Virachara
Every question on the site tagged Virachara, each answered from a timestamped source rather than a summary written from memory.
The 'heroic' discipline of Shakta Tantra, requiring a practitioner's spiritual capacity to sustain intense practices — a genuine Mundamala's energy, for instance, cannot be sustained by anyone outside this discipline.
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Also called Mahamani or Mahashankha, and required by Shakta practitioners holding the Virachara discipline
In Tantra it is also called Mahamani or Mahashankha mala; it is primarily required for Shakti practitioners following the Virachara (heroic) discipline, or for those seeking rapid Siddhi, because a genuine Mundamala's energy is too intense for anyone outside that discipline to sustain.
Not granted at initiation, and used in Yaksha, Gandharva, Veera, Bhairava and Kapalika sadhanas
It is not granted immediately upon Tantric initiation — an aspirant must progress through preliminary practices; Mundamalas are used not only for Mahavidya and fierce sadhanas, but also in Virachara practices involving Yakshas, Gandharvas, Veeras, Bhairavas, and Kapalika sadhanas.
Is a wife or lover the Devi's direct form, as the Kaul marga claims?
He gives as an example the nautanki running among sadhaks of the Kaul marga who bring up repeatedly that whether in Navratri or at any other time, if you have a wife or a lover then she is the Devi's own direct form; so if she says she wants the pleasure of the bed at that time, you should give it, since the Devi is saying it. What lowness could be greater than this, he asks. A person committing such wrongdoing, doing sadhana in Navratri with such a base mentality, whether by night or by day — if he is not punished, what else will he get?
Do the kavachas themselves say who may not receive them?
The speaker says there are several kavachas in which it is written with clarity to whom they are not to be given, and several stotras in which it is written clearly that only those whose veerabhishek has taken place — at minimum, after a shakta abhishek, whose guru has given the veer adesh that they may do veer sadhanas and proceed in the veeracharya bhav, and who have received the upadesh for it — may recite them. Not everyone can recite them.
How far may one go with a Mahavidya without initiation?
Up to the Ashtottara Shatanamavali, the speaker says — but only one in whose phalashruti it is not written that people of the virachara paddhati should do it only after being initiated. If that is written in it, then it should not be done. Many Ashtottara Shatanams are available.
What can a non-sattvik eater do if he cannot do the Lakshmi mala mantra?
Asked by a listener who says his diet is not sattvik and who wishes to do the Dhanada Kavach Stotra in the virachara path instead of the Lakshmi mala mantra purashcharan, the speaker answers that one does not eat meat first thing on waking — one can rise, bathe and perform puja, so do that. He then criticises those who eat meat yet say bali is not offered to their deity: when it is brought home, the deity receives a portion regardless, and dosha attaches.
Is virachara diksha a licence to eat and drink freely?
No. The speaker says that if you are in this path and must eat, then choose that kind of deity form and take that kind of diksha — but you cannot proceed without knowing the vidhi vidhan and being controlled. Even virachari sadhaks, he says, inevitably fall after a time if they do not walk by niti and niyam. Virachara is not a certificate of licence, and where there is no restraint over the indriyas there is no sadhana at all.
At what hour of the day should the Navratri japa be done?
It is Navratri, so the matter is of the night hour. Sadhana done at night is excellent — become a Viracharin practitioner and try to do it at night in Navratri too. Do your Anushthan daily between nine at night and one in the morning; whatever recitation you do, if it falls in that span it is excellent.
Virachari sadhaks and the kings of the time broke the invasions on the strength of their siddhis
The first attacks were never direct, he says: read history, and when an invasion occurred, the Virachara sadhaks of that time and the kings and maharajas, on the strength of the kind of siddhis they had obtained, broke the backs of these people.
When does a mala actually have to be re-consecrated?
Where a Sutak has attached and six or seven months, an Ayana, have passed — you did japa through the Uttarayana and have now come into the Dakshinayana. Not immediately, and not at a change of season. Those who do japa of Shatkarma mantras must do all of it; for Vedic and Maha mantras the mala only grows more consecrated.
How is a coconut, kushmanda or lemon consecrated for bali?
If you go into the vidhan of consecration, the speaker says, then first do the pujan of the bali peeth, then astra pujan; in that the virachara mantras and the like must have been obtained, and if the guru has given the phatkar mantras into your ear that is excellent. Only then do the pujan of the yoginis, before the bali is given; then do the pujan of the bali, perform the pratishtha, and only then the chhedan, with its own rules at the time of chhedan. So much rule, he asks, how will you learn without diksha?
Should a householder read into shamshanik and Aghor practice?
A householder should not read into these things at all, the speaker tells the questioner. And especially the youth: if you wish to go into shamshanik sadhana, into Aghor, in tantra sadhana, then do not go by way of YouTube and Facebook. If you wish to perform the most ugra sadhana, then absolutely do — sadhana exists to be done: make up your mind that you are not to go into grihastha, that you have to do sadhana too, that you have to do tamasik sadhana in the tantra marga, sadhana in the veer bhaav, and that you have to advance on that path. Advance by all means — but having decided, going with someone, under the guidance of some qualified guru, face to face. All sadhana does not happen from YouTube and Facebook.
What is shav sadhana and where does it belong?
Shav sadhana is a tantric sadhana of a high order, the speaker says. Understand it this way: as when you are doing the sadhana of Bhagavati Kali, the sadhana in the veer bhaav — shav sadhana comes within that. In Shaiva sadhana too, that is in the parampara of Bhagavan Shiva, when sadhana is done in Aghor, in the Naar sampradaya, then in tantra sadhana too shav sadhana comes in. Its prominence was very great especially in the medieval period, although it has existed from the beginning.
Worshipping Pitambara's ugra form with the 36-akshari, the office boss becomes the target
Suppose we work in some office and our boss abuses us and speaks wrongly — this happens normally. And suppose we are worshipping the ugra form of Bhagavati Pitambara, doing the japa of the 36-akshari daily. Now the 36-akshari japa is done in Veer bhav; we are doing the japa in Veer bhav, so whenever we think about the enemy, who will appear there as the enemy? There the enemy will appear as that boss who spoke wrongly to us. The whole energy will become centred upon him.
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.
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