चञ्चत्तडिन्मिहिरकोटिकरां विचेलां
उद्यत्कबन्धरुधिरां द्विभुजां त्रिनेत्राम् |
वामे विकीर्णकचशीर्षकरे परे तां
ईडे परां परमकर्तृकया समेताम् ||
Several upāsakas express a doubt: what really is the correct format for the mantras used to propitiate the deities of the nine āvaraṇas of Lalitā Parābhaṭṭārikā? Some use sarvasaṁkṣōbhiṇī śakti śrīpādkāṁ pūjayāmi namaḥ, others use sarvasaṁkṣōbhiṇī mudrā-śakti śrīpādukāṁ pūjayāmi namaḥ. Some others use sarvasaṁkśōbhiṇī mudrāmbā śrīpādukāṁ etc.
This may seem trivial to some who will say – use whatever you like. But a sincere upāsaka whose upāsanā is based on a valid pramāṇa from the Tantra will investigate to find answers and assume nothing based on hearsay. A few years ago, we had a conversation with one of the New Age Gurus who had funny interpretations of anything and everything including the bījas within the Gurupādukā. He however also insisted on identifying himself as belonging to a long lineage of ātivarṇāśramīs and claimed to follow the Kalpasūtra to the core. When questioned regarding his gross misinterpretation of the Kalpasūtra in terms of both mantra and pūjā saṅkētas, he evaded the question stating that he followed the interpretation of Rāmēśvara and not Umānandanātha, hoping that we had never heard of either, like most of his disciples. When we responded right away listing Rāmēśvara’s opinions, he changed his story and attributed his interpretation to divine revelation from a dozen deities. It was hard not to remember Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita at that moment:
वाच्यतां समयोऽतीतः स्पष्टमग्रे भविष्यति |
इति पाठयतां ग्रन्थे काठिन्यं कुत्र वर्तते ||
Coming back to the original question, the answer is simple: there is no one correct way here, but there certainly are incorrect ways. It is easier to simply say: follow your own Guru Sampradāya. But as our Guru always taught us to carefully examine śāstra pramāṇa and not rely upon any instruction blindly, a quick examination of this topic would be appropriate. This is especially true in the current age where charlatans claim to offer the sacred knowledge for hefty prices, taking advantage of the masses that are mostly devoid of any kind of śāstrajñāna.
Most upāsakas today seem to follow Paraśurāma Kalpasūtra, more for the sake of simplicity than anything else and it hence makes sense to start with an examination of the sūtra.
Kalpasūtra provides a general guideline in this regard:
सर्वत्र देवतानामसु श्रीपूर्वं पादुकां पूजयामीत्यष्टाक्षरं योजयेत् |
Add śrī before the specific name of the deity and pādukāṁ pūjayāmi after the name of the deity.
Umānandanātha uses the following prayoga:
Tritārī + specific mantra + dēvatā nāma + some additives + pūjayāmi tarpayāmi namaḥ ||
E.g. 1: tritārī + śirō mantra + śiraśśakti śrīpādukāṁ pūjayāmi tarpayāmi namaḥ||
E.g. 2: tritārī + mantra + kāmēśvarī + nityā + śrīpādukāṁ pūjayāmi tarpayāmi namaḥ||
Rāmēśvara disagrees with the above format as well as others such as:
Tritārī + mantra + kāmēśvarī nityā śrīpādukāṁ pūjayāmi kāmēśvarī nityā śrīpādukāṁ tarpayāmi etc.
He interprets the word pūjā to mean the samudāya prakṣēpa (combined offering) of viśēṣārghya bindu and puṣpākṣata. So, according to him, the correct format would be:
Tritārī + mantra + kāmēśvarī nityā śrīpādukāṁ pūjayāmi – this possibly being the closest to the intent of the sūtrakāra. Interestingly, several other śrīkula Tantras recommend a similar saptākṣarī or aṣṭākṣarī in this context.
