Why a Mantra Is Given Forty Days — and the Order the Sadhanas Come In

Answering a listener at the very start of the session, the speaker says that a clove bursting while clove and camphor are being burnt is a completely ordinary occurrence, and that no indication of the auspicious or the inauspicious should be read into it. He allows one qualification. If there is some particular circumstance — an illness, some distress in the body — and at that time the clove flies out, then that clove may be eaten, taking it as grace. There is no inauspiciousness in it.

The speaker opens by noting that Bhagavan Dattatreya's Jayanti, Margashirsha Purnima, falls on the coming Tuesday. He then states the subject of the session. For those who perform Tantrokta sadhanas in particular, why is it said that any kind of mantra — and especially the mantras connected with Bhagavan Datta, Shabar mantras, or Pauranik and Tantrokta mantras — should be done for forty days, and what effects begin to be obtained within those forty days.

The speaker gives the rule to remember before anything else. Japa of any kind of mantra, Archana of any kind of Yantra and its Aavaran Puja, and abundant japa of any kind of Sukta performed for the sake of siddhi, or japa of any Kavach performed for the sake of Siddhi — for every deity it has been said that at least one Mandala must certainly be done. The meaning of a Mandala, he says, is forty to forty-one days. Take it as forty-one.

The speaker extends the Mandala at both ends. The whole forty-one day process runs from the first day to the last, and when the Anushthan is about to begin, take it as starting one to two days before that. As an example: if you are going to begin the Anushthan from Tuesday, then at minimum on the Sunday and Monday too it is necessary for you to observe complete BrahmacharyaStrict celibacy required through an extended ritual observance. and to conduct your eating and drinking properly. And when the forty-one day Anushthan is complete, for at least the next two days as well you must keep your rules properly — food and drink, sleep, Brahmacharya and the rest.

The speaker lists the excuses in the form they are usually offered. In the whole forty-one day Mandala no negligence at all will be shown: not the appetite becoming unbearable, so a little is eaten; not the inability to hold BrahmacharyaStrict celibacy required through an extended ritual observance. mentally, so a little thought is held to be no great evil; not the claim that in the Kali Yuga mental sins do not attach; not the claim that the Anushthan is very long and the age is what it is, so according to your convenience you may once or twice keep company with your wedded wife and no fault attaches to that. Whoever tells you such acts and has you perform sadhanas shaped to your mind and to theirs — know, he says, that they become the cause of your complete ruin. It never happens that way. He extends the objection to the modern traditions being started nowadays, in which practitioners are told that the forty-one day Mandala is the most necessary thing but that they should practise for it first because they have very little time.

The speaker accepts the constraint plainly: it is not possible for a householder to perform very long sadhanas or give very much time. No difficulty in that, he says — and this is what he always tells people. Do fewer days. Do five days. Do it from Monday to Friday, or from Tuesday to Saturday. Take a two-day gap, then do it again, then take another two-day gap. Keep such five-day Sankalpas. When five days has become habitual, increase it. Do eleven days at a time. Then make it a fortnight — that in the Shukla Paksha you will perform your Anushthan from Pratipada to Purnima, and that through the whole fifteen days you will keep your food, conduct and behaviour pure both mentally and physically. When you begin to extend the practice this way, then over three months, six months, a year, so much practice will have formed that you will carry the forty-day rule across comfortably as well.

The speaker sets the principle first: it is said that if a practitioner is given conveniences and wishes to perform sadhana according to those conveniences, then he should not make any special wish for the obtaining of fruit. People say, Guru ji, we did such and such a thing so much, and where did anything happen for us. How would it happen, he asks. It cannot. Go by the rule as the rule stands; do it by invention and it will not happen. He then walks the drift down step by step. The rule is to rise before sunrise, so that the morning SandhyaThe twice- or thrice-daily prayer rite performed at dawn and dusk — Vedic Sandhya requires eligibility under Varnashrama, while those without it may instead undergo Tantrik initiation and perform Tantrik Sandhya. is completed while a star is still visible in the sky. In that we look for convenience — it will be cold in the morning, we will rise a little later. Then do not wish for fruit. Then it becomes, do it before 7:30. Then the cold is too much and there are other problems, so it becomes 8:30. Now you are doing the morning Sandhya at half past eight or nine and it is running to ten. The evening rule is that as darkness is just beginning, the sun fully set but its redness still there, the Godhuli BelaThe evening twilight period around dusk, traditionally favoured for Akarshana (attraction) rites., the Sandhya should be started. But at that time there is still much light, and now there is electric light, so it will not be done until night has fallen completely. There too you compromised. And when you are compromising in every single thing in your sadhana and looking everywhere for the answer that japa done with Bhava is enough — then, he says, God's Bhava is of the same kind, and He will give fruit of the same kind.

The speaker reports the pattern rather than only his own case. He is not talking about his own channel, he says: in ten different places one sees the same comments running. Other people who point out the right path, good groups on Facebook where people give very good suggestions, genuine practitioners — they are covered over with abuse. Wherever anyone speaks of a rule, of discipline, of Maryada, the response is that he should be beaten soundly with slippers, that he is a great one to talk, that nobody does that in the Kali Yuga. And whoever speaks without Maryada is the one who says there is no need for any of it — eat and drink here, what is the difficulty, Bali is offered to Bhagavati anyway so eat a little yourself, eat an egg, what will happen, the body needs it in these times; liquor is offered to Bhairav ji anyway so drink a little.

Having ruled out convenience-shifted morning and evening Sandhyas, the speaker gives the remaining option. If you cannot do it in the day, at dawn, or at the evening Sandhya, then perform night-time sadhana. How much? Begin at ten or half past ten and go on until half past twelve, or from eleven until half past twelve or one — two hours of sadhana. Midnight must come inside it. That is the rule of it. You are not required to accomplish any siddhi; the worship of Bhagavan Shiva also takes place at that time, and of whichever of the ten Mahavidyas you are ordinarily told to serve through their Stotras. And there too, he says, there is a difficulty — that this has become a demonic sadhana, that this is the hour of the Rakshasas, how will it be done at this time. So which time would you like, then? Seven-thirty in the evening, complete by nine or half past nine. So at every point you are compromising on the time and choosing the hour by your own convenience. Then whether you do forty days or four hundred, nothing will come of it.

The speaker names the second subject of the session as a confusion, and states it in the practitioners' own words. If we are performing the sadhana of Bhagavan Dattatreya, how is Ganapati ji's sadhana to be taken up first within it? If we are performing the sadhana of Bhagavati Durga or of Kali ji, then in the sequential sadhana it is said that you should first perform the sadhana of the Guru form. For example: you have done Bhagavan Datta's sadhana, then Ganapati's, then Bhairav ji's, and now you are doing Hanuman ji's. You are doing the powers of the Kula deities. According to your birth chart you are doing the grahas and nakshatras. Who will do this much? And after doing all this, at the very last you come to your principal sadhana. And in all these sadhanas that were done, the fruit has been divided. This is the objection that is raised.

The speaker answers the objection by turning the practitioner around. Those who are duly and traditionally initiated in the Tantra path — once your Purnabhisheka has been done, in whichever tradition you go into, and once this right is given to you, you too will not be able to bypass this thing when you speak to your own disciple. It feels good to talk now, he says. In childhood you will have said all sorts of bad things about your teachers — where does he come from, why has he not fallen ill, he addles the brain, he will ask questions, he will chew the mind — and you will have given your teachers various names. But many among you have now become teachers yourselves, and you know what you must think for your own students. You cannot bypass it. You know what runs in the child's mind, that he does not want to come, that he wishes his teacher would fall ill. But you know that for the child's own good you must get this thing completed in this much time. It is your responsibility, because if that child studies, your own name and reputation grow with it. Here it is exactly the same. As long as you are advancing in the path of sadhana as a student, as long as no responsibility rests on you, whatever Guru, scholar or guide tells you the sadhanas will seem difficult to you — so much difficulty, so much burden, so much elaboration, so much that has to be done as mere show. That feeling arising within you is one thing. But you are not looking at yourself from his standpoint. He is looking at it this way: if this Tantra practitioner, with the attachment and surrender he has within him, does these things, his basics will be cleared, his path will open, he will go forward, and he will not have to come back for them later.

The speaker turns the question back on the practitioner. Pick up your own life and look at it. If you have been walking this path for two, three, four, five or even ten years and things are not bearing fruit, then look at what mistakes you made — analyse it sometime, yourself. How many days of sadhana did you do to your own liking? Of any sadhana he has described on YouTube or Facebook, how many days are obligatory, how, what, when — the choosing has been yours. He then describes what he actually tells those in regular contact, people he has been speaking with for a year or two. You say, Guru ji, this work is not happening, that work is not happening — change it, what should we do? But we say: keep doing the same thing. Something connected to it may be added — let this Deepdaan procedure be done, go to this temple, let this pilgrimage happen — but what you do stays the same. And where you go on pilgrimage, they will have you perform a smaller worship relating to that place; the worship you have already been doing, he tells you to increase there. They have it done, they do not have it changed, because of the energy of a single deity-power that is gathering in you.

