Our most humble salutations at the feet of our revered Guru.
A person is always in search of bliss throughout his life. In this pursuit, he comes across the Vedas and śāstrās. They unequivocally reveal that he is really in an everlasting state of bliss and only that this blissful state is forgotten by him. He studies all the Vedas and śāstrās and practices them to attain this blissful state, but the real experience deludes him. Thus the aspirant now goes in search of a means to attain this blissful experience, finds a Guru, and surrenders to Him. His Guru guides him to the experience through a Sādhanā. This is the meaning of“Atha”, which is at the start of the kalpasūtras. “A” is the word for Śiva, the auspicious one. Hence, starting with auspicious one. “Atha” also means afterward. ‘Afterwards’ of what? After searching all the Vedas, śāstrās, purāṇas, texts, ’dīkṣāṃ vyākhyāsyāmaḥ’- one reaches a Guru and gets dīkṣa - the initiation and guidance in getting the experience. The Sadhana given by the Guru has three limbs-
The Tantra = procedure or manual of the rites
The Mantra = the word form of the chosen deity
The Yantra = an object for concentration; these three are interdependent.
Lord Dattātreya has given a form of Sadhana called “Śrī Vidyā” to Śrī Paraśurāma, who has codified them in his Kalpasūtras. In the section on Japa, the sūtras declare that six obstacle removing mantras are to be chanted before the daily repletion of the Śrī Vidyā Mantra. They are as follows:
atha vighnadevatāḥ | irimilikirikilipadāt parimirom ity ekaḥ |
praṇavo māyā namo bhagavati mahātripurād bhaivarṇād
ravipadam anu mama traipurarakṣāṃ kuru kuru iti dvitīyaḥ |
saṃhara saṃhara vighnarakṣovibhīṣakān kālaya huṃ phaṭ svāhā iti tṛtīyaḥ |
blūṃ raktābhyo yoginībhyo namaḥ iti caturthaḥ |
sāṃ sārasāya bahvāśanāya namaḥ iti pañcamaḥ |
dumuluṣu muluṣu māyā cāmuṇḍāyai namaḥ iti ṣaṣṭhaḥ |
ete manavo lalitājapavighnadevatāḥ ||
PKS 10.51
The decoded mantras are:
iri mili kiri kili parimirom
oṁ hrīṁ namo bhagavati mahā tripura bhairavi mama traipura-rakṣāṁ kuru kuru
saṁhara saṁhara vighna-rakṣovibhīṣakān kālaya huṁ phaṭ svāhā
blūṁ raktābhyo yoginībhyo namaḥ
sāṁ sārasāya bahvāśanāya namaḥ
dumuluṣu muluṣu hrīṁ cāmuṇḍāyai namaḥ
This is a study on the presiding deities and the real meaning of the above mantras. On deep meditation seeking guidance, we were directed to refer Lalitopākhyāna of Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇ. In the thirteenth chapter, we come across the following description on the march of Śrī Lalitā Devi’s armies in war with Bhaṇḍāsura.
Ślokas 88-91
lalitā cakra-rājākhyā ratha-nāthasya kīrtitāḥ
ṣaṭ-sārathaya uddaṇḍa-pāśagrahaṇa-kovidāḥ
irāvati prathamaśca tathā tripura-bhairavī
saṃhārabhairavaścānyo raktayogini-vallabhaḥ
sārasaḥ pañcamaścaiva cāmuṇḍā ca tathā parā
etāsu devatāstatra rathasārathayaḥ smṛtāḥ
geyacakra-rathendrasya sārathistu hasantikā
kiri-cakra-rathendrasya staṃbhinī sārathiḥ smṛtā
A translation would run thus: “of the Lalitā cakra, six charioteers who are well versed and skillful are Irāvatī, Tripura Bhairavī, Samhāra Bhairava, Raktayoginī-vallabha, Sārasa, and Camuṇḍā. These deities are the charioteers of this great cakra. The charioteer of Geya Cakra (of Devi Rājaśyāmalā) is Hasantī and that of Kiri cakra (of Devi Vārāhī) is Stambhinī."
In the Lalitā Triśati third chapter (phala śruti) it is said “śrī cakram śivayoḥ vapuḥ”- i.e., the Śrī Cakra is the body of the Śiva couple (Lalitā Kāmeśvara). We also see in the Lalitā Sahasranāma “mūla mantrātmikā”, “Śrīmadvāgbhava… katyadhobhāga dhārinī” -i.e., three parts of pañcadaśi mūlamantra is verily word form of Devi Lalitā and Kāmeśvara.
Thus the unity of Lalitā-Kāmeśvara, Śrī Vidyā Mantra, and the Śrī Cakra is established. It follows that these charioteers of the gross Śrī Cakra Rāja ratha, who help in the smooth movement, are the obstacle removing mantras in daily movement (repetition) of subtle Śrī Cakra (Śrī Vidyā mantra)
The deities: A close look into the names to identify the deities of these mantras was attempted. The first mantra is unintelligible/confusing so does the name. The rest five seem to be familiar.
