MantrArthAbhidhAnam of the VaradA Tantra

____________________________________________________________
ShrI Shiva said: Listen, O ParameshvarI! Now I shall describe to
You the meaning of the Mantras, in the absence of knowledge of
which no one can get the fruit even with millions of SAdhanA.
O PArvatI! first of all listen to the meaning of the PrasAdabIja.
Ha denotes Shiva and Au indicates SadAshiva; ShUnya indicates
Duhkhahara. Thus Haum is the BIja for the worship of Shiva.
Da indicates DurgA, U indicates Raksana; the NAdarUpa indicates
VishvamAtA and Vindu indicates the Kurva. Thus DUm is the BIja
for the worship of DurgA.
Ka indicates KAlI; Ra indicates Brahma; I denotes MahAmAyA; NAda
denotes VishvamAtA and the Vindu indicates Duhkhahara. Thus made
up of these letters, KrIm is the BIja for the worship of KAlikA
DevI for getting relief from afflictions and pain.
Ha indicates Shiva; Repha indicates Dhana; I indicates Tusti;
NAda indicates ParA; and Vindu indicates Duhkhahara. Thus the
ShrIm is the BIja for the worship of LaksmI DevI.
Ai stands for SarasvatI and Vindu for Duhkhaharana. Thus Aim id
the BIja for the worship of VAnI.
Ka stands for KAmadeva or Krsna; La for Indra; I for Tusti, and M
for Sukha. Out of Love for You the KAmabIja which I have
described is KlIm.
Ha stands for Shiva; U for Bhairava; NAda for ParA, and the Vindu
for Duhkhahara. These three letters make the Varma BIja HUm.
Ga stands for Ganesha; Vindu for Duhkhaharana. Thus is made the
BIja Gam for the worship of Ganesha.
Ga stands for Ganesha; La for Teja; Au for MAtA; Vindu for
Duhkhahara. Thus the BIja Glaum is meant for the worship of
Ganesha.
Ksa stands for Nrsimha; Ra for Brahma; Au for Urdhvadanta; and
Vindu for Duhkhahara. Thus the BIja for the worship of Nrsimha is
Ksraum.
In each of the Mantras there are the first letters of Names, and
the Name has been said SvayambhU. Therefore one should use or
meditate upon the letters after knowing their meaning. Thus I
have described to you the method according to which one should
understand and meditate upon the meanings of the VibhaktIs.
Sa stands for DurgottArana; Ta for TAraka; Repha for Bhukti; I
for MahamAyA; NAda for VishvamAtrA; and Vindu for Duhkhahara. Out
of love for You the meaning of the VadhUbIja which I have
described is StrIm.
Whenever there are two Vindus in a Mantra, the one stands for
Duhkhaharana and the other for providing Sukha.
Wherever are two Vindus in a Mantra, there the second is always

used in the meaning of PUrna. The MAtrAs of SvAhA are famous in

the meaning of ParA.
Vasat stands for ShakramAtA; GirA for HaripriyA; Phat for SurA;
and Vivrim for HayagrIva.
Yam-bIja stands for VAyu and Lam for Indra. In BIjas consisting
of several letters each letter-bhIja denotes its respective
DevatA.
Wherever the same BIja is used twice, their meanings should be
considered different. Thus knowing the meaning of the Mantra one
should satisfy himself.
One should use the Mantras for the purpose of Japa only after
knowing both of their meanings.

-------------------------------------------------------------------uggestions
1) The sound Anunsika (demilune plus dot in the original Sanskrit character above
) is a nasal resonance which should be pronounced by keeping the mouth open alwa
ys, feeling that the sound goes up from the palate up to the crown of the head.
If you were to close your mouth at the end of its utterance, that ascension to t
he summit of the head would be impossible. It sounds like ng approximately.
2) Pronunciation 1 is a good document to start your pronunciation learning.

