga. If you feel you absolutely must apply the mantra, then strengthen yourself in this way first. Jagadamba's own powers will make you experience whether that capability is within you or not. His closing line on the subject is deliberately flat: application is your own private matter, nobody's inheritance, and you are yourself responsible for gain and loss — at your own risk, exactly as the mutual fund disclaimer runs.

Does Purashcharana actually cut Prarabdha?

Yes — the more japa and austerity you do and the more you increase the Purashcharana, whatever Prarabdha you hold will be cut and you will get past it. But he refuses to give a timeframe: some cases resolve in three months, some in three years, some in five.

The speaker separates the certainty from the schedule. Know for sure, he says, that however much japa and austerity you perform, however much you keep increasing the Purashcharana, whatever your Prarabdha may be, it will be cut and you will certainly get past it. What he will not do is put a date on it. It has never happened, he says, that he told anyone it would take a year or six months. Every case is different and its fruit is correspondingly different: some resolve in three months, some in three years — and he notes cases of his own that took five. There are practitioners who became practitioners after twelve or fifteen years of sadhana. He adds the consequence of impatience: if you feel it should happen today or tomorrow and then sit and abuse, the decay from that is yours. Nothing of mine goes in it; my work is to state the correct thing, and to accept or not accept is your wish.

What happens to practitioners who are offered a shortcut sadhana at a pilgrimage site?

The speaker recounts a caller who went to Vindhyachal for darshan, met a practitioner by the Ganga and was given a Siddhi of an Aghori Baba he had never heard of, to be maintained with a stream of liquor — and asks why, with eight Mahabhairavs present there and Vindhyavasini herself.

The speaker recounts a phone call from a practitioner in Ranchi received shortly before the previous Navratri. The man had gone to Vindhyachal for the Mother's darshan, met some practitioner there, and had a Siddhi performed for him on the bank of the Ganga — of a Gangaram Aghori Baba whose name he had never heard in his life and whose sadhana he had never performed. He was told this Aghori would protect his house, and that he must give a stream of liquor and similar offerings at home. The speaker's questions are rhetorical and pointed. Were the Bhairavs of Vindhyachal not capable of protecting? There are so many Bhairavs there — eight Mahabhairavs present in the eight directions; a sadhana of any one of them could have been performed. Was Bhagavati Vindhyavasini not all-capable, that she would protect your household? Was there a deficiency in her capability, or a deficiency in your faith in her, that you went to the bank of the Ganga to perform Aghori sadhana? He is careful to de-personalise it: he is not naming the caller, and seven or eight people from Ranchi alone have telephoned him having done this — one of them last, whose situation had become very bad from it.

Why does Maya operate most strongly at a pilgrimage site?

Because if everyone who came to her received grace, the Kali age could not run. Vindhyachal is the earth's Manidvipa and she is its queen — but Maya is spread around the principal shrine, and she does not grant the piercing of it to all.

The speaker gives what he considers the real explanation of these encounters. It is destiny, he says; she is Mahamaya. At Vindhyachal, Bhagavati Vindhyavasini is the queen — it is the Manidvipa, the earth's Manidvipa, and she is seated at Aravind Achal. If everyone were to go to her and she were to grant grace upon all, that too, he says truthfully, she will not allow. So what she does is this: the Preta and Pishachik powers, and the people who worship them, are her own Ganas as well. Whether living at Vindhyachal or at whichever pilgrimage region, the Maya that spreads confusion is spread all around the principal Vigraha and the principal temple. If she granted the piercing of it to everybody, how would the Kali age run? So she does not grant that piercing — and she is doing right, he says. People's destiny is such, and they go off to perform Aghori sadhana, cremation sadhana, taking a Masan and giving it beedi and liquor.

Why do people trust spirits more than deities?

The speaker reports the line he has heard repeatedly — that this is Muslim Tantra so Hanuman will not work, Kali Mai will, and a black cockerel must be offered, and not at a temple but at the practitioner's own place, where a Dakini is what is actually seated.

