It will be of great help to me, Our Kuldevta is Shiva but I am more drawn towards Shakti – mainly in her form as Gauri and to some extent in her form as Durga. Shiva has many forms – benevolent as well as fierce so I worship him in his gracious form of Umapati – the householder as in this form I can worship both Shiva & Shakti with their child Ganesha. 🙏 [conti]

My daily upasana mainly consists of following mantra Japa:-1) 3 rounds of Umapati Shiva Mantra – “Hrim Om Namah Sivay Hrim” as given in Sharda Tilak Tantra for prosperity and abundance.

2) Gayatri Mantra – 1 round each for Mahakali, Mahalakshmi & Mahasaraswati invoking them to be with my family in the form of strength-protection, prosperity & knowledge respectively.

Most importantly, we have been expected by our sampraday to live a conscious life with complete faith and surrender to the divine which I failed many times.

Will my above background take care of these doshas? I have doubts as I am not able to live a satvik life and also do not have unwavering faith on Divine Mother.

Unwavering faith in the Divine Mother (in whatever form you may feel drawn towards) is the single most important condition that takes care of the rest. Sadhana, Upasana, Japa without faith is clouds that thunder but seldom bring rains. Cultivate faith, ask for it. It is the single most important element in whatever path one may follow. 

Do you find my upasana paddhati right? I read somewhere that :-Delay in getting karmafal of wrong deeds & passions is mainly due to favourable grahas. Once grahas become unfavourable, downfall of the doer starts rapidly if corrective actions are not taken in time. How to make unfavourable grahas favourable? What could be such corrective actions?

Karmafal can be rectified by purusartha (right karmas) and by the Divine Grace. Gods dispense the fruits of karma. They can support us through the process but cannot mitigate it.

Based on my understanding of scriptures, Durga is a form of Adya Shakti – Parvati (sum total of all energy) who is basically a royal force essentially a bit like Mahalakshmi but also has the intensity of Kali. Mahalakshmi in a sense that somewhere there is a balance and harmony but also the intensity and ferocity of Kali that is present inside her. Is my understanding about Durga correct or do I need changes?

All the feminine deities are aspects of the Divine Mother. Durga is the power of Protection who guards us on the way to the Divine. She pushes away the evil forces. Mahalakshmi is the goddess of beauty, harmony and love. Each of them is a power but they are not appeased by chanting or worship. They see our inner motives and act according to a deeper vision. The only thing that truly moves them is tapasya, sacrifice, getting rid of dark tendencies in our nature. 

Affectionately,

Alok Da