Kulachara
Every question on the site tagged Kulachara, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
A family's traditional spiritual conduct and lineage-deity worship method, passed from parent to child — when a child adopts it, the family's spiritual protection continues into the next generation without them having to rebuild it from scratch.
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Why is sustained spiritual effort against affliction never wasted, and what determines whether the next generation inherits or dismantles that protection?
Years of spiritual practice against affliction awaken protective energies that never go to waste — if a child adopts the family's Kulachara, that protection continues into the next generation, but if the parent-child Rinanubandha is severely negative, the child instead rejects those teachings and dismantles decades of built-up protection.
Must a Brahmin who takes up Vamachara consume meat and liquor?
Asked whether a Brahmin who wishes to do Vamachari sadhana has to consume meat and liquor, the speaker says: whichever kula you go into, you will indeed have to act according to whatever your guru commands. If you do not do it, then do not go into that kula.
Which deities must not be brought inside a householder's home?
Walk on the grihasthi path, he says, so that your welfare happens and no such tattva or dev shakti becomes present that would harm the other people of the family. So an ugra devata should be worshipped outside, in a temple outside, and should not come inside the house. Their seva puja is to be given, not stopped — the right that is theirs must reach them — but according to where their form belongs. Shamshan Kali's puja is not done seated inside a home; those who have it done may do good or ill to themselves, but the ruin of the one for whom it is done is certain.
Hearing such pravachans turns the mind and makes people abandon their kula devis and devatas, thinking Kali small and Radha great
So that this deviation does not enter your mind — that Kali ji is small and Radha ji is great — because of which the mind turns. Many people, he says, have become quite extraordinary; the state and the mentality have become so degraded that people have given up the worship of their own kula devis and devatas after listening to pravachans. Now consider, he says: these people are calling the worship of one's kula devi-devatas a superstitious act.
What happens if an established pind worship is abandoned?
Where a pind worship has been running in someone's house for a hundred years, in someone else's for fifty, someone having established a pind — even if he is worshipping a Brahma Pishach — he has been worshipping it. He has shraddha in it. Now you say no, no, bhoot-pret worship is not to be done. But it has already been given; and within him there is not so high a tattva that he can simply drop it. He will begin to be ruined.
What must an uninitiated person not attempt?
If you are not initiated in some kula parampara, the speaker says, you may have an attraction towards distinctive forms — but if you do not know the prayoga, then do not do it. As an example he names Swarnakarshan Bhairav, whose prayoga they themselves are performing tomorrow, and which they have written out fully in the group.
What about a family custom of touching a mukhauta to a mool vigraha?
Where a paddhati exists, where there is a custom, the matter there is different, the speaker tells a listener with the handle Bhagavati Upasak. We are never forbidding that; that is to be done. If the rule in your place is that your kuldevi's form, a mukhauta or some other thing, is to be taken to some place and touched, then there is no prohibition on that.
Living around Tarapith, Kamakhya or a Shakti Peeth, or holding such a shakti in one's kula parampara, one need ask no one — but neither preach it to another.
Yes. If you live around Tarapith, or around the Kamakhya peeth, or your region is around a Shakti Peeth — or if in your parampara, in your kula parampara, Bhagavati Tara, Bhagavati Chhinnamastika, Bhagavati Dhumavati or any shakti of this kind stands worshipped — then there you have no need to ask anything of anyone. But for somebody else to begin doing it on seeing you, or for you to preach to another that we are doing it so you do it too, is wrong.
Why is somebody else's practice not a warrant for yours?
Because varna and dharma and desha and kaal all have their greatness in all of this. Somebody says that we perform the pujan of Tara or Chhinnamastika at home, and not from today but for ten years — and you become greatly agitated by it and begin doing it as well. Then at least see whose kula parampara that is, who stands worshipped in their house, and which other people before them in their house were the ones who performed her puja.
May women wear the pavitra?
The speaker says why should they not — where has it been forbidden? The pavitra is worn for shuddhi, for purity, and there ought to be no difficulty in it. According to the karmakand described by Vedic karma, whatever it may be, in the tantra kshetra, in whatever tantrokta grihastha work you are doing, it may be worn in the pujan.
Who reaches that principal pind, and can ordinary people go?
On the other side of the Nilanchal parvat, and in its north-eastern part, when you go towards the Kadali van, there you will find the principal pind, where the entry of ordinary persons is forbidden even today, the speaker says — so many misconceptions have been spread that nobody is able to go there. Sadhaks served in the Kula paramparas reach that far and perform darshan and pujan. The principal thing, he says, has somewhere been kept secret even now.
Can sadhana succeed without remaining a brahmachari, as the new manmukhi panths claim?
One who does not properly know the chakra pujan can say anything at all, the speaker says. Nowadays a manmukhi vidhan is running, in which anything can go. Just as the Vaidik vidhan has its own importance, so the Kaul and the Shakta have their own; you may tamper with it and make up anything of your own. A new parampara is being formed nowadays — mukta panth, this panth, that panth — and in it people are even saying that you may do sadhana and puja without remaining a brahmachari and your gati will still occur. A person should never tamper with it, he says.