The speaker describes what the accumulation actually does. How long will our PrarabdhaThe portion of destiny already set in motion by past actions — spiritual practice and good deeds can lessen its severity, but not eliminate it. stay bad — a year, two, three, four, five? But as soon as our bad Prarabdha grows thin, and the Punya-bearing energy that has been gathering in one place is there, with a little surrender, a little good Bhava toward one's Ishta Devata and trust kept in them — the day that bursts, you will go a very long way forward. Then you will not have to look back and think, that was our problem, we had to worry about this thing. This time comes in life. It is not that it does not come. It may come for you in ten days or after ten years. But there is no patience. And the patience is not forming, he says, because we are not able to stay fixed on one thing in one place. He gives his own festival instructions as the example of what people get wrong: Deepdaan for Bhagavan Dattatreya at his Purnima, Deepdaan for the Kula powers and for Yamaraj at Diwali and Dhanteras. Those were told for a particular deity at a particular Parva Kala. But alongside them he has never once said to catch hold of that alone and walk with it.

The speaker gives his reason for placing Bhagavan Dattatreya first. Since Bhagavan Dattatreya is the Mahaguru — call them the Acharyas of every tradition, call them Siddha, call them Mahasiddha, all the Siddhas remain bowed before him; he is the Siddha of Siddhas, the Mahasiddha — his service and worship is therefore necessary. It is necessary, he says, if a curse of some kind has attached to us, if there is a Kula-Pitr matter or a Kul Shakti fault. He recalls a correspondent whose name he cannot bring to mind, in whose house someone dies every seven years. That, he says, may have an unconsidered cause or it may be some fault of the Kula. By the grace of Bhagavan Datta, once he has cast his glance, nobody has the daring or the standing to be able to do harm in your house.

The speaker identifies where the harm actually enters. Do you know where people cause you difficulty? At the place where confidence about your practice begins to form within you, and you ask someone about it. You said, we are doing this — and the person in front of you will pin you somewhere. He will say nothing comes of it, great ones have come and gone. This is why, he says, he repeatedly tells people to keep these things secret. Do it, and keep it secret. Tell those of your own dear ones who are in distress — tell them to do it too. But those who hold ill will toward you, what need is there to tell them? They will only cause you harm. And if guidance is to be taken, take it from a person of the right kind, one who wishes and thinks well of you. Otherwise, in pursuit of their own concerns, they will do you ill as well.

The speaker states the principle that the whole roadmap rests on. On the most important point — when we are performing the sadhana of some power, which changes should be made and how often — he says that in roughly five out of every ten lives he puts this same thing: we will always worship one power principally. The preliminary sadhanas have to be done by us for some days only. This, he says, is what you are not able to understand. You stay stuck here. You are not able to get out of it. However much it is explained, your mind does not let you out. You keep being distracted — not this way, do something over there; not there, do this instead. His instruction is to prepare your whole road map, and he offers to work it through as an example.

The speaker works the whole roadmap through a named listener, Anil ji, whom he takes as a new person wishing to perform the sadhana of Mahakali — Ma Dakshina Kali — for life, and who has asked to be told the complete procedure from the beginning. His first suggestion is the selection of the Guru method. Which form do you wish to worship? Do you wish to worship Bhagavan Dattatreya? Is your faith in the Navnath? Is there any renowned Guru-form of your own region? Choose taking that. Or else you may want one among the three Shaktis. In this example the listener says his attraction is entirely toward Bhagavan Dattatreya, because of his nature, his procedure, and the presence in him of all three forms — Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. So the first sadhana the speaker gives is this: perform the Dev Deeksha Vidhan at a proper muhurta. The 26th of December is coming, do it that day; or Makar Sankranti falls on the 15th of January this time, so do the Deeksha Vidhan on the 15th. Watch the Dev Deeksha Vidhan video repeatedly, make all the preparations, and perform it.

After the Dev Deeksha Vidhan, the speaker prescribes the japa. For at least a month, or for forty-one days as far as it can be managed, perform japa of 108 mala a day of the Ekakshari mantra. When that is finished, do japa of the Mala Mantra 108 times a day for at least eleven days. With that, roughly two months of your preliminary sadhana have passed. In these two months you must certainly keep attention on the rule of food and drink — for a practitioner, he adds, that is a daily matter. He allows one accommodation and names it as an accommodation. If you are in a profession that requires travel, then after a personal conversation — this convenience or that inconvenience is arising — the forty-one days may be made eleven and completed, and the Sankalpa taken again afterwards. That concession will be given. By January, February and March, then, this listener's Bhagavan Dattatreya sadhana, that is the Guru sadhana, has been completed.

The second sadhana is Ganapati's. The speaker chooses the time first — a Chaturthi, or any meritorious day — and begins from there. Where there is no initiation in a Guru tradition but the Dev Deeksha Vidhan from Bhagavan Dattatreya exists, the sadhana of Maha Ganapati may be performed. The Anushthan itself is of the Sankat Nashan Stotra: perform a ten-day sadhana from Chaturthi to Chaturdashi in either Paksha. Each day you will need 108 Durva GrassA sacred grass offered to deities — especially Ganesha — and included among the items used to formally invite a deity before moving to a new location.. Bring the Durva and, on each recitation of the Sankat Nashan Ganesh Stotra, offer one Durva to Ganapati. If possible, across the ten days perform Bhagavan Shri Ganapati's Abhishek with milk, then with water and the rest, then with Gandha and so on; if you keep pure garments, clothe him in them, otherwise place them before him; do his Shringar and PanchopacharaThe basic five-item worship sequence — incense, lamp, fragrance, flower, and food — performed for a deity after the opening rites of a sadhana. worship as far as your capacity allows, and then perform Archana with the 108 names. Then complete 108 recitations of the Sankat Nashan. The first and the last day are to be done in full; on the days between, simply recite and go on surrendering. Deepdaan will happen daily. With that, the ten-day Ganapati sadhana is complete — in March, in this example.

The speaker does the arithmetic on the Dattatreya sadhana already completed. Japa of 100 mala a day, done for forty-one days, comes to at least four lakh ten thousand, four lakh eleven thousand mantras. And at four lakh, the awakening of the mantra takes place. After that, he says, we must certainly go on doing at least 27 mala a day of that mantra, or even less than that — a minimum of 11 mala — every day. The practice of doing 100 or 108 mala is already there; how long will 11 take? Not even five minutes. In the Ekakshari mantra a minute comfortably yields a mala and a half or two once the practice has formed, so it will not take even five to ten minutes. So that japa is being done, and once the ten-day 108-recitation Sankat Nashan sadhana is complete, eight recitations a day will be continued.

The speaker gives the reason for holding the daily count where it is: it could be made less, but since this is a new practitioner, Punya strength is needed and Tapo-bala is needed, so eight recitations will be continued each day. He then answers the parallel question. While the Ganapati sadhana is running, will Dattatreya's Mala Mantra and the rest still be recited? Yes, they will — because its Siddhi and its Vidhan have been completed, even if only for eleven days. So each day, at the very beginning of the Ganapati sadhana, Bhagavan Datta is remembered, worshipped mentally, offered flowers before us; then 11 mala of the Datta Ekakshari mantra and five recitations of the Datta Mala Mantra are done aloud; and after that the Ganapati sadhana is performed and surrendered, with Aarti and the rest. Once Ganapati's is complete, that too becomes included in the daily sitting.

The third sadhana is Bhairav ji's. The speaker first asks which recitation the practitioner wants: in the house it will be Batuk Bhairav's. If there is an enemy-related problem, still do Batuk Bhairav's first and only then go on to Mahabhairav. For a beginning sadhana, he says, the most exact is the Aapada Uddharak Batuk Bhairav Ashtottar Satnam Stotra. There are at least two to three Nyasa procedures within it — do not perform those at the start, do not go into that much difficulty. Perform their Viniyoga in the ordinary way and do japa of the full 108 names, the ones beginning with Bhairav Bhutanath. For this, either install a Trishul in the name of Bhagavan Bhairav ji, or install a picture of Batuk Bhairav ji in the house. Before them light a lamp each day and begin with the offering that is prescribed — Laddu Bhog and the rest, or whatever Bhog is available to you.

