The base mantra of Tripura which you have mentioned here is Mahāṣoḍaśī Mantra. To my knowledge, the other two mantras do not come under ṣoḍaśī mantra.

I am not sure about this mantra. To my knowledge, the mantra is not there in Mantramahdadhi and Mantramhārṇava. I have also checked in Dasamahāvidyā books. I will try to find out this mantra and will let you know.

Can you please give me the first three nāma-s of this Sahasranama.

There is a Sahasranāma for Ucciṣṭa Gaṇapati, which is available in Rudrayaamala and is reproduced in Mantramahārṇava. This worship is tantric worship. There are two types of arguments on Ucciṣṭa Gaṇapati. Some are of the view that worshiping Ucciṣṭa Gaṇapati is important in Śrī Vidya and others recommend only Mahā Gaṇapati. It is advisable to worship only Mahā Gaṇapati.

I am sorry that I have not incorporated IAST version of Bījavalī ṣoḍaśīmantra, which I have now published.

I doubt very much whether I can do this immediately. It will be a huge task.

I can scan the pages of Mantramahārṇava, which is in Sanskrit and can send this to you as an attachment to an e-mail. If you have access to Mantramahārṇava, you can find this in page 86 of 2001 edition.

You are right. All mantras need to be initiated by a Guru, who should be capable of entering into the energy body of his disciple. When such Gurus are not available in the near vicinity, one can get self-initiated. Scriptures also accept this procedure. More than anything else, it is one's belief and concentration that matters.

Both are correct. I have made a mistake by copying Bījavalī ṣoḍaśīmantra in GUHYA ṢOḌAŚĪ mantra. I have now set this right. I am sorry for the error. Thanks for pointing out this error.

Spiritually nothing. In fact all mantras are the same. Such differences arise due to the Guru lineage. It is like reaching the same destination through different routes. One can attain liberation either with Bala mantra or Shodashi mantra. Even with a single letter one can attain liberation. It is not the mantra that gives liberation, but the seasoning and taming of the mind alone give liberation. Mantras are to control our minds and mantras by themselves certainly do not offer liberation.

I know few persons who have recited Gayatri mantra more than ten million times, without even a small change in their perception. Only mind can take you forward in your spiritual pursuit and everything else is only a tool to transform your mind.

Respected master, I totally agree with you, I mean the best way to worship the Goddes and attain liberations is becoming more peaceful, friendly, tolerant, compassionate, help people, heal people, forgive yur enemies (sometimes it's really hard and challenging as your are very brused or angry, well, at leats it has been hard for me), respect nature, respect nature and respect nature, try to pollute the earth the less you can, a in few words focusing in being a better person but not only for attaining liberation but for making this world better and live in harmony, we can't expect that the mantra or the goddes magically will change us, she can do it but we have to make efforts so that she does it. sometimes we have to do things we didn't expect to do or accept things that we didn't want to accept.

You can have more details in this link.

Gaṇḍabheruṇḍa Narasimha

Someone already raised this point. I have not come across this Shodashi. Possibly, this is Maha Shodashi, as Maha Shodashi comes under anuttaramnaya pantheon. However, I am sure about this.

Please read the last line as "I am NOT (this is omitted) sure about this."

This is known as Lopāmudrā Saubhāgya Pañcadaśī mantra.

That is why one's siddhi mantra is put to test along with one's ātma bīja. If one is able to settle with this mantra, all mantras can be done sampuṭīkaraṇa with the siddhi mantra. But it is always better to stay with only one mantra.

From samphutikarana point of view, what you say is correct. But in the mantra books I have, the one given here only is given. There may be several versions of Parashodashi mantra. 

Thank you sir, I keep dreaming about Parashodashi mantra and now really want to know the correct version. There are two versions of the Parashodashi mantra, one from the Hayagriva Sampradaya and the other from the Dakshinamurthi Sampradaya. Can you share which book you have this version of Parasodashi mantra? Thank you for your help.

There is one version of this mantra in the book called Srividya Maharnava by Gyanendra Saraswati. There could be references in other books as well. We will list whatever we can find.

