Ashtar Command Book Blog

Thursday, September 10, 2026

The fierce goddess of the three worlds

This is getting...strange. I´m sure I´ve seen this character somewhere before. You know, here maybe?

When LARP-ing goes too far

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

Curse this, vamamargi!

- Curse my ass, boy!

Sometimes I wonder where ChatGPT gets its information. Straight from Source?

Is this true? There are four dhyāna verses for Bālā mantra and any one of them can be chosen. Normally, the guru who initiates this mantra decides, as to which is the suitable one, for an aspirant. All the mantras have curses and each of these mantras have different mantras for removing such curses. These curses are made by sages, gods, goddesses, etc. Bālā mantra too is cursed by Devi, which can be removed by reciting Tripura Bhairavi mantra 100 times. Tripura Bhairavi mantra: हसैं हसकरीं हसैं hasaiṁ hasakarīṁ hasaiṁ.

Yes, but only with significant qualifications. The passage you found is not simply fabricated: it corresponds almost verbatim to a Śrīvidyā source that has circulated online for years. But it presents one particular Śrīvidyā/Tantric practice tradition as though it were universally authoritative, which it isn't.

1. The four Bālā dhyānas

There really are traditions giving four alternative dhyāna/visualizations of Bālā, associated with different purposes:

Wealth/prosperity — Bālā golden in complexion, seated in padmāsana, holding a pomegranate and lotus.
Knowledge — Bālā at the brahmarandhra, with varada, nectar vessel, book and abhaya.
Healing — Bālā in white, moon-like, with her body visualized as composed of Sanskrit letters.
Attraction — Bālā beautifully adorned, holding the noose, in a pleasant form.

This fourfold scheme appears in the source you quoted and is also reproduced in material derived from Vinita Rashinkar's Śrīvidyā writings.

However, "there are four dhyāna verses" needs a little correction. The four descriptions aren't necessarily four verses in the same sense as, say, four independent canonical dhyāna ślokas. They are four prescribed visualizations associated with particular aims. The wording varies considerably between Śrīvidyā manuals.

And the statement that the guru chooses which one is appropriate for the initiate is quite plausible within an initiated Śrīvidyā framework, but I would not elevate it to a universal rule of Śrīvidyā. Different lineages organize Bālā practice differently.

2. The "curses" (śāpa) are a genuine Tantric concept

This part is also real.

Tantric mantra traditions sometimes speak of a mantra being śapta, "cursed," and prescribe śāpa-vimocana / śāpoddhāra, removal of the curse, before mantra practice.

The traditional explanation can involve a sage, deity, goddess, or other sacred figure having placed a restriction or curse upon the mantra. The idea isn't normally that someone literally maliciously "cursed" God's sacred name; rather, it is a ritual-theological explanation for why a mantra requires a particular unlocking or purification procedure.

But again, this is not true of every mantra in every Hindu tradition, and the particular śāpa and its removal vary between traditions.

3. And yes — this particular tradition says Bālā is cursed by Devī

This is the most interesting part of your quotation.

The source explicitly states:

Bālā mantra too is cursed by Devī

and gives:

हसैं हसकरीं हसैं
hasaiṃ hasakarīṃ hasaiṃ

as the Tripurā Bhairavī mantra, to be recited 100 times for śāpa-vimocana.

So your quotation is accurately reporting what this particular Bālā-mantra tradition says.

There is independent evidence that this isn't just an isolated internet invention: the same claim appears in material discussing Bālā mantra and Śrīvidyā practice, including the statement that Bālā will not fructify until the Tripurā-Bhairavī mantra is used for śāpa removal.

4. But don't assume that this is a universal requirement for Bālā

This is the crucial qualification.

I would not say:

"The Bālā mantra is cursed by Devī, and therefore every Bālā practitioner must recite hasaiṃ hasakarīṃ hasaiṃ 100 times."

Rather:

"Some Śrīvidyā manuals and lineages teach that Bālā mantra is subject to a śāpa attributed to Devī and prescribe hasaiṃ hasakarīṃ hasaiṃ 100 times as its śāpa-vimocana."

That's a much more historically defensible statement.

