Charitra Traya
Every question on the site tagged Charitra Traya, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
Notes from our sources
Other samput methods: outside mantras, and samput per chapter or charitra
The speaker says the Samput is also applied with Batuk Bhairava's Apaduddharana stotra and certain of his special mantras; mantras from outside the Saptashati are applied as samput in it too. Besides verse by verse, the samput is also put at the beginning and end of each chapter and of each of the three charitras (charitra-traya): the Pratham Charitra ends with the first chapter, the Madhyam Charitra begins from the second, and the Uttam Charitra from the fifth. That too is a main form of samput, done with various mantras and especially with Batuk Bhairav's. He says there are many samput vidhis and many paath-bhedas of the Saptashati; he has covered only the two or three chiefly used, the mool path and the samput path.
Can the Madhyam Charitra of the Saptashati be recited daily on its own?
On the second adhyaya, he says that for those who have no time, if they recite the Madhyam Charitra fully independently every day, it will also be reckoned that you have done the whole paath. From this the question arises whether kavach, argala and kilak are to be done or not, and whether the paath of the six angas will take place or not.
The view that the Kilak should be dropped from a Madhyam Charitra paath, keeping only Kavach and Argala
Some people say that of the kavach, argala and kilak, the kilak should not be done — that if you are doing only the Madhyam Charitra, do the kavach and argala, then do the second adhyaya, the Madhyam Charitra, and when the Madhyam Charitra is complete, do the paath of the three Rahasyas. As to why one anga out of the six is removed, he says he has no authoritative information and so cannot say, but it is in common circulation and is said again and again.
Why might the Kilak be linked to the Uttar Charitra of the Saptashati?
Because, he says, the Kilak's connection is with the Uttar Charitra: the presiding shakti of the Kilak is Ma Mahasaraswati and the presiding shakti of the Uttar Charitra is Mahasaraswati. Perhaps we skip it and do not recite it, and so it is said to be left out. But on that reasoning, he says, one would have to leave the Pratham Charitra too, since Mahakali is not in it — and then do not do the kavach either; but the kavach is necessary for protection.
What does the Rudrayamala Tantra say about when each Charitra of the Saptashati is recited?
A listener states that in the Rudrayamala Tantra it is said that the Madhyam Charitra is for shubh karya, and the Pratham and Uttam Charitra should be done in the evening, as stated in Tripathi ji's Hindi tika. He answers: do it, you can do it — if you are completing it in a single day, you can do it.
Can a Simhavahini Amba vigraha be used for the Margashirsha archan?
Asked whether the vigraha of Simhavahini Ambaji Ma kept in the house may be used for the archan in Margashirsha, the speaker says to do less — do the Durga archan itself. He points to the Shri Durga Saptashati: in the madhyam charitra, which dhyana mantra is there? It is the dhyana mantra of Bhagavati Mahalakshmi — and which Mahalakshmi is Bhagavati in it? She who bears the ashtadash bhuja, the Bhagavati endowed with eighteen arms, is called there the form of Mahalakshmi.
How did the Sahasrakshari become seven hundred shlokas?
By Bhagavati's order, each beej of that very mantra was separated out one by one and a shloka was made of it — which in course of time is contained in seven hundred shlokas alone, and which we know in the present time, in this Kali kaal, by the name of Shri Durga Saptashati. This is why in shakti sadhana it becomes an extremely necessary and important tantratmak granth, and the most fierce tantra in itself.
The three charitras of Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati, their three different rishis, and where Bhagavati manifests in each.
What the three charitras of Mahakali, Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati are like; how the rishis of the three come to be different from one another; at which points Bhagavati is manifesting and how the devatas are offering stuti; what would be obtained if these chief stutis were performed independently; what is to be obtained from the path of the Kavach; and what is going to happen from the path of the Argala and Keelak.
Different sadhaks this time, particularly of the Vindhya region, and the fourth adhyaya of the Madhyam Charit newly included for the Jaya Durga and Mahalakshmi swaroop.
This time the sadhaks will be different, he says — those of last time are not there now; other sadhaks will be there, particularly of the Vindhya region. The new inclusion is the fourth adhyaya of Bhagavati's Madhyam Charit in the Durga Saptashati, which is especially dedicated to the Jaya Durga and Mahalakshmi swaroop.
