Preliminaries

There are certain preliminaries that have to be observed before one proceeds with the recital of Saptaśati with its limbs. These make the recital very effective.

SNĀNA

At the outset, the aspirant has to purify himself. The external purification is accomplished by a good bath in clean water. Those who are unable to do this because of illness or other reasons are advised to drench themselves with the waves of vibration raised by the repetition of the Mantra, Vaidic or Tantric.

ĀCAMANA

One proceeds to do ācamana, slowly sipping the water held in the palm of his right hand reciting the Tattva-mantras. The tattvas, principles, are three in number - Ātma tattva, Vidyā tattva, and Śiva tattva. They denote the self, God and the knowledge that makes the self realise the Godhead. The knowledge is given by the Mantra, rather it is the Mantra itself. When the principle of Sat Cit Ānanda, Existence, Consciousness, Bliss, is involved in creation, Sat represents the true self-existent Self, Ātmā, Cit the Consciousness which is the fruit of knowledge, Vidyā and Ānanda the Bliss, Śiva. The ācamana is to purify the three principles Ātmā, Vidyā and Śiva, so that they may get evolved to the original principles of Sat, Cit and Ānanda and finally transcend them. That is why the ācamana, is crowned with a fourth sip of water sarva tattvaṁ śodhayāmi.

PRĀṆAYĀMA

Prāṇāyāma is the regulation of breath, the ultimate aim being the extension, āyāma, of the Pranic forces in the body. By regulating breath, the activities of the mind are regulated and after some time, the mind falls silent. Thoughts which arise from outside do not disturb the mind. Silence reigns in the mind with an expectancy, with the readiness to receive the word of the Divine. Here the Prāṇāyāma is done with the Mūlamantra, Navākṣarī. One draws in the breath through the left nostril, repeating the Mantra once, retains the breath repeating the Mantra four times and exhales through the right nostril repeating the Mantra twice.

SAṄKALPA

Saṅkalpa is the resolution, an expression of the will of the aspirant about what he proposes to do. In the Saṅkalpa, the act is clearly spelled out and the expression of the solemn resolve helps to materialise the will of the aspirant into action. The purpose of the act also is defined; generally the purpose is all-embracing; at times, the purpose is limited or special. Fulfilment of a special purpose rests on the performance of the specified acts and conditions. It is true that the aspirant puts his will behind the Saṅkalpa, but it is the Divine that gives him the will and he does the act for the delight of the Divine, for His satisfaction, Parameśvara prītyartham.

“Whereas for us and for our families a constant increase is desired in well - being, security, valour, victory, life, health and wealth, whereas the attainment of auspiciousness on all sides is sought after and whereas I having such and such a name and belonging to such and such a clan ask, by the grace of the World - Mother, for the removal of all distress and for the attainment of desired ends through the requisition of the fourfold purposes of life, Dharma, Artha, Kāma and Mokṣa, I now will perform the recital of the seven hundred verses of Caṇḍi by prefacing the text with Kavaca, Argalā, Kīlaka, Ekādaśa Nyāsa, Navākṣarī japa and Rātrisūkta and by concluding the text with Devi Sūkta, Navākṣari japa and the three Rahasyas, for securing the satisfaction of the deities Mahākālī, Mahālakṣmī and Mahāsarasvatī.”

This is the usual text of the resolution.

PRĀRTHANĀ

Then the invocation is done to Gaṇeśa and Guru. The first God to be worshipped and the God through whom all the other Gods are approached is Agni in the Veda and Gaṇeśa in the Tantra. Both are the sons of the supreme God Maheśvara. Agni of the Veda becomes Skanda, Kumāra of the Purāṇa and the Tantra, while Gaṇeśa of the Tantra has evolved from the Brahmaṇaspati of the Veda. In fact, the Mantra used in the Tantra to invoke Gaṇeśa is the famous Ṛk of Śaunaka Gṛtsamada addressed to the Deity Brahmaṇaspati. The elephant headed God is the superb lord of the hosts, gaṇānām gaṇapatiḥ, the superb seer - poet amongst seer - poets kavīnām kaviḥ and the superb master of the word Brahmaṇām Brahmaṇaspaliḥ. He is the eldest of all the shining ones, jyeṣṭha rāja. He is superb in hearing upamaśravastama and so hears our invocation ā naḥ śṛnvan. He is Brahmacārī, moves and has his activities in Brahma, the Word, and represented as a bachelor in the popular sense of the term Brahmacārī. But the Tantra does not make any concessions to its doctrine that one becomes a Śakta only when endowed with Śakti. Gaṇeśa is conceived not as a bachelor, but having two consorts, Śaktis, Siddhi and Buddhi, accomplishment and effectuating intelligence. He is invoked as the Word that breaks through the barriers of ignorance and as the force of knowledge that removes all obstacles.