The speaker fixes the timing and the wording. Begin from the Ashtami tithi of the Krishna Paksha, or perform the accomplished procedure during the Navratri that falls in March or April. The Sankalpa is made in these terms: for the complete grace and blessing of Batuk Bhairav; and so that in the complete sadhana we will perform lifelong in the future, the grace of Bhagavan Bhairav ji remains upon us; so that no obstacle or impediment of any kind comes in any sadhana; and so that under his proper protection our every sadhana is completed. Having made that Sankalpa, his sadhana is begun again. For the duration: from Ashtami to Chaturdashi or Amavasya, or if you wish, from the Krishna Paksha through to the Shukla Paksha, Ashtami to Shashthi, fifteen days by your own reckoning, doing his Ashtottara ShatanamaA recitation of a deity's 108 names — shorter than a Sahasranama (1000 names) and commonly used as the accompanying Havan or daily Japa count.. At minimum, complete 1100 japa between Ashtami and Chaturdashi.

The speaker makes the closing Havan part of the pattern rather than an option. On the final day of every sadhana there must certainly be a prescribed Havan. In Bhagavan Dattatreya's too, on the last day, offer at minimum 11 mala of Ahuti with the Ekakshari mantra. On the material: if it is a man, ghee mixed with Guggul; if it is a woman, keep the quantity of Guggul higher and the quantity of ghee somewhat lower. On the entitlement, he states the rule and the reason together. There is this provision — that those who have already obtained children may perform the Ahuti, because this is a Tantrokta procedure. In the Vedic procedures there are many processes such as the prohibition of Ahuti by women; in the Tantra field, at the present time, there is no need to think about that. In some of these things, he says, you should make the change.

The speaker separates the two orders of Havan. Not everything is possible to carry at all times, he says, but that does not extend to abandoning the Maryadas. For Tantrokta and Pauranik procedures, no obstruction will form for you anywhere. A Vedokta Havan should be performed by those persons who are authorised for it. But we are performing a Tantrokta one, or a Shabarokta one — so in that you have no trouble; perform it. He then closes the three preliminary sadhanas with their final-day Havans. On the last day of the Dattatreya sadhana, 11 mala of Havan, or five, or as much as could be done. When Ganapati ji's was completed, on the last day the Havan was again done with his 108 names. And in Bhairav ji's, on the last day the sadhana was of the 108 names, with 11 Ahutis given for each name — by which a thousand Ahutis were also completed and his sadhana was finished. With that, three basic sadhanas have been completed.

The fourth sadhana is Hanuman ji's. In that same Chaitra, the Purnima tithi that falls is the day on which Hanuman Jayanti is observed, and from that day the Hanuman sadhana will begin, running from Purnima to Purnima for at least a month. Which one to do: perform his Ekmukhi Hanuman Kavach, not a great deal more, or the Panchmukhi Hanuman one. Both, he says, are extremely effective in their own place. But if the place you live in, the house you live in, has some fault present from Preta or Pishach, some difficulty there, then do the Panchmukhi Hanuman ji's. Japa of the Kavach should happen daily; and alongside, if the problem is severe, you may also perform Havan daily with the Hanuman Chalisa. With at least a month of the Panchmukhi or Ekmukhi Kavach Anushthan completed here, the basic sadhanas are roughly finished, and you must now come to the principal sadhana.

By the time Chaitra arrives, the speaker says, most of the basic sadhanas have been completed. What now remain are the sadhanas connected with your Kuldevi and Kula deities. According to whatever information you have about their form, you should perform sadhana of them — at minimum eleven days. If their Sthan or Than has been built, then that worship will run in parallel alongside all the sadhanas. If we do not have the information about who the Kula deities are, then there is a prescribed procedure for Avahan and the rest — but, he says, we would rather say: keep things clear.

The speaker states this as an obligation rather than a stage. After the basic sadhanas, two things have to be chosen from here — and the first is that whether you are a woman or a man, japa of ten mala of some one mantra should be kept daily. And in it there should be no Sankalpa that some particular work of mine be completed, or that this stuck matter be resolved; it should be for the purpose for which our birth took place. Those who are entitled to the Vedic SandhyaThe twice- or thrice-daily prayer rite performed at dawn and dusk — Vedic Sandhya requires eligibility under Varnashrama, while those without it may instead undergo Tantrik initiation and perform Tantrik Sandhya. are told ten mala of the Gayatri Mantra. Those who cannot do the Gayatri are given the Panchakshari Mantra, Shiva ji's five-syllable mantra. Those not entitled to the Pranav do it without the Pranav — no Shadakshari without the Pranav — and, according to the prescription, women and those who do not 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. will add Namah at the end and do japa of ten mala of that mantra daily. This, he says, has become compulsory for everybody. It is compulsory for all. It is to be done even if you are a Shudra — even if you consider yourself and call yourself a Shudra, you too must do it; and if anyone is stopping you, there is no greater fool than him. Only keep in mind what your right regarding the Pranav is, so that no fault attaches to you and no curse of any kind touches your growth or prosperity. That much only. Everyone is to do it.

The speaker fits the horoscope work into the same year. In the following month, in Ashadha and so on, Gupt Navratri will come again, and other times will come; from then the principal sadhana of your chosen deity starts. But if after the opening three or four sadhanas it seems that some fault connected with the birth chart still remains and is affecting this person, or some fault is present whose Shanti is essential, then either have that Shanti performed; or else, according to whichever Dasha and Antardasha is running, let the related Daan or the wearing of something be done at that time; or else let the sadhanas connected with your Panchamesh, Lagnesh and Navamesh be done, seven days each. That is to say, in one month that too is completed. The basic things are clear.

The speaker uses Savan to show how a festival month and a personal Anushthan sit together. By the time Savan arrives, all the smaller and larger opening things have been completed, and the counts of each of the earlier sadhanas have been settled — five mala of one, ten of another. Now the principal sadhana has been reached, from Pratipada in the month of Savan. Since it is Savan, Shiva ji's worship will certainly happen and his Abhishek will certainly happen; that has become compulsory and will run alongside. Whatever festival's worship time it is, that worship will happen — but you will do your own sadhana with it. His own example: when Bhagavati Vindhyavasini is to be served, in Savan too we complete Bhagavan Shiva's Rudrabhishek in the morning. After that hour and a half or two hours is finished, rest a little, straighten the limbs for five, ten or fifteen minutes, then sit again on your asana and perform the japa of Bhagavati's mantra that is your rule — ten mala — or the Anushthan you want, four or five lakh of that mantra in the month of Savan. That japa will run in parallel, whether done in the morning, the evening or at night. But Shiva ji's worship is compulsory and is to be done daily, at one fixed time, as early in the morning as possible.

The speaker now collapses the whole accumulation. When all this sadhana is done, we will reduce every count. Whatever was the preliminary sadhana, whatever was the basic sadhana, we will now cut all its numbers. Here Bhagavan Dattatreya's Ekakshari mantra becomes only one mala, done at the start while performing his Dhyana. The Mala Mantra is done only five times, or once. Sankat Nashan once, remembering Ganapati ji. Bhairav ji's Ashtottara ShatanamaA recitation of a deity's 108 names — shorter than a Sahasranama (1000 names) and commonly used as the accompanying Havan or daily Japa count. once. Hanuman ji's Kavach, or his Ashtottar Satnam, or the Chalisa, or the bajrang-baan — whichever we had accomplished — once each. With that the whole of our opening worship is complete. The Navagraha sadhanas — Panchamesh, Navamesh, Lagnesh, Labhesh, whichever four or five we did in that opening stretch — are no longer to be done separately. In one go we will read the Navagraha Stotra, or recite their Pauranik mantras, or recite the Tantrokta Beej mantras and remember the nine grahas that way. It will take five minutes at most. The whole summary of five months of sadhana will then happen inside five minutes of the daily worship. But, he insists, through those whole five months we kept the rules — Brahmacharya observed, food and drink watched, everything observed as far as capacity allowed.

Now, the speaker says, the lifelong principal sadhana has to be done. In the worked example, the listener performs Mahakali's sadhana, so from the month of Shravan Bhagavati Mahakali's sadhana will be begun. What will be his very first sadhana? The sadhana of the Kavach. It is the most necessary, the most essential. Accomplish the Kavach first. So he performed the Siddhi of 1100 Kavach, did the japa, and after that learnt its Havan procedure. Once the Kavach and so on was done, then those mantras connected with Bhagavati that he is entitled to recite may be recited; or the Stuti and Stotra that follow; or the SahasranamaA recitation of a deity's thousand names — a devotional text genre used across many deities, not one single fixed composition. and Satnama, by which the effect reaches him at once — at which point he is told, now begin this.