Why should a Shakta study the Durga Saptashati even if he does not recite it?
Because, the speaker says, even if you do not do the path of the Shri Durga Saptashati you should at least study it. When you read the Murti Rahasyam and look at the three rahasyas and the three charitras, you will come to know who the Mahalakshmi svaroopa is.
The well known katha of Surat and Samadhi has a separate tantric subject lying behind it.
When you go inside the subject of Surat and Samadhi too, and go into the tantra subject, that is very different, the speaker says. You have seen only the katha; the root subject, what lies after it, is a separate matter. Search it out some time and try to know it, and you will learn what happened afterwards — and then attempt to know further the whole katha of the Manu named Savarni.
How does the mool Saptashati differ from the prevalent one?
But in the mool Saptashati, the old ones, he says, the Argala Stotra and the Keelak and all of it are much larger — greatly different from the prevalent one we look at — and in it the whole subject of all this is present. Secondly, he says, it is not only the three charitas and the six angas; there are further subjects as well, which go according to each adhyaya, and in those too there is a broad treatment of the tattvas, and those tattvas are directly connected with the principal energy, the principal shakti in it.
Can the Durga Saptashati be recited independently for such trouble?
You can also become free of these troubles by reciting the Durga Saptashati independently, the speaker says. Of the Durga Saptashati path that we do, it is held that the madhyam charitra should be recited at minimum — the full path is to be done with the six angas.
When is shraap uddhar particularly required?
When we do the japa of the thirteen adhyayas of the Saptashati on one day, in one sitting, at one time, then shraap uddhar and the like is needed in particular. If you are doing it in the Mahavidya krama, or are reciting only the madhyam adhyaya, the madhyam charitra, then no special cause remains for shraap uddhar and the rest. But the views of scholars may differ in this, because the Saptashati is in itself a very extensive and a different kind of subject.
Kaushiki of the Durga Saptashati and Atas: her emergence from Parvati, her first complete form at this spot, and why she too is Vindhyavasini
The speaker says the ashtabhuja Bhagavati of Vindhyachal — Mahasaraswati, Brahmani, Kaushiki, described in the Durga Saptashati — manifested her complete form for the first time at Atas, and wherever a shakti suddenly takes on her complete form with all her kalas, the energy of that spot is divine and extraordinary. In the Saptashati's Uttam Charitra, when Shumbha and Nishumbha attacked the gods and the gods praised her, a fair-complexioned Devi emerged from Parvati's body while Parvati remained on the Himalaya as Kalika; that form became famous as Kaushiki, and Brahmani, the ashtabhuja Mahasaraswati and Vindhyavasini are that form. The principal Vindhyavasini shakti peeth is on Vindhyachal mountain, but this form too is called Vindhyavasini, better known as Yogamaya, and she took her form here before going to Vindhyachal. The Saptashati's eleventh chapter records her own declaration that she will be born in Nand Gop's house from Yashoda's womb and, dwelling on Vindhyachal, destroy the two asuras.
A sadhak should study the Murti Rahasya and the Vaikrita Rahasya properly, by svadhyaya, to unveil these rahasyas
Read the Murti Rahasyam and go deep, he says. Unveil the rahasyas, relate them. If you are a sadhak, become a deep sadhak, take the plunge. Study the Murti Rahasya and the Vaikrita Rahasya properly, by svadhyaya.
A mahatma on a train glossed ashtapada as releasing apana vayu in eight ways, against the real sense of a deity's many feet
On a train, in a general bogie, he says, some people — one of them a mahatma who must have been a great opponent of Sanatan — were discussing Ashtapada, and gave its meaning as releasing apana vayu in eight ways, calling that too a kind of siddhi. He laughed. Asked where that is described, the man said it will come up anywhere. People think, he says, how can there be eight feet, and how could such a being be counted among men or devatas — to which he answered that devatas have thousands of hands and thousands of feet; in the Saptashati, when we contemplate the first charitra, Bhagavati has ten feet, and there are subjects with more than that.
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