Next comes the obeisance to the Guru, the human representative of the Divine to the disciple. The disciple gets all that he has to get from the Godhead through his Guru who has in him the delegated power of the Godhead. Once a Guru accepts a disciple, his grace to the disciple is always there; and he himself cannot undo what he has already done. But the action of grace largely depends upon the receptivity of the disciple and the strength of his inner relationship with the Guru. As Sri Aurobindo says: “Much depends on the inner relation between Guru and Śiṣya (disciple). One can go to a very great spiritual man and get nothing or only a little from him: one can go to a man of less spiritual capacity and get all he has to give and more.”

The inner relation is maintained by an utter surrender and supplication to the Guru. One recites the Guru pādukā mantra and bows in great reverence to the holy sandals of his Guru, Parama Guru, the Guru of his Guru and Parameṣṭhi Guru, the Guru of his Parama Guru.

ĀSANA

“The sādhaka has to seat himself in a posture which is most convenient, physically, and helps the body to acquire the sustained poise-āsana. Padmāsana is the one usually adopted as it secures a settled fixity to the erect position of the body- specially of the spine-a position which is particularly favourable to the coursings of the subtle nerve currents and the movement of the Force acting in the body during the sādhanā.“1 In the first place, one should draw with water the figure of a triangle on the ground and worship the sustaining force, ādhāra Śakti. Then, one should spread a seat over it and sit comfortably. The seat may be made of wool, skin of animals or reeds like darbha. Merutantra says that the use of a tiger - skin ensures all - round accomplishment, a seat made of sheep’s wool destroys diseases, a silk cloth promotes welfare and a cane mat increases prosperity.2 Then earth is worshipped in the following terms “O Earth - goddess, people are borne by thee: thou art borne by Viṣṇu. Bear me as well and purify the seat.” The seat is then sanctified with the sprinkling of water and salutations are offered. The names used in the salutation are significant.

1. M.P. Pandit- Upasanā in Light of the Tantras.
2. सर्वसिद्धै व्याघ्रचर्म त्वाविकं रोगनाशनम्।
कौशेयं पौष्टिकं प्रोक्तम् वेत्रजं श्रीवर्धनम्॥

The posture should be kept as long as possible and so the seat is identified with the seat of the primordial person, Viṣṇu, with Ananta signifying endless time. And so it is saluted as Anantāsana. Just as tortoise withdraws all its limbs into its shell and remains immobile for hours, the posture should ensure the withdrawing of all outward going senses into oneself and the immobility of the body and the mind, Kūrmāsana. The seat should be pure and should purify the sādhaka, Vimalāsana. Just as a lotus blooms forth petal by petal, the posture should be conducive to the gradual unfoldment of the innate possibilities of the sādhaka, Padmāsana. It should ensure the union of the sādhaka with the object of his quest in all parts of his being, Yogāsana. Then it becomes the basis for support, the sustaining force, Ādhāra Śakti. It strikes terror in the heart of the wicked and drives them away as the man - lion of yore, duṣṭa - vidravaṇa nṛsimhāsana: and it continues throughout to be a posture of ease and comfort madhye parama sukhāsana. Then if the sādhaka has flowing locks of hair, he ties them into a knot symbolically representing the restraint of all his wayword tendencies and then invokes Cāmuṇḍa thus: “O Cāmuṇḍa of lofty upturned tresses. Uunshapely eyes, O thou devouring on flesh and blood. O goddess unvanquished, stand in the knot of the hair.” Here it is to be noted that Cāmuṇḍa is described as devouring on flesh and blood. When one sits in an āsana, Cāmuṇḍa the deity of the āsana draws sustenance from the flesh and blood of the sādhaka; in other words, she is fostered by the physical base of the sādhaka. Then she shoots forth rays of light, leading the sādhaka up in the realms of light, ūrdhvakeśi¹ and her eyes are not restricted to two, virūpākṣi. She endows the sādhaka with the necessary perception on various planes of his being. And in the act, she is unvanquished, aparājitā.

1. Keśa, hair, represents, a ray in the light in the Veda. Indra’s horses are qualifies by the word Keśi. Having manes of light.
Devi Māhātmya: samasta romakṛpeṣu nijaraśmin divākaraḥ.

When a sādhaka sits in an asana he normally faces east or north.

