Namaste Kṛttikā. I believe you are confused. The absence of a Guru does this. The first thing you have to do is identify a single form of the Divine Mother that resonates with you and remain faithful to that throughout your life. You have to become faithful to one Mantra, Form and Knowledge. Jñāna or Knowledge is mandatory in all Tantric forms of the Divine Mother. The one who bestows Jñāna is the Guru. Without Jñāna the devotee is lost in Tantra. He does not know what to expect and why things happen the way they do. You have to know exactly what you want. Do you want to be a householder? Do you want to be an ascetic? Is this form of the Divine Mother compatible with what I want for my life? You have to get the answer to all these questions and receive periodic knowledge from a Guru if you are going to worship a Tantric form of the Divine Mother.

Namaste Akash. I am afraid that you will get hurt without a Guru, as Śrīvidyā is vast and extremely focused on Jñāna. Without Jñāna, Śrīvidyā does not destroy sins and generate positive effects. The first thing a Guru does is evaluate each devotee individually and chart a path based on karma. There is a huge range of deities in Śrīvidyā. The Guru evaluates each person individually and outlines a path that can be of various types. He does all this based on your karma.

Tivraji -- For an extremely long period of time, I have had a private sexual compulsion that has caused me a significant degree of grief and stagnation in my life, not just but especially in how it would interrupt mantra sadhana. Each mantra I practice helps a little, Mahaganapati, Bala, Chandi navakshari, Varahi, I seem to make some progress, and then, especially when things seem to otherwise be going well, I act on this addiction and feel dragged back to square one. For some time now, whatever mantra-shakti I manage to cultivate has made it increasingly difficult to sustain lies, deception of any kind. A relationship that has entered my life in the last year has also been pushing me to do the same, and with the presence of this woman in my life I had managed to avoid acting on the addiction for six months, in which there was a clear feeling of progress in all areas of my life, including sadhana. When she left for a brief period, I felt assaulted by a pressure to act on this addiction, and any will I could exercise against acting on the addiction immediately felt frayed. I acted on it, as if an automaton, with a feeling of being possessed - raped, even, by this compulsion and the kind of cold lust it produces. After acting on the addiction, my spine and neck felt bruised, and my heart felt crushed, as it does whenever I have acted on this addiction. In complete desperation, I recited the Sri Prathyangira Siddhi Lakshmi Stotram you had shared, at midnight, with a lit lamp as directed on the recent full Moon (23rd/24th May) I prayed for none of the siddhis mentioned or wealth, but only for protection against what felt like an overwhelming and constant assault. When I finished reciting the stotram, I turned out the lamp and lay in the dark. The first thing that happened was a jolt of prana in my heart area, warm, vital. Then a feeling of terror, almost announcing "You have called me, I have come" - prana rushing through my body in a way that was both warm and reviving, like an adrenaline shot. The terror subsided, and what followed for the next few hours was the most beautiful experience with any form of the goddess I have ever encountered. All my thoughts felt sharp, clear and aesthetically rich. It felt like the entire universe had been cleansed. I had recognised some of the feeling that had come through from periods when I was younger and meditated solely on Kali, without mantra, developing bhakti on each object as it came to my perception as the manifestation of her body - whether physical objects, animate and inanimate, people, as well as internal objects - thoughts, emotions, fear, lust, terror, but especially and most insistently on the goddess as beauty. The single recitation of the stotram brought me back to the depths of that Kali practice I had performed when I was younger, almost 15 years ago now. I have recited the stotram at midnight every evening since then. There is a clear feeling of beauty