Namaste Vishnudutt garu.....Courtrallam Siddeshwarananda Bharati Swamy who is considered living, walking, talking Kala Bhairava himself said that you can do self initation of any mantra by writing the mantra on piece of paper or a bhoja patra, go to shiva temple place it in front of Lord shiva, consider him as Dakshina murthy and practise the mantra......quoting a verse or a line from Tantra is good but it needs to be understood wholistically and the context it was given and written. There will be definitely exceptions to it....I will agree if you say any that taking a mantra with Guru will help in faster fructification, Guru is necessary because if there are any problems faced due to mantra will be resolved by him, incorrect pronounciation of mantras will lead to problems etc....but saying that mantras should be kept secret and learnt only from so called Gurus...and in today's world we do not know who is a genuine Guru and who is a fake Guru as many end up in Jails......maybe learning it from a machine (Google) is not that bad an option....rest is left to Divine Mother..

Dear Sir...well said...something doesnt suit you is a popped up story and myth and rest is all authentic....this is called argument of convenience.....

Right

In addition to above I would like to add below: About Commercial aspects of Srividya: As per Tantra shastras, Guru should be worshiped. At the time of initiation, disciple should give Him some articles/ornaments. This aspect will come between a real Guru and Sisya bondage but not a single mantra given and taken bondage. I mean to say, about a guru lineage. In other cases, taking one mantra from one guru, taking another mantra from another guru etc...is a great sin. Guru dakshina also as per capacity of the disciple. Here also certain rules to be followed.

After long time I have visited this site. After reading above post and comments, I thought of sharing my thoughts. I humbly accept my ignorance on Srividya. Some of raised points I would like to address here: 1) Whether Guru is required really?: As per Shastras Guru is must. In fact, Guru got highest position in a sadhakas life. After Guru, father got such highest position. As per Vedas, first position should be Parents and then Guru. But as per Srividya Sastras, Guru should be worshiped before parents. When a man/woman want to practice tantras he/she may accept Shiva as Guru only after search of certain years (probably eighteen years). The urge, sincerity, passion etc only will lead a person to his suitable guru. 2) Whether mantras can be published openly? - As per Shastras NO. A right practitioner of Tantra (i.e. a realised guru) can deliver a mantra to his disciple only after certain puja procedures which will take minimum two days to do. Further, there are certain ways how to deliver that mantra to his disciple. Certainly not by publishing. There are certain curses associated with if a mantra is practiced without obtaining in a proper way. But now a days people do not have such patience to do Puja Kratu to get mantra as per shastras. Of course, we do not get such a real guru. We cannot identify him even if we come across him. This is maya only. So, mantras published publicly and practiced without proper guidance (Shakti paata) will not give any results. So there is no harm in publishing. . 3) Mantras for money/ other means of commercial issues: People want instant results. They are not ready to take Satya jnanam (True knowledge). Maximum People still believe mantras are for money, woman and other materialistic desires. To get their desires fulfill they are going to commercial gurus and losing their valuable time and money. Remember, True Knowledge nothing to do with money. No one can attain liberation with money. Na karmanaa na prajayaa dhanena.... I am sad to say that one year back I have received a phone call from a gentleman from Canada (name not remembered) asked me Sir, Srividya is commercialized. What do you say? Without any hesitation I said Yes and asked why do you feel like that. To my shock he narrated his experience about some gurus in one popular ......... blog. (I do not want to reveal that blog name). But I brought that issue to the notice of author of that blog. 4) There are certain gurus who can impart true Srividya sadhana but most people cannot practice it. 5) Who can publish a mantra? Without any doubt a realized practitioner only can publish a mantra. Reason behind this is different practitioners have separate darshan of a same mantra. Examples need not be given. 6) Though I know Para Shoadasi mantra, I do not want to publish here for the reasons explained above.

And, by the way, back to Shaktism and Shree Vidya especially. The very classic Shloka 15.21 from "Shree Kularnava-Tantra" says that the japa of Mantras from books and without Guru-diksha (that is, from internet pages in some contemporary cases) gives only negative results equal to brahma-hatya (the murder of a brahmana): पुस्तके लिखितान्मन्त्रान् विलोक्य प्रजपन्ति ये ब्रह्महत्यासमं तेषां पातकं व्याधिदुःखदम् || १५-२१ || - pustake likhitAnmantrAn vilokya prajapanti ye brahmahatyAsamaM teShAM pAtakaM vyAdhiduHkhadam || Kularnava, 15-21 ||

I agree, that Shree ParaShodashi-Vidya is not for the Internet. As for Shree RamanujAcharya references, my reply is the following: [1]. In Shree Ramanuja-Vaishnava-Sampradaya we are always initiated into 3 Mantras, not just one. All these pop-bhakti stories about Shree Ramanuja sharing just 1 Mantra to people are just pop-bhakti folk stories - they are not officially supported by Shree Ramanuja-Sampradaya. [2]. Shree RamanujAcharya was a Vaishnava-Guru, NOT a Shakta-Guru. So, the above references to Shree Ramanuja are not valid at all. [3]. Some Rahasya-sadhanas based on Vaishnava-PanchaRatra (Vaishnava Agamas and Vaishnava Samhitas) also exist in Shree Ramanuja-Sampradaya and of, course, they are not to be shared. SO, PLEASE STOP REFER TO THE WRONG POP-BHAKTI STORIES ABOUT SHREE RAMANUJA-ACHARYA - these popular stories are not valid, misleading and can't be applied to Shaktism.

Thank you Ashitav!

I am deeply humbled and have no words to say. Ravi ji has told us to ignore the ignorant. I do however, feel great compassion for the ignorant and pray sincerely to the Divine Mother, to help them see the light.

Thank you dear Jayanth! Very aptly described! It makes me wonder why there's so much hue and cry for a mantra that is not "real". I also fail to understand why some people are opposed to others on the path to liberation?