The very first step of SriVidya sadhna is the SriVidya Guru Paduka Mantra. Without this initiation the SriVidya doesn’t begin. In SriVidya sadhna the guru first gives knowledge about the SriVIdya Aamnayae, or lineage and then SriVidya begins with Guru Paduka mantra. Sri Vidya Guru paduka mantra acts like a protection shield for the sadhaka.
So why it there a need for Guru Paduka in Srividya? You will see when a sadhak sits to do sadhna of Das Mahavidyas or Srividya panchadashi mantra, just like ants are attracted by the smell of sugar, so does dieties of aghora chakra get activated by the vibrations of these mantras. If you do not have the protection of Gurupaduka mantra deeksha then all these yoginis and yakshinis of aghora mandala will enter your mind and contaminate your aura.
Firstly by doing sadhna in an improper way the main diety of the sadhna does not come instead the energy of these aghora mandala dieties come and distubs the life of the sadhaka. You would have seen someone doing Kali sadhna and became mad or someones home family got disturbed or his personality became strange. There were people in the ancient times who were able to invke the entire mandala of the dieties on to earth in a secret place and if by chance therewould be a mistake then this would destroy many villages around that place. What all theis signifies is that before doing sadhna of Das Mahavidyas you need to understand the path of sadhna clearly and completely.
To protect from all this the SriVIdya GuruPaduka mantra is given so that the sadhak does not have to bear consequences of these energies, because that could be destructive. Gurupaduka is the form of Shiva and Shakti. Shiva is the guru and through Guru its Shiva only who comes and gives the deeksha/initiation. Till the time we acheive proximity and grace of Guru the sadhak no matter how intelligent or learned he is will not achieve anything in spiritual realisation. When many lifetimes positive deeds come together then in a sadhak’s life such miracle as receiving initiation into such auspicious Vidya happens.
Just like in any sadhna or puja we invoke Ganapati and establish his energy before proceeding with it, in the same way till the time you do not establish Guru Chakra SriVidya sadhna cannot begin.
In SriVidya there us a lot of importance given to Sri Maha Ganapati Sadhna. This is one of those unique sadhna which can give you freedom from materialistic karmas because no other Devta can anihilate your karmas as Ganapati can. This sadhna enables the sadhak to move further on the path of SriVidya sadhna. It releives the sadhaka of their Pitra-dosha, Kula dosha and helps them get the blessig of their Kula devtas without which no one can progress further in any sadhna.
In Sri MahaGanapati mantra there is bija mantra Gam and also Glaum. Gam bija awakens the energy of Ganapati tattva and Glaum bija purifies the earth element and expands the awareness of the earth element i sadhak.
In MahaGanapati Sadhna lot of sadhaka in the begining experience pain in the joints of the bones and also experience laziness and drowsiness and the sadhka starts experiencing mental stability. This is important as the negative energy of the pitras and kula doshas is stored in the bone joints and this sadhna starts removing that. A few sadhakas also experience feeling like floating in the air and feel more alive and active.
Hence in Sri Vidya sadhna SriMahaganapati sadhna is a must. It is done by activating the MahaGanapati Srividya mantra with the process of Tarpana, Yantra Puja, Havan etc. Sadhna done according to presecribed lineage gives the sadhaka lot of fame in the world.
The second stage of Sri Vidya is the sadhna of Sri Shyama Matangi. Goddess Shyama Matangi is very dear to Goddess Lalita Tripursundari. As described in Lalita Sahastranama, Goddess Matangi is the devi who pierces the ‘Vishnu Granthi’ (the spiritual knot in located in the Manipur and Heart chakras) of sadhaks. The spiritual aura of Maa Tripurasundari is extremely strong – powerful as a thousand suns shining together. A normal individual cannot assimilate the aura of the divine mother directly and therefore needs to pray to Goddess Shyama Matangi who creates a shield of unconditional love around the sadhak such that she/ he can absorb the strong energy of the divine mother, Tripursundari.
Sri Shyama Matangi removes all the ignorance surrounding the soul of the sadhak. She removes all the darkness of ignorance and illuminates the soul of the sadhak with divine love and knowledge. She fills the sadhak’s heart with so much divine love that she/he becomes ready to connect with the divine mother, Tripursundari. Sri Shyama Matangi is the minister of cultural affairs of the universe. She is the goddess of music, singing, painting, creative writing, communication, attractiveness and fame. She is the keeper of love and cordial affairs in families and removes all negative energies.