The speaker identifies the reversal he thinks underlies the whole pattern: nobody credits Hanuman's capability, while everybody credits the capability of Pretas and Pishachas. He reports the exchange as he has heard it, and says listeners will have heard it too rather than his inventing it: this is Muslim Tantra, Hanuman will not work in it. Then who will? Kali Mai will work in it. How will Kali Mai work — a black cockerel will have to be offered. Where is Kali Mai, at the temple? No, not to be offered there; it must be offered at our own place. And at his own place, he says, the man is sitting having worshipped a Dakini. He draws a general test from it. Whatever kind of power a person worships and serves will show in his eyes, in the bearing of his body and face, and in the thinking he holds towards others. People of Pishachik thinking will worship Pishachik powers and become like them; it will be fully visible in their character.

What are the powers that take a Goddess's name and form?

Practitioners accomplished in a deity's mantras who came to a bad end through wrong conduct or wrong sadhana take that deity's element and form — but cannot obtain the original quality, so they remain suspended midway and become Pishachik powers bearing the name of Kali or another goddess.

The speaker sets out the mechanism he returns to at the end of the session. Powers accomplished by a deity's own mantras, or the deity's own female practitioners, who through some wrong conduct or wrong sadhana came to a bad end and to an untimely death, take on that same form — they bear that element. But because the original quality cannot come to them, they remain suspended in the middle. They become Pishachik powers and take the name of Kali, of one goddess or another, of one Bhavani or another. There are fifty kinds of such powers, and they are something else. He extends the same reading to Bhairav, citing the Durga Kavach: it is said there that by reciting it, Bhairav, Kushmanda Graha and the rest are destroyed — so how, he asks, would Bhairav be destroyed, who is eternally with Bhagavati. The answer he gives is that practitioners performing any kind of sadhana connected with Bhairav who go into a base form of it and accept a lesser station meet an untimely death through their own fault, or are destroyed by Bhairav himself. He connects it to something listeners will have heard: that such-and-such a man was performing Masan sadhana and his severed head was found in the cremation ground. They do not die like that, he says — they die from their own mistakes. And these are the same people who say the Mother is pleased by Bhava alone, and then think Bhairav is their father and will be pleased by Bhava too. A father is a father, he says, and does not delay in delivering a kick.

How does the punishment of a sub-deity differ from that of a deity?

A deity will not punish you for one day's missed or half-hearted worship — because a deity is a deity. The Preta and Pishachik powers seated as Upadevatas punish a single day's offence at once.

The speaker draws the practical distinction between the two kinds of power. You can create shortfall even in the worship of deities, and there you will not receive punishment of that kind — it will not happen that because you did not worship today, or worshipped half-heartedly because you did not feel like it, the deities will hold it against you for a day. No such matter will arise, because a deity is a deity. With the Preta and Pishachik powers seated in the form of sub-deities under the name of Upadevata — this Mata and that Mata, however many there are — commit even a single day's offence and take the punishment. He notes who else is caught by this: the genuine practitioners who accomplish such powers for the purpose of public welfare. They are ground like the chaff with the wheat. Taking on someone's work, the offering has to reach the power through the hand of the person whose work it was — and once his work is done he runs off and does not make the offering, so the practitioner starts paying out of his own pocket to keep the power quiet.

What is really happening when a practitioner is offered a shortcut at a holy site?

Not a deception but an examination — a test of how firmly you hold to your own Ishta. Say plainly that crores of spirits want to reach her feet, so what would you do with one; you want Ma Bhavani. Pass that test and Bhavani grants grace.

The speaker reframes the whole pattern. When you go to a Shakti Peeth, you will be tempted, he says. Whoever you worship and serve, whatever devotee you are, when you go there there will be an examination — of how firm you are towards your own Ishta. How great a Shiva devotee are you. How great a devotee of the Goddess. And when that deception happens with you, it is not a deception at all: in reality it is an examination taken in order to test the depth of your surrender. How deep are you, how surrendered are you. He gives the answer he wants a practitioner to make, plainly: what will I take this for, what is going to come of it — crores of Bhoot, Preta and Pishach want to go beneath the nails of her feet, want her to touch them and grant grace so their onward motion may happen; what will I do with one of them. I want Ma Bhavani. I want Ma Jagadamba. I want the love of her feet. Suffering will remain either way. Show your depth and your surrender there, he says. Pass that examination, and then Bhavani will grant grace. He names the pattern at other sites too: come to Tarapith, we will grant you Tara Mai's darshan — look, Tara Mai has come, this is her form, now offer the Dakshina here — and it is a stream of liquor that is producing the darshan. You will find this kind of thing everywhere.