3) First of all, there is a measure unit called mtr or the time gap needed to pron
ounce a short vowel (e.g. a). Short vowels (a, i, u, , ) last 1 mtr, while long vowe
ls (, , , ) and diphthongs (e, ai, o, au) last 2 mtr-s. In turn, Anusvra and Visarga l
st 1/2 mtr. Anunsika (final resonance indicated by demilune and dot in the above Sa
nskrit character) also lasts 1/2 mtr and thus it should not be protracted. Granted
, these measurements cannot be followed to the letter the whole time, but one sh
ould always attempt to follow them as closely as possible.
4) If you want the Mantra to have a more powerful effect on you, firstly repeat
it with the physical tongue, and then with the mental tongue (i.e. repeat it in
your mind). If you were to mentally repeat it once while inhaling and once while
exhaling, the energy contained in that Mantra would spread much more quickly ac
ross your system.
5) Here you will find a complete explanation of the nature, characteristics, etc
. of a Mantra.
6) Mental repetition of a Mantra is always more powerful that gross utterance pe
rformed by the physical tongue, as the mental tongue is subtler. However, it is
usually good to start your practice with some gross utterance before entering th
e mental one.
7) To repeat a Mantra while one beholds its form, that is, the Sanskrit characte
rs forming it, is extremely auspicious. Therefore, repeat the Mantra while behol
ding its form and then close your eyes and keep repeating it mentally.
Transliteration
IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration
)
hriim
ITRANS (commonly used online) hrI.N
HARVARD-KYOTO (also commonly used online)
hrI.m

The celebrated Varadtantra explains the meanings of each of the letters forming t
his Bjamantra in its sixth chapter:

Hakr ivavc sydrepha praktirucyate|

Mahmyrtha iabdo ndo vivapras smta|
Dukhaharrthako bindurbhuvan tena pjayet||

The letter (kra) "ha" (ha) is expressive (vc) of iva (iva), (while) repha or (the lett
er) "ra" (repha) is said (ucyate) to be (syt) Prakti (prakti). The sound (abda) "i" (i
means (artha) Mahmy (mahmy) (and) nda or half-moon (nda) is declared (smta) (to
her (pras) of the universe (vivam).
Bindu or dot (tena) means (arthaka) destroyer (hara) of pain (dukha). One should w
orship (pjayet) Bhuvan (bhuvanm) by means of that (seed-mantra) (tena)||
Commentary
The Tantra-s (revealed scriptures, see Tantricism for more information) are
presented as a dialogue between iva and akti. Pretty generally, iva acts as the spi
ritual preceptor or guru, and akti as his disciple or iy. Varadtantra is no exception
to the rule.
iva is the Supreme Lord, obviously, as this is a Tantric scripture and not a
Vedic one.
"Repha" is the name of the letter "ra". Some others letters also have a name
, e.g. Visarga (), Anusvra (), etc., but not all the letters of the Sanskrit alphab
et have one like in the Greek language.
Prakti is the source of matter. The entire material universe shines forth fro
m her. See Tattvic Chart for more information.
Anunsika (half-moon and dot) is also known as Ndabindu, being "nda" the half-mo
on and "bindu" the dot. Read Meditation 6 for more information about Ndabindu, pl
ease.
Mahmy or great My (the veiling power) is according to Trika (Non-dual Shaivism of
Kashmir) a special kind of My which is operating in the tattva-s 3 to 5. She is c
alled like that because subject ("I") and object ("this") exist as two realities
, but the subject experiences unity with the object though. In turn, under the i
nfluence of the common "My", the subject experiences no unity with the object, but
he feels different and separated from it. See the documents in "Trika/Trika (ov
erview)" section for more information.
In this seed-mantra, "nda" (the half-moon in Anunsika) is the Mother of the un
iverse, i.e. the Supreme akti or Power from which the entire cosmos has been mani
fested.
Even though you can see that the letters forming the seed-mantra are: "h", "
r", "" and Anunsika (half-moon and dot), the consonants in the Sanskrit alphabet h
ave an appended "a". What is the reason? Because "a" is iva, the Supreme Self, an
d without Him all consonants are barren, as it were, that is, they have no power
at all. Thus, iva describes the original consonants including "a" in the stanza,
i.e. "ha" and "ra" despite they appear without "a" in the seed-mantra itself.
"Bhuvan" is another way to call "Bhuvanevar", the Mistress (var) of the worlds (bh
uvana). In other terms, She is the Sublime akti or Power of Lord iva.
This seed-mantra is ktapraava, i.e. the main one out of those whose deity is akt
i.
Bja-s or seed-mantra-s are always monosyllabic.
uggestions
1) The sound Anunsika (demilune plus dot in the original Sanskrit character above
) is a nasal resonance which should be pronounced by keeping the mouth open alwa

ys, feeling that the sound goes up from the palate up to the crown of the head.
If you were to close your mouth at the end of its utterance, that ascension to t
he summit of the head would be impossible. It sounds like ng approximately.
2) Pronunciation 1 is a good document to start your pronunciation learning.