The speaker shows the pattern running in parallel with the calendar. If the principal sadhana is being started in Shravan, then beginning at the proper time you will reach Ashadha Purnima and Guru Poornima within it. Your first sadhana was of Bhagavan Dattatreya — so on Guru Purnima you will perform Havan and the rest and make the whole thing conscious again, reciting the Datta Mala Mantra 108 times. These things go on running in parallel at their times. For Bhagavati Mahakali the opening sadhana then proceeds gradually: first her Ashtottara ShatanamaA recitation of a deity's 108 names — shorter than a Sahasranama (1000 names) and commonly used as the accompanying Havan or daily Japa count. completed, 11000 or at least 1100; then her Kavach; and once the Kavach is done, the SahasranamaA recitation of a deity's thousand names — a devotional text genre used across many deities, not one single fixed composition. recitation. Panchanga worship, he explains, means that you will perform all the recitations of the principal deity. Everything else takes five or ten minutes — at the start each is being completed one by one, and in the daily recitation only a single recitation of each remains. When we were performing the Anushthan we were doing 108 recitations a day; the Anushthan is over, and now only one is to be done. Further on, other things reduce still more, until only a Stotra and a Dhyana mantra remain in the opening two minutes and only the principal deity's practice runs. But at the beginning, all of these must be done and completed. This, he says, is the first stage, to be completed once for life.

The speaker marks the next stage. After this, when we are moving forward, then at a proper time the Aavaran Puja and so on begins — in the month of Bhadrapada, when the Kalika and Tara Jayanti and the rest arrive, from that time we now start this person off: now learn the Avaran. Even within the Avaran, the ordinary Avaran is learnt first, and for roughly fifteen months at least. A Mandala is forty days; if a Mandala cannot be completed that is another matter, but perform the Avaran puja in forty-day stretches, entirely plainly. As an example: suppose in the third Avaran eight Shaktis are present. Then either we perform the TarpanaA libation offering of water or other substances made to a deity or ancestor, typically performed alongside Havan and Marjan. and Marjana of each of the eight separately, or — since you are new — recite the mantra of all of them together at once and do the Tarpana and Marjana. Learn the process gradually this way. When six months have passed, go a little further and refine it. Another six months pass, refine it again. Keep refining it and keep going deeper, slowly. And in parallel with the Avaran puja you are performing the Kavach sadhana, the Ashtottar Satnam and the rest; go forward gradually.

The speaker names the point at which he considers his own responsibility to fall due. A time will come when, at a year to a year and a quarter — roughly a year and a half of sadhana by his reckoning, taking everything comfortably, with Deepavali's sadhana and the Deepdaan and all of it in between — by a year and a half or two years, you become ready for the Diksha in the proper manner. If you have walked this far with him, he says, then it becomes his responsibility that your Deeksha be done duly in a proper tradition, and that your sequential sadhana begin after that; and he will say to a suitable person, examine this one yourself, this person has become entitled. And the groundwork changes what you are given. When the Guru who is to give the Deeksha asks what you have done so far, and you say you have completed these sadhanas in this manner, then instead of giving you the Ekakshari — if you are going into the Krama Vidya — he may give you the Panchakshari Mantra instead, saying the opening four sadhanas are not needed for you. What takes five or seven years is not needed. You have done the opening; take this, begin the Anushthan with this mantra, you have five lakh japa to do, this is the procedure. And since you have already told him you know the Avaran puja, he will say: for this Panchakshari mantra these changes and these Nyasa apply, and you will do it in this way. You will not have to wander anywhere at that point to learn the Avaran puja or the Nyasa.

The speaker states the alternative people actually ask for. You do not want to do this much. You want to be given Deeksha straight away — come on the phone, take the Deeksha, take the Deeksha; and having taken it, Siddhi obtained at once; and then, we have taken the Deeksha and nothing is happening, so do this, transfer the Siddhi directly. Nowadays, he says, everything is happening very fast, wanted immediately. And in all the matters that are of the wanted-immediately kind, pick up your own past life and look: doing everything immediately, five years, ten years will have passed, and not one straw will have been able to move. What he has placed before them today, he says, are the most basic things — where a forty-day sadhana strikes, how it strikes, and that the preparation before a forty-day sadhana should be there. And if you have done it, it is not possible that nothing happens. In forty days a great deal happens. You have become ready for good practices and prayogas.

The speaker distinguishes the bookkeeping from the effect. All this talk of so much done and so much done is addition and subtraction, he says. But in the middle of that addition and subtraction, in your intellect, in your thinking, in the Atma-tattva within you, in your Aura, there will be so much connection of energies and so much movement of them that your views will be changed. Your outlook toward sadhana and toward the Laukik and Paralaukik world will go on altering. And once you have come into contact with those powers, and if some power has given grace in accordance with your conduct and the self-reflection that runs within you, then what may become of what is not written anywhere. He adds the condition. When, where, and whose deceit you will walk clear of — with intellect and discrimination applied — that decides it. Not being led astray by hearing and watching someone. And on the claim that an ordinary person cannot understand the speech of a saint, his position is: what is the use of such a saint's speech if it is of no use at all to an ordinary person. At the very least it should not do an ordinary person harm.

The speaker takes up the claim, made by others, that not shaving for forty days during sadhana achieves nothing — so shave, stay clean, shave daily, do your makeup, there is no difficulty in sadhana. He quotes it in that form and then gives the prescription. Here it has been said that the Kshaur Karma and so on should be completed two days before beginning the sadhana. And after the sadhana is complete, two days after the Samarpan, you should perform the Kshaur Karma again. Or, if you are about to begin the next sadhana, then look at the day and tithi for it — that no such special tithi is falling — and do it. The weekday does not count, whether it is a Thursday or a Saturday. Let there be no such tithi, no Ekadashi, no Grahan falling, no Sankranti — and do your Kshaur Karma. But here, he says, people are saying flatly that there is no need for it, as though God were sitting there to look at hair and beard. The rule of hair and beard was not settled by you and me. Those who told the prescription of sadhana — God himself, coming in that form, in the form of the Rishis and Munis, and giving the knowledge of these things — they made the rule.

The speaker names what is actually at risk. Avoid these follies, he says, because this is your property — spiritual property, gathered as you perform austerity for two, four, five years, accumulate energy and accumulate Punya strength. And then some person who has nothing whatever to do with your Punya says something, and you accept what he says and come away having poured the whole thing down a drain. This act, this mistake, never make. And you know the thought yourself, he adds. You know that this person is speaking wrongly, but even so you say: no, we were only waiting to hear the speech of a saint and a great soul. He has said it, so it has become the very speech of God. Set the Shastras aside; set the principles aside. This person is famous, the whole world accepts him, and what are the Shastras above that. His limit on the argument from interpolation is exact: hold something interpolated only so far as the work can proceed. Declare an interpolation on the point that a woman cannot sit at a Vedic Havan and cannot offer ghee Ahuti — fine, not that one, but she will do it in a Tantric Havan.

The speaker draws the line on both sides. In Tantrokta worship a Bhairavi performs it too. All women are Bhairavi-svarupa; all are equivalent to the mother; all will give. They will not offer Ahuti with ghee — we will have them offer with Samagri. That much interpolation, accept. And there, he says, you refuse. You say a woman is prohibited from ghee Ahuti, that a woman should not perform a Havan at all. The mistakes, he says, are on both sides: to get your own point accepted you speak half your own case and give the proof only for the part you want accepted, and for what you do not want accepted you say the Shastra is interpolated and change with the times is necessary. Change is necessary everywhere, but only so much that we are benefited and no harm begins. Where is a woman's Ahuti necessary? In Tantrokta Havan and Karma she can do it; there it is not being done by the Vedokta procedure. But if anyone says that a Rajaswala woman should go and perform worship or a Havan, that person is thoroughly wicked, and whoever says it will ruin you before he is finished. Whoever says that during Navratri it does not matter if you become Rajaswala, go and worship Bhagavati — absolutely not.

The speaker names a very famous, long-established figure who appears on television, whose talks he himself used to watch and who used to say many good things. He saw a video of his about the Savari that comes upon bodies. Half of what was said, the speaker accepts: that such people are partly disturbed mentally and weak of mind; and that women who have no standing in the family, who remain crushed down, take the support of these things and act a part. That aspect, he says, exists; he grants it. What he objects to is the second half — that no such thing at all exists, because such powers cannot come. And the story told to prove it: a woman was brought and the Mata began to come upon her, saying I am Kali. I at once took off my slipper — I will show you that you are Kali. On seeing the slipper his Kali ji left. People laughed loudly at it. Remember only this much, the speaker says. What becomes of that Guru ji makes no difference to you. But if even a Preta or Pishach is playing on the body, if a negative power is coming upon it, it has some compulsion of its own — it may be bound in a Char, unable to obtain its motion; or it has become bound with you, whether it is enjoying the body or enjoying its own experiences through you. One should not drive anyone away by beating with a slipper. And if you say the Tantrokta procedures allow it — yes, he says, there are such prescriptions, driving away by beating with a slipper and the rest. It is one prescription, with a rule and a method to it. Nobody speaks of such things everywhere in society. You will say it everywhere, and you do not even know this subject; you are saying that no such thing exists at all.