Thank you for you help. I'll try to find this book.

There is another book called Siddha Vidya Rahasya by Shri Ramesh Chandra Mishra, which has this information. It's in Sankrit and Hindi. I have not read it, so I'm not very sure of the contents.

There are variations in this mantra. Two or three versions are there. 

This is lagu Shodashi mantra. Everythng will differ for each mantra. 

Thank you, dear Ravi Ji! Could you please describe Laghu Shodashi mantra sadhana? .Or if you have the opportunity, could you please send me the mantra sadhana or the source in which it is described on email devibhkt@gmail.com . Thank you very much!

There is no authentic information available on this. 

1. Can unmarried girls/women get initiated into any "mantra" japam? Ans – yes they can

2. If yes, then wouldn't the syllable "Om" affect them?                           Ans – no it wont affect

3. Can mantra-japam be done even without an "asanam" (like mat)?  Ans – yes, but you may catch cold

4. Some sit on plastic covers/ newspapers or even bare ground and start their nyasam, mantra, etc! Is this acceptable? Especially while they are outdoors?                         Ans – yes you can sit on ground

5. Can there be any (unwanted) speech during japam? Is it acceptable to give oral replies to people asking questions in between japam especially when one is outside home?                                Ans – concentrating on mantra, when you talk with other during mantra meditation you focus shifts, which will reduce the effect of meditation

6. Can the mantras be chanted wherever one one wishes to? Or is it restricted to only temples, homes, mutts, presence of holy persons, etc?                                                    Ans – Can be chanted anywhere

7. Some do their japam in trains, buses, hotels, hospitals, etc?! Is this acceptable? Does external purity also matter?                                    Ans – Yes you can chant anywhere

8. While outside home, (like temples, etc) some do japam opening their eyes and "looking" at passerby's etc and their concentration wanders into the discussions that happen surrounding those strangers, passerby's etc and not on the mantra which they chant! Doesn't it then become name-sake! Is there any point? Will the japam be still considered as japam? Is it included in the japam-count?                       Ans – the best way of chanting is to keep chanting while doing day to day activities. Sitting and meditating is ideal, but can you do it all day?

9. Is initiation with just a dhyanam and mantra enough without rishi/chandas/kilaka/shakti/bijam/nyasam, etc?                                   Ans – Mantra is enough. If you have time do everything

10. Can a person who was earlier initiated, but has left the japam long ago, wanting to start again start all by himself? Should he approach his guru again? What if the guru is not present now?                                    Ans – yes you can chant initiated mantra now

11. How does one do a self-initiation of any mantra?                Ans – Always initiation is advised you can read the article by Krishna for Self initiation https://www.manblunder.com/articlesview/self-initiation-of-mantras

12. Some use a mala without covering the same and do japam openly. Once japam is over they put it in some bag openly with other stuff they use, which may even have some eatables (especially while they are outdoors). Is it correct?  Ans – Mala is not required it just distracts us while chanting. Rather chant for 20/30 mins

13. Some don't even use a japa-mala. They just do their japa-counts with their fingers! Is this acceptable?                                      Ans – Same as above you can email at jayanth@manblunder.com

