Vamachara
Every question on the site tagged Vamachara, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
The left-hand path of Tantric practice, distinguished from Dakshinachara (right-hand path) by its use of otherwise-forbidden substances and methods in ritual.
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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.
Which Shakti Peeths to visit on Aghor Amavasya or Tara Amavasya?
The speaker asks that in the coming years, whenever the tithi of Aghor Amavasya or Mahavidya Tara Amavasya falls and conditions are normal, sadhaks try to go to a Shakti Peeth near them — especially one where Bhagavati's shaktis are Tantrokta or where her seva-puja and sadhana are done by the Vamachara method. He names Kamrup Kamakhya, Bhagavati Mahavidya Tarapith in Birbhum (West Bengal), Rajrappa in Jharkhand, a peeth of Mahavidya Tara in Bihar, and any other popularly known peeth worshipped by tantrokta method. Go and mark your presence there on this day, he says, and many of your stalled works will be completed.
Should bhog be offered to Bhagavati on Ekadashi, and which bhog?
Why should it not be offered, he answers. Here even the supreme Vaishnavas, those who call themselves outright incarnations of Narayan, are sitting and eating on that day. By the niyam of Ekadashi one should at the least not eat rice; that much at least holds, that on the day of Ekadashi do not eat rice. This much niyam everyone should observe, whoever you may be — unless you are initiated in a particular tantra marga, where the niyam of the vrat of the Ekadashi tithi does not apply; that subject is separate.
Who is forbidden even the touch of Tulsi?
Take the wearing of Tulsi: someone initiated into the kula of Bhagavati Tara, he says — if someone is initiated in that parampara, then for them what is Ekadashi and what is Tulsi ji. As for Tulsi ji, if someone is initiated in the Vamachara vidhi, then for them even the touch of Tulsi ji is forbidden; they are not to touch the wood of Tulsi, especially if they wear a Mahamari mala and the like. There the niyam becomes different.
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.
Can japa be done on a mundmala at home?
It is not done at home, the speaker says. A genuine mundmala, made of bone by the vidhi by which it is made, is not available in today's date and cannot be bought from any shop. It is a traditional matter that can be given to you if you have a guru of the Vamachara marga, who can give all these vidhans in the traditional manner. If someone is saying this is a mundmala, then it is of stone, plainly — the rest is your own wish. In our Grihastha Tantra family, he says, this subject does not exist at all.
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.
When was the Dhumavati prayoga performed in a house, and how?
He says that in earlier times, where animals kept dying in a house, where untimely deaths kept occurring, where inauspiciousness would not leave off, the Dhumavati prayoga was done in that house: a bamboo was planted straight in the Brahma bhag, the middle portion of the house, and made samput with the Dhumavati mantra, and kaak tantra was employed over it, to bring all the negative energy of the place to one spot.
Where in the texts do such prayogas belong?
He says the Nigrah Darun Saptak and the like that people read about in the Sarveshwar tantra and in the tantra of Bhagavati Bagla are a limb of precisely this kind of prayoga. Their complete vidhi-vidhan is in kaak tantra, and is used in ulluk tantra and the rest; in all the vamamargi tantras by which prets and pishachs are removed in a stroke, all of these are employed.
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.
Vashishtha went to Kamakhya and thereafter to Cheen — Tibet — and there did Tara's upasana by the Vamachara vidhi, receiving his boons and siddhi.
Vashishtha Muni went to Kamakhya, and thereafter to Cheen — the region that is Tibet — and there performed the upasana of Bhagavati Tara by the Tantrokta vidhi-vidhan, by the Vamachara vidhi. Then Bhagavati gave him the boons that were according to his mind, and bestowed siddhi and the rest upon him.
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.
What is Vamachara actually prescribed for?
The Vamachara vidhi has been prescribed for siddhi, not for pujan. For those people who want to perform siddhi, who want by taking mantra upadesh to obtain the grace of Bhagavati Tara and to perfect her shaktis, it is necessary. For those people who want to perform the ordinary seva and puja of Bhagavati and to obtain Mai's grace, it is not necessary in that way.
