Seven Mistakes in Durga Saptashati Path That Bring Devi Dosha — Half Path, Wrong Uchcharan, Rushing, Swaying, Talking, No Diksha, Wrong Havan

The speaker opens by saying he will discuss the mistakes people commonly make while reciting the Shri Durga Saptashati — mistakes from which a Devi Dosha forms. Some of these, he says, are very ordinary and become an aparadh even unknowingly. The first, he says, is the half-and-incomplete path done without knowledge. Setting aside the separate question of whether one can pronounce Sanskrit, it often happens that new people who do not have full knowledge of the Saptashati see that it has thirteen chapters and ask which ones to read and how. They say that Navratri gives only eight or nine days, so on the first day they read the first chapter, on the second day the second, and so on — and they read only up to the eighth or ninth chapter. This, he says, must never be done. Although many videos today clarify these matters, he still sees people committing this aparadh. One must never recite only nine chapters in this way; that is not how it works. The Saptashati is never to be recited like this — it is recited with its six angas, which he explains later in the same talk.

The second matter, the speaker says, is this: if you do not know Sanskrit uchcharan, have never in your life pronounced Sanskrit, and are going straight to recite Bhagavati's path in Sanskrit, then you should first know how this path is recited. He says you should learn it from a scholar, from some knowledgeable person who recites the Saptashati or does Chandi Path — a sadhak, a brahmin, or a mother who has received ShaktaBelonging to the stream that takes the Goddess as the supreme principle. Diksha and does the path. Sit in their presence and learn it properly according to the vidhi. Learn the uchcharan with purity and practise before them — that, he says, is best. Impure uchcharan causes trouble: there are many well-known cases related by saints and mahatmas in which the fruit of the path changed because of pronouncing it wrongly in such-and-such a way. This has been explained many times before, so the uchcharan must be pure. As an example, he asks listeners to look at how, while reciting the Shri Durga Kavach, many people make several mistakes in a hurry, and one of them appears in the sixth shloka. He recites the line as "विषमे दुर्गमे चयो भयार्ताः शरणं गताः" and spells the word out: bha-ya-ar-tah, भयार्ताः. Many people read it as भरताः; others read भर्यताः. Both, he says, are wrong. This is a very small example, he says; many such mistakes happen in haste. So do the uchcharan with purity — otherwise the meaning turns into its opposite (arth ka anarth).

The speaker says: in this matter, do not keep saying again and again that Ma is pleased by the primacy of bhava. The Sanskrit mantras, he says, are the Devi's own direct form. The shlokas are mantra-forms — every shloka of the Saptashati is one mantra each, and that mantra is Bhagavati's direct form. He says it has been clarified many times that every shloka is an independent mantra with its own separate devata, its own separate keelak, its own separate shakti — so that mantra is in itself the form of a deity. When you read it wrongly, the form gets distorted. If a stone forms in one place anywhere in your body, he says, your body feels pain and trouble; likewise, you and I have no right to distort the form of a deity. Better than that, he says, is to learn it and then recite. And if Sanskrit does not come to you, then recite in Hindi with the primacy of bhava — but do not recite wrongly.

The third subject, the speaker says, is this: when reciting the Saptashati there is a well-known saying that it should not be sung — but one must understand how it should not be sung. It is chanted in chhanda; reciting in ChhandasMeter — the structured, rhythmic pattern (such as Anushtubh's eight-syllable units) governing how a stuti or scripture must be chanted, specified in its Viniyoga. is the prescribed vidhan. That you may do. What people commonly do instead, he says, is read at full speed. He imitates someone racing through the opening of the Kavach — "अस्तु यंत्रम विप्र सर्वभूत कारकम" — and says it is not to be read hurriedly like that. "देवस्तु कवचम पुण्यम" — read it completely at ease, in the manner in which it is meant to be read. If you are reciting in Sanskrit, he says, know how we are to read it in the Anushtup chhanda, in which chhanda it is stated to be and how that chhanda is voiced. Read it knowing this so that no trouble of any kind arises; and if you do not know how it should be pronounced, learn it. A mistake should not be made.

