Hi Sir, if Lalita Amba can be attained through Sūrya worship alone, can she also be attained by continuously chanting the Shiv Panchakshari mantra?

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Namaste Tivra! A very profound reply once again. Please continue to fill the empty cup of sincere sādhakas with the oozing nectar of the spiritual knowledge that is abundant in you! I am totally with you that there is an abundance of ignorance and corruption in the scriptures and their dissemination. We hope that this site with your invaluable comments and guidance will serve as a lighthouse for all those finding their way to the shores of spiritual knowledge and ecstasy! The explanation on the hsaum̐ḥ shauḥm̐ seeds and their inherent properties is most enlightening! Related to the Mātṛkā Bījas, there is a huge bit of confusion when it comes to aḥ, ṛm̐, ṝm̐, ḷm̐ and ḹm̐. The visarga, to the best of my knowledge is a half 'h' sound and is never 'ha' or 'aha', it is simply 'ah'. So the seed 'namaḥ' should never be pronounced as 'namaha', but unfortunately, it is the most common pronunciation in use today. Likewise, to my knowledge, 'ṛm̐' should not be pronounced as 'rim' or 'rum', but more like 'rrrrmm'. Something like a motorbike sound, when you rev it up. If you rev it up a bit, then we get ''ṝm̐'. Likewise, 'ḷm̐' is never 'lim' or 'lum' but is supposed to be 'lrrrmm', like added a half 'l' (no 'a' vowel sound) to the the 'ṛm̐'. Same applies to ''ḹm̐' to be pronounced as 'lṝm̐'. Not everyone accepts this pronunciation, but it seems to be what is taught in the Sanskrit universities. If you do not agree with this pronunciation, then please guide us all and provide us a reference to the pronunciation that you find is correct and most appropriate. I am a very strong believer in the mantra pañcāṅga and strongly advocate that one should only approach the mālā mantras, such as the Kavacas, mantra garbha stotras and sahasranāmas, only after receiving a mantra upadeśa of the corresponding deity. Approaching a stotra based on phalaśruti is incorrect and very misleading and often fruitless. Most mantras have om̐ in the beginning, but it is not present in the uddhāra ślokas of many tantric mantras at the front and sometimes anywhere within the mantra. It does not mean that it is inauspicious or harmful to recite if there is no om̐ in the beginning or anywhere else in the mantra. I agree that the Mahā Ṣōdaśī or the Śiva pañcākṣarī do not have om̐ in the beginning. But it is the most common usage for the Śiva pañcākṣarī in its vedic mode of invocation. In the case of Ṣōdaśī, millions of combinations are possible and some traditions may prefer the one with the om̐ in the beginning as most suitable. In my own opinion, the pañcadaśī is the most important part of the mantra and the rest are fancy wrappers. Regardless, the Divine Mother, as you have explained earlier, is sarvālaṅkāra priya and appears in all combinations. Everything that there is, was and will be, is Her alone.

Tivra ji such a divine blessing to hear back from you and almost Ma is listening to me helping in getting the answers, but also with every answer you have me intrigued with more questions. Why does hsaum̐ḥ end with visarga shauḥm̐ ends with anusvara bindu? why not both ending like hsaum̐ḥ shaum̐ḥ as that will make the proper loop and turn. Which is creation and which is dissolution? Can this be also used to go upwards and downward in sushmna or this is more right and left while hamsa and soham going up and down. Also you mentioned Ham for inhalation and Sah for exhalation which is in Sivasutra Vimarshini but all other places like Hamsa Upanishad have Ham as exhalation and Sah as inhalation. Is the other one not correct or is it being revered for a reason? 3. You mention we should not use Om in all mantras like Namah Shivaya. What is your view on adding Om in Narvarna Mantra making it 10 lettered Taraka Navarna Mantra? I read somewhere it is cursed by ma Chamunda. I believe it is to be gotten from a Guru only and to keep people away to recite without guidance. Also is there a way I can connect with you on email to learn more. Thanks again and its truely Ma's blessings to hear from you.

The Ājñā Cakra or 8th Āvaraṇa (Sarvasiddhiprada Cakra) is a very interesting and tempting place. You will not only find Eight Siddhis here, you will find Crores of Siddhis. All the weapons of Divine Mother Lalitā are also here. There are Crores of Weapons. You will see Daṇḍanāthā or Mahā Vārāhī in the Ājñā Cakra. She will advise you on the dangers of being seduced by the Crores of Siddhis and Weapons there. Daṇḍanāthā will advise you that you can use the Crores of Siddhis and Weapons to assist your spiritual and material journey, as well as assisting others in their spiritual elevation. Daṇḍanāthā will warn you that she will have to punish you severely if you use the Crores of Siddhis and Weapons to perform Adharma. People do not understand how powerful Daṇḍanāthā is. You will not see genuine Tantrics abusing their power/siddhis because they know what Daṇḍanāthā is capable of doing when she gets angry. True Tantrics are compassionate and very peaceful. Daṇḍanāthā is also an ocean of compassion. She is the Goddess closest to people here on earth. She cannot bear to see tears in the eyes of her sincere devotees. She comes running to pour out her blessings.