What was Baital sadhana used for historically?
It is said that Baital sadhana also yields the Vidya of changing form. In earlier times soldiers and commanders were made to perform it by their Kula Gurus or by the state Tantriks — a powerful, Vir-bhava category sadhana, after which victory in war became far easier, and by which those in the intelligence service changed form to accomplish their work.
Should a Kinnar be made one's Guru?
The speaker declines to generalise about their traditions, saying their mentality is not the same everywhere. But he notes that of the Kinnars who perform sadhanas, about ninety percent do them by Vama Vidya, by Vamachara — and once you go into Vamachara you will then have difficulty as a householder.
Venue for the Mahabhairav prayoga: an ugra Bhairav temple where madira is offered
The speaker says the first thing is to find a temple of Bhairava ji; there is no alternative to it. Asked whether a Shiva temple will do, he says no. Asked whether a Batuk Bhairava temple, or any temple where worship is only by sattvik vidhi, will do, he again says no: as this Prayoga is, it needs an Ugra deity and there is no choice. What is needed is a Bhairav kshetra nearby where worship is done by an ugra, Vamachara vidhi and where karan and similar patras, that is Madira, are certainly offered to Bhagavan Bhairav. Only there is the prayoga done.
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.
What are veer bhav and divya bhav, and which is required at Kamakhya?
The stage from fifteen years to forty-five or fifty-five years is called veer bhav, because in it a woman or a man has a great deal of shukra and raja within, whose emission is considerable, on account of which shakti remains in the body; within this, Vamachar and Siddhantachar have been held. After that comes divya bhav, the stage past fifty years, in which we have already enjoyed all the bhogas — and it is this divya bhav, the speaker says, that has been held at Kamrup Kamakhya: that only with divya bhav can Bhagavati's seva-puja be done.
Is what people have heard about Panchamakara wrong?
Panchamakara is entirely correct in its own place, the speaker says. He will not discuss the five at much length, but whatever all of you have heard about them is not wrong — it is correct. What is going wrong is the use being made of it. Now consider, he adds, how many misconceptions are spread around Panchamakara among those who are proceeding with veer bhav or who say they will sit down holding just this state.
If madira and maithun gave siddhi, what would follow?
If it were so that smoking ganja gave siddhi and drinking madira gave siddhi, the speaker says, then all those standing in queues outside the English liquor shops and the country liquor shops would have obtained siddhi. In exactly the same way, if maithun — which is spoken of in Panchamakara — were the greatest giver of siddhi, then every householder, and all those living in live-in relationships, would have become siddhas.
What do people not know when they offer karan in Vamachar puja?
People do not even know, the speaker says, that if you are offering karan — having gone into the Aghor parampara, offering liquor and performing Vamachar puja as an initiate — you should know that liquor, that is madya, has been cursed. Whose curse? The Yadavas, the descendants of Bhagwan Shri Krishna, were all destroyed at the destruction of Dwarikapuri on account of madira-paan; so the story goes. After that Shri Krishna gave a curse to madira, that the curse would remain in the madira tattva, and whoever drinks it will incur a dosha.
What is Shukracharya's curse on madira, and what is shodhan?
In the same way, when Bhagwan Narayan took the Mohini swaroop and made the asuras drink madira so that they were deprived of the amrit, a curse was given by the daitya guru Shukracharya as well. For this reason there is a process of shodhan, the speaker says: when karan is offered to any deva shakti, before offering it, it is freed from the curse of Krishna and of Shukra — and only then is it offered, and only then is it drunk.
How is karan offered at Tarapith, and why may it not be watched?
In the Vam paddhati, when you go to Tarapith at the Ram Ram ghat in West Bengal, at the time when karan is offered there you are forbidden to watch, the speaker says. Nowadays money is taken and everything is shown, and everything there has become open; but at the time of the chief pujan, the shringar pujan, the mudras that come in Panchamakara are used to purify the karan, and by the mantras given in the guru parampara it is freed from the curse of Krishna and Shukra, and only then offered to the devi and drunk.
