Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 11: Shri Panca Tanmatra Sayaka (OM pa ~ nchatanmAtrasAyakAyai namaH)

The Divine Mother holds five arrows made of subtle elements in her front right hand. Mind is acting through these five elements.

These five elements are the five senses of sight, taste, smell, touch and sound. They are represented as subtle arrows from the mind. The mind had been earlier related to sugarcane bow in Divine Mother’s other front hand. When the bow bends more as in sugarcane bow, the arrows will go further. When the bow does not bend as in the case of steel bow, the arrows cannot go further.

With spiritual practices, the mind can be kept supple and thus subtle. During deep sleep the mind is not functioning and these five elements are also not effective as well.

In temple worshipping, the food offered is accepted as the Divine Mother’s blessings. The deity may be made of solid material but it is accepted as the Divine Mother is present there in that form. When we go round the deity the Divine Mother is not only present in the deity but is present in all things we see around us. The Mind has to gradually accept such things in life. The flower which had been placed on the deity, the vepoothi, kum kum and sandal paste offered to us in the temples are to be accepted as the Divine Mother’s blessings as desired. Any sound we hear or made in the temple is to be considered as divine blessings to the devotees’ ears. The\ other fragnant materials are used in the temple to create a wanting in humans to be present in the temple. Thus the mind is getting to sense such things in order to grow in maturity.

In Namams 8 to 11, we have seen so far, there are supposed to be mantras for warfare weapons’ use. In earlier days, the divine people like Rama and Krishna might have used such mantras but those may NOT be relevant in current times.

We have seen up to first 11 Namams, the souls’ creation and its objective. The objective is essentially to reach the Almighty through the Divine Mother’s kind assistance all through the life of the souls.

C N Nachiappun
Singapore, 04 February 2020.