Radha was a form of Shyama Matangi who became one with Krishna, the signification of Godess Tripurasundari. Radha was the love of Krishna and his power of attraction. Kavi Kalidas was blessed by goddess Matangi and was therefore a great poet.
The mantra of Goddess Shyama Matangi blesses the sadhak with such divine bliss that the sadhak gets totally immersed in limitless happiness. This is usually the practical experience of whosoever learns Sri Matangi sadhna. The devi controls negative energy surrounding the sadhak in the form of negative people, black magic etc. and protects the sadhak at all times.
Varahi Sutra has been briefly described by Jagadguru Adishankarachrya in his Shree Vidya Saundary Lahiri Sacred Text.
Why one should study, follow or practice Varahi Sutra?
Let’s make an attempt to understand importance of Varahi Sutra.
Our Human body comprises of seven Chakras. Among these chakras, one of the important chakra is Muladhara Chakra (Root Chakra) which is located at base of spine and it represents Earth element in human body. What exactly does this Earth element in human body signify? It signifies, material desires that one carried throughout his/her life and storage of all deeds, that one has committed in his/ her life and previous lives.
Have you ever thought what happens to all those criminals, who committed sins such as violence, adulteration, frauds and stealing money of poor people, treachery or defaming to own country and society? Their souls after death of physical body travels to Sapta Pataal and resides there which is a world of extreme darkness. ( Sapta means seven and Pataal means world of extreme darkness) . Souls of such sinful criminals gets fierce fully penalized as per one’s sins and magnitude of wrong deeds in this Sapta Patal loka (nether worlds).
As per study of spiritual process, human body right below the Muladhar chakras to legs virtually symbolizes Sapta Pataal.
“Varah” is one of the incarnation (avtara) of Lord Vishnu, where Lord Vishnu saved Earth from Demon Mura who was stealing Earth to Patal world. Goddess Varahi is original strength and energy of this Varah Incarnation or avatara. It is capable of extracting, removing & destroying all sorts of negative energies of any magnitude through her powerful mouth from anyone. Her acts of cleansing negative energy are so powerful such that it removes all negatives energies or obstacles in the path of Kundalini Chakra awakening. Therefore, Varahi is considered as a supreme commander in the Shree Vidya Lalita Sadhna. Its Beej Mantra ( Beej means Seed, Mantra means useful chanting) is Gloum (ग्लौम). This Beej mantra connects Earth Element with Lord Varah. Lord Vrah along with his strength Varahi then cleanses all wrong deeds of a human being.
There are many people who follow religious rituals, performs several holy practices such as pooja, worshiping of deity god, however their behavior is contradictory to their spirituality and that behavior prevents their Spiritual upliftment. They should follow the Varahi Upasana for spiritual uplifting.
Varahi gives command and order to Ajnya Chkara. Therefore it is also called Rudra Granthi Vibhedana ( Granthi means Gland , Vibhedana means to break /dissect through middle).
Ajnya or Agya Chakra is considered as a center of all other Chakras such as Muladhar, Svadhisthan etc.
All negative energies which have accumulated in our body from several past life has connections with Agya Chakra. Meaning of Agya or Ajnya is to command . Depending on the magnitude of one’ s sin ,Ajnya /Agya Chakra will work. Human beings deeds are actually controlled by this Agya Chakra.
Therefore, third eye (subconscious mind) of human being is not in awakened state. If third eye of an human gets open then it will reveal the supreme truth that the human being is trapped in world of Maya (illusion) in spite of supreme creation of Creator. That’s what exactly Shambhavi does in Shree Vidhya Sadhana. It helps one to break this world of illusion and to take one to world of realization and detachment, liberty and freedom. However reaching that level is not that easy and very few spiritual master knows about it. After realizing the this one gets free from pooja or upasana of deity and goes ahead in search of a true Guru ( Spiritual Master) who can show him/her the path of enlightment, liberty and detachment. This is not easy and can’t be achieved unless one breaks the command of Agya Chakra. And Excatly, that’s where Shree Goddess Varahi helps to break the Agya/Ajnya Chakra in Shree Vidya Spiritual practices.
