1. I preferred to bring the protection mantra to help those facing the effects of black magic and other kṛtya/spell(s). There are many other variations of the Divine Mother śrī pratyaṅgirā that are used for various purposes. The mantra you are referring to is of Atharvaṇa bhadrakāli, who is also referred as pratyaṅgirā devi. 2. Now that you have asked for Her, We will publish the mantra of Atharvaṇa bhadrakāli - śrī pratyaṅgirā. I'll try to get this out later next week. It's not for the faint-hearted and should not be practiced unless one has taken their guru's permission to do so. 3. When seen from the Lord Viṣṇu centric - Vaiṣṇava paradigm, śrī pratyaṅgirā is Narasiṃhika, the consort of Lord Narasiiṃha. When seen from the śakta - Mother Goddess śakti paradigm, She is siddhalakṣmi, the bestower of all siddhis and an aspect of the Divine Mother Kāli. She is also the extremely horrific atharvaṇa bhadrakāli, the protector of all secrets of the mysterious repository of all spells and magic - atharvaṇa veda. It is said that none of the spells mentioned in this veda work, without the blessings of this form of the Divine Mother. 3. It is a very interesting observation and definitely notes your love and devotion towards śrī pratyaṅgirā devi. 4. I aligned the mantra with my breath and recited it at all times. The point behind aligning with breath, is to allow ajapa or unconscious/unmindful recitation. This is a practice related to samaya mārga, which represents the meditational path of tantra and is unmindful of other daily chores. The Vedic ritualistic Path also called the dakṣiṇa mārga, has various restrictions and does not necessitate the mantra - breath alignment. One can adopt the method best suited for worship. All of them are good and irrespective of which path we take, the destination is the same.

In this case, the tip of the innermost triangle is facing East and the worshiper is sitting facing West. Similarly, the tip of the triangle should always face the worshipper. 

Pranamam Ravi Ji. Thank you for the wealth of Sri Vidya you continue to selflessly serve to the seekers. “These three Devi-s are also worshiped in anticlockwise manner, beginning from East, proceeding to South and then to North.” When worshiping inside the inner triangle, for example Meru, would the top triangle be positioned facing with corner towards West (yoni triangle with East on top of one looks from above), which would be the first in anti-clockwise proceeding to South and then North?

Krishnaji - 1) I am wondering why you chose this particular mantra for your sadhana over Sri Pratyangira Moola Mantra(.....ksham paksha jwala jihve ....). Any plans of providing moola mantra on the website with your explanation? 2)When you say Pratyangira is Siddalakshmi - is it because of the vaishnava story of Sri Lakshmi taking the Narasimhika form to calm down Narasimha or any other reason for calling Sri Pratyangira as Siddalakshmi? 3) Can we say "mama raksha raksha"and "mama shatrun baksha baksha" has 4 times Ksha and 4 times Ma. Can we say its her Bija albeit in reverse or is it that I am seeing what I want to see in that 4)Finally - when you did the sadhana did you align the mantra with your breath? obviously - we don't want to forget "Shatrun" in mantra when saying baksha baksha" while being busy with something else. How did you stop your mind from repeating the mantra throughout the day - say when driving, working, cooking or when one goes to bed? Thanks in advance.

as Krishnaji mentioned - 'mantra-baddha' means bound by mantra. deities are bound by mantra to respond when we do mantra sadhana. When we strike a match, fire manifests. similarly when we recite mantra, deity manifests. We might not perceive that at the beginning or the changes happening within us. In fact mantra is a sound form of deity.

"Mantra baddha" in Sanskrit means - bound to the mantra. It is said that deities are bound to their mantras. In tantra, the deity, mantra, yantra are all one and the same, meaning they are all representations of the deity. The devotee aspires to become one with the deity, through devotion and worship of the mantra and yantra of the associated deity and also all the stipulated rituals and procedures, which together are called tantra.

In addition, If one does not have sufficient time to recite the Śrī Devī Mahatmyaṃ, also called Caṇḍī Pāṭha or Durgā Saptaśati, then he/she can recite the Śrī Siddhakuñjikā Stotram by itself. One can also consider the Śrī Caṇḍī Navākṣarī Mantra, if there's a strong desire to recite it. Since reciting the entire 700 verses of Śrī Durgā Saptaśati is difficult at one go, there are many variations that are mentioned in the devotional books detailing the manner of reciting specific combination of chapters per day, especially during the Navarātri days. Any of these variations may be followed. Also, as mentioned above, there is no harm in reciting this hymn at the beginning as well as at the end of the 700 verses of Śrī Devī Mahatmyaṃ.

Namaste Mohanji, for best results it is always preferred to chant Siddha Kunjika Stotram before reciting Durga Saptashati. This is clearly given in the stotra itself and also Krishnaji explained the reason very clearly (bhuta lipi activates the Bijas of Durga Saptashati). If you still want to chant it at the end then there is no harm....optimum results might or might not come. You can chant the stotra starting with Atah Mantra and all the way upto Phala Stuti. You may or may not recite Phala stuti as it only illustrates the benefits of this Great Stotra.

Namaste Krishna, Need clarification on two points: 1) Most of the Durga Saptashati books provide the Siddha Kunjika stotrams at the end. Is it ok to chant at the end of Durga Saptashati chant. 2) What are the minimum parts of Saptashati that has to be chanted to be complete?

Hello Swati Ji, You seem quite learned. I just started puja 4 months ago. My guru ji is Ravi ji from here. But I was wondering what did you mean by "Mantra-Baddha"