Vaidik, Tantrik and Devi Pranava — Who May Pronounce Which

Before beginning on the Durga Saptashati, the speaker takes up a special subject: what should a person who does 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., and what should mothers and sisters, say in place of the Pranav? He calls it important because committing this fault has caused the decline (kshay) of many people; it is a shastra aparadh. The limits (maryada) made in the shastras should be kept. If we chant or jap a mantra without adhikara, it only harms us. What is meant for us is for our good; if we insist on taking something else, there will be trouble — as when you need a 10 mg medicine and say you will take the 25 mg one to get well faster. First, those who wear the yajnopavita pronounce the vaidik pranava, called the vedokt pranava or simply pranava: the Omkar, ॐ, in which अ, उ and म are held to be contained. Its utterance is for those who wear the yajnopavita, together with the Gayatri Mantra and the like. Second is the tantrik pranava, which anyone who does not wear the yajnopavita may utter, and mothers and sisters too: the letter औ (the au of the Hindi word aurat) with the anusvara placed on it, औं — that is, औ plus half a म. Besides these is the Devi Pranava, which every person may utter: ह्रीं — half ह, half र, the long ई and म. These are the three pranavas, he says; you should know them and do your japa and path accordingly.

Having set out the three pranavas — the vaidik ॐ for those who 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., the tantrik औं for everyone else including women, and the Devi Pranava ह्रीं for all — the speaker turns to a common practice. Those who have never in their life worn the yajnopavita, and who, watching YouTube and Facebook, say they cannot do the Panchakshari Mantra without putting the pranava ॐ before and after it, are committing atikraman (overstepping). Because of this, he says, they will certainly get benefit, but over time they suffer long and great harm. The tantrik and devi pranavas can be uttered by anyone. Those who wear the yajnopavita may also say these if they wish; there is no problem. But the vaidik pranava should be uttered only by one who has the adhikara. He says he is only telling what scholars have described as written in the shastras, and that the present Shankaracharya Maharaj has also spoken about this. He puts the subject before his viewers, he says, so that those who accept it may do their japa according to the adhikara for these mantras; it is for their own good.