and peace that comes after the recitation, but in the days since, I had been feeling increasingly tense, with the tension building up during the day, and becoming an overwhelming feeling of internal pressure that was only relieved through reciting the stotram again. Since this has been happening, I have noticed an unusual health upset with my mother, and then the day after, her sister, both of whom had raised blood pressure. The woman I mentioned earlier also began having an unusual headache, as did my mother. With all these things, and the increasing sense of pressure, I decided not to recite the stotram for the first time since I had started last night. The pressure continued to build past midnight to an almost unbearable degree. The only thing I could do was to switch to the form of Kali meditation I had mentioned I had done at other times, surrendering to each mental event internally, surrendering to the most excruciating feelings of a non-physical pain, dread and horror throughout my body by offering all to Kali, recognising all as her, and surrendering continually to her. This lasted about 5 hours, but eventually came relief, this morning. There is something in me that is so drawn to the goddess in this form, and yet, every other part of my mind avoids her and retreats into compulsion to avoid facing her - and yet, I have some sense that the compulsion merely leads back to her, and traps me whenever I get too far in living life apart from the goddess, as a presumed individual. The reason I had stopped the type of meditation I had performed on her when I was younger was owing to an out of body experience I had one night, in which a bald demoness with crooked teeth, swollen lips, sagging breasts, bruised skin and a fixed, terrifying grin on her face, feeding off and being pleased with my terror, appeared in my room. I was so shaken by the experience that upon waking in my bed, I couldn't move for 30 minutes. I abandoned the practice immediately, thinking I had done something terribly wrong. And yet Kali in some way would periodically seem to impose herself in my life, under conditions where every other form of relief was denied unless I turned to her. 2 years ago was another occasion, facing an overwhelming sense of energetic oppression, in which I resorted to meditating to Kali in this form again. As well as relief, I started to experience the same of rich intimacy I had once enjoyed with the goddess in this form, and a feeling of overwhelming peace and love began flowing. I sat on a train after work, ecstatic to be close to the goddess in this way again, but also dreading what might happen next - I was worried about another interruption from the bald female demon I had seen - it was the same feeling of intimacy I had prior to that experience. When I got home, I was quiet, but my mother had mentioned that as she had been doing japa on a Varahi mantra, a terrifying apparition flashed before her eyes mentally with the name: Durmukhi. As I sat at the dining table with her, I had said nothing to her about what was on my mind that day, or the experience with the 'demoness' I had when I was younger that was on my mind that evening, but for whatever reason, she identified the face she saw with the demoness I had seen in the vision years ago. The name was unfamiliar to me and when trying to find appearances of the name I saw that she is one of the yoginis in the sixteen-petalled chakra of the Somamandala of the Khechari chakra. I wondered if I would be right in thinking that it is this mandala that is being referred to in the Pratyangira Siddhilakshmi stotram here: dvādaśāntālayā devī ṣoḍaśādhāra-vāsinī ॥ 8 ॥. Although I have received upadesha for some mantras in a sri-vidya parampara (Mahaganapati, Bala, Chandi navakshari) I do not feel I have found a guru I can connect to, or who has been able to provide insight into my other experiences, though I would love to. The name merunayaki-survari/sarvari resonated through my head for an hour the last time I recited the stotram, with an unbelievable feeling of peace and beauty that I miss already. Any thoughts or advice you might have on what I might do in this situation I would be extremely grateful for -thank you so much for all that you have shared here already.