There are Śrīvidyā traditions in which Bālā (Aiṃ Klīṃ Sauḥ) is itself regarded as a foundational or even independently sufficient vidyā. Hindupedia, for example, describes Bālā as one of the principal Śrīvidyā mūla vidyās and notes that practitioners can practice Bālā alone and attain liberation.

That doesn't necessarily contradict the śāpa doctrine: a lineage may regard the mantra as requiring śāpa-vimocana for a particular ritual application, while another lineage may not employ that procedure at all.

5. There's another interesting complication: what exactly is "Bālā mantra"?

The source you're quoting uses "Bālā mantra" rather loosely.

It lists:

Aiṃ Klīṃ Sauḥ

then a six-bīja form:

Aiṃ Klīṃ Sauḥ — Sauḥ Klīṃ Aiṃ

and a nine-bīja form:

Aiṃ Klīṃ Sauḥ — Sauḥ Klīṃ Aiṃ — Aiṃ Klīṃ Sauḥ.

Other Śrīvidyā traditions simply call:

Aiṃ Klīṃ Sauḥ

the Bālā mantra/Bālāvidyā.

So if someone says "the Bālā mantra has a curse," the first question should be:

Which Bālā vidyā, from which lineage/manual, and what ritual context?

That's particularly important with Śrīvidyā, because apparently small differences in mantra formulation can reflect genuinely different transmission lineages.

6. What does hasaiṃ hasakarīṃ hasaiṃ have to do with Tripurā Bhairavī?

This is also worth distinguishing from the better-known Tripurā Bhairavī bīja mantra traditions. The form:

हसैं हसकरीं हसैं — hasaiṃ hasakarīṃ hasaiṃ

is a specifically Tantric formulation associated in this source with Tripurā Bhairavī and śāpa-vimocana.

So I wouldn't casually equate it with every mantra called "Tripurā Bhairavī mantra." There are multiple Bhairavī mantras in circulation, including forms involving Hsaum/Hsklrīṃ/Hsauḥ. The very same source actually gives an alternative form:

ह्सौं ह्स्क्ल्रीं ह्सौः
hsaum hsklarīṃ hsaum (orthography/transliteration varies).

That variation is another indication that we're dealing with lineage-specific mantra-vidyā, rather than a single universally standardized Tripurā Bhairavī mantra.

Bottom line

I'd rate your quotation like this:

Claim	Assessment
There are four Bālā visualizations	Yes, in some Śrīvidyā manuals
Guru may choose the appropriate visualization	Yes, plausible/attested in this tradition; not universal
Tantric traditions have "cursed mantras"	Yes
Different mantras have different śāpa-vimocana procedures	Yes, in traditions that use śāpa doctrine
Bālā is said to be cursed by Devī	Yes, in this particular Śrīvidyā tradition
Hasaiṃ hasakarīṃ hasaiṃ is prescribed for its removal	Yes
It should be recited 100 times	Yes, according to this source/tradition
Every Śrīvidyā lineage requires this	No evidence for such a universal claim

And one thing I find particularly interesting in relation to your earlier questions: Bālā being "cursed by Devī" does not mean that Bālā herself is somehow an inferior or dangerous deity. In the śāpa-vimocana framework, the "curse" is a ritual condition attached to the mantra-vidyā, not a statement about Bālā's divine nature. That's an important distinction.

If you are looking at this because you've encountered Bālā as your accessible/non-initiatory form of Tripurā Sundarī, I would also be careful about taking the 100-repetition śāpa-vimocana procedure from an internet manual and incorporating it into your practice independently: in traditional Śrīvidyā, these procedures can themselves belong to a particular guru-paramparā rather than being generic add-ons.

Run for cover

Hmmm...

On Friday, it´s 25 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It´s also a dark moon. And a Tantric Hindu festival to celebrate Tara in a huge cremation ground somewhere in West Bengal.

I see.

The alien managerial revolution

Most of this video summarizes the case for UFOs being alien space craft, but the first section is particularly interesting. There is supposedly some kind of contigency plan to "manage" the disclosure, should such a thing ever happen. I can´t make up my mind whether it´s a sinister conspiracy or an absurd parody of 1960´s social engineering!

Maybe we don´t deserve to know the truth...