[Advaita-l] Method of Chandipath

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

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On Mon, 14 Jul 2008, Bidur Khanal wrote:

>
> Hi there,
>
> I have been reciting chandi but may be I have not been following correct 
> procedure. There are various procedure suggested in different books. In 
> one it is said that you should do sankalpa, nyasa etc and kavacha, 
> argala and kilaka, then whole 13 chapters of chandi and the three 
> rahasyas. Other suggestions are to read madhyam charitra one day and 
> pratham and uttar charitra the next day. Also there is another 
> suggestion which says if you can't do above two every day, then you can 
> recite the chapters in following format: chapter1 in first day, 2 and 
> three in second day, 4 in third day, 5,6,7,8 in fourth day, 9 and 10 in 
> 5th day, 11 in 6th day and 12 and 13 in seventh day, thus completing the 
> path in a week. What is your advice? Please clarify this to me. What 
> procedure to follow if you can not finish the chandi reciting in a 
> single day? If doing madhyam charitra on first day and the rest of the 
> path in second day, do you have to start second day with nyas and 
> sankalpa again or you can start straight to the path. please clarify 
> these to me.
>

Yes there are different traditions.  That is why it is best to get a Guru 
who is knowledgeable to give you proper advice.  For what its worth this 
is the way I was taught to do a full path.

first purvangavidhi:

* sankalpa, ganeshpuja, kalash/dipa/asana sthapana etc. The same
   preliminaries you would do in any puja.
* pustaka puja (to the actual book that is being read from.)
* shapoddhara/utkilana mantras japa
* kavacha stotra
* argala stotra
* kilaka stotra
* ekadasha nyasa
* ratrisukta (from the first adhyaya of Chandi)
* one full mala of navarna mantra japa

Then the purva, madhyama, and uttara charitas each with their dhyana.

Then uttarangavidhi:

* uttara nyasa
* devisukta (from the fifth adhyaya)
* one full mala of navarna mantra japa
* pradhanika rahasya stotra
* vaikrtika rahasya stotra
* murti rahasya stotra
* utkilana mantra japa
* kshamapana stotra
* siddhakunjika stotra

If there isn't time for the entire chandipatha to be repeated, recite the 
madhyama charita only (with purva, and uttara angas)  Or the four stotras 
in the chandipatha: can be recited independantly without additional 
vidhis.  They are:

* ratrisukta (1st adhyaya)
* shakradaya stuti (4th adhyaya)
* devisukta (5th adhyaya)
* narayani stuti (11th adhyaya)

But other combinations of chapters should not be recited.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>