The speaker corrects the category. Suppose that by some mistake a portion of that house's Kul Shakti is upon someone's body. Everyone knows in the present age that Kali ji or Durga ji herself cannot come upon anyone and will not come. These are Yogini powers, complete in a fractional way. But if they were to come in complete form, no ordinary person can bear their intensity; the body burns, the person says so. If a Brahm comes, there will be burning in the stomach. If it is an Avayatmak or Paishachik power, it will play a great deal, a great deal. And even among the divine powers, if it is a Vayatmak power, a power above the Upadevata category, a Yogini with the capacity to move in another world, then when she comes upon the body it will spin and sway so much that the person's condition becomes terrible. These things happen, he says, one after another. And if such a power is on the body and you are beating it with a slipper, slapping it or hurling abuse at it — you do not even know what is on it and what is not. What happens to you, leave aside. But the family of the one whose body it was on will certainly be ruined. It is also true, he grants, that in the present time there is largely fraud going on. But you should have information about that fraud. Learn to distinguish the true from the false.

The speaker describes his own handling of the cases that come to him. People send videos — a girl is playing, some power is playing violently on the head. It happens four or five times in a couple of months, and the people who send them are entirely new, without much knowledge of these things; they have seen a video, or someone gave a reference. His reply goes only this far: that interfering in these matters from a distance is not proper. On a girl's body in particular the matter is such that if anything is done, difficulty will follow. Look for a person in front of you, someone you can stay with, and it will be right for something to be done there. Done from a distance there will be neither enough information nor enough conversation. So he leaves it and does not act — why trouble anyone. He contrasts that with the advice that is given instead: that this one is play-acting, give him two slaps, he will be fine at once, we drive out ghosts; take him to a doctor first, he has such and such a problem. The problem will come here, he says. It happened to one, it will happen to two, it will happen to four. Those who are genuinely suffering these things are misled further and taken down into the pit. And his point in placing the subject before a hundred listeners is not that everyone should be insulted, nor that every such person should be honoured — learn to test. What is right and what is wrong will become clear to you.

The speaker asks the question directly: why do those who genuinely have something not put it on display? The cause, he says, is censure in place after place and ridicule in place after place. And it is true that even where one person has awakened something — look at the Shastri ji, he says, so great a court gathers, yet have his many opponents and the many who abuse him accepted that he is accomplished? They are not accepting it, whatever category of siddhi it is; and whether it is Brahm Siddhi or not is a separate subject. But the enlightened, the saints honoured in society, say plainly that nothing comes of these miracles. Why would it not, he asks. Their forebears ground down their own bodies, staying without food, keeping fasts, performing the Upasana of mantras — and that is how the Siddhi came to their forebears. It is the Punya strength of their forebears that they are now enjoying. The fame they obtained, whatever they obtained, they obtained because of their forebears. And you are saying there is nothing in it. That is wrong; that is entirely improper. The second thing you say, he adds, is to drop Karmakand and Jnanakand and only do Bhakti. Do not apply the intellect in Bhakti — fine, that too. But you also set rule and Maryada aside, and where is that right.

The speaker gives the formulation he repeats often: do not become Vyaktivadi, become Siddhantavadi — person-led against principle-led. Come by the proof of the Shastra, he says; nobody in India is so foolish as to be unable to understand what is right and what is wrong. The failure, as he puts it, is that you are unable to make the distinction between the true and the false, and in the effort to follow a person blindly you run after him. That being person-led will leave you nowhere. Be principled. Oppose things, and by making a change within yourself, try to walk the right path. He does not exempt himself. We never say that there is no opposition to what we tell you, he says. But the manner of opposing will be wrong; people say such things that the wish to answer does not arise. Speak properly — say that this view did not seem right to me — and we will answer it. Speak crookedly and we will speak more crookedly than you.

The speaker takes up the trend of people being called incarnations of Bhagavan Datta. Very well, he says — we and you are all portions of the Supreme, and as we increase our Tapo-bala, such energies will form near us by God's blessing through the growth of our Punya. But it is right and proper that your austerity and your thinking bear fruit only if Sanatan is benefited by your conduct, your thinking, your behaviour, your good works, your Karmakand, your knowledge and discrimination, and your manner of living in society. Seeing you, society has to follow something. If you have become a very large influencer and are having an effect on society, he says, look at the case of a well-known figure — the one everyone is now discussing because of a spoof that went viral and the controversy that followed. Someone who had himself once abused an entertainer for having a bad effect on society; and look at what his own situation has become. Give influence in a wrong way and it will return and fall on you, and your own intellect will be corrupted. A wrong kind of influence will not run for many days. If you are speaking the language of those of another faith and people wish to follow you, harm will come to all of them along with you.

The speaker puts the question as a challenge. Why do you not go and follow Trailanga Swami? Why are you afraid to follow him? Because you will not be able to perform Upasana as hard as his. Why do you not follow Devraha Baba? Because you will not be able to do Yoga practice like his. Why do you not follow Tulsi Baba? Because Bhakti as hard as his will not be possible for you. Whom, then, do you follow? You follow those who give you the freedom to do anything at all in an invented way. You follow those who say: eat and drink on Ekadashi and stay happy, do service, there is no difficulty. You want to follow those who say that observing BrahmacharyaStrict celibacy required through an extended ritual observance. is not necessary in a forty-day sadhana. You follow those who tell you there is no need to recite the mantra with a Mala. You want to perform invented Upasanas and walk an invented path, he says — and then when nothing happens, or when things go wrong after two, four, five years, you come to make accusations against people like us who say: walk on principle. Then you say, thief, hypocrite, where did anything happen, we did it for five years. Look properly, he answers: at whom you followed.

The speaker builds the argument out of a line he had been reading two days earlier, at Gita Jayanti, that Bhagavan Krishna gave the discourse of the Gita to arjuna at Kurukshetra in forty-five minutes. So, he asks, did Arjuna, after winning the war, make a faith of his own and begin telling people that Krishna ji gave us the teaching, so follow us, he is God and we are the companion of God? Arjuna was called the Sakha, he notes — leave the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita aside and look at the Mahabharata, and he is called the Sakha, not son or child. He applies it to a trend he says listeners will have seen, and which is why he is speaking openly: people saying that Krishna ji gave them a teaching and taught them the path of Yoga. What sort of matter is this, he asks, that we take the teaching from those who taught us Yoga or Tantra Vidya, and then go into their faith and convert their own people, telling them to accept us. Arjuna did not do that. Krishna gave him the teaching of the path of Yoga, had him perform so many Anushthans, he obtained so much siddhi, and he was given victory in the war. Arjuna did not do that.

The speaker refuses the depression argument. Performing sadhana and Anushthan is entirely essential, and walking by the method is entirely essential; you should not go into depression over doing it by rule. The cause of that, he says, is that your capacity to practise anything has already been finished off — and those of another faith want your practice never to form. His illustration is the fixed hour. For forty days you can sit at one time and watch episodes of any kind, Bigg Boss, Splitsvilla, whatever else is coming — at an absolutely fixed time. He recalls a web series about masked robbers that ran hugely on the internet, and how, when its last season released, corporate and IT companies gave two days of weekend leave for people to watch it. Such is the craze. So you can sit at one fixed time and watch continuously for your entertainment for forty days, or even a hundred. But for your own elevation, for which you were born, you do not have the intelligence to sit and complete forty mala of japa, or four. And if someone tells you to do it, he is a hypocrite, there is nobody more foolish than you, God is pleased by feeling and not by a Mala. Whoever is putting that into your head, he says, never wants your elevation.

The speaker corrects an overcorrection. Keep your own sadhana and Upasana secret, he says, but certainly spread awareness among people. And there too, do not do it by force: have it done by those who are dear to you, who regard you, or who have need of it and are in some distress. What does keeping it secret mean here, he asks. People become so secret, in such a manner, that they do not tell even the members of their own family who need it. If someone needs it — if you are a woman, have it done at your maternal home; if you are a man, have it done at your in-laws'. If you are the son-in-law, say that it will have to be done, otherwise your daughter will not be going to her maternal home now. By Sam, Dam, Danda and Bheda, by whatever means — in just the way, he says, that those of another faith are using Sam, Dam, Danda and Bheda to inflict harm on Sanatan.