After this, the speaker says, comes the matter of reciting while rocking back and forth. Once people begin to sing the path, they also begin to sway forward and backward — and in that, he remarks, half of the time "a devi" enters of her own accord. They will start "Markandeya uvacha" and begin rocking, swaying the whole way through. That too is not to be done, he says. There is to be no swaying at the time of the path. All of this is an aparadh; Dosha arises from it.

Next, the speaker says, is talking in the middle of the path. People will say they completed the shlokas — he recites "पंचमम स्कंद मातेति षष्ठं कात्यायनीति च सप्तमं कालरात्रिति महागौरीति चाष्टमम्" — then stopped there because something important came up, talked, and afterwards resumed with "नवमं सिद्धिदात्री च नवदुर्गा प्रकीर्तिता". That is wrong, he says; you cannot do that. If some emergency did arise and you did speak, then either read it again from the beginning, or, if you want the Dosha not to attach, first complete the full recitation of the Kavach. After that you may talk, and then do AchamanaThe ritual sipping of water for self-purification before worship, one of the opening Shatkarma/Pavitrikaran rites. and Kshama PrarthanaThe plea for pardon made at the close of a rite for whatever was done wrongly or left out. again before beginning the next portion of the path. One should not speak in the middle of the whole path, he says, and one should not rise from one's asana in the middle of the whole path either. If you lack the capacity — if it seems you will not manage all thirteen chapters in one sitting, your legs start hurting midway, you are new and unpractised and now have to get up — then before rising, do SamarpanaThe dedication of Japa and worship's accumulated merit to one's chosen deity — performed by taking water in the right hand at the conclusion of practice and reciting a formal dedication formula before offering the water. of as much of the path as you have done. When you sit down again to recite, do achaman, then again do Bhagavati's DhyanHolding the deity's form in the mind, the step that precedes japa in most vidhis. and so on, and only then take up the path from there. This is what should be done, he says; it should not be left midway like that.

Some people, the speaker says, have learnt how the path is recited in Sanskrit but do not know the vidhi of Nyasa and the rest, so they skip those parts; or, not having received Diksha of the Navarna, they recite the Saptashati without the Navarna. Both, he says, are wrong. If you have not received the Navarna Mantra diksha, then it is simply true that the Navarna cannot be chanted without diksha. The Navarna is no ordinary mantra: the Shodashi mantra of Bhagavati Tripurasundari — the mahamantra — the Panchadashi second, and the Navarna third are the three called mantra-raj, and these mantras can never be transgressed. He acknowledges this becomes a controversial topic for some, who argue about why and how it cannot be done: "She is Jagdamba, she is Mother." No, brother, he says — Mother is in her place, and the mantra's effect is in its place. You do not know whether the Bija Mantra in it is to be pronounced in ga-kara or in ma-kara. In which of Kadi, Hadi or Sadi will you be initiated, and how? The whole subject differs for each person. Just as you have the Char Dham, so there are the fifty-one Shakti Peeths. Only when you go inside will you learn that every mantra has its own Yantra — even the Ashtakshari mantra of Durga that people casually take up has one, and the Navakshari has its own — and when that yantra's full avaran is done, all the anga-shaktis of that mantra are invoked and seated there, with peeth pujan; and according to that peeth, in whatever region you are, diksha is received according to that region. This, he says, is an ordinary matter that is told to you when you are initiated traditionally; it is necessary, so know it. You cannot say that because you do not know it, it has no meaning and is useless talk — that worm in your head, he says, will ruin you. Without diksha you cannot chant it; therefore take Shakta diksha — there is nothing else you can do.

If you do not have that much knowledge, the speaker says, then at the very least take the upadesh of the Navarna from some person who wears 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 does Gayatri and the like — a sadhak, a brahmin. Take ShaktaBelonging to the stream that takes the Goddess as the supreme principle. diksha. Take upadesh, adesh, for the Saptashati. The brahmins who recite the Saptashati during Navratri — make a request to them, in Navratri itself, to give you adesh: "Give us adesh, initiate us in the Shakta line." Whoever wears the yajnopavit and does trikaal Gayatri, or Gayatri at two times, or recites the Saptashati daily, will give you adesh, and from that you obtain AdhikaraThe eligibility or readiness required before attempting an advanced ritual — without it, even a correctly performed rite risks serious harm to the practitioner., and no dosha will attach anywhere. This much, he says, should be done so that we can recite the path and the rest without any dosha and without any problem.