How should Tara's temples be served, and within what limit?
Where Bhagavati Tara's sadhana begins on the tantra marga — or generally, doing any form of Bhagavati, Ma Durga, Ma Kali, anyone — if one goes to the temples and sthaans of Bhagavati Tara and does her seva-puja, keeping to one's own kula parampara. Not by force, he warns: it is not that we are Brahmins in whose house meat and fish do not run at all, and we go and offer liquor. That is not to be done. Whatever the niti-niyam is; and if you do offer, then according to the niyam, and gladly, not against your own heart.
What does Shani in the eighth bhava do?
If he comes into the eighth, then divya, most divya — he says this only and only in terms of sadhana and mantra samarthya. The negative side, whether he will decay the lifespan or whatever, depends entirely on the lagna; but he becomes an exceeding nourisher of the mantra's capacity. If Shani Deva is particularly in the eighth and has become a yogakarak for you, and you are doing sadhana, and if Shani Deva is himself the ashtamesh, then in all these situations a person who especially performs vamachari sadhana finds it more strengthening — but even so, whichever mantra of the mahashaktis he does by his kula parampara gives fruit quickly.
Kuldevi by surname, or the one worshipped for four or five generations?
Akshay Tanwar ji asks whether Kshatriyas should search out and worship the kuldevi according to their surname, or may keep worshipping the form of Mata ji they have worshipped as kuldevi for four or five generations. It is your own decision, the speaker answers: if you wish, it will be very good to learn the whole vidhi and subject of which Kshatriyas you belong to according to your surname, and to do that as well. But those who have been worshipped for four or five generations you cannot leave. Even though the new one you come to know of will be the older one, people must have left it at some time; that one you may begin. But in this you cannot leave your own kuldevi who has been worshipped for four or five generations already — she must certainly be worshipped.
How is Varahi Ma worshipped at home?
Asked whether Varahi Ma's puja is done at home too, in the south direction, and what the simple puja is, he answers that in a simple puja one should particularly do Mai's stuti and her stotra, satnam and the like. Bali is exceedingly dear to Ma, he says, but the vidhan of bali should be according to the parampara of the kuldevi.
What governs the rudraksha worn at the waist?
The kamarband, the speaker says, is where the most particular matter arrives: if you wish to walk according to tradition, wear it according to the kula in which you are initiated, because the most special place of all is here — the navel, from which we obtain everything. One initiated in Bhagavati's Kamakhya kula, for instance, will wear a full panchmukhi manibandh, but with one thirteen-mukhi or one three-mukhi certainly in it.
What does the Kalika Mahapuran say about Ashtami and Navami worship here?
It is also described in the Kalika Mahapuran that if any sadhak, on any Ashtami or Navami tithi, inscribes the separate mandalas of Bhagavati Pancharupa Kamakhya Devi and worships by the independent pancha-tantra — but all of that, the speaker says, then issues from your own kula parampara, in the manner in which pujan is done by vidhi vidhan in the kula parampara. Put plainly: if you have received mantra diksha, do it accordingly. And if you perform yantra archan and pujan, then go to Kamakhya ji sometime; if you have done at least a hundred shatarchans of your yantra, take your yantra along, and sitting near Saubhagya Kund do the mandala pujan, abhishek and shatarchan you know.
In what circumstance and on which mantra are the ten samskaras actually done?
The speaker turns the question around. People are nowadays doing much japa of Bhagavati Tara's mantra, as they were doing Bhagavati Bagla's in between. Suppose you feel a mantra is not giving effect. One channel on YouTube says do the japa of this mantra of Bhagavati Tara; another channel says that if a mantra is not giving effect, do its ten samskaras. But neither of the two is telling you whose samskara must never be done. Will the mantra you are doing japa of ever take a samskara? Which mantra is it — a devata's, a Mahavidya's, a devi's, a yogini's? Of which kul? In which kul is the samskara done in which way? Is it the same for all?
Can a Shri Kul initiate use a Kali Kul teacher's vidhi?
The speaker asks the listener directly: if you are initiated in the Shri Kul and we are in the Kali Kul, can you perform the vidhan of Kurukulla by the method we have given? By the vidhi given in my parampara, can you carry out the whole vidhi vidhan of the mantras and the rest that fall under Shri Vidya? This knowledge should be there for prayoga, he says — one ought at least to know who a thing is for, and how it could possibly be made public.
The granths set out the niti and niyam of a Mahavidya sadhana within one's own kul, including whether the kul devi belongs to the Shri Kul
But after the Parvati Gita, when you go into the granths and study tantra, the speaker says, there is clarity on this subject: if you will do Matangi sadhana, then what niti and niyam are there for it? Is some subject of your kuldevi devatas present or not? If the devi of your kul is of the Shri Kul and you have gone off walking into Dhumavati sadhana, then there will be some niyam and nishtha or other. So this is the niti. Into this, you and I should not intrude anywhere. Remember only one subject: that here the Mundi has gone in order to bring about complete destruction, and these are the people of Tripura. Their complete destruction is happening — take your enjoyment, watch from in front, and bring learnedness into yourself.