What about matsya and mudra in the Panchamakara?
Taking matsya: if that were it, the speaker says, then every Bengali would be siddha — the people of Bengal cannot do without maachh-bhaat and eat only fish; if eating fish did it, all would be siddha, and fishermen would be the greatest siddhas. As for mudra, some told of the mudras and some said it meant money — so that the moneyed become siddha, and those who have knowledge of the mudras become siddha, all of them become siddha. These, he says, are the misconceptions spread; it is not like this.
Does a janeu-wearing Brahmin cease to be a Brahmin on taking deeksha in the Kaul marg?
Asked whether a janeu-wearing Brahmin, on being initiated in the Kaul marg, is finished as a Brahmin on account of Panchamakara, the speaker exclaims and then answers: now tell me, who is a greater Brahmin than Bhagwan Rishi Vashishtha and Mata Arundhati? And Bhagwan Guru Vashishtha attained siddhi by worshipping Bhagavati Tara by the Vamachara paddhati. What more, he asks, is to be said than this.
Can a Gayatri anushthan be done after using Panchamakara?
When you are initiated in the Kaul parampara, the speaker tells the questioner, at present you are doing Gayatri; there, according to the Kaul parampara, the Gayatri relating to that in which you are initiated is given to you.
Is smoking ganja justified by calling it Bholenath's Prasad?
The speaker allows the Yogi's case and refuses yours. If a Yogi smokes and is genuinely doing Yoga sadhana, fine — he is tapping his body, you do not know which herbs he adds, and his is Vamachara sadhana. Yours is not. You are making it a means for your own appetites and calling it Prasad.
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.
Should mudra and bali ever be shown on camera?
Never, the speaker says. These things are never for showing. Yet the bali of a mahish is shown live with the announcement that Aghor Kali is being worshipped, that Shamshan Kali is receiving bali. He fears that people proving themselves tantrics will next display the mudra of the Panchamakara and their Bhairavi live as well.
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.
Why does the shamshan sadhak's work prevail over a householder's?
Because, the speaker says, he sits in the shamshaan doing japa and tapa for years on end, performs many kinds of vamachari procedures, gives bali, achieves siddhi in the mouth of a corpse or of a goat, and only then runs the prayoga after awakening it. That is why your devi-devatas step back — his tapobala is with him, whereas you do it for two or four days and then say the devatas have no shakti.
What does Raktabija's story show about tantric sadhana?
The speaker says asuras also performed tantric sadhana — take Meghnath, or Raktabija, who obtained his shakti by Bhagavati's grace alone. Bhagavati gave it and Bhagavati took it back: Chamunda Mai herself killed him. It will astonish you, he says, that the sadhana Raktabija performed was of Bhagavati Chamunda herself. The one who gave, took.
Was Raktabija's vamachari worship outside the Veda?
The speaker says Raktabija performed tapasya of Bhagavati for a long time as a rakshasa and by the vamachari vidhi — what is called avaidik puja. But avaidik is separate from the Veda only in name, he says; it is Vaidik as well, and is not outside it. Even so, Raktabija did not simply take anything at all: prasad is treated as prasad, and beyond that his whole conduct was samyam.
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.
Is there a sadhana for obtaining an aghori or tamasik guru?
Asked what to mix into bathing water, he says it depends — mix Gangajal and bathe. Asked whether the sadhana for obtaining a guru serves those who want an aghori guru or a tamasik guru for tamasik or aghor sadhana, he says: absolutely, do it holding that very wish in the mind — that we want such a guru for tamasik sadhana, that we want an aghori guru — and such a one will be obtained.
Bamakhepa urinated upon the murti of Bhagavati Tara and Jagadamba still fed him by her own hand
If you wish to carry the Sanatan culture forward, carry it correctly; he says he will never agree with those who talk nonsense, and that too about Vedokta things. Now Bamakhepa is called Mahaguru in the tantra kshetra — he used to urinate upon the murti of Bhagavati Tara and throw the food away, and yet Jagadamba, the Mahamai, was so gracious that she would come and feed him with her own hand. Is there such capacity in his disciples, he asks; if they too were to say we will do this thing in this manner according to our guru, is there that much capacity? They will not remain fit for anything.