Now, the speaker says, come the people who recite without the six angas — they go straight through the thirteen chapters. Even if they are doing it in Hindi, and grant that Hindi carries bhava, still: the Saptashati is recited only with its six angas, not without them. Which are the six? At the beginning, he says, one should recite the Kavach, Argala Stotra and Keelak. He notes there are differences of opinion here — according to the Svatantra Tantra and according to other Shakta texts the arrangement differs — so do it as your guruji tells you. Generally: first the Kavach, then Argala, then Keelak, after that japa of the Navarna, japa of the Ratri Suktam and so on, then the Saptashati Nyasa and the rest, and only then should you recite from the first to the thirteenth chapter. Afterwards, japa of the Navarna mantra again. There is a Samput by the Navarna, and then a samput by the Suktas — that is, the thirteen chapters of the Saptashati are enclosed by the Ratri Sukta and the Devi Sukta — and after that comes the samput by the three Rahasyas (Rahasya Traya), Murti Rahasya and the others. That makes six angas and, along with them, two samputs. Only then, he says, is the full effect of the Saptashati obtained and the whole vidhi complete; so it should be done together with these.

After this, the speaker says, comes a dosha of this kind: we have received no diksha of any sort, yet we undertake a Shatchandi vidhan — we will do 100 paths. If you are doing 100 paths without having any diksha, that is not proper; it will cause you trouble. For this, he says, you need AdhikaraThe eligibility or readiness required before attempting an advanced ritual — without it, even a correctly performed rite risks serious harm to the practitioner. of the Navarna and upadesh for Saptashati path; without these, trouble follows, so it should not be done. If you are going to do Shatchandi — 100 recitations of the Saptashati — do not do it without Diksha and without guru adesh.

If you want to act by the primacy of bhava, the speaker says, do it in Hindi, and Bhagavati will be pleased with that bhava. Or recite the four independent maha-stutis — a video on which already exists. And follow the thirteenth chapter, where it is written that the two — Suratha and Samadhi — obtained Bhagavati's darshan by reciting the Tantrokta Devisuktam alone. He paraphrases the chapter: the king and the vaishya went off for TapasyaAusterity undertaken over time, the effort from which tapobal accumulates. and began sadhana on a riverbank for Jagdamba's darshan; absorbed in tapasya, they set up a clay image of the Devi and worshipped it with flowers, incense, havan and the rest; they reduced their food, then fasting and single-minded, contemplated the Devi; offering Bali of blood drawn from their own bodies, they continued in restraint for three years; and pleased by that intense tapasya, Chandika Devi, the upholder of the world, appeared before them and spoke. Bhagavati manifested, he stresses, from the Devi Sukta alone. So take refuge in the Devi Sukta, he says, if you have no adhikar and no knowledge of the subject. Recite the Devi Sukta 100 times, 500 times, 1000 times — no problem at all. But when, without adhikar, you transgress the whole Saptashati and do a Shatchandi, trouble and problems come to you. Keep that in mind.

Next, the speaker says, comes this: people who are doing a Shatchandi vidhan, who do have the adhikar and have received guru adesh, still become squeamish (vimohit) and do not offer Bali. Understand, he says, that offering bali does not mean an animal must be sacrificed. In the chapter-13 story, bali of one's own blood was offered — but not everyone can offer bali of their own blood; that has its own vidhan, it can happen only through the Guru Parampara, and it has its method. At the very least, he says, bali of fruit and so on, of leafy vegetables, of sugarcane, of Kushmanda — anyone can offer these. Bali of coconut anyone can offer. But its quantity will increase: having done a Shatchandi, one offers 100 coconuts, more than 100, 108. If it is kushmanda bali, nine peeths are made and kushmanda is offered on them. But if you skip it altogether, trouble follows — and then suffering begins for one's children and so on. Therefore, he says, prepare the bali peeth, do the bali pujan, and offer its bali without fail. Keep this in mind: if you are doing a Shatchandi path, offer bali.