Does worshipping deities cause trouble to the ancestors?

No. Trouble goes to the Pishachas who are not present in the ancestral line — and if a presence is not in the Pitru Kul then it is not your ancestor at all. The Pitrus are troubled only where an Abhicharik thing is present and holds them in bondage.

The speaker recounts a case from Gujarat: a listener without children, connected for a long time and performing sadhana, who had been fully convinced by a local Bhagatwal practitioner that if he performed the sadhana of deities his ancestors would be troubled, and that troubled ancestors would never let him have a child. His answer is a straight refusal of the premise. Why on earth would the ancestors be troubled by the worship of deities? The trouble will go to the Pishachas who are not present in the Pitru Kul — and if such a presence is not present in the Pitru Kul, then what kind of ancestor is it. He works it through as an address to such a presence: if your Sapindan has not been performed and you are in the Preta state — suppose you were born in our lineage and died, and we are alive and have bodies, and you have not been admitted among the family ancestors for whatever reason, my forebears may not have done it, fine, we accept all of that — then right now you are a Bhoot. And a Bhoot's home is not here. This place is set aside for the Pitrus, whose stations the deities determined; live where you belong. We will perform the service and worship proper to the householder's Ashrama, and with the capability that results we will cause the ancestors' satisfaction through Shraddha and the rest — or, if you declare yourself plainly and name yourself, we will cross-check that you were born in this lineage and have your Sapindan performed, and then come or stay as you will. When the ancestors are genuinely troubled, he says, is when an Abhicharik thing is present and your Pitrus are in bondage: that Abhicharik thing gives them the trouble, your mantra troubles the Abhicharik thing, and through that the ancestors suffer.

What is the remedy where spirits are present alongside the family ancestors?

Recite the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad Gita daily and sprinkle the consecrated water through the house. A copper pot of pure water with Gangajal, Kusha and Tulsi; recite; then sprinkle everywhere, five splashes at the Chaukhat, and the family drinks what remains.

The speaker gives this as his standing remedy, one he says he has been calling out for three years, for the case where Preta and Pishach are present alongside the family ancestors and the Pitrus are defiled. The preparation: a copper pot — copper only — filled with pure water, with Gangajal mixed in. Put Kusha in it. Make a broom of Kusha: cut eleven or twenty-one stalks, or buy it ready if you are not in a village and cannot find it, and bind it with Mauli thread. Add Tulsi leaves into the pot. The recitation: remember Bhagavan Ganapati, and your guru — or where there is no guru, Bhagavan Datta, since Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh are directly present in his three forms; or Dakshinamurti, or Shiva, or Narayana, whoever you wish to remember in the form of the guru. Then remembering Krishna, Arjuna and Nara-Narayana, recite the eleventh chapter of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita. If you cannot manage Sanskrit, do it in Hindi; if the trouble is severe, learn the Sanskrit pronunciation from YouTube — a literate person who looks at one verse ten times will learn it in a month or two. Afterwards: no blowing into the pot. Keep it quietly before Narayana — before his photograph or image, or where you have placed his name — on a yellow cloth, never directly on the ground. Then take the pot, put the Kusha broom in it with the Tulsi leaves, and sprinkle that water through the whole house, saying Shri Krishnaya Namah or Radha Krishnaya Namah. Five splashes on the threshold as well. Whatever water remains, every member of the family drinks. Duration is set by severity: forty-one days, a fortnight, 108 days, a year — the greater the problem, the longer you continue. One recitation takes half an hour.

Why must a devotee of Shiva still hold faith in Krishna?