What does he say about a guru prescribing havan with fish and liquor at home?
A questioner writes that her guru ji tells her to do havan and offer bhog with fish and liquor in the house, while she has no special knowledge on the subject of vamachara. As far as it seems to him, he says, from this thing she is saying — the method of doing havan with fish and liquor — he is probably already knowing who that guru ji is; he will probably be the one from Lucknow. Then he stops: leave it now, what is the use of censuring anyone.
What if you want to go into the vam paddhati and know nothing?
If you want to go further into the vam paddhati and you know nothing, then nothing has to be done, he says: wherever in the whole of India you are, do the puja of Vamakhepa. Not very much has to be done — do his dhyan in the form of guru, do his puja, pray to him. He is careful to add that he is not saying you will get diksha of Bhagavati Mahavidya Tara and be initiated into that parampara. No.
What is a tamasik sadhana?
A tamasik sadhana means one in which we use maans, madira and so on, he answers. As with the sadhana of Bhairav ji, or in the sadhana of Bhagavati Bagla, where the ahuti is made with madya, that is with madira. There are very many shamshanik sadhanas in which havan is done with the liver, with maans, with all these things. That becomes a sadhana of tamasik nature. As for tamasik bhog, he says, if you go over to the Bengali side then there even Lakshmi ji is given a bhog of fish.
Is there a simple path of upasana for Ma Tara?
There is no simple path of upasana of Ma Tara, the speaker answers. Ordinary dhoop and deep you may do, or if you are a resident of her kshetra you may do it. But she is fully the chhatra shakti of tantra, and her complete puja happens only by the tantrokta vidhan. Maharshi Vashishtha too did not attain siddhi by the Vedic way; only when he did her sadhana and upasana with the fifth makara, that is by the tantrokta method, did he attain siddhi.
What gathering happens at Tarapith in these days?
It is said that just as in the Ambubachi parva a whole great gathering of tantrics takes place at Kamakhya, where people go and stay for four days, so for at least three days there is a gathering at Tarapith, in the Birbhum district of Bengal — where the famed Vamachari tantric Vamakhepa had his tapasthali, where the Panchmundi asana is present, and where it is said that Maharshi Vashishtha, the kula guru of Bhagavan Shri Ram, attained the siddhi of Bhagavati Tara by the Vam marga, that is the tantra marga.
Can an unmarried person take Tara diksha, and can the unmarried go to Tarapith?
A listener asks whether, being unmarried, he can take Tara diksha, whether Kali herself is Mata Tara, and whether the unmarried may go to Tarapith. Why can you not go, he answers — do go, certainly. And as for being unmarried, tomorrow you will marry. He then states clearly that the pujan of Bhagavati Tara is done wholly by tantrokta vidhi-vidhan, that her puja happens by the Vamachar paddhati, and that she has been said to be above the Veda.
What happened when Vashishtha attempted her by the Vaidik marga?
When Maharshi Vashishtha made the attempt to accomplish her by the Vaidik marga, that siddhi simply did not take place, he says. Then he too went into the region of Kamarupa Kamakhya, and after that to the Tara Peeth that is in Cheen — which, as things now are, has gone into China, into Tibet. So this is wholly tantra vidya; be initiated into it after thinking and understanding.
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.
What is Vamacara, and what are the pancha makara ("five Ms")?
Vamacara, the "left-hand path," is reached only after maturity in Dakshinacara, and involves the literal ritual use of the pancha tattwa/pancha makara — madya (consecrated wine), mamsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudra (parched grain), and maithuna (ritual sexual union) — under a qualified guru's direct supervision, rather than the symbolic substitutes used in Dakshinacara.
What is the stated rationale behind Vamacara's use of taboo substances and acts?