As for the additives we talked of, some are explicitly specified in the Kalpasūtra such as:
a. सर्वत्र नित्याश्रीपादुकेति योज्यम् – in the case of tithi Nityā deities.
b. षोडशपत्रे कामाकर्षिणी नित्याकलेति नित्याकलाऽन्ताः, etc.
In some other places, both Umānandanātha and Rāmēśvara follow their own chosen formats:
U & R: aṇimā-siddhi śrīpādukāṁ, etc.
U: sarvasaṁkṣōbhiṇī mudrā-śakti śrīpādukāṁ, etc.
R: sarvasaṁkṣōbhiṇī śakti śrīpādukāṁ, etc.
Umānandanātha uses various additives unspecified by the sūtrakāra which one only can hope is based on sampradāya or tantrāntara:
a. kāmākarṣiṇī nityākalā dēvī śrīpādukāṁ, etc.
b. anaṅgakusumā dēvī śrīpādukāṁ, etc.
It might be useful to examine what the great Bhāskararāya states in Ratnālōka and Tripurasundarī varivasyā prayōga but we shall reserve that for later.
Apart from Kalpasūtra, various other Tantras such as Tantrarāja, Parā, Vāmakēśvara, Rudrayāmaḷa, Baḍabānala, Paramānanda, Tripurārṇava, Garbhakulārṇava, ūrdhvāmnāya, Nityā, ṣōḍaśī Tantras as well as Dakṣiṇāmūrti saṁhitā, caryā-khaṇḍa of Tripurārahasya, Mahālakṣmī ratnakōśa, Saubhāgyalakṣmī kalpa, Agastya saṁhitā, Durvāsa saṁhitā, Dattātrēya saṁhitā, etc., describe their own peculiar prayogas. There are other prayogas introduced by manuals such as Saubhāgya ratnākara, śrīkalpataru, śrītattvacintāmaṇi, Tripurāsārasarvasva, etc. As an example, here is one such set based on Tantrarāja and Parā Tantras held as pramāṇa by Bhagavatī Bimbāmbikā:
बीजद्वयाद्याः सिद्ध्यन्ताः सप्ताक्षर्या च संयुताः |
-ह्रीं श्रीं अणिमासिद्धि पादुकां पूजयामि |
एताश्चाष्टौ तद्द्वयाद्याः सप्ताक्षर्यन्तगाः क्रमात् |
-ह्रीं श्रीं ब्राह्मी पादुकां पूजयामि |
बीजद्वयस्वराद्याश्च आकर्षिण्यन्तकाः क्रमात् |
नित्याकलेति च ततः सप्ताक्षर्याऽर्चयेत् क्रमात् ||
-ह्रीं श्रीं अं कामाकर्षिणी नित्या कला पादुकां पूजयामि |
द्वयानङ्गादिकाः सर्वाः सप्ताक्षर्यन्तगा अपि |
-ह्रीं श्रीं अनङ्गकुसुमा पादुकां पूजयामि |
द्वयसर्वादिकाः सर्वा शक्तिसप्ताक्षरीयुताः |
-ह्रीं श्रीं सर्वसंक्षोभिणी शक्ति पादुकां पूजयामि |
अन्तर्दशारयुग्मे तु देवी सप्ताक्षरात्मिकाः |
-ह्रीं श्रीं सर्वसिद्धिप्रदा देवी पादुकां पूजयामि |
वशिन्यादीन् यजेत् प्राग्वत् सप्ताक्षर्या नमः पदे |
The instruction here is to simply use the same format as the vāgdēvatā nyāsa, having replaced namaḥ with saptākṣarī, i.e., hrīṁ śrīṁ aṁ āṁ – – aḥ + vaśinī-bīja + vaśinī vāgdēvatā pādukāṁ pūjayāmi ||
दक्षिणे कामजिद्यस्याः चूडायां कामवल्लभः |
वासः कामायुधस्याधः कामाक्षीं तां नमाम्यहम् ||