The great vidyA of bAlA is said to be cursed by parAmbA rendering it without prANa (prANahInA):
devyA shaptA yena vidyeyamAdyA pUrvaM tena prANahInA.abhavat sA ||
In the age of kali, to grant vIrya to this mantra, AdinAtha modified the mantra as below:
shivashaktibIjamata eva shambhunA
nihitaM tayorupari pUrvabIjayoH |
akulaM kulopari cha madhyamAdhare
dahanaM tataH prabhR^iti so.arjitA bhavat ||
This modification results in the great formula of tripura bhairavI, who is vIryavatI and hence siddhipradA. Thus, the same bAlA vidyA, when preceded with akula (akulapUrvA) is called bhairavI and when kulapUrvA, is called vidyA. The latter two forms of bAlA are described as siddhiprada by sAmpradAyikas. Thus, when vidyA and mahAvidyA are referred to in the context of shrIkula, they mean bhairavI and panchadashI respectively.
Thus, without the required dIpanI, even millions of recitations of bAlA mantra do not grant results:
yataH svapnAvasthAmiyamupagatA vishvavinutA
tataH siddhiM naiva pravitarati japtApi satatam |
prabuddhA chedvidyA phalati sahasA dIpanakrIM
tato vidyA vakShyAmyahamiha rahasyAmatitarAm ||
The dIpanI mantra awakens the mantra shakti from sleep and paves way for mantra siddhi.
The dIpanI for vAgbhava is described as below:
puShpaM vArimuchAM davAdirapastAveva varNau tato
dIrghaM vArisakhAntamapsvapi tathA dhAntau salikasvarau |
vidyA vAgbhavabIjadIpanakarI sArasvatotpattaye
sAkShAtkA~NkShitapArijAtalaitA vasvakSharoktA mayA |
The dIpanI for kAmarAja is as below:
brahmA shakradR^iganvitaH sahabhagA meShAnvitA nAdinI
kantAntaM sabhagaM sapUShaNamato dhAntaM tvimeshaH sadR^ik |
kAlo.anantayutaM viyat sadashanaH samvartako bhIshaNA
sAkrUrA kamalAsanaH sahashivo vaishvAnarastAdR^ishaH ||
The dIpanI for parA is:
sAvitrI vadanayutA mahAdikAlI
vyomAntaM shashadharakhaNDamakhaNDitAntam |
mohinyA sarasijabhUryutastathAgniH
vidyeyaM parajIvadIpanI sA ||
The main use of dIpanI is during japa specifically done for dIpana and the procedure for the same is:
yA yasya dIpanakarI gaditeha vidyA |
bIjasya tasya pura eva samuccharettAm ||
Also, while performing nyAsa of the mUla mantra (i.e. bAlA), one should use the dIpanI as well:
vidyAShaDa~NgavadaneShu yathAvadeva
nyAseShu sAdhakavaro vidadhIta sha~ncha ||
While some prescribe the need for dIpanI for bAlA and panchadashI as well, mainly because of their origin in bAlA, this prescription has no shAstra pramANa. As for panchadashI, the vidyA has been described as nitya prabuddhA by every tantra, and thus the need for any samskAra is automatically negated. Also, as tantra describes the evolution of bhairavI from AdinAtha to grant vIrya to bAlA, it makes no sense to perform punaruddIpana for bhairavI or for that matter panchadashI. Hence, the trisaptyakShara dIpanI mantra prescribed for panchadashI by umAnandanAtha (from rudrayAmaLa) is rejected by sAmpradAyikas, even by those belonging to the lineage of bhAskararAya, as not representative of either shAstra or sampradAya.