Namaste Swati. I have a more potent suggestion on how to use these Mantras. Unite the Prāsādapara Mantra and the Paraprāsāda Mantra to form the ultimate Mantra of Ārdhanārīśvara (hsaum̐ḥ shauḥm̐). Know that hsaum̐ḥ is the right side and masculine/Śiva, and shauḥm̐ is the left side and feminine/Śakti. The ways you can use this Mantra are innumerable. Each Cakra is associated with different purposes and Siddhis. You can recite and visualize the Mantra on certain body parts or weapons of Ārdhanārīśvara to achieve certain Siddhis or achieve some specific goal. There are innumerable different ways to use this Mantra on your body or that of Ārdhanārīśvara (as well as holding different weapons). If I were to talk about all possibilities, it would be a long book. A small example: if you chant hsaum̐ḥ shauḥm̐ visualizing the right and left side of the third eye of Śiva and Śakti (the third eye of Śiva and Śakti has different appearances and purposes), you will attain Ājñā Siddhi which is the power to command, create or destroy anything with the force of your mind's will. The Ājñā Cakra is associated with the mind and can do everything or obtain any information without the aid of the senses. Tantra is science and the Yogi is a scientist here. The Tantric uses the Mantra ham̐saḥ to raise Kuṇḍalinī through the Cakras, and the Mantra Soham̐ is used to make the Kuṇḍalinī descend through the Cakras. These two Mantras are especially useful in the Yoni Mudra, used to drink nectar on all levels and bodies. The Tantric uses these Mantras to control the movement of the Kuṇḍalinī to make it go up or down. Ham̐ will always be inspired. Saḥ or So will always expire. But this inhalation and exhalation is only important to attain Kevala Kumbhaka which is the complete absence of inhalation and exhalation. At that time the devotee should mentally recite the Mantra and remain motionless in Kevala Kumbhaka. It comes naturally. All Mantras should always be mentally and in Kevala Kumbhaka. This is millions of times more beneficial. But it is something that comes with the evolution of the devotee in a natural way, with the opening of the Suṣumnā. Namaḥ or om̐ must not be added.

Namaste Krishna, thanks for the reply. Many of the scriptures today are corrupted (accidentally or intentionally), many Mantras, Yantras, Stotras and Kavacas have been transcribed incompletely or incorrectly. All Vedas and scriptures do not only exist in material and written form, they also exist perpetually in sound form and can be extracted directly from superconsciousness by the Guru or Sage. Even our entire body and all material objects in the world are made up of letters and sounds that are perpetually stored in the cosmos. All scriptural knowledge that came from a seed will exist forever in the cosmos, even if all scriptures in the form of material books are destroyed. In particular, devotees of Guhyakāli and Śyāmala acquire the ability to visualize and hear the seed of all things in the manifested and unmanifested universe. When these devotees see a person, they see letters and hear sounds rather than seeing an ordinary body of flesh and bones. That's how they know what's best for that person. That's how they know what's lacking in that person. Reciting hsaum̐ hsauḥ together means Śiva preserving the "seed" and Śakti extracting the "seed" from Śiva to create. This works too and is not wrong, but it is considerably less effective than hsaum̐ḥ shauḥm̐ which perfectly embodies the union and inseparability of Śiva and Śakti. Prāsādapara Mantra and Paraprāsāda Mantra were made to be independent of each other and yet they can be united (just like Ārdhanārīśvara), but the hsaum̐ hsauḥ seeds can never be separated and continue to mean Prāsādapara Mantra and Paraprāsāda Mantra. They will become another Mantra. On the contrary, the hsaum̐ḥ shauḥm̐ seeds can be recited separately or together and still mean Ārdhanārīśvara (Prāsādapara Mantra or Paraprāsāda Mantra). One of the big problems I see today is the difficulty of devotees to recite even 51 Mātṛkā Bījas correctly. 99% of the videos I watch, devotees don't know how to recite the letters aḥ, ṛm̐, ṝm̐, ḷm̐ and ḹm̐. The pronunciation I hear is totally wrong, even changing the intended meaning and original effect, generating harm to the devotees instead of benefits. How do they hope to get benefits from Mantra, Stotras or Kavacas by reciting even the letter "aḥ" incorrectly? And the Sahasranāmas? Today people want to put om̐ where they shouldn't. For example, Mahā Ṣōdaśī and Lord Śiva's 5-letter Mantra never had om̐ in the beginning. This will always be incorrect. The luck of all of us is that the Divine Mother is very compassionate to mistakes in Kali-Yuga.

Thank you for sharing such valuable knowledge with us again! Can you please tell me why Tripura Bhairavi mantra is used to break curse and not Shiva or Vishnu mantra? Is it necessary to do Nyasa before repeating the mantra, I heard somewhere that if you repeat the mantra without doing Nyasa, then you will not get any fruits of the mantra, they will be taken by demons (or anyone who wants, mostly negative beings). How do you propose to enter the state of Dhyana, reading the shloka that is given in the article will not be enough? How to count 10.000 times the mantra japa, if we repeat 93 mala on 108 beads, we will get 10044 times, after repeating each of the 93 malas to rearrange a small stone to indicate that we repeated 1 mala? But so we need to rearrange 93 stones and constantly rearranging them we will come out of the state of Dhyana, especially since we chant the mantra in our minds, maybe you know other ways to chant 10.000 times the mantra without being distracted by rearranging the stones? Thanks for the answer!

hsaum̐ḥ and shauḥm̐ are not commonly accepted in Śrīvidyā. The mantras hsaum̐ or hsauḥ and its counterpart shauḥ or shaum̐ also appear in the Guru paduka and at various other places. Combining both the bindu and visarga at all times for these mantras will require a scriptural annotation - śastra pramāṇa that I am not aware of, at least as far as the known translations of the sacred Śrīvidyā texts and the guru traditions that I have interacted with.

Also in Prasadapara and Paraprasada mantra I know we have have to do Mahashodanyasa. But what would be the Mulamantra. Do we add Namah and Om? Om hsaum̐ḥ shauḥm̐ Namah?