Can anyone clarify the following doubts of mine?:
1) Decades ago an Advaitic (Smaarta) Sannyasi initiated me into a MANTRA OF AN AVATAR OF VISHNU. (I am also a Smaarta).I made japa of that mantra several lakhs of times & then stopped doing japa.If I start doing japa of that mantra now, can I get mantra siddhi? Moreover I DO NOT perform Sandhyavandanam because of health problems. Some people say that japa of any mantra will bear fruit only if japa of GAYATRI Mantra is done simultaneously.Is this true? My argument is that if any person inserts his finger into fire, it will be burnt.A mantra is like a fire.Whoever repeats a mantra must get the results whether he chants the Gayatri or not.I may be wrong. Please advise me.
2)If a person goes on repeating the GAYATRI without performing Sandhyavamdanam, can he get results? Is Sandhyavandanam absolutely necessary for making japa of Gayatri? Will mere repitition of Gayatri without Sandhyavandanam yield results?
Shri Kaundinya,
I am first giving the orthodox (sastraic) opinion first and mine later.
According to sastra (tradition) which, when we talk about "mantropadesams" verges on to Tantra too, any mantra which contains any "beeja mantra" (like hraam, hreem, hroom, kleem, etc.,) has to be performed very very meticulously according to what the guru says; if there is even a small mistake or deviance very evil and dangerous consequences will befall such a defaulter, his family and generations to come. This is because the mantras of this type give shape to some sort of ethereal entities which have to be kept in good humour
always, and before the person who receives the upadesam dies (unless it is sudden) he has to do certain rites so that the entity so created is dissolved. So, if the mantra you got has any beejaakshara, the very stoppsge of chanting without following whatever the guru had to say, itself is a very big mistake. You should immediately consult someone who is an adept at tantric methods and follow
meticulously whatever he advises. In short such mantropadesams are like riding a fierce tiger—one can get on to it, but difficult to alight from it safe!
If the mantra does not have any beejaakshara then of course it is safe. You can start chanting again. But once again, tradition is that a Brahman who fails to do his sandhya with ritual purity (maDi) and
in time (காணாமல் கோணாமல் கண்டு கொடு) is not a Brahman at all; he becomes a Sudra or ChandaaLa and if he does anything prescribed for Brahmans by the scriptures, he adds to his already swollen load of sin (பாப மூட்டை). Some of our Tabras conveniently twist the rules and interpret the rules according to their convenience and limitations but Sastra like the ṛtam of the vedas, is inexorable (according to orthodox belief). Hence, even if the mantra is a safe category one, it is incumbent upon you to lead a perfect Brahmanical life if you desire that the recitation of that mantra does not bring bad results.
Some of our members are likely to disagree with the above views because they are habituated to interpreting "Brahman way of life with ritual purity" as suits each one, go and get mantropadesams from swamiyars and gurujis, recite these in whatever way they can, and then claim they feel some vibrations, power and so on and so forth.
My nephew got Ganapati moolamantra upadesam from an old austere Brahman who was well-known for his efficacious Ganapati Homams, because he (my nephew) was without a job for long and his father (my brother-in-law) was completely bedridden due to paralysis below the waist. A stage came when this boy had to be by his father's bedside all the time to help him. He could neither follow maDi nor recite the mantra for the minimum time and even his sandhyavandanam was irregular. So he went to that old Brahman who advised him to spare a few hours one day, go to his house, perform certain simple rites and recite the mantra into the right ear of a fresly calved milch cow (which the old man had arranged). It seems that is one way of parihaaram for discontinuing the upadesam.
My personal opinion is that all these mantras have only psychological effects. But to derive all those psychologies, one has to be a believer - a complete believer, not selective believer. If you follow whatever the guru says, perhaps it will be complete belief. So, it was necessary for you to get all these points clarified when you went in for the upadesam.