After that, the speaker says, comes the vidhan of Havan. Many people who have no diksha and no adhikar are nonetheless doing havan with great vehemence with all 700 mantras — and their uchcharan is going wrong as well. They do not know that when you are doing havan, the Ahuti for an astra mantra, for an Uvacha"Said" — the narrative-verse marker (Rishi Uvacha, Devi Uvacha, etc.). line and the like, is not given with sakalya. Take "Markandeya uvacha": its ahuti will not be given with sakalya. Its ahuti is to be given either with GhritClarified butter, the standard medium of ahuti in havan and of the ritual lamp. only, or with fruit — fruit placed on a paan leaf. There is a vidhan for this, and when it is not followed, it causes trouble. Wherever the Astra Mantra of Bhagavati are named — wherever Bhagavati is using her weapon — ahuti is never to be given with those astra mantras. As an example he quotes the line "शंख चक्र गदा श्रंग गृहीत प्रमायुधे प्रसिद्ध वैष्णवी रूपे नारायण नमस्तुते": here shankha, chakra, gada and shringa have all become astra mantra.

Besides these, the speaker says, there are the rakshoghna mantras — go to the fourth chapter of the Durga Saptashati. In the fourth chapter, after the StutiA passage of praise offered to the deity, shorter and less formal than a stotra. of 23 mantras, come the mantras beginning "शूलेन पाहि नो देवी पाहि खड़गिन चंबिके" — mantras 24, 25, 26 and 27. With these four mantras you cannot give ahuti of sakalya. Either recite them and leave them, or the chief person (pradhan vyakti) will give ahuti of ghrit and the like for them. But if you give their ahuti with sakalya, that too becomes a cause of destruction. Ahuti is not done with the complete mantras of the Kavach and of Argala Stotra and the rest. Ahuti will be done with the first mantra of Argala, and with the first mantra of Keelak. From the Kavach, ahuti is done only with the name-mantras of the shaktis in it; ahuti is not done with the whole shloka.

Knowing all these matters, the speaker says, do havan and the rest — otherwise people become the cause of their own destruction. Mangalik work in the home stops; marriages stop altogether, and however much you keep doing afterwards there is great trouble and a marriage does not happen quickly. The mangalikta is destroyed in this — because, he asks, what are you doing with the astra mantra? When you invoke Agni, when Agni comes into the fire — Agni who is Mother Svaha — what are you giving as ahuti into her mouth? If you put the astra mantra of the Kavach as a weapon into her mouth, her mouth will be pierced; and when you are putting astra mantras in her mouth and piercing it, will she then do your kalyan? So, he says, ordinarily — without a guru's knowledge, without taking adesh from him — ahuti should be given only of paushtik (nourishing) mantras. And beyond that there is a vidhi of which mantra is to be given to which Agni, in the Kavach chapter and so on; it must not be done at random. What may be offered independently, 108 times, is the first mantra of the Keelak, which he recites as "विशुद्ध ज्ञान देहया त्रिवेदी दीप चक्षु से" — the whole mantra, through "श्रेय प्राप्ति निमित्ताय" — and one may also give ahuti of Jayanti Mangala Kali. Know these vidhans and then act, he says; do not do a Shatchandi with wrong havan, wrong path, or wrong vidhi-vidhan.

These, the speaker says, were the seven main points he wanted to place before everyone, so that no aparadh of any kind is committed and the Saptashati path can be done correctly. If you are adikshit — without diksha — and do not know how to pronounce Sanskrit, then recite the Ratri Suktam, the Tantrokta Devisuktam, and the Indradi stuti of the fourth chapter; recite all of these. Recite the 35 stuti shlokas of the eleventh chapter. From these, he says, Bhagavati's complete grace and blessing will be obtained. Do them in Sanskrit, do them chanted. But if you proceed without authorisation, he says, it is our loss and yours — and your loss is Sanatan's loss. He hopes listeners will understand the matter, get initiated by a qualified person this Navratri, learn the vidhi and then recite, so that their welfare is assured.