Pañcākṣarī Sādhana

Śrī Ambāla Chakra

The Ambā Chakra is formed by writing the five akṣara of the pañcākṣarī mantra in order in a box of 25 squares. Draw six horizontal and vertical lines to get a box of 25 squares. Note that the original devanāgarī alphabet has 25 consonants arranged in 25 boxes of 5 letters in every line.
Table: Devanāgarī

क	ख	ग	घ	ङ
च	छ	ज	झ	ञ
ट	ठ	ड	ढ	ण
त	थ	द	ध	न
प	फ	ब	भ	म

Table: Romanized Letters

ka	kha	ga	gha	ṅa
ca	cha	ja	jha	ña
ṭa	ṭha	ḍa	ḍha	ṇa
ta	tha	da	dha	na
pa	pha	ba	bha	ma

Each of these lines of alphabets represents one of the tārā graha – Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn, in that order. Example ka-varga is rules by Mars while ta-varga by Jupiter and so on.

A similar principle is used in the Śrī Ambā Chakra to overcome the bondage of the spirit in the body. Drawing a box of 25 squares with six-vertical and six-horizontal lines, we write the pañcākṣarī in the top line. न-मः-शि-वा-य na-maḥ śi-vā-ya.

In the next step, we bring the last akṣara य (ya) to the beginning of the second line. Then the other letters move forward to form a different version of the pañcākṣarī य-न-म-शि-वा (ya-na-ma śi-vā).

In the third step, we bring the last akṣara वा (vā) of the second line, to the beginning of the third line. Then the other letters move forward to forma another version of the pañcākṣarī mantra. For convenience we have written the Śrī Ambā Chakr and the five pañcākṣarī mantra. Each of these mantra takes us through the chakra and purifies one of the five tattva.

Table: Sri Chitra Ambala Chakra Sanskrit

					तत्त्व	मंत्र	देव	चक्र
न	मः	शी	वा	य	आकाश	नमः शीवाय	रुद्र	विशुद्धि
य	न	म	शी	वा	वायु	यनम शीवा	विष्णु	अनाहत
वा	य	न	म	शी	अग्नि	वाय नमशी	ब्रह्मा	मणिपुर
शी	वा	य	न	मः	जल	शीवाय नमः	दुर्गा	स्वाधिस
म	शी	वा	य	न	पृथवि	मशीवायन	गणेश	मूलाधार

Table: Sri Chitra Ambala Chakra Romanised

					Tattva	Mantra	Devatā	Chakra
na	maḥ	śi	vā	ya	Ākāśa	namaḥ śivāya	Rudra	Viśuddhi
ya	na	ma	śi	vā	Vāyu	yanamaśivā	Viṣṇu	Anāhata
vā	ya	na	ma	śi	Agni	vāyanamaśi	Brahmā	Maṇipura
śi	vā	ya	na	ma	Jala	śivāyanama	Durgā	Svādhiṣṭhāna
ma	śi	vā	ya	na	Pṛthvī	maśivāyana	Gaṇeśa	Mūlādhāra

The pañcākṣarī sadhana is done for 40 days each starting in different ways.

① The first is a straight up starting with the mūlādhāra-pṛthvī and going up to the viśuddhi-ākāśa. Order of the mantras –

1. maśivāyana मशीवायन
2. śivāyanama शीवायनम
3. vāyanamaśi वायनमशी
4. yanamaśivā यनमशीवा
5. namaśivāya नमशीवाय

② The second is an alternating order starting with jala-svādhiṣṭhāna and ending with ākāśa-viśuddhi. Order of the mantras –

1. śivāyanama शीवायनम
2. yanamaśivā यनमशीवा
3. maśivāyana मशीवायन
4. vāyanamaśi वायनमशी
5. namaśivāya नमशीवाय

Listen to a singing of all the five mantra together. Interesting format. See if you can follow the five mantras under ② format.

The five mantras should take 200 days [40×5] or about 7 months including any breaks. Start the mantra sadhana from a Monday in format ② or Thursday in format ①.