Dakshinachara
Every question on the site tagged Dakshinachara, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
The right-hand path of Tantric practice — more readily accepted by society than Vamachara, its counterpart, though both are legitimate paths within Sanatana Dharma.
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Starting tithi and setup for the Kalika Kavach sadhana: red dress and asana, two lamps, boondi laddu, camphor and cloves
The speaker says the sadhana is begun on Ashtami or Chaturdashi of Krishna Paksha, or on a Krishna Paksha Tuesday or Saturday. Clothes are red only and the asana is a red blanket. Two lamps: a single-wick mustard-oil lamp in the name of Kalika, and a four-wick lamp in the name of Kaal Bhairava. In Naivedya, at least one boondi laddu in each of two places, with one cardamom and two cloves on each. After the recitation, on the bare ground, two pieces of pure camphor together — bhimseni or the tablet kind, not the two-rupee variety — with a pair of cloves on top, in two places, are lit at the end, and a Bali of jayaphal is also given. The whole thing, he says, is a Dakshinachara practice that comes under the most ugra prayogs.
What historical misconception turned public opinion against Tantra and Vamachara?
When attempts were made to fragment Sanatana Dharma, its spiritual backbone was targeted first — fear was deliberately instilled around the word 'Tantra,' with Vamachara (left-hand path) singled out for the harshest stigma while Dakshinachara (right-hand path) remained more accepted.
Stay steadfast in your own worship without disrespecting or forcibly altering another's — disrupting a consecrated temple's established offering carries severe karmic consequence
Practitioners should remain steadfast in their own worship without disrespecting or forcibly altering the prescribed traditions of others — disrupting established offerings at consecrated temples like Shyama Kali incurs severe karmic consequences according to scriptural principles.
Ancestral impurity from readmitting a daughter who left the lineage tradition
The speaker's second cause is a son or daughter marrying into a kula wholly opposed to the family's tradition. His example: a daughter from a Sanatana house where puja follows Vaishnava or Dakshinachara vidhi goes off with a Muslim boy, and the family later takes her back out of pity or attachment — then, he says, it is more than 95% certain the Pitrs will be angered by impurity, because her character and body are wholly impure from what is done there against dharma, and when she crosses the Chaukhat with that aura the impurity falls on the children and descendants. His rule: do not let such a person back in; if you feel compassion, meet her outside. If she truly wants to return, take her first to a tirtha where the Ganga is pure — Haridwar, Rudraprayag — have Brahmins conduct Prayashchitta (he mentions Ganga sand being fed for seven days), and keep her there in vidhi-vidhan puja for at least a month and a quarter before bringing her home; then no dosha attaches.
Each swaroop's place governs its vidhi vidhan — the vaam bhaag worshipped one way, the dakshin bhaag another — so the teaching is simplified to what everyone is authorised for.
The place that has been given to each of them, he says, means that according to that swaroop and according to that place, the vidhi vidhan of their worship also differs. He mentions having written some part of this on the channel and on Telegram that very morning — how the puja of the vaam bhaag is done and how the puja of the dakshin bhaag is done. Things are a little intricate, he says, so they are simplified and given, so that what everyone is authorised for may be done commonly anywhere, in the south, east or north.
Satvik tantra is preferred because nothing is laid waste, pret bhoomi excepted
He says that more than all of these, what shows him greater effect in such a field, wherever prets and pishachs are present, is our satvik tantra, because with it nothing is laid waste. But where a place has already become pret bhoomi, it becomes necessary at the outset to have tantra of that kind done and the place emptied, and only then to employ some high-order mahashaktis.
Is there harm if one person does a tantrokta and another a vedokta anushthan in one place?
There is no such harm, he says. The vedokta person's whole sadhana will be at the day time, and the havan and the rest will be at the day time; the tantrokta person's will be at the night time. If you are keeping one kund, then look into that a little. There is no other matter. It should not be rajasik-tamasik.
Must Bhagavati Tara be worshipped only by Vamachara?
It is not necessary that you perform the pujan of Bhagavati only by the Vamachara vidhi. What some people say wholly — that you cannot perform her pujan at home — that thing is right; but it cannot be said that her pujan will take place only and only by the Vamachara vidhi. To brush it aside altogether, that no, her pujan cannot happen at all by the Dakshinachara vidhi, is wrong to say.
Seva and puja by the Dakshinachara vidhi are open, but an anushthan of Bhagavati Tara and the japa of her mantras want a guru adesh.
It cannot be said in a wholesale way — you can do seva and puja by the Dakshinachara vidhi. But if you are performing an anushthan of Bhagavati Tara, then there should be a guru adesh in the matter: the most particular anushthan and the japa of her mantras you cannot do at home with freedom, freely of your own accord. For that an adesh is wanted.
Restrictions of the Mahabhairav prayoga: no drinking, no jiv bali, not at home, purely dakshinachari
The speaker says that in this Prayoga you are not to consume any Madira yourself, and you are not to give any Bali of a living creature; you only offer madira as Bhog and do your Japa there. The prayoga is not to be done at home, and one is not to get involved in any Vamachara vidhi in it: only Naivedya is offered to him. It is a completely Dakshinachara prayoga, he says; only naivedya is being offered and japa done, and no base or tamasik prayoga of any kind is taking place.