The speaker states what he believes the campaign is for. The wish, as he describes it, is that all the energies still standing on the ground in our culture should somehow be absorbed away and removed — have Bali stopped in one place, have this stopped in another; and once you are away from all these things, begin calling them wrong: that Mala japa is the work of hypocrites, that this is fraud, that performing Havan is fraud and nothing comes of it. By any means, he says, these people break your mentality. And as soon as you come under their influence and break, the powers of your house, the energies of your house, your own Kuldevi and Kula deities, your Kshetrapal — all of them will stop receiving these energies. And then your protective armour will break; the protection will break. For proof he sends the listener to the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, from the end of the second chapter into the third: there, he says, you will find it written that Bhagavan Krishna says the responsibility of protecting men lies with the Devas — that men should perform Yajna, worship the Devas, satisfy them and nourish them; and the Devas, being nourished, should protect men, guard them, and fulfil their wishes.

A listener asks about the cow behind Bhagavan Datta facing one way in one video and another way in another, and requests an explanation of the difference of form. The speaker answers that he has not heard of or seen any such difference of form. The images used in the videos were simply what was found and placed, edited into the frame; nothing particular about it struck him. However, the main position regarding Bhagavan Datta is that the cow's face remains to the right, as he is generally worshipped everywhere. There is nothing special in it by way of a distinction. Better, he says, not to go into it — such a thing will not even be found, and a Shri Vigraha of that kind is negligible.

A listener asks how to perform the Prana Pratishtha of the Dattatreya Kavach written on BhojpatraBirch bark, used to write a mantra or a person's name with a pomegranate-twig pen and red sandalwood ink for Tantric applications, such as placing a name upon a Shivlinga's base for a honey Abhisheka. and worn. The speaker's answer is conditional. If you wish to do such a thing, then first your Kavach should be accomplished — without the siddhi, there is no benefit in writing it out. And which Kavach of Bhagavan Dattatreya it is, he says, is not possible to say without seeing it.

The speaker gives a set of instructions for the coming Purnima and the weekly practice. On Margashirsha Poornima, certainly have the Deepdaan performed — it is extremely necessary. And tie a knot about Thursday, he says. If Bhagavan Dattatreya's worship is to be done on Thursday, it is to be done. Recite his Mala Mantra; there is no question at all in it of who is entitled and who is not. Perform the recitation of Bhagavan Dattatreya's Mala Mantra at home that day, twenty-seven times if you can manage it. Even if you have not performed the Deeksha Vidhan, introduce the children of the house to Bhagavan Datta as well, and have all of them worship him in the Guru form from childhood. On Thursday let there be worship of Bhagavan Datta, or of Bhagavan Brihaspati or Narayana — and of no other faith's. Put this in now, he says, or later the children will not listen, and when they go out into society they will do incoherent things.

A listener asks which mala should be kept if a single mala is to be used for the japa of all of Bhagavati's mantras. The speaker answers that in that case you should use the Bhairavi mala, the Bhairavi RudrakshaA sacred seed strung into rosaries and worn during shiva worship.. The nine-mukhi Bhairavi Rudraksha will be the very best. He also answers, just before this, that the Shiva Panchakshari Mantra may certainly be recited on Dattatreya Jayanti.

A listener reports that during japa of the Mahabhairav mantra he forgot the mantra in the third mala and could not recall it however he tried, and that the burning camphor and clove fell from his hand. The speaker answers that this is an ordinary matter and there is nothing in it to think about — no subject of why did this happen. It happens very often that if the mantra is long we forget a little. Even those who are reciters of Vedic mantras forget; such things happen many times. So one is not to be troubled by it. In the same stretch he adds that mental japa of the Datta Mala Mantra may certainly be done — but not while walking about.

A listener asks whether a brass lamp may be used in place of the clay lamp, a brass plate in place of the two Donas, and whether a coconut that is available only cut across the middle can be used. The speaker answers that a brass lamp may absolutely be used and a brass plate may be used. A coconut found cut through the middle will also do. He adds a note from his own practice: of the coconuts he cut, the one used for Bhairav ji, for Kula Bhairava, and the one for Bhagavan Datta were both cut a little smaller in size. Try a little to have it cut through the middle and it will cut neatly. Otherwise — his own were cut crosswise in a different way — one that comes already cut through the middle will serve equally well, and the lamp may be lit in that too.

Asked to give the Viniyoga and Nyasa for Bhagavan Batuk Bhairav's Ashtottara ShatanamaA recitation of a deity's 108 names — shorter than a Sahasranama (1000 names) and commonly used as the accompanying Havan or daily Japa count., the speaker points to where the full prescription already is: everything is given in the Purva Pithika. But perform it with the Viniyoga only. Do the Nyasa and the rest only after you have completed 1100. Nyasa, he says, is not required by everybody. In the same stretch he answers that the daily Aarti should certainly be performed.

A listener writes that he smokes ganja, that he is a devotee of Bhole Baba and takes his Prasad. The speaker begins by granting the general principle — whatever thing is needed wherever, and by whom; this is exactly why it has been said that all such things should be limited. You smoke ganja, fine. Then he separates the two cases. If some Yogi is smoking and is performing Yoga sadhana, and you say that Mahadev's devotees smoke, that Mahadev smokes — very well, granted. Now tell me whether you are like that Yogi who is doing Yoga after smoking, who is genuinely doing Yoga, sitting in Dhyana after smoking. Fine. What are you doing? You are only smoking. He is heating his own body in austerity; which herbs he is putting into it you do not know. His is Vamachara sadhana; yours is not Vamachari sadhana. He is using those things for the purposes of sadhana-related Kriyas. You are making these things a means for the satisfaction of your own appetites and saying it is Bhole Baba's Prasad.

A listener asks how to make a Kusha Asana and when the Kusha has to be brought. The speaker answers that a ready-made Kusha asana is available, and to use that. On the gathering: the Kusha is drawn out on the day of Kushotpatini Amavasya, that is on the Bhadon Amavasya. If that much procedure is possible for you, then do that as well. He adds that there is a rule within it too, concerning the married and the unmarried.

A listener writes that he has not performed Bhagavan Datta's Deeksha Vidhan or japa but wishes to do the Deepdaan the speaker has described. The speaker tells him to do it by all means. There is no picture, no image — no difficulty at all. And for anyone who has no picture of Bhagavan Dattatreya and no room to keep one, there is no necessity of bringing a Shri Vigraha of Bhagavan Dattatreya, or of bringing his picture, before doing it. Do not bring one now, he says. When your sadhana of him has been done duly and your regard toward him has formed — he is one of the Mahashaktis — then give him his place. For now, only perform the Deepdaan. Do not be in a hurry. Just before this he tells another listener who says he finds no fruit and concludes that some deficiency lies in himself: yes, do exactly that — carry out self-analysis, and look at the procedure.

A listener initiated at the Datia Peeth asks whether Dattatreya sadhana is permitted. The speaker answers that if you are initiated from the Datia Peeth there is certainly no prohibition on Dattatreya sadhana and the rest. There is no prohibition on the sadhana of Bhagavan Datta; you may absolutely do it. But on the Yantra and related matters, since you are initiated from the Datia Peeth, please ask your own Guru ji for the whole procedure — from which side, what is to be made, how it will be done. In the same stretch he tells another listener that no Kavach is to be made again; only the Mala Mantra Anushthan is to be performed once more.

A listener says that the preliminary sadhanas described here were not given to him at the Datia Peeth, where he received the instruction for sequential sadhana, and asks whether he is proceeding correctly or should follow this process from the start. The speaker asks everyone listening to remember one thing. He speaks only with regard to himself; what the rest of the world tells or does not tell, he says, is not his concern. As long as your Deeksha has not been done by anyone, perform sadhana according to the guidance he tries to give, offered commonly to any householder in particular. Walk along with him; whatever can be done for you will be done and told, and you walk accordingly. Once your Deeksha has taken place, he will tell you only this: that your surrender must become a hundred percent toward your own Guru. And this, he says, is exactly why Guru Diksha is not to be taken in haste. Because after taking Deeksha, if things do not go according to your mind and you do not place your whole enquiry before him, difficulty will arise. Then you will hear from elsewhere that it should have been done thus, and there the Guru will say it has no meaning and there is no need for it; you will ask the reason and no satisfying answer will come; then your regard will lessen, and then the sadhana will not bear fruit. Understand the subjects, listen — there is no prohibition on listening — but the regard and surrender must be toward your own Guru.