The author presents Vamacara's rationale as deliberately using substances and acts orthodox society deems impure or forbidden to break down the practitioner's dualistic mental conditioning around pure/impure and sacred/profane — with success measured by whether the ishta devata mantra's power stays fully active even under these non-ideal conditions.
Why has Vamacara historically drawn criticism, and how does the author respond to it?
The author attributes historical criticism of Vamacara mainly to socio-religious bias rather than fair assessment, noting the mutual friction between orthodox schools (who called tantra "nastika"/heterodox) and tantric texts (which called Vedic ritual "snakes without poison," i.e. empty formalism) — while affirming Vamacara's validity is emphatically endorsed in tantra shastras when practiced with proper discipline.
Never without a qualified guru and proper diksha — fast and profound when prepared for, dangerous when not
The author repeatedly insists Vamacara must never be practiced without a fully qualified guru and proper diksha, describing it as extremely dangerous if attempted alone or from mere theoretical knowledge, though fast and profound in results for those properly prepared.
Cremation-ground sadhana with kapala and bone mala, undertaken only where a highly competent guru permits it
Viracara ("heroic conduct"), embraced within Vamacara, involves advanced sadhanas conducted in liminal spaces like cremation grounds (shmashana), using funeral objects such as a human skull (kapala) or bone malas — practice the author says carries significant psychological and spiritual risk and requires a highly competent guru to permit.
How was Vashishtha's curse on Bhagavati Tara eventually removed?
Directed by Bhagavati, Vashishtha went by the Chinachara krama to the place in the Tibet region where the first presence of Mahavidya Tara was established, learnt her entire subject and paddhati there, and performed her siddhi by vamamargi sadhana. The curse he had laid was undone when Jagadamba manifested from her thousandth part as Subhadra in the Vindhyavasini form and became present in the forest as Mahavidya Tara — and when Shri Krishna, in that avatar, performed her upasana, he freed her from the curse.
How is Mahabhairav worshipped in the shamshaan, and who may do it?
The chief form of Mahabhairav, he says, is the ugra form, and it is worshipped chiefly in the shamshaan by the vamachara vidhi vidhan, in which mans bali and so on take place completely. This is a written matter too, he says, but it is for sadhaks — the initiated, and those who know the vidhi vidhan. Those who do not have that knowledge should at least take the shelter of that form in a Shiva temple and protect themselves and their kula and vansh.
What is the form of Shmashan Bhairav as described?
If a shamshaan pujan is going on in the night of Tara Navami or Ashtami, he says, then the pujan there will be by the vidhi vidhan of the shamshaan alone. And the form of Shmashan Bhairav is one that wears the garland of the hands of dead human beings, sits upon them all, and whose whole anointing is done with rakta chandan and blood and the like.
Permission to drink, backed by an appeal to Bengal and Tarapith, is what draws people
The more freedom you give and the more unrestrained you make people, the speaker says, the better it goes. Say that you can do mantra japa after drinking liquor, there is no difficulty, it is offered to Bhairav ji anyway so it rises — then it is prasadi, take it and carry on. Look, they went to Tarapith and the bhog is offered to Bhagavati herself. Have you seen the Durga Puja of Bengal, of Mithilanchal? Everything is eaten; nothing happens without bali being offered. Eat everything, drink everything. Does Ma stop it? Ma forbids nothing at all — she is Ma.
What argument is used to justify Shamshan Kali worship at home?
The speaker reports the argument put back to him: you yourself say that the root form of all the shaktis of Bhagavati is Ma Parvati. So Shamshan Kali is one form of Parvati ji — what difficulty will there be if we do it in the house? What will happen if we do the puja of Bhadrakali in the house? And what difficulty will there be if we do all these things having eaten and drunk?
Take the benefit if it comes, but do not abuse those deities afterwards
So all these things you do, the speaker says, and if it seems to you that benefit is coming, then take that benefit — there is no difficulty. But afterwards do not sit down and speak wrongly about those devi-devatas. And it is not necessary, he adds, that you will immediately receive every tiryak effect of it.
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