Because the Gita records that Shiva recited it first, before it reached Nara-Narayana and then Arjuna. Faith fractures only where information is absent — that is when people start ranking Durga above Krishna or Krishna above Durga.

The speaker refuses the premise that worshipping one deity excludes faith in another. It cannot be that because we worship Shiva alone we will hold no faith in Krishna. His evidence is textual and he names the edition: read the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, the Gita Press one, and right at the beginning you will find it written that in a former age Bhagavan Shiva himself first recited the Gita and discussed it; later Nara-Narayana obtained it, and then Krishna gave it again to Nara, that is to Arjuna. Many such passages will be found. His diagnosis: the breaking of your faith happens only when you do not have information about the subjects. That is when you make distinctions — that Durga is greater and Krishna lesser, or that Krishna is the Supreme and Durga lesser. He connects it to Shankaracharya's work of bringing the five deities together, which he says was done for exactly this reason: so that you would not create shortfall between them. In the present time it has started again, and the first move is to point a finger at Shankaracharya himself, so that a person without the knowledge of how these matters work now points a finger at him too.

Is there any Prayashchitta for Guru Droha?

The deities may forgive one who betrays a father; one who betrays a guru is never forgiven, and that offence has no Prayashchitta at all. Whoever is not his own guru's will never be yours.

The speaker raises this over people he says are initiated by a Shankaracharya's line and yet call themselves Aghoris — an initiation, he notes, that they were never given and an authority they were never granted for such base acts. His general rule follows from it: whoever is not his own guru's will never be yours; it is never going to happen. The deities may forgive one who betrays a father, but one who betrays a guru never receives forgiveness, and this offence carries no Prayashchitta at all — a thing to bear in mind before committing Guru Droha. He attaches a condition to it. Had the guru been wrong, the matter would be different — but a Shankaracharya cannot be wrong. If you are misusing his name and through that misuse attempting to draw Sanatani people away from their own Ishta, then, he says, no baser creature than you is to be found in this whole world.

What is the Prayashchitta for crossing a river after a [[purashcharana]]?

Crossing a river is held to cause loss of Siddhi. Where you have performed a sava-lakh Purashcharana or more, offer one mala of that same mantra as Prayashchitta — with a Sankalp that any known or unknown act harming the Siddhi be expiated by it.

The speaker introduces a category of fault distinct from Kama Prayoga: Kshetra Ullanghan, the crossing of a region. He is precise that it is not merely going from one region to another — it means crossing a river. He acknowledges the modern difficulty: it is not now possible for someone to swim across a river or touch it with their feet. So it is held that Siddhi loss occurs from crossing a river, and where you have performed a sava-lakh Purashcharana or more, the fault incurred by crossing should be expiated. The expiation he gives is deliberately light, because a householder cannot go deep into Karmakanda: of the mantra whose Purashcharana you performed, if you do ten malas daily, do one mala as Prayashchitta. The Sankalp is separate and he gives its sense in full — that if we have committed any act, known or unknown, connected with loss of the mantra's Siddhi, then for its expiation we are performing this one mala of japa, so that my Siddhi remains and no Graha, curse or other fault attaches to me and no loss to the mantra's Siddhi occurs. Say that, do one mala, and offer it — and you will remain protected. It may be taken in Sanskrit or in Hindi as you prefer.

What Prayashchitta applies to air travel?

Because flying crosses many Tirthas, rivers and stations of deities — all of which come beneath one's feet — Siddhi loss occurs. Take a Sankalp naming the whole region between origin and destination and offer 11 malas in expiation before travelling, and once again after.