What is given importance in tantra — and are there only two paramparas?
After the age of fourteen or fifteen, whether a man or a woman, importance in tantra has been given to bhavas, the speaker says. There is the Kaul parampara, called the Vamamargi parampara, and the Dakshinamargi parampara — but you should know that the parampara is not only this much. The acharas of which you hear, Dakshinachar and Vamachar, have been classified, and in that classification importance is given to the bhavas.
Which paths are held to belong to pashu bhav?
In that very state of pashu bhav, according to the Kaul parampara, the Vaidik paddhati has been held; the Vaishnav parampara has been held, the Shaiv parampara has been held, and Dakshinachar has been held. All these four acharas have been placed in pashu bhav, the speaker says, because the person situated in that bhav has no kamanas within him — what desire would there be up to the age of fifteen? No particular desire, so it was held.
How much time does a capable Guru give, and how should one sit before him?
The speaker's own Guru, though extremely busy, gives two to four hours one-to-one whenever he goes — not immediately, but on the third day. And his instruction for the seeker: sit as a fool, and then the matters of knowledge will come. Those who are over-learned will consider you nothing.
Taking vamachara diksha as an exemption for the panchamakara leads into a pit; samyam cannot be left aside.
The speaker says one cannot go outside samyam. Anyone thinking of taking initiation in vamachara because he cannot stay in dakshinachara — reasoning that there will be great enjoyment, an exemption for the panchamakara, liquor and chicken and eggs and cigarettes, and deities of the same kind — will fall into a pit. Many fall and are ruined, he says: the thing is not for that at all, whatever varna you may be.
Is Kamakhya's worship accomplished only by the Vam marg?
There is one more subject about Bhagavati, the speaker says: mostly you will find it said that the puja and seva of Jagadamba is accomplished only by the Vam paddhati. But the view of the Kalika Purana is that whether you perform the puja of Jagadamba Kameshwari Kamakhya by the Dakshin marg or by the Vam marg, in both you will obtain the benefit of siddhi. Therefore do not hold the view that siddhi will come only by the Vam marg.
What is tested first in a high-grade sadhana?
When you perform such a high-grade sadhana, he says, the first thing examined is your fear. A householder should do sadhana only in the sattvik manner, and when you remain within sattvik maryada it also takes longer — and people generally lift a sadhana for only twenty-one or forty-one days.
Does bali mean a goat?
By bali, he says, we are not speaking of a sheep or a goat. According to whatever your own sattvik paddhati may be, there are a great many balis. So at the very least it should certainly be done once in a month.
Tantra kaat with a nimbu bali in one's deity's name, without any mantra
The speaker says the simplest tantra kaat uses no mantra at all: someone who does daily sattvik dakshinachari worship of, say, Bhagavati Mahakali — japa of her mantras, dhoop-deep-naivedya, aarti — and who senses a tantra prayog on them, remembers her (bali being dear to Bhagavati), gives a nimbu bali and prays for that prayog to stop; at least 20-30% relief comes quickly and the thing halts. He stresses that no deity is being given a bali in this.
What does a person spread once his own worship bears fruit?
The speaker argues that if one person does deepdaan by the correct, tantrokta vidhan and everything goes well in his house, he will tell ten others and do only good — he will harm no one. Whoever is worshipping something is spreading what he gains from it: the one whose job comes by worshipping a certain baba spreads that; and those who are worshipping pishach shaktis under the name of Masani and such, giving them grand names, are spreading that.
Who is Markateshwar and what was required of his sadhak?
In the shamshaan too it is only some rare man who pleases Markat ji, who pleases Markateshwar, by the Dakshinachara or the Vamachara vidhi. In earlier times Markat Veer, Markateshwar, was pleased and made siddha; it is said that one who obtained Markateshwar's kripa gained the samarthya to kill a hundred men alone. But the greatest thing was that such a man had to keep complete brahmacharya and, with complete nishtha, do the seva-puja of Markateshwar and of Hanuman for his whole life.
Diksha and shaktipat become required, and mantra, yantra, mudra and nyasa enter with sattwik substances
Dakshinacara is the formal entry into tantric practice proper, requiring initiation (diksha) and shaktipat from a qualified guru, introducing mantra, yantra, mudra, and nyasa in worship of Shakti — using vegetarian, sattwik ritual substances, and it's the acara most closely associated with Srividya traditions in South India.
Where is the origin of the Shmashan Bhairav form described, and who may worship it today?
The chief and original form of the Shmashan Bhairavs is the one we can name with proof, he says, because the puranas describe it. In the Shiv Mahapuran, in the kathas he has heard, the subject arises that at the time of the war the Shmashan Bhairav certainly arrived, and many forms of the Bhairavs came to fight on Bhagavan Shiva's side. But in the Kalika Purana there is a very detailed description of how the Shmashan Bhairav form of Bhagavan came into being and what its purpose is. Today, he says, the pujan of this form is limited to the tantric parampara acharyas remaining in kula paramparas — and that is proper — but ordinary sadhaks should, at the divine times, perform its avahan and pujan to the best of their capacity even by the sattvik dakshinacharya vidhi, so that we may be protected.
Which is superior, Dakshinachara or Kaulachara?
The speaker answers the question with a question of his own: which is superior, gulab jamun or kala jamun?
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