BHŪTĀPASARPAṆA

“Whatever may be the beings that abide in the place of worship, let them clear out. Let all beings that cause obstruction be destroyed by the command of Śiva. Let beings and spirits clear out of all directions; without obstruction from them, I commence the act of japa.” With this prayer, the sādhaka drives away the undesirable and obstructive forces. He then takes permission from the terrible Bhairava of sharp fangs, tikṣṇa daṁṣṭra, of stupendous body, mahākāya, and who resembles the fire at the time of the end of a Kalpa, kalpānta dahanopama. The ten quarters are fenced by striking the earth with the left foot, uttering the word phaṭ and by snapping the fingers round the head.

BHŪTAŚUDDHI

To explain fully the significance of Bhūta śuddhi, we can do no better than quote from the profound writings of Sri Kapali Sastriar on the subject:

“Bhūtaśuddhi is the most important and even indispensable discipline both for the outer worship as well as for the mantra sādhanā which leads to the inner life. The literal meaning of the term is the ‘purification of the elements’ but its effect is to cleanse the atmosphere in and round the person of the worshipper and clear it of the influences of the elemental forces or beings, the lower spirits, the blind unintelligent forces to which men in their ordinary lives are subject; and the weaknesses on the mental or moral plane that pertain to the material body of man are indeed the result of the play of these forces of universal nature. The loosening and ultimate riddance of the Tamasic forces of the dense and elemental nature is indeed sine qua non for qualifying oneself for the mantra sādhanā that aims high at contacting the deity in the deeper layers of one’s consciousness or on the higher levels of one’s being that are supra - physical. And it is also necessary and to some extent possible in the case of a beginner preparing for the external worship, bāhyapūjā. For, without the bhūtaśuddhi, the prāṇa pratiṣṭhā could not be done, since the latter is meant to evoke the presence or power of the deity from the spirit of one’s own being which itself is lodged in, and a portion of the supreme self, parama ātman the indwelling godhead in all creatures. In fact, the Tantric works everywhere reiterate the value and necessity of this purification without which the pratiṣṭhā, the installing of the power and the presence either within oneself in the inner worship, or instilling the spirit and power into the image or symbol in the outer worship is not possible. The outer worship, as is done commonly by the generality of devotees, will be ineffective without the essential pratiṣṭhā on which everything else depends.

Its (bhūtaśuddhi) basic importance in the mantra - sādhanā cannot be too much emphasized, since in the yogic path of the Tantrik it affords the foundation on which the whole edifice of Yoga is raised, with devotion, knowledge and will as its constituent elements. But even before entering straight into the inner apartments of Yoga where the psycho - physical centres are concentrated upon and opened for progress in the sādhanā and building the inner life, the Tantrik beginner devoted to his chosen deity is advised to effect the bhūta - śuddhi without which the presence of the deity cannot be felt and the grace of the deity, even when it comes in response to an ardent call of the upāsaka, worshipper, or a fervent emotional appeal to the deity could not be properly received, or even when received, be adequately held and effectively retained in the vessel, the body. Hence its importance and its value are recognised for any form of serious worship. It must be noted here that the purification of the various limbs, outer physical and the inner mind - stuff aims not only at the eradication of the narrowing and obscuring influences of the elemental forces and the universal weakness of the lower Nature, but inviting in their place the opposite good influences of the benign forces, the powers of the supraphysical worlds. That is why in the actual bhūtaśuddhi, every part is offered to a deity, and the group of deities that are invoked to occupy their places in the body - vessel, ādhāra, constitutes indeed the minor gods who are the parivāra of the chosen chief, pradhāna. In some Tantric works, instead of the minor gods and the chief Deity, the tattvas or cosmic principles with the soul, and the supreme self for the Chief Deity are mentioned in the culmination of the bhūtaśuddhi. And this is to give a pure spiritual turn with a philosophic basis to the upāsanā.

The conception of the Tantric in regard to the body was so complete and ideal that all the tattvas ( or the higher powers ) are understood to be lodged in it and the supreme godhead abides in the centre and depths of one’s being, the heart - lotus. Nor is the purification of the body and preparing it for Divine worship achieved by sheer physical purity and strength to be decided by medical opinion and judged according to hygienic standards. For the purity of the kind in the body is to be accomplished in such a manner that the god or gods could discover in it their actual temple consecrated for their advent or manifestation. And indeed the body is the field of battle between the dark and the luminous forces in the cosmos, engendering bad will and good will with their brood of feelings and ideas and their consequent subtle effect on the body, nerves and muscles, in the shape of ill - health and good - health and general disharmony running riot in the system. Thus, the bhūtaśuddhi has a double function, the negative and the positive, the former paving the way by the clearance of the disagreeable forces for the positive side i.e. the filling of the purified parts by the presence of the Powers that are invoked to occupy their right places in the system.”1