The speaker addresses this as the modern case: those wealthy enough to travel by air. Going by the air route, many kinds of Tirtha, rivers and stations of deities are crossed and all of them come beneath our feet — from which loss of Siddhi occurs. The remedy is a Sankalp covering the span of the journey. Look at the whole region from where you travel to where you are going. His illustration: suppose we are seated between two Peeths — Kamakhya to the east, Vindhyachal to the west, and we are seated at Tarapith in the middle. Then the Sankalp would be that for whatever fault arises from crossing all the Dev Khandas, divine powers, rivers, mountains and hills falling between those two Peeths, and in expiation of it, we are performing and offering 11 malas of this japa. The timing is on both sides: offer it beforehand, before the journey, and once again after completing it. He notes there is a full procedure beyond this — those who obtained the capacity to fly used to perform their own — but since the capacity now rests on money and anyone can fly, this is what to do. On where it is discussed, he points to the Mantra Upanishad material and the Patalas, where it is treated indicatively after the Siddhi Patala, in the Mantra Siddhi Patala.

At what recitation count does a mantra's grace begin, and why do rules then matter?

Where the scriptures set Siddhi at a thousand and you have done a thousand, grace is certain — it cannot be that grace does not come. But from there you have to observe the rules; not following them means the effect never appears in your life, faults accumulate, and the Siddhi itself is lost.

The speaker sets the threshold and then the condition. Those who complete more than a sava-lakh japa of some mantra, or more than 10,000 or 11,000 of an independent Saptashati mantra where Siddhi was set at a thousand — grace is bound to come. It cannot be that grace does not come. He distinguishes what he means by grace: if by grace you understand manifesting Bhagavati directly before you, that is a different matter. What is under discussion is what a guru's instruction, learned people and the Tantric scriptures state — that at a thousand this mantra is to be held awakened — and accordingly that deity's grace is now upon you. From that point the obligation shifts to observance. Now you have to obey the rules. If you do not follow them, its effect will not arise in your life; faults will accumulate, and that Siddhi too will be lost. And you will feel that the mantra did nothing at all, that your whole sadhana and austerity went to waste. His reason for raising it: you will certainly have worked this hard, so let your effort be meaningful and let no offence be formed. Eleven malas of japa, he says, is not a very great matter if you are doing it this way. Give it the time.

Should the merit of one's japa be donated to another person?

Never — and the speaker names TV serials and films as where people get the idea. Donating merit will not save the person's life and you do not hold that capability; what you had goes as well, and Uchchatan follows, after which you will not regain it.

The speaker treats this as a distinct offence and is unusually direct about its source: do not, carried away by emotion, ever donate your merit to anyone — do not make this mistake from watching television serials and films. What you may do instead he states positively. Where a person is undergoing suffering equal to death, or someone's life is about to go, and you feel their life might be preserved by merit, then take a Sankalp connected with the japa, austerity and merit you hold, and for their sake perform japa of your accomplished mantra — five or ten malas, eleven, a hundred, a thousand, a sava-lakh. If your feeling is that strong, that will serve. The distinction is between spending capital and doing fresh work. Donating merit will neither save their life nor is that capability in you — but what you had will go too, and the Uchchatan that follows is a separate matter again. After that you will not be able to obtain that much a second time. It happens with many practitioners, he says, which is why this mistake should never be made.

What should be done with the Kalash materials, Asana and cloth used in Navratri?

All of it is preserved: the Kalash contents, the Asana you performed the japa on, and the cloth you wore for the japa and Havan. Even after that cloth tears it should be used by you alone; the Asana is never shared, and never burnt.

The speaker turns to the physical remains of the observance. The Kalash and everything within it — the sandalwood, the gold, silver or copper coin, and whatever other materials were placed inside — belong to this category. The Asana on which you performed the sava-lakh or the 11,000 japa, or the Navadurga recitation, is to be preserved. The cloth you wore while performing the japa, austerity and Havan is to be preserved. Even after that cloth tears, it should be used by you; no one else should use it, and as far as possible use it yourself. On the Asana he is emphatic. Use it yourself. It is not to be distributed about — not passed around saying you take a share and you take a share. And if it tears in any way, you may use it in the bedding you sleep on, or if you wish to immerse it, immerse it in a river, in flowing water. His one prohibition here is stated as a grave offence: the Asana is not to be burnt. It is a very great offence — do not make the mistake of burning it because it had torn.

Who may touch the mala used for japa?

Nobody. New practitioners in particular should keep it in mind that no one else touches the japa mala — and the mala you wear round your own neck should not be put on someone else in a moment of pleasure. Both become causes of loss of Siddhi.

