Why mantras give different effects to different persons?

Dear Members:

I thought I will share a secret of mantra shastra succintly in a short note on this auspicious day of akshaya trithiyai (May 7, 2008 - 9-07 p.m. IST).

Often times in various internet forums we find that many members complain that they have done "all" possible mantras and yet nothing materialized. Yet, we see many persons who do get miraculous effects by the very same mantras. How do we reconcile this? If mantra shastra is scientific, the same results should accrue for anyone is it not? Then how - oh how do we find difference in the manifest results for different persons?

Let us see why it is so.....

For success of mantras there are 3 important aspects that should be fulfilled before it can give success, except in rare cases where a person seemingly does not satisfy these aspects and yet get success; it is not exactly true....that is why I have used the word "seemingly"....let us ignore this aspect for the time being...

1) Proper deeksha progression of a mantra: A mantra should be initiated in proper form in proper sequence. Based on the prevailing tradition of upaasanaa, initiation in the preliminaries should be done before a person can be initiated into the actual moola mantra. For instance, in Shri Vidya Upaasanaa traditions, a person should first be initiated into Ganapathy mantras (I say Ganapathy mantras because there are different forms that should be mastered before one progresses to the next level), Baala mantra, then Panchadasaakshari...The progression then continues with siddhi at each level and ends in Poornaabhishekam! The progression happens only after requisite no. of recitals and associated rituals (including homams/ charities, etc.) are completed without any blemish at the earlier levels. Only persons who go along the right progression as above can enjoy the full fruits of the mantra, and experience all the miracles credited with the mantra.

Some persons are of the opinion that such progression is not there for tantrik saadhanas which is not true. Even in tantra upaasanaa, Nyaasaas, kavachams, etc. are the preliminaries which should be perfected before the actual saadhanaa.

2) Grace of the Guru and His/ Her constant Guidance: One should have a competent Guru who can initiate a person into these. It is not as if just anyone can initiate anyone (unfortunately, it has watered down to this extent now-a-days; most people say they are initiated into Sri Vidhya japam without even realizing the aamnaayaas associated with such a process, the responsibilities of a Sri Vidhya aspirant, the protocols of the process, etc.). Initiation is not merely "murmuring" of mantra into the ears of the disciple. Knowing the verbal form of a mantra is not everything....during the deeksha process, the Guru should be capable of passing a portion of His/ Her mantraic energy to the disciple as an "account opening balance" to activate the mantraic account. The Guru definitely loses a portion of His/ Her mantraic energy with each initiation, which reverts back to the Guru if the disciple is regular in the mantraic chanting and worship as ordained by the Guru.

Even mere command from a competent Guru to chant a mantra (why a command - even mere Glance of a satguru can be a deeksha) can be a powerful deeksha; while even an elaborate fire Ritual conducted by a person who is not competent (but is perceived as Guru) may not give complete results. Anyway, mantras by their very nature can bestow some power - at least on and off - i.e. sometimes they work and sometimes they don't work sort of power, to anybody who just recites them with abundant faith and devotion (this is the reason why many of us experience that sometimes the mantra seems to give much peace while sometimes it just fails to respond to our urgent calls; we play with the mantraic formalities, and they sometimes play cruel games during emergencies by not responding to us!)

Please note that there is a Deity called "Tiraskarinii" (Tiraskarini literally means screen) who can create illusion in the minds of a person who is not properly initiated in the shri Vidya procedures - just to ensure that no incompetent person attains siddhi of a procedure (this is basically to avoid misuse of the mantraic power; just as nuclear power experiments are always shrouded in mystery, mantraic processes are veiled by different powers who ensure that any person who accidentally comes across such procedures will either forget the procedure or will understand the procedure in a distorted way so that they cannot use the mantra without proper authentication!).

Often times when I see empty ego-based debates on mantra shastra matters in forums, when I see persons claiming "right to recite any mantra without any Guru deeksha", when I see persons abusing the concept of Guru tatwaa (in one of the vedic astrology groups, there was a post from a person which said "all Gurus should be dumped into the ocean"!), when I see disciples challenging their Gurus (this happens when the Guru refuses a particular deeksha or mantra thinking that the time has not come for the disciple; immediately some disciples say that prashna will reveal how devoted they are, etc. and take the matter as a personal affront while the Guru is acting on the best interests of the disciple), etc. , I cannot but wonder if this is Maataa Tiraskarinii in Her full Form gleefully spreading illusion and deluding the unworthy aspirants along the slippery path of maayaa so that they never come near the Higher Truths that are reserved for the highly deserving aspirants.