Any Spiritual follower who performs “MahaGanapati Sadhna” which is first level of Shree Vidya Sadhana, becomes eligible to uplift own spirituality and clears to go ahead for second stage “Shree Matangi Sadhana.” Shree Matangee Sadhana provides energy to spiritual follower to see world beyond Physical material world. At next level of this, Varahi Sadhana uses that energy of Spiritual follower which he/she obtained from Shree Matangi Sadhna and breaks the Rudra Granthi. It means it breaks down all the wishes or wills that one carries in body whether good or evil.
Is It necessary to dissolve all the will or wishes that one carries? Let me inform you about one vital topic that is discussed at very high level of spirituality and which is beyond the level of normal spiritual practice. This topic can be understood only by a spiritual follower who is progressing under guidance of proper Spiritual Guru (spiritual Teacher) and is on right path of liberation. Whenever any spiritual follower starts uplifting its own spiritual progress with the help of own spiritual rituals and starts moving beyond physical world to divine world his Karmik deeds from several past births come out and starts pulling his progress in backward direction. That’s why in Shree Vidya Sadhna it has advised to perform and understand Varahi Sadhna. Many Spiritual follower who are in path of Shree Vidya sadhna are trapped at a stage where they neither move ahead nor move backwards. This stage is called Dhyana. Though Dhyaniya experience is very preliminary stage, many have misunderstood it as the ultimate goal in spiritual path and get mislead from real objective of Shree Vidya Sadhana.
In spiritual path, disciple must be courageous and warm. Such disciple should confident enough to ask questions which often comes in mind to his Spiritual Guru. Also in ShreeVidya Sadhna, “ Spiritual Guru “ must be highly qualified and pious to bring upliftment of his disciples.
Ultimately, all the spiritual upliftment is possible under a Proper & Pious Spiritual Guru only.
Shree Shankaracharya has given, ‘’Shree Vidya Sadhana’’ to enlighten the pathway of life for entire mankind. The problem is people are unaware, non-curious about Shree Vidya Sadhana and not willing to study this path due to ignorance.
Shree Varahi Sadhna enables for every possible upliftment of spirituality in ShreeVidya Sadhna. There is nothing that can be achieved by just worshiping the Shree Yantra and or by chanting ShreeVidya Mantra.
Adishankarachrya has described immense significance of Varahi Sadhna in Saundryalahiri. He also gave instructions on how to follow it and practice it in Saundarya Lahiri, only the practitioner needs to study it well deeply.
Sri Bala Tripurasundari is the chlid form of SriVidya or Sri Lalita MahaTripurasundari who is the main diety in Srividya. In ancient times when the SriVidya sadhna was given in Gurukulas then the Guru would keep the sadhak in the ashram with them. They would take some tests because such great energies cannot be given in the hands of anyone just like this. Therefore first the sadhaka was initiated into Sri Bala Tripurasundari sadhna.
This could be given first in those times because in those times people were more evolved and did not have as much Pitra and Kula dosha or distortions as we have now. There was ignorance but what kind of ignorance? That ignorance which is present in all humans and others. The mistake of not understanding and recognising the Brahman which we can call as ignorance.
When you receive the knowledge about how Maya entangles us. For this the channel towards Brahman needs to open. Sri Bala opens that channel for the sadhak. Other devatas/dieties can only take you within the periphery of their limits, they cannot cross their periphery and move to the teritorry of other dieties. But this is not the case with Bala Tripurasundari, she being one with the Mula Parashakti she doesn’t have any limitations and is not bound by an peripheries.
Channel towards Brahman means understanding how the subtle world operates in the physical world. Recognising who we truly are. Till the time you do not love and respect yourself you cannot give respect to the Param Shakti / Foremost Divine Energy.
You don’t have any idea of how much total energy you have been given. Humans need to become aware of the unlimited energy and invisible properties they have been given, untill they know that they cannot move forward on the spiritual path. That is why Sri Bala is called the Goddess of Power and Energy as she makes you aware of your infinite unlimited energy.
In present time the humans have become entangled in wrong emotions, intentions, desires and karmas. He has received the curses and distortions of his previous generations also as a legacy. All this has made the roots of your existence weak. We have to remove all these distortions and weakness and to enable that Sri Bala Tripurasundari sadhna is given in Sri Vidya.
