The Tilaka of Sharada

Sharada Tilaka

A mantra with twenty-four syllables is known to be "famished." One with eleven syllables, twenty-five syllables, or twenty-three syllables is called "arrogant." (98-99)

A mantra with twenty-six syllables, thirty-six syllables, thirty syllables, or nineteen syllables is termed "devoid of limbs." (100)

A mantra with twenty-eight syllables or thirty-one syllables is called "excessively angry" and is despised in all rituals. (101)

A mantra with thirty syllables or thirty-three syllables is known as "excessively cruel" and is despised in all rituals. A mantra ranging from forty to sixty-three syllables is called "bashful." (102)

Mantras with sixty-five syllables are called "peaceful-minded." Mantras from sixty-six up to ninety-nine syllables are known by the wise as "displaced from their station." (103-104)

Mantras with thirteen or fifteen syllables are called "imperfect." Those with one hundred, one hundred and fifty, two hundred, or ninety-two or one less, i.e., ninety-one, or three hundred syllables are called "unaffectionate." (105-106)

Mantras ranging from four hundred up to one thousand syllables are considered "over-aged" and should always be avoided by the wise in rituals. (107)

Mantras with more than one thousand syllables are called "staff-like" or "oppressed." Mantras with two thousand syllables are called "fragmented" or "divided into a hundred parts." Know these mantras to be in the form of hymns stotra as they are currently established. (108)

Likewise, the wise practitioner should understand these vidyas knowledge-mantras for use in rituals performed for specific desires. A person who employs a mantra without understanding these defects, (109) will not attain success even after hundreds of millions of cycles of time.