1. Can unmarried girls/women get initiated into any "mantra" japam? Ans – yes they can 2. If yes, then wouldn't the syllable "Om" affect them? Ans – no it wont affect 3. Can mantra-japam be done even without an "asanam" (like mat)? Ans – yes, but you may catch cold 4. Some sit on plastic covers/ newspapers or even bare ground and start their nyasam, mantra, etc! Is this acceptable? Especially while they are outdoors? Ans – yes you can sit on ground 5. Can there be any (unwanted) speech during japam? Is it acceptable to give oral replies to people asking questions in between japam especially when one is outside home? Ans – concentrating on mantra, when you talk with other during mantra meditation you focus shifts, which will reduce the effect of meditation 6. Can the mantras be chanted wherever one one wishes to? Or is it restricted to only temples, homes, mutts, presence of holy persons, etc? Ans – Can be chanted anywhere 7. Some do their japam in trains, buses, hotels, hospitals, etc?! Is this acceptable? Does external purity also matter? Ans – Yes you can chant anywhere 8. While outside home, (like temples, etc) some do japam opening their eyes and "looking" at passerby's etc and their concentration wanders into the discussions that happen surrounding those strangers, passerby's etc and not on the mantra which they chant! Doesn't it then become name-sake! Is there any point? Will the japam be still considered as japam? Is it included in the japam-count? Ans – the best way of chanting is to keep chanting while doing day to day activities. Sitting and meditating is ideal, but can you do it all day? 9. Is initiation with just a dhyanam and mantra enough without rishi/chandas/kilaka/shakti/bijam/nyasam, etc? Ans – Mantra is enough. If you have time do everything 10. Can a person who was earlier initiated, but has left the japam long ago, wanting to start again start all by himself? Should he approach his guru again? What if the guru is not present now? Ans – yes you can chant initiated mantra now 11. How does one do a self-initiation of any mantra? Ans – Always initiation is advised you can read the article by Krishna for Self initiation https://www.manblunder.com/articlesview/self-initiation-of-mantras 12. Some use a mala without covering the same and do japam openly. Once japam is over they put it in some bag openly with other stuff they use, which may even have some eatables (especially while they are outdoors). Is it correct? Ans – Mala is not required it just distracts us while chanting. Rather chant for 20/30 mins 13. Some don't even use a japa-mala. They just do their japa-counts with their fingers! Is this acceptable? Ans – Same as above you can email at jayanth@manblunder.com

Thanks a lot, Jayant!

Mahāṣoḍaśī mantra is best approached through a Śrīvidyā krama starting with Mahāgaṇapati and Bālā mantra and progressing gradually to Pañcadaśī, Śyāmalā and Vārahī before getting to the Mahāṣoḍaśī mantra. This is a safer approach. There are Khaḍgamālās that also need to be recited for every deity from time to time.

Yes we do. There are different traditions followed and seems to be generally followed, is that the Mahāgaṇapati and Bālā mantras are recited in the morning after the sandhya vandana. Pañcadaśī in the afternoon or evening, Śyāmalā and Vārahī after dusk, Kālī and Pratyaṅgirā in the night. Mahāṣoḍaśī itself can be recited at any time with most people preferring the morning time, usually after Bālā. There are other recommendations to perform a Laghu Śrīcakra Pūja sometime during the day. There are a set of nyāsās that must be performed prior to Mahāṣoḍaśī mantra japa. Traditionally, these are performed on a daily basis. Some traditions follow a method of repeating the pre-requisite/aṅga mantras for a 10th of the japa of the primary mantra (Mahāṣoḍaśī in this particular case). Therre are also aṅga mantras to the aṅga devatas, for instance there is Laghu Śyāmalā for Rājaśyāmalā etc. which can be recited 3-4 times or a 3rd of the corresponding main mantra. If one is seeking enormous wealth, stature and effective cleansing of karma, then the krama method is highly recommended. The krama does not necessarily mean that we have to recite the mantra japa of every āmnāya etc. But these can be taken up as per one's requirements and added to the list of mantras to be recited. If one does not follow the krama and simply recites the Mahāṣoḍaśī mantra itself, then in most cases nothing much really happens in terms of progress, though I have witnessed serious financial and relationship issues in my own case as well as in the experiences of others that I came to know later. My personal and the recommended choice is the krama. Please do note that there are many sādhakas of Shri Ravi Guruji who have attained self-realization or are near that stage and also many who have witnessed great growth in life simply reciting the Mahāṣoḍaśī mantra without any pre-requisites. The most difficult form of tantra in my opinion is Śrīvidyā and Mahāṣoḍaśī within this discipline. Unless one has broken down all the barriers and charms of all the devatās of the Śrīcakra, including the day to day rigmaroles doled out by the nitya devis, one cannot get to the central bindu, which is the timeless dimension of the Divine Mother Mahāṣoḍaśī. Regardless of what we do and what we don't, it is still in the domain of the Divine Mother to shower Her grace and lift up our spiritual conscience to attain self-realization.