3) First of all, there is a measure unit called mtr or the time gap needed to pron
ounce a short vowel (e.g. a). Short vowels (a, i, u, , ) last 1 mtr, while long vowe
ls (, , , ) and diphthongs (e, ai, o, au) last 2 mtr-s. In turn, Anusvra and Visarga l
st 1/2 mtr. Anunsika (final resonance indicated by demilune and dot in the above Sa
nskrit character) also lasts 1/2 mtr and thus it should not be protracted. Granted
, these measurements cannot be followed to the letter the whole time, but one sh
ould always attempt to follow them as closely as possible.
4) If you want the Mantra to have a more powerful effect on you, firstly repeat
it with the physical tongue, and then with the mental tongue (i.e. repeat it in
your mind). If you were to mentally repeat it once while inhaling and once while
exhaling, the energy contained in that Mantra would spread much more quickly ac
ross your system.
5) Here you will find a complete explanation of the nature, characteristics, etc
. of a Mantra.
6) Mental repetition of a Mantra is always more powerful that gross utterance pe
rformed by the physical tongue, as the mental tongue is subtler. However, it is
usually good to start your practice with some gross utterance before entering th
e mental one.
7) To repeat a Mantra while one beholds its form, that is, the Sanskrit characte
rs forming it, is extremely auspicious. Therefore, repeat the Mantra while behol
ding its form and then close your eyes and keep repeating it mentally.
Transliteration
IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration
)
hriim
ITRANS (commonly used online) hrI.N
HARVARD-KYOTO (also commonly used online)
hrI.m
The celebrated Varadtantra explains the meanings of each of the letters forming t
his Bjamantra in its sixth chapter:

Hakr ivavc sydrepha praktirucyate|

Mahmyrtha iabdo ndo vivapras smta|
Dukhaharrthako bindurbhuvan tena pjayet||

The letter (kra) "ha" (ha) is expressive (vc) of iva (iva), (while) repha or (the lett
er) "ra" (repha) is said (ucyate) to be (syt) Prakti (prakti). The sound (abda) "i" (i
means (artha) Mahmy (mahmy) (and) nda or half-moon (nda) is declared (smta) (to
her (pras) of the universe (vivam).
Bindu or dot (tena) means (arthaka) destroyer (hara) of pain (dukha). One should w
orship (pjayet) Bhuvan (bhuvanm) by means of that (seed-mantra) (tena)||
Commentary
The Tantra-s (revealed scriptures, see Tantricism for more information) are
presented as a dialogue between iva and akti. Pretty generally, iva acts as the spi
ritual preceptor or guru, and akti as his disciple or iy. Varadtantra is no exception
to the rule.

iva is the Supreme Lord, obviously, as this is a Tantric scripture and not a
Vedic one.
"Repha" is the name of the letter "ra". Some others letters also have a name
, e.g. Visarga (), Anusvra (), etc., but not all the letters of the Sanskrit alphab
et have one like in the Greek language.
Prakti is the source of matter. The entire material universe shines forth fro
m her. See Tattvic Chart for more information.
Anunsika (half-moon and dot) is also known as Ndabindu, being "nda" the half-mo
on and "bindu" the dot. Read Meditation 6 for more information about Ndabindu, pl
ease.
Mahmy or great My (the veiling power) is according to Trika (Non-dual Shaivism of
Kashmir) a special kind of My which is operating in the tattva-s 3 to 5. She is c
alled like that because subject ("I") and object ("this") exist as two realities
, but the subject experiences unity with the object though. In turn, under the i
nfluence of the common "My", the subject experiences no unity with the object, but
he feels different and separated from it. See the documents in "Trika/Trika (ov
erview)" section for more information.
In this seed-mantra, "nda" (the half-moon in Anunsika) is the Mother of the un
iverse, i.e. the Supreme akti or Power from which the entire cosmos has been mani
fested.
Even though you can see that the letters forming the seed-mantra are: "h", "
r", "" and Anunsika (half-moon and dot), the consonants in the Sanskrit alphabet h
ave an appended "a". What is the reason? Because "a" is iva, the Supreme Self, an
d without Him all consonants are barren, as it were, that is, they have no power
at all. Thus, iva describes the original consonants including "a" in the stanza,
i.e. "ha" and "ra" despite they appear without "a" in the seed-mantra itself.
"Bhuvan" is another way to call "Bhuvanevar", the Mistress (var) of the worlds (bh
uvana). In other terms, She is the Sublime akti or Power of Lord iva.
This seed-mantra is ktapraava, i.e. the main one out of those whose deity is akt
i.
Bja-s or seed-mantra-s are always monosyllabic.