The speaker adds this as a mala matter that new practitioners especially should note. The japa mala should not be touched by anyone else. And the worn mala: sometimes, out of great pleasure, you put the mala from your own neck onto someone else. All these offences, he says, then become the cause of loss of your Siddhi. Do not make these mistakes.

An Anushthan of Bhagavati Dhanada Lakshmi with the eight Mahalakshmis and Swarnakarshan Bhairav is planned for Sharad Purnima.

An Anushthan of Bhagavati Dhanada Lakshmi with the eight Mahalakshmis and Swarnakarshan Bhairav, contingent on the Swarnakarshan Bhairav practitioners attending. Those who took part previously should not re-take a Yantra — a single-night Sankalp is enough.

The speaker announces the next observance, two days after the recording. For Sharad Purnima, full effort is being made to arrange an Anushthan connected with Bhagavati Dhanada Lakshmi and the eight Mahalakshmis together with Swarnakarshan Bhairav. Confirmation would come by the following evening; the main question was whether the Swarnakarshan Bhairav practitioners would attend, and if they did it would be most divine. His instruction to previous participants is about restraint rather than participation. Those who were present in the earlier Dhanada Lakshmi and Swarnakarshan Bhairav Anushthans should not fill any form that involves obtaining a Yantra again — keep it to the ordinary Sankalp only, since it is a single-night Anushthan. New people who have nothing may take the one that includes a Yantra. There is absolutely no need to do it two or three times over; do not make that mistake. Where a family member lives elsewhere and needs one, that is a different matter. On the night itself: those who have previously performed the Anushthan of the Lakshmi Mala mantra or the Dhanada Kavach will perform its Purashcharana that night too. Those who have done none of it may perform the Purashcharana of whatever Anushthan they undertook during Navratri.

Does a woman's Gotra change on a second marriage?

No. A woman's marriage happens once, and once the Gotra Daan has occurred it will not change — not through a Sankalp with 11,000 Mahamrityunjaya recitations, nor by any other means. The Gotra of the first marriage remains for all time.

The speaker answers a listener asking whether a Sankalp with 11,000 recitations of the Mahamrityunjaya Stotram could change a woman's Gotra after a second marriage. His answer is that a girl's marriage happens once. Once her Gotra Daan has taken place, then whether you perform it with a Mahamrityunjaya Sankalp or by whatever else you wish to do, her Gotra is never going to change. Whatever her Gotra was when the first marriage took place, that Gotra remains for all time. He separates the ritual fact from the social one deliberately. Once the Kanyadaan has occurred and she has become the cause of increase for someone's lineage, has become the daughter-in-law of some family, then if in present circumstances she leaves that household for whatever reason, you may arrange a second marriage according to today's times — that is your wish and your own private matter. But on what is actually being asked, the truth is that the Gotra does not change.

Does advancing in sadhana leave a practitioner isolated?

It follows what you yourself wished for. If you want solitude, Bhagavati will certainly begin giving it; and truly, the nearer you come to your Ishta the further you go from the world. If the distance troubles you, take your Sankalp accordingly instead.

A listener writes that they feel intense loneliness and emptiness and asks whether some mistake is being made in the sadhana. The speaker separates the two halves. The feeling of emptiness is one matter. But as you advance in sadhana, what happens follows your own wish: if you want solitude, Bhagavati will certainly begin to give you solitude. And the truth, he says, is that the more you come near your Ishta, the further you go from the world. If the distance is grating on you, if you feel there ought to be people around, then take your Sankalp accordingly and perform the sadhana that way. Look at what is and is not in the mantra japa you are doing. He adds a specific diagnosis: speaking plainly, if you are performing japa of Bhagavan Shiva's Panchakshari with the Pranava, all of this arises — something he says he has clarified several times before. Bear it in mind, he says, and this is exactly why it is said not to disregard the capacity of a mantra.

How should the Shakradi Stuti be continued for an early marriage?