Can a murti of Mahishasura Mardini be kept in the puja place if she is the kuldevi?
If Bhagavati's svarup is itself your kuldevi, then keep it — what is the matter, the speaker says. If your kuldevi is Chhinnamastika, then keep hers too and do her puja. But the vidhan of the pind ran formerly; in the pind, the pujan of Chhinnamastika used to be done, and the vidhan of the Shri Vigraha has not been there. So if the vidhan of the pind of Mahishasura Mardini too has run in your kul, has been running from before, then keep a chhaya chitra and keep a pind. Do not keep a Shri Vigraha — there is a reason behind it. And if a Shri Vigraha has been there from before, then keep it.
The Kaul sampradaya states its panchamakar openly instead of doing two kinds of work at once
He says he sees people connected with the Gayatri Parivar who, while eating meat, will still ask whether they may touch him, and who answer that nothing has been forbidden about eating. He asks how people, being Brahmins, do acts of this kind, and says he does not know what those people are taught. Better than that, he says, is at least the Kaul sampradaya, where they do say openly, yes brother, we will advance by eating meat, my panchamakar is such — they say it thumping their chest and go forward, and there you cannot call them wrong. Here people are doing two kinds of work at once.
Inside a kula parampara one becomes capable in sequence and receives the adesh for beejatmak sadhana
He says that when you go into a kula parampara you will become capable in the prescribed way, proceeding step by step, and you will receive the adesh for beejatmak sadhana. If you have gone into such a kula, and the sadhana of every shakti is done there in the prescribed way, then you will come to know that this subject is not so easy.
The effect passes into the kula parampara and falls upon the coming vansh
This thing happens in the kula parampara, he says — that is, in one's own kula, in one's own svakula, as well. And because of it, an effect falls upon the vansh that comes after. He takes as an example a household in which a grandfather or great-grandfather used to do sadhana, was initiated in some kula and was learning things — who in two or three years learnt the kramagat sadhanas very well, did some purashcharan as well, five lakh, ten lakh, twenty lakh, and because of that punya attainments came into his life too, whether materially or spiritually.
Does the fact that Bengalis do it make it applicable to you?
You have to marry later, he says, so do not now forget that the people of Bengal do it. He says again and again that according to the region, the rules apply to those people of that region accordingly. If you do not belong there, then the matter becomes different.
Such a vidhi exists, but do first what has already been given
Yes, there is such a vidhi, he says — but why do you wish to read into all these things now? You were told the fifth and the ninth; we have already told you what is to be done and how; do that much. Start it, and only then ask; how will it happen by asking only? Begin the sadhana of Bhagavati, begin the sadhana of Bhagavan Ganesh. The whole vidhi-vidhan has been told to you.
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?
What is required before a householder sits on a vyaghracharma?
Asked what should be done if a tiger skin is obtained and whether it must be perfected before sitting on it, the speaker answers first that if you get one you should hide it, or the forest department people will come to know and will carry you off. If it is coming through the guru parampara and you know it, then at least first do its documentation; and if you are receiving a new one, then hiding it is the greatest matter so far as he knows. The second thing is that before a householder does sadhana seated on a baghambar, there must be proper diksha — and according to him, when the amnaya diksha, the shakta diksha and the rest have taken place fully through the kula parampara, then afterwards, by the guru's adesh, when the sadhana in Veer bhav takes place upon it, then you should do the japa of Bhagavati and the rest upon it first. To do siddhi directly upon it, he says, is in his view forbidden.
Should a tulsi kanthi mala be removed by one worshipping Bhagavati?
Now those who are doing Bhagavati's worship are being told to have the tulsi kanthi mala they have taken removed, the speaker notes. He says he simply cannot comment on such subjects, because everyone has his own mati, gati, buddhi and his own kula krama — it may be that it is their kula krama. But according to him, all this cannot be had done without diksha. And the Narayan who bears this shakti, Pitambara — so far as it seems to him, the greatest and most capable siddha sadhak who bears Pitambara is Bhagavan Narayan himself; he bears her always, she is dear to him, and her energy is controlled by him, so there should be no dosha in it. In the Satnam at the least there is none at all. Yes, if one does his tantrokta mantras and such particular subjects, then.
How should a devi worshipped tamasically be worshipped at home?
If a devi is worshipped somewhere in a tamasik manner — as the listener is asking about Shamleshwari Devi — then it is not so, the speaker says: if you belong to that place, to that region, or if she is worshipped in your kula, then you will indeed worship her at home, and you will do it in that very form. But the bali and the rest you will offer at her sthaan; and at home, if it is not offered, then you will not offer it.
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