Gems from ParamAnanda tantrA: (A) General The Tantra is a comprehensive Tantra in Sri Vidya yore.

It highlights three forms of chit sakti as the ever pervading in all universe- comprehended by the most highest spiritually attuned aspirant; As the personification of energies of the six astral centers in the body ; and finally with a form in the manidveepa sitting of the lap of Shiva Kameshvara. The above final form is again three fold as Bala, Pancadasi and Shodasi. Bala is a young maiden, Pancadasi is mature and Shodasi is old aged. There are eight names of the Chit sakti pertaining to eight fold aspects of Sri Vidya, being (B) TritAri The tantra advocates the usage of tritAri- Aim hrIm srIm before all japa or puja mantras. It is of the opinion that these bijas serve to cleanse any vacaka or kAyia or mAnasika (nullify the distortion of mantra due to utterance, pitch or mindset) of the sAdhakA. Whenever there is a repetition, say astavAram abhimantraya repeat eight times, the tritAri is to be chanted at the first instance and only the mantra to be repeated thereafter. (C) mAtrkA nyAsA How ever the opinion on tritAri is negated in then mAtrkA nyAsa wherein the said nyasa is to be done without any prefixes. The reason said is that since matrkA mantra is whole Mother of All mantras they have no dosha (distortion effect) on them. (D) Lalitha mantra and guru Mandala The Tantra states that there is a Lalitha Mantra per yuga and a corresponding guru mandalA. The gurumandala has the number of gurus in the divya, siddha and manava as fixed by the code muni, veda naga sankhyaa- seven, four and eight respectively. The aanandanaatha is the suffix to be added in each of the masculine names below, feminine gurus are with amba suffix. In the first yuga (Satya) the Lalitha mantra is para bija sauh and the guru mandalA was known as paraugah.

The divya gurus: Paraabhataarikaamba, paraabhattaraka The siddha gurus: prathibha, veera, samvid, samvidamba The manava gurus: sadaashiva, maheshvara, samvidamba, shreevidya, samvidamba, shreemadanuttara, yoga, samvidamba. In the next (treta) yuga the prAsAda parA and parA prAsAda mithuna was the Lalitha mantra hsaum shauh and the gurumandalA was known as parAprAsAdaughah. The divya gurus: paramashiva, kameshvaryamba, divyagha, mahaugha, sarva, pragynaadevyamba, prakaasha. The siddha gurus: divya, citra, kaivalya, mahodaya The manava gurus: cid, vishvashaktiy, ramaa, kamala, para, manohara, svaatma, pratibha The third (dvaapara) yuga the hAdi vidyA was the Lalitha mantra ha sa ka la hrIm ha sa ka ha la hrIm sa ka la hrIm and the guru mandala was the LopAamudraugah. The divya gurus: paraprakaasha, The siddha gurus: kula, dharmaacarya, muktakesheeshvaryamba, deepakala. The manava gurus: vishnudeva, matrugupta, tejodeva, ojodeva, manojadeva, parama, svatma, gynana. In Kali yuga the kAdi vidyA is the Lalitha mantra- ka E I La hrIM ha sa ka ha la hrIm sa ka la hrIm and the kamarAjaughah is the guru mandalA. paraashaktyamba, kameshvaryamba, vajreshvaryamba, bhagamalinyamba, lopamudramba, agastya. aghora, srikanta, shaktidhara, krodheesa, tryambaka,

The divya gurus: paraprakasa, parashiva parasakti, kaulesvra, sukla devi, kulesvara and kamesvari The siddha gurus: Bhoga, klinna , samaya and sahaja The manava gurus: Gagana, vishva, vimala, madana, bhuvana, leela, svatma and priya In the anuttarAmnAya, which is the experience of all ways, all of the above guru mandalAs are worshipped. (D) Astanaga- dina nityA vidyA The tantra clearly defines the astanga which are Yuga, praivrtti, varsha, masa, vAsara, dina, ghaTikOdaya and dina nityA. It clearly states the nAtha pArAyana, ghaTikA pArAyana, tattva pArAyanA and nityA pArAyana. The dina nitya vidya to be chanted along with each parayana is unique. It is a four syllable akshara. The construction will be vAsaranAthAkshara+ghaTikodyAkshara+bindu is the first, dinAlkshara+ nityAkshara + bindu will be the second, varShAkshara+mAsAksra+bindu will be the third and yugAkshara+parvritti aksharA will be the fourth. For example: now it is kham sadAshiva tattava yuga, dam cakshustattva parivritti, kam sakti tattva varsha, em mAsa, am prakAshAnandanAtha vAsara, dam cakshustattva dina yakAra ghaTihOdaya, Um Krishna mahaAvajresvari dina nityA. The astanga- dina nityA vidyA will be as follows: a yam da Um ka em kha dam . It is interesting to note that just by knowing this astanga we can chant all the pArAyanAs in that said order from nAtha to nityA. There is repentance (prayaschitta) for non-observance of pArAyana, due to unforeseen circumstances, as nine time mula mantra japa for nAtha, sixty for ghaTikA, thirty six for tattva and thirty for nityApArAyana. A corollary from the nityA pArAyana parayascitta is that we should chant both the paksha nitya devatas- shukla and krshna in a round to reach the day before nitya as in other cases of nAtha, ghaTikA and tattva.