Namaste Krishna. I want to say something to you and all the devotees, so you can better understand why Śrī Mahāṣoḍaśī is exclusively for liberation. Did you know that the Śrīcakra of Mahāṣoḍaśī is different from the Śrīcakra of Sundarī (Pañcadaśākṣarī)? I will tell you how to draw the Śrīcakra of Mahāṣoḍaśī: transform all the triangles of the Śrīcakra of Sundarī into petals beautifying circles and invert the position of the central Trikoṇa, transforming it into the Yoni of Destruction or Yoni of Śiva. In the center is Bindu in the form of Mahāṣoḍaśī. In this different Śrīcakra, we have Bhūpura, six sets of petals, Trikoṇa of Śiva and the Bindu. Why did all the triangles become petals in the Śrīcakra of Mahāṣoḍaśī? It is because we are destroying the Śrīcakra, where only the Bindu remains. The Divine Mother Sundarī (Pañcadaśākṣarī) is called Pratyavamarśinī, whose nature is Creation-Dissolution. Mahāṣoḍaśī has the nature of dissolution only. Sundarī (Pañcadaśākṣarī) is supramental in nature, while Mahāṣoḍaśī is not supramental in nature. But why? I will explain. Sundarī is Pratyavamarśinī, so she destroys our three bodies (material, subtle and causal) and at the same time gives us her three immortal bodies in a movement of creation. For this reason, Sundarī is simultaneous Creation-Dissolution. Sundarī is very difficult for people to succeed in, due to the requirement for extreme purity. The destruction or dissolution of our three bodies is the easy part. The difficult thing is the manifestation or creation of the three bodies of Goddess in us. Mahāṣoḍaśī deals with dissolution at high speed, but the devotee's soul will deal with the second part (creation or manifestation of the three immortal bodies of the Goddess) later. Mahāṣoḍaśī is something more viable. Sundarī is difficult because creating and destroying simultaneously is more difficult than just destroying. In this way, the Mahāṣoḍaśī deals exclusively with liberation, as this is more urgent and the time is shorter. Sundarī deals with liberation and divine play. Mahāṣoḍaśī grants the supreme Śānta, while Sundarī grants the supreme Śāntarāga. The devotee of Mahāṣoḍaśī attains supreme peace and then desires to obtain supreme play. The devotee of Sundarī plays supremely equal to the Goddess and is at peace, therefore he will be immortal on the material, subtle and causal levels. Sundarī is full of Śṛṅgāra or Eroticism, and this means that you will have no chance with her unless you become Śiva. Lord Śiva is not an unbalanced and perverted man like we see in many cases today. Śiva loves, but men don't seem to understand much about love these days. Śiva loves in peace.

Nesh. Sit silently and say the following sentence to Atharvaṇa Bhadrakāḻī: "I have no desire to harm anyone, but only intend to help everyone. But, if anyone wishes to harm me through thought or action, let them go to Yama's residence ( Hell)". If you are fit to be her devotee, tears of love will begin to flow from your eyes and a tremendous force of courage will descend upon you. If this happens, look for a guru to guide you on her path.

Good evening Tivra ji.. I haven't gone through a formal initiation ceremony for Sri Vidya, but I received online initiation from a great Sri Vidya practitioner whom I accepted as my guru. I haven't received any mantras directly, but I've connected to his lineage. Every morning, I chant the Sri Suktam (Shodasupachar), Devi Khadgamala, Sri Vidya Panchadasakshari mantra, and Lalitha Sahasranama. In the evening, I chant the Moola mantra of Maa Varahi, Sri Varahi Dvadasa Nama Stotram, and Sri Adi Varahi Kavacham. Could you please advise me if there's anything wrong with my practice? Should I change anything, or can I keep worshipping her this way? How long should I continue, and how can I keep progressing in my spiritual practice ? Many thanks

Namaste Hari VS. The Śiva Pañcākṣarī initiated by the Guru removes all obstacles related to karma in all your chakras, grants the protection of the Gurus of the lineage and transfers to the devotee the instant fruit of having recited the Mantra 100,000 times or more. The Guru can give you as much as he wants. There is a specific number of recitation of each Mantra, where the deity authorizes you to initiate other devotees into this Mantra. The Guru transfers to you part of the effort he has made in the past. For this reason, Mantra gives results faster. It's not that Mantra is more potent.

Namaste Guruji , is initiation is needed for performing चतुराक्षर हेरम्ब गणपति महामन्त्रः puja as is given above ? if yes , please guide me

Namaste tivra ji. Can you pls tell if an initiated panchakshari mantra is more powerful than a non initiated one?

Hello all, new reader here. The link to the treatise is missing, could someone kindly fix it? Or, is there a way to purchase the book as a hard copy? Please advise.