1. Further Lights: Veda and Tantra by Sri Kapali Sastriar.

By a powerful mental process, the coiled - up energy, kuṇḍalinī, in the Mulādhāra centre is lifted up centre by centre, each preceding element being dissolved into the higher succeeding element i.e. the earth - element in the Mulādhāra is dissolved into the water - element in the Svadhiṣṭhāna centre, the water - element there dried up by the fire - element in the Maṇipura centre and so on. By reciting the Mantra Soham " He, I am “, the Sādhaka lifts up his self from the heart, takes it along with the Kuṇḍalinī force to the Sahasradala centre in the head and unites them with the supreme self there. Then he thinks of the body of the evil person in him and by the process of Prāṇāyāma, uttering the seed - sound Yaṁ he withers it up; uttering the seed - sound raṁ, he burns it; uttering the seed - sound vaṁ he drenches it with nectar and uttering the seed sound laṁ he consolidates the sinless shining body. Now, by reciting the Mantra Haṁsaḥ, the sādhaka brings down his self from the supreme self into his heart and the Kuṇḍalinī back to Mulādhāra.

PRĀNAPRATIṢṬHĀ

The effective installation of Life - Force, prāṇa pratiṣṭhā, becomes possible only when bhūta - śuddhi is performed. The whole recital of the text will become a lifeless ritual if the power and the presence is not installed within onself in the inner worship or in the sacred symbol of Mūrti, image, or Yantra, diagram, in the outer worship. When by means of bhūta-śuddhi the body of the sādhaka is looked upon as a luminous form of light, having become quite competent for the worship of the Deity, tejorūpam kalevaram devtopāsanā - yogyam utpannam,¹ from such a body the power of the Pranic force and Divine is infused into the object of worship and firmly installed thus:

“My life-breaths are life-breaths here. My soul is established here. May all my sense organs, my speech, mind, skin, eyes, ears, tongue, nose and breath come here and with ease abide long.”

DĪPASTHĀPANA

In keeping with the Vedic tradition that Agni, the immortal amongst the mortals, the Divine guest who has sought the house of man, is witness, sākṣī, to all the acts of man, generally in outer worship and rituals, a lamp, dīpa, is lit and the flame is carefully kept burning till the act of worship is over. The steady flame of the lamp is the outward symbol of the unflagging aspiration of the sādhaka and the dīpa itself is considered to be the form of the Goddess. It is common experience amongst devout worshippers that no sooner than the sacred lamp is lit, an auspicious spiritual atmosphere is created in the place of worship.

ŚAPODDHĀRA AND UTKĪLANA

The Veda speaks of the powers of darkness and ignorance who oppose the aspirant of truth and immortality and impede his spiritual progress at each step. The Vṛtra who covers the truth and knowledge and obstructs the free flow of light, the Paṇis who hide and hoard like a miser all the spiritual wealth, trading and trafficking in them and the Vala who erects barriers and encloses the truth from the perception of the aspirant, have all to be conquered. Apart from these, there are certain forces whom the Veda calls Nidaḥ, " Powers of limitation, the confiners, Restrainers or Censurers, who without altogether obscuring the rays of Light or damming up the energies, yet seek by constantly affirming the deficiencies of our self -expression to limit its field and set up the progress realised as an obstacle to the progress to come.“1

1. Sri Aurobindo

The Tantra also speaks of hostile undivine forces corresponding to the Vedic Vṛtra, Paṇis etc., who obstruct Siddhi in the Mantra Sādhanā. Apart from these, corresponding to Nidaḥ, restrainers or censurers, there are certain seers of yore and in some cases even certain gods who have cast a spell, pronounced a curse, Śāpa, over the Mantra and that delays the Siddhi. These givers of Śāpa are not against the sādhaka attaining siddhi in the Mantra, neither are they opposed to the Divine. The spells they cast and the curses they have administered serve as check-posts on the spiritual path. The sādhaka’s competency is questioned at each stage, he is discouraged to proceed further, being made aware of his deficiencies and the password is given only when his credentials are proved. By the śāpoddhāra mantra, the aspirant prays to these seers and Gods to lift up the curse and allow him to proceed on the path towards the siddhi of the Mantra.

Also, there are certain pivotal conditions to be fulfilled on which hinge the whole realisation of the Mantra. As long as this pivot, kīlaka, is not perceived, the door to progress stands slammed in the face of the sādhaka. Once the utkīlana is accomplished, the portals to siddhi in the Mantra swing wide open. That is the purpose of the utkīlana mantra.

After these preliminaries the sādhaka proceeds to the recital of the text.