3) Attitude of the person doing the mantra If the two earlier steps are correctly followed, the mantra will definitely give effects. But, what sort of effects it will bestow depends to a great extent upon the attitude of the aspirant. To give you an example....take the 73rd slokha of Soundarya Lahiri depicting the breast-feeding of Goddess's milk and its consequence on Lord Ganesha and Lord Subramanya.....if the sankalpam of the aspirant is "wisdom" (Aatma Gnaanaa), this slokha recital can keep a person anchored firmly in Blessed spotless Celibacy and lead the aspirant all the way to BrahmaGnaana which will be ultimately productive of moksha. The same slokha can also be recited for increasing lactation in women/ cows! I mean to say that the same mantra with its same vibration can give different results based on attitude of the aspirant (of course, there are only certain results possible with each mantra which are well-codified by savants of yore).

Many of us today lack the "attitude". When I say attitude - it is the resolute attitude towards the practice, complete faith in the process, and an unconditional surrender to Divine Grace with the firm belief that Divine Grace know better what to bestow upon us. Lot many persons "shop" for mantras....shifting from one mantra to another, ultimately losing faith in mantras and even upon themselves which is the greatest tragedy because, the Royal Road of Mantra shastra should take us Higher and Higher, and make us much better persons with supreme confidence stemming from the belief that God will not Forsake us.

If all the above 3 factors are perfect, there is absolutely no way that a mantra can fail to give results. The mantra in such cases will start giving results even before the full cycle of rituals are over.

Our sages knew of the limitations of this kali yuga where such perfection may not be always possible. That is why they have given sugar-coated pills to us to enable us to digest the incomparable and infinite potency of mantras easily. Various slokhas of saints of yore come under this category which need no initiation whatsoever. While Soundarya Lahiri needs proper initiation from a competent Guru, the other works of Shankaraachaarya like Bhavani Bhujangam, Subhramanya bhujangam, Ganesha Pancharatnam, Shiva panchaakshari sthothram, etc. need no initiation, and yet can be highly powerful in giving results to us. Similarly, Shri Vedaanta Desikan has capture highly potent mantras in beautiful sthothras which can be chanted by anyone (sudarshana mantra needs initiation; but the sudarshana ashtaka by Shri Desikan needs no initiation, and yet it attracts the Grace of Lord Sudarshana). Similarly Shri Vaadhiraajar has left many such wonderful compositions for our benefit.

Let us follow the footsteps of those great souls humbly and enjoy the benefits of mantras in the form that suits us. Of course, those of us who can get proper deeksha should strive to get mantra deeksha and live faithfully by the mantra doctrine and get benefitted. Those who are not in a position to be initiated due to any reason should rather benefit by the sthothras without touching the scorching flame of mantra shastra playfully.

May Medha Dakshinamoorthi - the JagatGuru guide our intellect. May the Grace of those wonderful souls who have left us wonderful mantraic power loaded sthothras for our easy recital guide us and give us the devotion and faith to chant those sthothras which are our legacy rather than hunting after "advanced" mantraic procedures out of vain ego (Mantraic processes are definitely powerful; but I say "vain ego" because many of us feel sthothras are "basic" and we are above that "level"! Spirituality has no place for such egoistic attitudes.); May we all develop good respect and perfect faith - because Faith is at the root of all miracles, and it is unconditional surrender and Love of God that makes us Divine. Being Divine is every soul's birthright. Let us achieve it the proper way - because there is no short-cut to success in mantra shastra. Let Maataa Tiraskarinii lift the veil of illusion and allow us to step into the Royal Road of mantraic devotion under the guidance of competent Gurus of various traditions.

Blessed be.


Pandit R.DAKSHINAMOORTHI
Astrological and Remedial consultant
dakshinastrologer@yahoo.co.in

Divine Legends that ensure peace and prosperity in the society

We are passing through a sensitive phase of existence where the combined effects of adverse planetary influences and the general degradation of moralities of life are contributing to escalating violence levels in the society, danger of thefts/ robberies, abuse of women, elderly, and even children, and a general intolerance that makes persons who should co-exist peacefully in the society into bitter rivals. There are two Divine Legends in Devi Bhaagavatam, contemplation of which is reputed to provide immunity from famines and other calamities including sectarian violence, epidemics/ endemics, pestilence, general insecurity pervading the society as a whole due to action of bands of thieves/ robbers, etc….. Let me relate these for the benefit of everyone.

