There are 33 kotis of deities in Hindu Dharma. It is not easy for us to know who should be worshipped, or which deities’ Naam Jap(chanting) will ensure faster spiritual progress.

If we have received a Guru Mantra from a saint or a Guru, we should do that chanting. If not, one should not try to look for a Guru. In Kaliyug, 98% of the Gurus are impostors. Whether there are any spiritual saints can only be known if we possess subtle knowledge ourselves, or if there is a concrete foundation of sadahana (spiritual practice).

Rather than falling into the trap of “finding” a Guru, a sincere effort should be made to follow regular spiritual practice as per the science of spirituality. There is an extremely good provision in Sanatan Dharma for this. Everyone should do chanting of their Kuldevata (family deity).

Kuldevata: Kul means mool and mool is connected to the Muladhar Chakra, the intial chakra of spiritual progess. Kuldevata means the deity, whose worship leads to the activation of the Muladhar Chakra (i.e. the first chakra of Kundalini gets awakened) implying that spiritual progress has started, is known as Kuldevata. The principles of all the 33 kotis of deities are contained in the element of Kuldevata. Thus, chanting the Kuldevata’s name increases all the deity principles by 30%. Upon completion of the chanting, a Guru automatically enters our life.If you know the name of your Kuldevata, prefix Shri, followed by the Kuldevata’s name and suffix the dative form(chaturthi pratyay) along with the name of the deity and suffix Namah at the end. Chant the name of the Kuldevata thus: Suppose God Ganesh is your Kuldevata, you have to chant Shri Ganeshaay Namah and if Bhawani is the family deity, then you can chant Shri Bhawani Devyaye Namah. If you are not aware of your Kul Devta’s name, just chant, Shri Kuldevtayai Namah, and remember in your mind the divine form of the one you venerate.Those for whom spiritual practice acquires priority and worldly affairs become secondary – thereby meaning that people whose spiritual level is more than 50% – such Seekers can chant the name of the deity they venerate from amongst such superior deities as Rama, Krushna, Durga, Shiv, Hanuman, Datta (Dattatreya) and Ganapati.

Unfortunately, in present times, 70% of ordinary people and 90% of good Seekers are plagued by troubles caused by negative energies of the ether world. In such a scenario, one should first do Naam Jap of Shri Dattatreya to ensure removal of problems caused by negative energies for a year or so.

Since the time the universe was created, the Almighty created two energies, Dev (Deities) and Asur (Demons). One is a benevolent force meant for human welfare, while the other is a negative, destructive force. When an evil person dies and his last rites are not performed according to Vedic rituals; or the soul is not able to gain momentum due to bad deeds; or some of his/her desires remain unfulfilled; and if one does not follow spiritual practices for the liberation of such unsatiated ancestors, such embodied souls too join the group of negative forces. In the absence of spiritual strength, mantriks(powerfull negative energies of subte world) much more powerful than them turn such embodied souls captive in the subtle world and force them to do evil deeds. Thus, they are troubled for a long time.
Today, in the absence of people abiding by the Vedic Dharma’s code of conduct, the problems caused by negative energies in one’s personal and social life have increased manifold, leading to a Trahimam (have mercy on us!) like situation.

 WHAT KIND OF TROUBLES CAN BE CAUSED BY NEGATIVE ENERGIES ?

Depression; suicidal thoughts; excessive anger, and total loss of self-control during bouts of anger; excessive sexual thoughts coming to mind intermittently; lack of sleep or excessive sleep; inexplicable pain in some body part which would not subside even after taking medicines; extreme restlessness of mind; frequent setbacks or losses in profession; some problem or the other cropping up during examination time; perennial quarrels at home; regular miscarriages; financial losses without any reason; facing hurdles in finding a job or matrimonial match; delayed marriage; inexplicable lack of growth or promotion in the profession; gang-rape; homosexuality; terrible sexual diseases… all these are examples of troubles negative energies can cause.If someone is facing such troubles, one must chant Shri Guru Dev Datt as much as possible for the first year to begin with. After that, try experimenting with chanting the ‘ Saat Namjapka prayog’(Experiment of names of Seven Deities). The chanting of any Mantra that causes you trouble, should be done ceaselessly. After one month, experiment again to find a new chant.

We will now briefly look at how one can experiment with chanting of the Seven Deities’. After taking bath, or washing the hands, feet and face, sit down in a clean and pure place. From amongst Ram, Krushna, Durga, Shiv, Hanuman, Datta and Ganapati, chant each of these mantra for five minutes ‘Shree Ram Jai Ram, Jai Jai Ram’, ‘Om Namo Bhagvate Vasudevay Namah’, Om Shri Durga Devyay Namah’, Om Namah Shivaay’, ‘Om Ham Hanumate Namah’, ‘Om Shree Gurudev Datt’, ‘Om Gam Ganapataye Namah’. Try to notice chanting of which Mantra causes you trouble. The chanting that causes you maximum trouble must be continued for the next one month without fail.

If no trouble is caused by the chanting, the chanting during which minimum thoughts come to your mind should be done. During the chanting, if the Sadhak (spiritual practitioner) faces obstacles such as excessive sleep, evil thoughts coming to mind, no desire to continue chanting, feeling of nausea, frequent yawning and body-ache etc, one must comprehend that this is being caused by negative energies. Do all the seven chants for five minutes each and write down notes briefly describing all that happened during any particular chant. Before starting the next chant, say this prayer unto the deity. “O Almighty, I am about to begin chanting to combat the problems posed by negative energies that are putting up obstacles in my personal and spiritual life. Please help me during chanting and shower your grace so that the effect of the chanting that I have just done before should not affect the next chanting.”

Why should this ‘experiment’ be done every month? Because within a month, either the negative energy affecting the seeker leaves him or her, or it gets sadgati (alleviated), some other negative energy begins to cause troubles for us. Hence, till the troubles caused by negative energies do not reduce, the experiment of Seven Chants must be continued. This method of finding the appropriate chanting has been propounded by my shreeguru Paratpar guru Dr. Jayant Athavle – Tanuja Thakur