The speaker uses himself as the illustration of surrender. Even today, he says, when you listen to him it seems that here is a very learned person; comments come saying so. Even today he sits for these small things. Your Sankalpa is not like that — a Sankalpa is made this way. Make the hand MudraA symbolic hand gesture used in worship or iconography — such as Varada (boon-granting) or Abhaya (fearlessness-bestowing) — each carrying its own specific meaning. like this; and then it is made exactly so. You tied one and a quarter knots in the Chutaiya, tie one more; all right, go. Pronounce it properly. At the time of the Svastivacana this mantra is not spoken that way but this way. In the Rudri this thing is not like that, you must do it this way. Speak the syllable that is written. And on the Samput recitation: you feel like doing a great Samput recitation — do it as it is being told, two recitations a day, do it in the morning and in the evening as well, sit down. Take me along, Maharaj, today I wish to do the Hridaya recitation. All right, do the Hridaya recitation, do one. How many was it to be? We had thought we would do 108 purashcharana. No, no, no. You do this for now. Surrender should be of that kind, he says: the syllable that is spoken is the syllable performed. However good your own practice is at doing everything, if the Guru ji is saying you must do it this way, then for us our Guru who is before us is Vindhyavasini herself, and his speech is her speech, his tongue is hers.

The speaker sets the weight on both sides. Until your Deeksha has happened, choose the proper path and walk with surrender; but think a thousand times before making a Guru. There is no benefit in regretting it afterwards, and changing a Guru later, or performing the Visarjan, or whatever the procedure may be, will cause you difficulty. If you take an order from them and they are a capable Guru, then they will give the order and it is well. But if they turn out to be an embittered Guru — if you have told them that you take guidance from a YouTube channel, and they say, these YouTube Gurus, and bitterness comes into their mind, or they hold a grudge on hearing the view — they are human, and then you will be ground between the two. So, he says, having accepted a Guru, what the Guru says is a line cut in stone, and you should walk accordingly. A Diksha taken in haste, where surrender cannot form because of knowledge, causes harm very often. He says he is very well aware of names at Datia who gave Deeksha, and of the upheaval in the disciples' lives that followed — and asks that this not be misunderstood as sowing doubt in anyone's mind. His reason: when Deeksha is given, a responsibility is created. The initiated disciple has to be looked after as a son. And not only that — if the disciple commits an offence, a sixth part of it will fall on the Guru. That is why, however formidable and fully consecrated a Guru may be, those who walk the true path think a thousand times before going forward on this path. Merely giving Deeksha is not the end of it — nor is it right to leave a disciple's enquiries unsettled.

The speaker describes his own position as a disciple. His elder Guru ji has attained Brahmalina. The Guru who came after, fully consecrated, is so busy that he has a shortage of time — but whenever the speaker goes, he gives time, two hours or four, alone, one to one. And not because we announced ourselves as a VIP, he adds: when the time comes. Yes, my boy, wait two days, on the third day it is for you. In that time each subject is taken up — this mantra, this Utkilana, this matter and that, this chart I did not understand, tell me, we have to do this next. Each thing is explained. Whatever doubt exists, in whatever subject, all the doubts are removed. And it has never happened that he does not ask what we have and in what condition it is; he asks as though unacquainted — did you read something on this subject, was there some study of it — and when we reach halfway, he completes the rest. He already has the information he asks about, but he assesses how much is known, and then tells how it is to be done — whether it is the Vamachara method of the Tantra path or the Dakshinachara method, from both traditions. He adds what it took to get there. Do not imagine, he says, that we simply set out and a Guru was obtained and Siddhi came. How is a Sankalpa taken — we did not know. What is Nyasa called? There was no YouTube then. There are very many Nyasa, and Mudras within them; you cannot learn every Mudra. You learnt twenty-four Mudras and there are still others. Who would tell you? They have the information, but would they tell it? And his instruction to the seeker: this is the mistake made in front of a teacher. If you come forward as one who knows, they will decide that this one knows everything already. Sit as a fool, and then the matters of knowledge will come. Even among them, the over-learned will consider you nothing — they will say there is nothing in all these things, serve the Mother and it is done. But those who genuinely have the capacity, ask them one thing and they will lay ten open before you.

A listener writes that Monday is held to be Mahadev's day but that he had read somewhere that Sunday is described as the day dedicated to Mahadev, and asks about it. The speaker confirms the reading. The day of the Sun has indeed been described as dedicated to Bhagavan Shiva; you have read it entirely correctly. And the day of the Moon, Monday, is dedicated to Bhagavan Shiva as well.

The speaker sets out the weekday scheme for worship of Mahadev. If it is a Thursday, and there is obstruction in marriage or a problem of money, then worship, service or Darshan of Mahadev on that day will free you of it — release from debt will come, and wealth and grain will be obtained. And if jaundice has occurred, then Shringar and abhishekaA ceremonial bathing of a deity’s image or symbol, usually with water and other prescribed substances. of Mahadev performed on a Thursday will relieve it. If it is a Friday, then all the afflictions related to children fall in this category, and for a man in particular; and if some difficulty in particular is coming in a man's marriage, then service and worship of Mahadev that day will bring you the fruit. If there is obstruction from an enemy, then Tuesday. The rule of the day, he explains, is connected somewhere with the deity, and with the fruit related to that deity. It is not merely that everything will be obtained if we worship Shiva ji on a Monday alone, and that doing it on Tuesday achieves nothing, or that its importance rises or falls. Different fruits are described according to the day and the tithi.

The speaker takes up Ravi Pushya and Guru Pushya as an example of tithi and day carrying weight. There is a particular glory to the Pushya Nakshatra, he says. Bhagavan Narayana has said in the Gita that among the Nakshatras he is Pushya Nakshatra — the king of Nakshatras. Who, then, are the deities of Pushya Nakshatra and who are its lords? In that, both Shani Dev and Dev Guru Brihaspati come in. So the importance of both of them is formed there. It is not the case, he says, that if you perform worship in Ravi Pushya, only Brihaspati Dev is going to be pleased. Shani Dev will be pleased as well.

The speaker gives this as the reason he repeats the phrase increase of 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. so often — it is not empty talk. He recalls that the Shastri from whom they used to take guidance would turn the question aside whenever anything was asked about sadhana: what will you do with all this, do nothing, do Bhajan, Balaji's grace is on you, what will you do, go to Pitambara and take Deeksha. Most people, he says, act in exactly this way. There was a very good practitioner at Vindhyachal, still there. He was asked for Pitambara Deeksha a very long time ago. He turned it round a great deal — it is like this, it is like that, you will become deranged, such and such will happen. Fine, he said, I will not take it. Do Gayatri, do the Gayatri. All right then, brother, do only Gayatri. And Bhagavati's grace came. When a fit Tantra Deeksha is not being obtained, he says, and the wish is there and the surrender to Bhagavati is there, she is there. She reveals the practitioner fit for her, her own fit son, when the time comes. First she will increase your Punya strength and make you fit, make you capable — and then she will produce the fit person, the fit Guru, in your life, and have you take his shelter and make him your medium.

The speaker says it is true that what is not obtained in ten years comes when the Guru is obtained — and when the Guru wishes it, and sees that there is application, surrender, and that this is an entitled person with capacity within him, he will not hesitate to give. Ask one question of such a person and he will tell you ten answers properly; he will tell you new things; he will himself say that you ought to study this thing, study that, hold your views on these subjects. And whoever has himself relished nothing will relish nothing for you; whoever has himself done nothing will tell you not to do anything either. He then raises the counter-case fairly. One subject that may come up here, he says, is this: that we walked the difficult path and obtained our goal, and we know which the easy path is, so we are urging the easy path — go this way, do not go by this difficult one, we know. The second subject is the person who is not fit to walk the easy path at all and wants to walk the hard one; his wish is that he will enjoy it by this road, and he is even asking to be encouraged along it. And you say to him: no, no, this is wrong, do not go this way. He asks, what are the hardships, tell me. You will tell him the hardships, will you not, if you came by that road — yes, look, difficulty of this and this kind can arise. Then come. So the experience will be of use. But the person simply refuses outright: no, you are not to go there, if you must come, come this way, do not wander here and there. This is wrong, he says. Everyone's enquiry cannot be settled in one manner.

A listener writes that he does not understand why worship should not be done between 7:30 and 8, since 7 to 11 in the evening is the time he has had for a long while. The speaker answers: perform worship. We are not saying it should not be done. But the time of the SandhyaThe twice- or thrice-daily prayer rite performed at dawn and dusk — Vedic Sandhya requires eligibility under Varnashrama, while those without it may instead undergo Tantrik initiation and perform Tantrik Sandhya. is when the Godhuli BelaThe evening twilight period around dusk, traditionally favoured for Akarshana (attraction) rites. falls — that was the subject we were placing; we did not say it should not be done. If it is done at the principal times, the four Sandhyas, it will be much better. In the same stretch he answers two more: a Rudraksha or Sphatik may be threaded onto the string on which the Dattatreya Kavach is worn, no difficulty; and once the Dev Deeksha has been done, there is no need to do it again.