1) iri mili kiri kili parimirom
Irāvati: On a wide search “Ira” had two meanings – 1. Earth; 2. Devi Saraswatī. Since the mantra consisted on only the short ‘i” – which denotes Devi Saraswatī, it led to the assumption that this was a mantra of her. When we tried to reconcile both the meanings, it dawned that the element of muladhara cakra is the Earth, also being the source of the most subtle form of speech - the parā vāk. Hence it was concluded this mantra refers to the presiding deity of mūlādhāra cakra - Sakini.
Removing the ‘i’ from all the syllables in the mantra we find:
‘ra ma la ka ra ka la pa ra ma ra’ .
The first 'ra' represents the Kuṇḍalinī in the mūlādhāra cakra which is enclosed by
mala impurities such as: ānava, māyīya and kārmika,
removing them by ‘kara’ which is the sādhana with saparyā-pūjā and
‘kala’ which is sound the constant japa
with awareness attaining the ‘parama’
the highest state ‘ra’ and ‘oṁ’ which represent the Paramaśiva in the sahasrāra.
‘i’ is the iccha sakti (will power) of Lord Śiva which manifests the world and is thus said first, next all consonants have ‘i’ which is to say that thru this Icchā Śakti all these are taking place. The rest now fell into line with the successive mantras referring to the next cakras from Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra to Ājñā.
2) oṁ hrīṁ namo bhagavati mahā tripura bhairavi mama traipura-rakṣāṁ kuru kuru
Tripura Bhairavī: The mantra of Svādhiṣṭhāna (at the root of genital organ) is a prayer to the Tripura Bhairavī – the presiding deity of sarvāndamaya cakra (the central bindu), as seen in saubhāgya ratnākara - to protect the aspirant’s three bodies - the gross, subtle and the causal. This is reflected as the ecstasy (sarvandamaya cakreśvari) during the male and female union resulting in progeny (ātmā vai putrṇāmāsi - The self is verily the son). Progeny implies continuous existence which is the protection of the gross, subtle and casual body. Hrīṁ at the beginning of the mantra is the creative seed sound.
3) saṁhara saṁhara vighna-rakṣovibhīṣakān kālaya huṁ phaṭ svāhā
Samhāra Bhairava: The mantra at Maṇipūraka (navel center) requests protection from obstacles and annihilation of evil frightening powers by the Samhāra Bhairava. The stomach has the fire element that digests the food and sends it to various parts of the body for power.
4) blūṁ raktābhyo yoginībhyo namaḥ
Raktayoginī vallabha: The mantra in Anāhata (heart center) is a salutation to the lord of ‘blood maidens’ to subjugate them. ‘Blood’ denotes the red colour and is associated with fear. Maidens are personification of the higher powers, which cannot be annihilated, present amidst our vicinity. Fear of them is over come by subjugating them with the attraction seed sound (vaśya bīja) ‘blūṁ”.
5) sāṁ sārasāya bahvāśanāya namaḥ
Sārasa: We can admire the mantra in Viśuddhi cakra – the throat - of Sārasa. The mantra says ‘bhahu asanāya’ – eating a lot of food; ‘Sārasa”- the essence. Hence we can see that this mantra helps us in removing an obstacle – the craving for food by controlling it while absorbing the essence of the partaken food.
6) dumuluṣu muluṣu hrīṁ cāmuṇḍāyai namaḥ
Cāmuṇḍā: It is clear that the deity of Ājñā – Cāmuṇḍā - is the one who instills humbleness; love and surrender, on making us realize that neither body strength (muṇḍa) nor intellectual strength (caṇḍa) can bring about the experience. A complete surrender is necessary.
In the mantra consonants are da, ma, la and śa; vowel - seed sound - is ‘u’.
‘u’ is Viṣṇu, whose doctrine extols unequivocal surrender.
‘da’ is daharākāśa, the heart center and hence the viṣṇu granthi – the knot at the heart, which limits the Universal Self to an Individual.
‘śa’ is the poison (viśa) and is indicative of Māyā.
‘mala’ refers to the three impurities – ānava, kārmika and māyīya.
Together the above proposes the cutting of the heart knot and removal of the three impurities by upadeśa (‘u’ is the alphabet placed in the right ear indicates initiation) and total surrender, thus reaching eternal bliss. Repetition of ‘mala’ denotes emphasis on the path for removal of the impurities.
Let us salute both the compassionate Lord Dattātreya and his pupil Śrī Paraśurāma in directing us to chant these six mantras, the deities on their invocation remove the different form of obstacles in the six cakras for the Kuṇḍalinī in Mūlādhāra to reach the Sahasrāra and unite with her Lord Parameśvara, thus paving a way for the aspirant to meditate on this union while doing the daily repetition of the Śrī Vidyā Mahāmantra Pañcadaśi or Ṣoḍaśi.
Hail! , the Lovable Guru who resides both inside and outside of us for having guided us in this research and helping us to reach this conclusion.
Source: "Meditative Texts - Revised Thoughts on the Way" by Yogamba Sameta Atmanandanatha (Ramesh Kutticad)
Yogamba Sahita Atmanandantha (Ramesh Kutticad) is a Śrī Vidyā Guru from Chennai. He is associated with Guruji since 1996. Smt. and Sri Ramesh have painstakingly written the following scholarly, research. We're grateful to him for allowing us to make these articles available for the public.