Legend of sage Gautama and how Grace of Goddess Gayathri helped him and others

Once upon a time, there was no rain for 12 consecutive years with the result that sighting of even a blade of green grass became a rarity. Sages and Brahmins who were doing tapasya in the forests approached the Great Sage Gautama and requested him to do something about this andhelp the suffering millions. Sage Gautama performed a Divine Homam in Honour of Goddess Gayathri Devi. The Goddess manifested Herself in the Homam Kundam and offered the "Akshaya Paatra" (the Divine Vessel with unending supplies of food, and all materials). Sage Gautama removed the sufferings of people by distributing food, water, and all essential articles with the aid of Atchaya Paatra. This selfless service of Sage Gautama spread over the three worlds and even Lord Indra - the King of the Celestials praised Sage Gautama wholeheartedly in the Divine Assembly. Divine Sage Naarada came to this world and narrated this glory here to the satisfaction to Sage Gautama who was immensely pleased, and expressed his sentiment that all this was possible due to Devi’s Grace. In the meantime, the rain Gods blessed the Earth with bountiful rains and normalcy returned.

There were a group of jealous persons who wished to insult Sage Gautama as they were unable to tolerate his glory. They cunningly offered an old and dying cow for his Gopujaa. The innocent and unsuspecting Sage was about to perform the pooja, when the cow died merely on touch fromthe pooja water (it was that weak and it died of shivering cold just on contact with a sprinkle of water!) The cunning persons hiding nearby accused Sage Gautama with "Go-Hatya" i.e. they accused him of having killed a cow which is considered to be one of the most severe sins! The Great Sage was disillusioned and was wondering what was happening. Then he meditated on Goddess Gayathri who helped him to Divine the sequence of events. Overcome with justifiable anger, the Sage cursed those cunning persons to suffer endless miseries. The anger of theinnocent and noble saint began to torment those cunning persons beyond their limits, and they fell at his feet for forgiveness. The kindhearted sage, gave a remedy saying that they will get relief from their troubles by praying to the Goddess on Chaitra sukla Navami (incidentally this is the navami of the Vasantha Navarathri - the same thithi of birth of Shri Raama!). Those cunning persons remedied their sufferings by praying for many years like that on Chaitra sukhla navami. Goddess Gayathri consoled Sage Gautama saying that he need not feel bad for having cursed those jealous persons nor for their attitude. These are all signs of approaching Kali yuga and vanished.

Contemplating on this legend will give immunity from the evil designs of cunning persons in this kali age and also help in times of financial distress. When there is wide-spread economic depression and general decline in farm produce, chanting of this legend as a collective worship will prove auspicious to the society as a whole.

II: The legend of Shaakambari Devi and how Her Grace removed the Famine in Ayodhya

Once there was a severe famine in the regions surrounding Ayodhyaa. The people could not divine the reason for that. They thought that propitiating Goddess is the best way out of troubles and they approached Sage Durvaasa for guidance.

The great Sage said that "Removal of Famines is possible by worshipping Goddess Paraa Shakti in Her form of Shaakambari. I shall initiate you people into Her mantra."

My note: Shaakambari Devi has 1000 eyes and hence she is also called as "Sadaakshi" - one with Eyes everywhere! Shastras say that when famines torment people and if there is at least one highly righteous person in their midst, the Goddess' eyes water out of compassion and this will induce rains! This is the basis of the belief that if there are punyaatmaas in a place, there will be rains.(end of my note on this).

A small sthothra on Goddess Shaakambari:

"Ashwattha vata nimbhaamra kapitta padarii gathe
Banasaarka kareeraadi ksheera vruksha swaroopinii

dhuktavallii nivaasaarhe dhaneeye dayaanidhe

daakshinya karunaaroope saakambarii namo(a)sthute"

(pronunciation guide: "e" in this sthotra has the sound as in "May", "Day" etc. - the "Ay sound")People surrounding Ayodhya did the worship as per the guidelines of the Great sage Durvaasa.

The Goddess manifested with a Form carrying all sorts of vegetables and grains all over Her Body. By Her Grace, rain cycles were regularized and people were relived from their famine.Meditating on this legend and worshipping Goddess Saakambari will give immunity from famines and will ensure good agricultural produce and prosperity in the nation.
May Goddess bless us and guide us; may Her Grace stand by us and help us to overcome the current depressive economic conditions.

Reciting these legends in community prayers and praying to the Divine Mother for Peace and prosperity will help in maintaining a well-balanced society where there will be peaceful co-existence and prosperity.

(I have given a liberal translation of the original legends; those who wish to study the original legends in their full form should refer Devi Bhaagavatam for the Sanskrit version. I have given this legends in their English rendering so that this could be recited in community prayers where everyone can participate in this with full understanding. There are some mantras where the sound is more important than the content, while there are certain portions of scriptures where the content is more important than the Sanskrit mantraic sounds. This is one such portion where the content of the legend has the remedial potency. That is why I have given the translated version. It is our earnest request that spiritual communities perform this recital in mass prayers on convenient holidays for the welfare of the Universe as a whole).
Blessed be.
Pandit R.DAKSHINAMOORTHI
Astrological and Remedial consultant
dakshinastrologer@yahoo.co.in
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