The next and the main stage in Sri Vidya sadhna is the deeksha of the panchdashi mantra as well as the sadhna of the Sri Chakra and Navavran pooja. In our gurukul, we teach this sadhna only when a sadhak has successfully completed the sadhna of Mahaganpati, Shyama Matangi and Goddess Varahi. The sadhak should have over time also strengthened his mind, atmaa and spiritual body by educating himself/ herself on various important subjects surrounding Sri Vidya. The sadhak’s mind needs to have reached a higher level of maturity (pari pakvata) for becoming the right vessel to learn panchdashi sadhna. The guru would usually assess whether the sadhak is ready or not before allowing the sadhak to lean panchdashi sadhna.
We teach this sadhna only over a period of four days and it requires extreme dedication throughout from the sadhaks. Panchdashi mantra is an extremely divine secret of Sri Vidya. At many places, this mantra deeksha is given but the sadhaks are not taught the meaning of the mantra. Such deeksha is incomplete and does not yield results. One has to work very hard to become chosen for panchdashi sadhna. Just like a MBBS doctor trying to study for MS. Before learning this sadhna one has to know the true secrets of aatma, material and spiritual dimensions of the universe/ multiverse, the science behind the origination/ dissipation of the universes/mutiverses, the true knowledge and forms of Shiva Shakti, knowledge of naad (sound) brahma, kundalini Shakti, knowledge of 36 tatvas and so on and so forth. This requires the sadhak to study hard with a open and questioning mind and work closely with the guru while doing all prior levels of Sri Vidya. Once the sadak demonstrates to his guru that he/ she is ready for panchdashi, the guru would agree to only then give the panchdashi deeksha.
To understand the panchdashi mantra, the sadhak should be ready to identify and learn the 15 tatvas of the mantra – and to be able to understand the naad (sound) of these tatvas. This is a very microcosmic knowledge and requires extreme rigor to learn as well as teach. In this deeksha, the sadhak is taught how to awaken the sri chakra and how to use its energy. This is done through the navavran pooja.
This is the stage in Sri Vidya, where the sadhak not only learns the pooja and sadhna but is also given a lot of knowledge from the vedas, puranas, Geeta, Upanishad such that the sadhak learns the true meaning of moksha and is made aware of the path to achieve it. In our organization, we try to give the best authentic knowledge and training to the sadhaks. The guru works on a one-on-one basis with such serious sadhaks. As said before, this sadhna is not for ordinary sadhaks but only for those who want to do a spiritual PhD and are ready to dedicate the time and energy that this requires.
Shodashi sadhna is an extremely complex sadhna. It is not possible to receive this sadhna diksha in today’s age by most. This is because it requires one to stay with the guru for at least a period of one year or more and also requires the sadhak to follow strict rules of living. The sadhak has to do rigorous sadhnas and work full-time under the instructions of the guru and clear various tests to prove his/ her evolution to the guru. When the sadhak clears these tests and shows the maturity for shodashi, he is taught this sadhna gradually by the guru. This sadhna requires the sadhak to know the 15 tatvas of panchdashi thoroughly and very deeply. In some Sri Vidya organizations, this sadhna is taught by just adding an extra beej mantra at the end of the panchdashi mantra. However, this is an incorrect method of teaching Shodashi.
While it simplistically sounds as if it’s just the addition of one extra beej akshara, it actually is the art of destroying the 15 beej aksharas of the panchdashi mantra into the sixteenth beej akshara. This sixteenth beej akshara which culminates the 15 beej aksharas is referred to as 16 Kalas, 16 Sanskaras or 16 Bhanus (moons). The head of all Dasha Mahavidyas and Lord Shiva is adorned by an Ardha Chandra (half-moon) which represents goddess Shodashi. Shodashi represents the completeness of the female energy. To understand Shodashi, detailed knowledge and understanding of Dasha Mahavidyas is essential. The sadhak learns deep sadhna and how to leave his/ her physical body during meditation to make journeys of the universe/ multiverses for more advanced knowledge. There are actually 5 types of secret beej aksharas associated with Shodashi and are given by the guru gradually in dikshas. Attainment of these dikshas is extremely difficult. In our gurukul, we do not teach Shodashi as it is not meant for a normal sansaric individual and requires a lot of discipline. We have just described the true nature of this sadhna in our blog for your benefit.