Two answers in sequence. On the Havan: it can be done on the forty-second day after the japa of the forty-first, but if possible, do it on the forty-first itself. On food: asked whether non-vegetarian food must be given up forever after taking the Deeksha of Bhagavan Dattatreya, the speaker answers that whether you take the Deeksha or not, we will forbid non-vegetarian food for eating in any case — do not eat it. And he asks that two things not be mixed together: Bali and eating. Bali is Bali; the manner of Bali is one subject, and whether you are someone who eats and eats what is offered is a different one. Though for that too, he adds, there are a great many things you have already given up. But as for non-vegetarian food — take the Deeksha or not, if you do not eat it, your own good lies in that.

A listener reports that during five lakh japa the mala's thread broke after four or four and a half lakh; he tied the thread and continued, and completed the sadhana. He asks whether the sadhana was broken. The speaker tells him that since he has completed it, he should not keep the doubt in his mind. He then gives the proper method. If a Mala breaks in the middle, then it should be restrung completely and its Prana Pratishtha procedure and the rest performed again; and for however much japa had been done — four and a half lakh, in this case — do at minimum 51 mala of that same mantra separately, for the removal of the fault, and then go forward.

A listener writes that he has taken Deeksha from someone at Datia whom the speaker also knows of, that his mind is not settling there, and that their views on Shastra differ from the speaker's — mustard oil being one instance — so that on the whole their positions do not meet anywhere. The speaker answers that they will not meet. Where a realist and a principled person are formed, our views and theirs will not agree. What is true is true. If things are run in an invented manner, then the subject is different.

Two short procedural answers. Asked whether the Pranav may be uttered at the beginning and end of the Batuk Bhairav Ashtottara ShatanamaA recitation of a deity's 108 names — shorter than a Sahasranama (1000 names) and commonly used as the accompanying Havan or daily Japa count., the speaker says yes, do it. Asked whether, in the Viniyoga of the Datta Mala Mantra, one may say Datta Devata Prityarthe Kripa Prapti, he answers that there is no need for it — say that in the Sankalpa.

A listener asks why liquor in particular is offered to Kaal Bhairava. The speaker says that being able to give a reasoned answer and being able to satisfy are two different subjects. The reality is the same question as why a goat's Bali is offered to Kali Mai: developing the capacity within people to understand this subject is very difficult. There is truth in it, he says, and the answer can absolutely be given — people have already given it and explained this subject. But it is not within everyone's power to digest it, so what is there to say now. He sets the subject aside to be taken up separately, with proof — why, what and how.

A listener says non-vegetarian food will not stop all at once and asks for the rule. The speaker answers that if it will not stop at once, then make the effort to give it up. He is explicit that the rule is not that once you have performed the Dev Deeksha Vidhan you cannot eat it. But if you do eat, then what we eat is eaten after being offered as NaivedyaThe food offering (Bhog) presented to a deity during worship, accompanied by water offerings and dedicatory mantras. to our own Shraddha — Bhagavan Datta is worshipped in the house, or any deity is being worshipped there. So at the time of worshipping the household deities, the Bali of meat and the rest — if you are a resident of Bengal, the regional rule there is different, but otherwise such rules should not be applied. If you become vegetarian and follow the vegetarian rule, that is very good. Keep meat-eating limited, try, and let it go slowly; it will be well if you drop it. And if you are eating meat at home, then in that condition your place of worship must be pure and at a distance; take care not to go there after eating and drinking. You are not to go there without bathing — and it is not as it is in the cold, where one washes hands and feet, changes clothes and performs worship; with meat-eating that is not possible at all.

The speaker states the general fault: when we bring the alternative to any thing into the main current, we make the greatest mistake of all. This, he says, is the greatest irony among Hindus. His example is one he was told through a beloved disciple of the late Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati ji Maharaj: that if you are in some condition or place where you cannot bathe, or there is no facility of water, then it has been held that you may at least wash your feet, or even your toe, and that too is taken as pure — in that condition you may perform worship, or do the remembrance mentally. But at least that much purity should be reached. And if people hear these things, he says, they will simply start washing the toe: he said the toe. Forget the rest of the subject, in which circumstance he said it and what you are to do in what circumstance. The same shape appears in the daily worship. It is found in different traditions that if you cannot perform the daily worship with full procedure, then at the very least three things should happen — abhishekaA ceremonial bathing of a deity’s image or symbol, usually with water and other prescribed substances., that is Shiva ji's Abhishek, NaivedyaThe food offering (Bhog) presented to a deity during worship, accompanied by water offerings and dedicatory mantras., and Aarti. And if even that much cannot be done, then if you only perform the Aarti, offering a little Naivedya of whatever is present, the worship will be held complete. And you people, he says, drop everything else — do the Gayatri, do this, do the Aarti morning and evening and the tension is finished. What was kept as an alternative for a difficult time is brought into the main current. That is the greatest irony. Doing this again and again, the main things were let go and let go, until today this condition has arrived.

The speaker tells this as the illustration of what the drift costs across generations, and is careful to say he keeps no outward marks himself — we stay normal outside, you could hardly recognise us, we are not walking about wearing a Mundmala as some great Baba. The young man in question was from a very wealthy family and did not know who the speaker was. It was his birthday and he suggested they go. Whether it was the first time he had been to a temple or the first time he had lit incense, God knows. He lit five of the thick perfumed sticks at once — the kind that have no bamboo in them and give a fine scent. The speaker let it pass: he has brought them, let him light all five. Then the young man began showing the incense to the Mother — and the Bengali priest there shouted out, calling the boy mad. The speaker asked what had happened. Look at him, the priest said, he is showing the incense the wrong way round, anticlockwise. The speaker answered that he is a very great devotee, he is performing the Utara for Kali Ma, Kali Ma has caught the evil eye — people take her Darshan all day and gaze at her divinity. At that the priest too began to laugh, and said, all right, brother, it is to be shown this way. His point is where the fault lies. The young man's grandfather had been a very great scholar; even today such texts are found in their house, though in a condition where they cannot be opened, and the family will not part with them or let them be touched. And his father was exactly the case being discussed — what had been made an alternative was taken into the main current. And the son has accepted the main current so completely that today he does not even know how dhupa-deepa and incense are to be shown. Such people exist in society: going to perform worship of a deity, and performing the Utara of the deity instead, without knowing it. He adds, when the point is pressed, that he has seen his own mother giving the incense the wrong way round — and when he objected, he was told to keep quiet.

The speaker names the trait plainly: some people are so learned that — see this — there is even a pride taken in service and worship. It is a true thing, he says. This ego is so bad that it leaves a man nowhere. I am a devotee; I perform a hundred mala of japa every day. Once the pride of that has climbed onto the head, the very possibility of learning anything further is finished. Once people become very famous, he says, the ego becomes such that it cannot be digested if anyone points a finger at them.

The speaker gives the method and then the fault he saw. At the time of a Havan, if we are giving the Ahuti alone, then you may do the japa of the mala with the reverse hand. But in that many practitioners, and he himself, never use a japa Mala. If a Kanthi mala of 108 beads is worn, then covering it with the upper garment, the Anga Vastra, and doing japa with the reverse hand, we offer the Ahuti. The error he saw was at such a Havan. This was not the Ahuti of a Shatkarma mantra; the person knew which mantra he was offering with, a mantra connected with the Gayatri, of some deity. And he was running the mala the wrong way. The way of turning a mala is that the beads are drawn toward oneself; he was pushing them forward, and was not covered over either, with three or four Brahmins and practitioners sitting and watching him. They asked why he was running the mala forward. The speaker offered him the excuse — perhaps he has no practice with that hand, and if it is only for the sake of counting he is merely offering the Ahutis. Even so it is wrong, they said; it is wrong. When it was all over and he was asked, properly and politely, why he had done it in reverse when it is not done so, and everyone had been watching, and he had not even covered it — the answer was: what business is it of yours, I am doing it. The difficulty, the speaker says, is not that you were corrected for doing something wrong and became upset. The difficulty is the image — that I am so big a person and you are correcting me. And then humility goes.

Two closing procedural answers. On the count and the oil: 24 lamps, and one Karma Sakshi lamp with them — do 24. Whichever you wish may be used; if you do it with ghee it is the very best, or mustard, or sesame; do it with sesame too. On the Viniyoga: it should be spoken after everything has been accomplished. Do not change the Viniyoga at the time of accomplishing.

The speaker closes the session with the arrangements for the Anushthan of Bhagavan Dattatreya. The Havan-based observance and the whole Anushthan will happen there on that day, along with the service of the cow, on the Tuesday. At your own home too, perform the service and worship of Bhagavan on that day. Those who are to do the Diksha Vidhan should do the Diksha Vidhan. And make the effort that a Havan certainly takes place in the house that day — on the Purnima.