At least once each morning and evening, with one mala alongside of the Argala verse asking for a pleasing wife — the final one — done morning and evening as well, so that the marriage happens soon.

A listener who completed a full recitation of the Shakradi Stuti over nine days, twelve times daily, asks how often to continue it now. The speaker's answer is brief: certainly do it once each in the morning and evening. And alongside it, perform one mala each of the mantra asking for a pleasing wife, morning and evening — so that the marriage happens soon. He identifies the verse as the last one of the Argala.

How is abhimantran of a mantra performed?

Consecration varies by case: water in a vessel as in the Gita method, mustard held in the fist, or — for a Sabar mantra — a breath blown in such a way that no spittle leaves the mouth. A householder may perform Havan on both Amavasya and Purnima.

The speaker answers a run of shorter questions in the closing stretch. On Abhimantran, the method differs by case: as with the eleventh chapter recitation described earlier, consecration also happens that way; mustard may be taken in the fist and consecrated; water may be kept in a vessel. Where it concerns a Sabar mantra, then a breath has to be blown — and it is blown in such a manner that no spittle emerges. On Havan timing, a householder may perform Havan on both days, Amavasya and Purnima. On temple Havan ash: the Bhasma from a Saraswati Havan performed at a temple may be put into a Kavach and worn, if you hold that faith — but take permission from those who performed the Havan before removing it, and certainly offer eleven or twenty-one rupees as Dakshina there beside the Havan Kund. On Vibhuti received as Prasad: it may be applied to the forehead, or a pinch eaten on an empty stomach if there is some bodily trouble; otherwise apply it to the forehead daily, mixing it with Ashwagandha and applying after worship. On a Tara Kavach: it may be purified at a Shiva temple, but many things in it should not be done by an uninitiated person, so think it over. And on Sutak, asked about performing a Havan after a birth in the family: you will not perform Havan during Sutak — let the Sutak pass. It happens only after its conclusion and after the purification; there is no compulsion that a Havan must be performed regardless.

Is the story of Gorakhnath swallowing Kali true?

The account is fine as an account — but the Kali in it is not the original Bhagavati Kali. It was a power that had taken Kali's element, been established on a Mundasana by a Tantric, grown formidable over centuries of Bali and worship, and then became disruptive.

The speaker answers a listener's question about the Gorakhnath and Kali story with a careful separation of what is true from what is being claimed. His first move is to ask what the story would require. Is it possible in the Kali age that Bhagavati Kali manifested directly in the manner shown? And would Gorakhnath Baba, being directly of Shiva's form, do such a thing as to hold Bhagavati Kali in his belly? In a former age, when divine powers used to manifest directly, Mahadev came beneath Bhagavati Kali's feet — would he today keep her in his stomach? Never possible. He puts the parallel case too: the Goddess who swallowed Shiva himself and took the Dhuma form — is her swallowing him possible? These, he says, are manifestations made to demonstrate the capability of Yoga, as when Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh went as infants to prove Sati Anusuya's chastity. So the account is right, he says, but the Kali whom Gorakhnath took into himself is not the original Bhagavati Kali — she is one of the disruptive powers described earlier, which bear Kali's element. He gives a worked example. Suppose a woman practitioner, initiated, performing lakhs of japa of Bhagavati Kali's Bijakshara — a thousand malas a day — attempting a formidable Siddhi, and perhaps receiving the Goddess's full grace. Through destiny she later comes to a bad end and an untimely death. In whatever birth she goes to, she will bear the formidable elements of Bhagavati Kali. A Tantric of that region or elsewhere, knowing such a woman died in that way, awakens her through his Tantric Siddhis, establishes a Mundasana and seats her upon it. Now, bearing Kali's element, she is Kali; whatever her own name had been. And the longer she is worshipped — ten years, twenty, fifty, a hundred, four hundred, five hundred, with Bali offered, worship performed, Navratri observed, Chandi Path done — the more formidable that Dakini power becomes as a power of Kali. If she then becomes disruptive, and a Siddh person like Gorakhnath goes there and does not honour her, knowing she is not the original power, she will make trouble to show her capability — and he will finish the story.