In my opinion, it is reserved for initiated upāsakas only, as it is associated with the āvaraṇa krama of Śrī Mahāgaṇapati. An intiation into His mantra will give you the authority to practice the yantra āvaraṇa pūja as well as the mantra itself.

Very happy to hear from sādhakas following the Hādi Śrī Vidyā tradition. Your variation is noted. If there is any published variation of this mantra with the details you mentioned, please let us know so I can reference it. Practioners may still take note. If there are any details that you can share about Hādi Ṣoḍaśī if permissible, it would certainly be of great reference to sādhakas. My only desire is to keep this tradition alive and make it available for sincere sādhakas all over the world.

Can a common person perform Ganapathi chathuvati tarpanam. What is first step to learn this process? Please guide me.

Pranam , In our tradition the chhanda is pankti chanda. Devata is lalitatripursundari

Tivra, like Jyoti, and if I'm not mistaken, the first was Laurent. They all call for the purity of Shuddha. It's very difficult to follow the path of Sri Ramalinga Vallara; it's a path of purity. Even Sri Aurobindo doesn't reach the heights Sri Ramalinga reached. This Saint, transformed into Light, wrote in his manifesto that the Truth was distorted by anthropomorphic influence, for the convenience of ordinary people, by pandits. Personally, this path is not for me. It's easier to practice Sri Vidya, recite the manras to which I'm initiated, relying on the grace of Para Shakti. After all, each energy represents a specific consciousness, and these energies are countless. And as Sri Ramakrishna said: "A mother prepares different dishes for each child who can digest them: some boiled, others fried." I think Tivra is above offense; he should understand that he's providing specific information on a specific website read by those who adhere to the traditions . I hope Tivra ji will finally understand and will continue to appear on this platform. Krishna Ji, thank you very much for your work on this site.

I think, it’s high unlikely he will help us any further. He has given us the tools and the means, and it’s up to us to find our own ways. Let’s pray that he comes back when he is really needed to guide us in our need.

Tīvra, I really hope you will be guided to expound on how to resolve the primary problem of this universe. It could be a tremendous resource, to have such knowledge available. All the best

I would like to add a couple of things to Krishna's very good explanation. Firstly regarding who is a guru is without sisya, it should be known that many genuine advanced sadhakas and great gurus do try not to be found. But if one is truly genuine and willing to sacrifice any part of themself, they will be helped, no matter the instance. This is very hard for the modern mind to comprehend, but it is in the nature of this reality for whatever reasons, even I do not understand why. But the point is that yes for one who is truly genuine they will not be turned away. The next thing I would like to add is who is a guru. There are different levels to enlightenment and in some context anyone who is able to teach and transmit energy may be regarded as a guru, but it is known that there are several levels to enlightenment, realization, and capability. Traditionally we may view this as, one who has attained moksha but is still living, may be a guru. It can also be said that paramaguru in any lineage is the most important. And next is the one who has received the energy of the guru with the responsibility of leading others who are to become initiated in the lineage. It is very possible for an advanced sadhaka to become a guru to only a few others, but it is always warned that if this gets out of hand or the sadhaka becomes too well known, their water will evaporate like a vase left open to the sun. They will lose what they have accumulated and beyond losing siddhis if revealed ect. the fall can even kill the one in question. But in a stable lineage, the sadhaka will lead you to the guru. Or the guru will seek you out in some way. The first step for anyone who is struggling in this is to get out of your ways and leave behind your modern ideologies. Be willing to go to any length. Travel to the Himalayas, travel to varanasi, do something and anything to put yourself out there and be willing to go to any length. The reason I say this is not because you have to be in a geographical place for realization or finding of a guru to happen. The reason is because in taking genuine great actions, you will be causing an echo to resonate within the reality and these echos will cause many more things to happen far into the future. If you can not go to these places, then even physically wandering with yearning and searching for something in any way, will cause things to happen. Wander in natural places, wander the sandhya between night and day, in rain and fog, in the dead of night. Your perceptions of life and limitations will begin to evaporate. Lose yourself and your view of the world. Impossible Coincidences will start to happen, and within this frequency you Will meet those who you seek to meet. Life is not by chance and all things are attracted or repelled with one another. This is not the simple ideology of attraction or magnetism, It is in fact an extreme reality. The way you become will determine if you will or will not come across what you seek so badly.

If the grace of the guru uplifts the śiṣya (disciple) by the absorption of their bad karma, then surely a debt of love, respect and adherence to the teachings is created and the śiṣya is bound to fulfill the same. In reality, it is very rare to find such a true guru - śiṣya bond where both long for each other. It should be noted that a triad is implicit. A guru is a nobody when there is no śiṣya and their relationship is merely to ascend towards the Divine who completes the triad. The most important point to note is the Divine and not the guru or the śiṣya but the triad is incomplete without the three. It is the will of the Divine to express Itself as Itself, guru and the śiṣya. In other words, they are all one and the same, but appear different from a triadic perspective. The qualities expected of a guru is explained in another article on this site and one may lookup the same. Practically speaking, such gurus are very rare to find and so we need to make an adjustment somewhere to see if most of the expected qualities are present before becoming śiṣyas. Likewise, the gurus will also look for genuine śiṣyas and will tend to turn away non-serious seekers. Commitment towards sādhana, is the dakṣiṇa a guru should expect from a śiṣya. This rarely happens due to commercialization of the process and the presence of incompetent and non-committal gurus, as well as non-serious and greedy śiṣyas. We live in a highly demanding world and material dominance is significant. We must note that fruition of mantras does not happen merely after receiving a mantra from a guru but may materialize with sincere efforts of the śiṣya. The interaction between the guru and śiṣya cannot be a one time affair, as the responsibility and commitment is expected from the guru to explain all aspects of the deity sādhana to the best of their ability. Likewise, the śiṣya is also expected to commit to learning the same and committed to follow the associated rituals. Meditation and studying scriptures such as Advaita are a better way towards self-realization. Mantra sādhana is geared more towards bhoga (material fulfillment) followed by ātma jṅāna (self-realization) leading towards mokṣa (liberation) and as such, is very slow but most practical. One must note that millions of mantras have been documented and many were followed throughout the ages and continue to be invoked to this day. There are many instances of siddha gurus fulfilling the wishes of their śiṣyas through mere blessings. There are many testimonials of such gurus from respected individuals throughout the history. 

Yes Mahasvin, this is very true. There may be a bending of rules however in the introduction due to deception in the modern world, and the lack of ability to discern reality. But one becomes entirely indebted to their guru and will easily live and die for their own guru with no second thought. It is difficult to understand for those who are unfamiliar.