Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 199: Shri Sarva sakti mayi (OM sarvashaktimayyai namaH)

In Namams 199 to 248, the Divine Mother’s  Saguna or infiniteness power and glory are described. 

The Divine Mother has all the divine powers. 

Her name itself sakthi because she has got all the powers. She is Omni potent. She can do and undo anything in this universe. So everyone including all Devas get their energy from the Divine Mother; She the reservoir of all type of energies from where all others get their energy. In Devi Mahartmiyam chapter 5 and 11 after Devi killed asuras, Deva’s praise goddess and do namaskarams describing her greatness which is called as Devi Namakam.

She has all the saktis within Her. All three Murthies’ (Brahma, Visnu and Rudran) powers, innumerable saktis for devas, humans, animals, and birds are within her. So She is eternal and infinite sakti Herself. Ischasakti, Ganasakti , Kriyasakti, Annapurna, Gayatri, Savitri and all other saktis are within Her. Heat from fire, water quality, solid earth, and transient air, fullness of sky, rays from the Sun and coolness of Moon and everything having strength are all within Her. 

 Acharya Bhaskaraya quotes from Lakshmi Tantra of Pancaratra the Devi’s own words: O Indra, I am Mahalakshmi in the age of Svayambhuva (Manu). I am born as the slayer of demon Mahisa for the well being of all devas. Those portions of My powers which came from the bodies of the devas together became My highly beautiful form. 

Any power or action we see in this universe is only a trace of the Divine Mother’s power. The Markendeya Purana says: Those who are wise know that whatever energy objects possess is all the Divine Mother Herself. The Sruti also says: The power of the Supreme is of many different kinds. 

For her three key functions of creation, sustaining and dissolving the universe, all three Ischasakti, Ganasakti and Kriyasakti are used in different ways at each stage, but all these power are all coming from the Divine Mother.

In Kena Upanishad there is an incident told: When devas won a major war against an evil, by their own standards, they were rejoicing in a place. They saw a bright light far away through the window. Indra asked Agni to go and investigate that light. Agni tried to show off his powers to that light, failed against its strong powers and reported his failure back to Indra. Then Indra sent Vayu to the light; he also failed against the light and reported back to Indra. Then, it was Indra’s turn that he went to light. There he saw the Divine Mother, Uma Himavathy in golden shining colour. He realized his mistake that he and other devas had how foolishly assumed that they had won a major war, but without the Divine Mother’s powers behind it. They sought Her blessings and acknowledged their mistakes of assuming to be great themselves beyond Her. 

The universe is held together by forces of different kinds and of infinite extent. The scientific proof is confirmed by the images of the universe with thousand hoods of the great Ananta (infinite). 

We cannot understand Her fully with our senses. Her power is pervading all over the universe. We can further see in Namam 237: “Maha catuh sasti koti yogimi gana sevita”, which means that She is attended by sixty-four crores (one crore is equal to ten million) of bands of yoginis and She holds all their powers within Her.

 The Divine Mother as Lalithambigai ready to bless.

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 10 August 2020.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San Ramon, California, USA, with Commentary by T. V Narayana Menon

2.       Shri Lalitha Sahasranama Stostram published in Tamil by N. Ramaswami Iyer charities’ societies, Trichirapalli, India, with Commentary by C. V. Radhakrishna Sastry.

3.       The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sithbavandar.

Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 198: Shri Samanadhika varjita (OM samAnAdhikavarjitAyai namaH)

In Namams 188 to 198, the Divine Mother’s  glory is described. 

The Divine Mother does not have anyone equal or superior to Her. She is not within the reach of either other Gods or men to undermine Her infinite Self and be equal to or beyond Her. 

There is no one equal to her. When no one can be equal to her, it goes without saying that no one be above her or superior to her. 

On comparing any two similar creatures, we can judge them to be equal or better or lower qualities between them. Such ups and downs are there all over in the universe. But the Divine Mother has the vast universe under Her control. She is not comparable to anybody in the universe. She is the Supreme Self. There is nothing equal or superior to Her. 

There is no one kinder than the Divine Mother. If anyone thinks that he is equal or better than Her, She avoids such a person. Without Her kindness, such persons lose their strength and learn their lessons. They start to seek Her blessing by worshipping Her, again. 

According to an ancient Hindu document Sruti that nothing equal or excels That, meaning the Divine Mother. Svetavatara Upanisad (IV-8) says: “No action (effect) or instrument (organ) of His is found. There is not seen His equal or superior. The great power of the Supreme is declared in the Vedas to be of many different kinds His knowledge, strength and action as described as inherent in Him”. The above refers the Supreme in male form, meaning the Lord Shiva. In their unison, the Divine Mother and Lord Shiva are one. The above sayings are applicable to the Divine Mother as well. 

In Mahabratha battle field, Lord Krsna showed up His Visvarupa darshan to Arjuna. On realizing the Supremacy of the Lord, Arjuna submits to Krsna by saying that there is no one equal to Him in every respect. Lord Krsna (Mahavishnu), gets his sakti and instructions from the Divine Mother. This again reinforces that the Divine Mother has no one comparable or superior to Her. 

No one can understand the universal plan of the Divine Mother. Her plan is multidimensional, subtle and abstract. Hence no individual soul can become equal to Her nor can hope to go beyond Her. When She chooses to show up for you, She very often shows up as ecstasy (a feeling of deep pulsing joy) that is hard to convey in words and impossible to ignore, that would infuse the air in the subtle wave of embracing love. 

Samana is equal or comparable; adhika is more and varjita is rejected or not possible. With all these the Divine Mother is beyond equality. There is no one equal or beyond Her. She is incomparable. 

With this Namam, the Divine Mother’s glory discussion is completing.

The Divine Mother as Ambika Maa (in niketan in Surat,Gujarat, India) ready to bless.

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 09 August 2020.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San Ramon, California, USA, with Commentary by T. V Narayana Menon

2.       Shri Lalitha Sahasranama Stostram published in Tamil by N. Ramaswami Iyer charities’ societies, Trichirapalli, India, with Commentary by C. V. Radhakrishna Sastry.

3.       The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sithbavandar.

Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 197: Shri Sandra karuna (OM sAndrakaruNAyai namaH)

In Namams 188 to 198, the Divine Mother’s  glory is described.

The Divine Mother has immense overflowing or limitless infinite compassion to Her devotees. 

Kindness creates cooperation among mankind and all creatures. Even in poverty, a child under own mother’s care and kindness gets a better life than a child in an orphanage with all the comforts provided. There is nothing equivalent to mother’s kindness. She is the Universal Mother to all. Her kindness is so soft like butter. She knows everything in this universe, yet She saves even the evil person to correct him to right path with Her kindness. 

The Divine Mother with Her total kindness showers Her compassion on everything on all creatures in the universe without any differentiation constantly without any interruption. 

Karuna is compassion. Can there be any degree of compassion for the Divine Mother? For human beings it is possible for various degree of compassion. For some, it stops at thought (mind) level; for some it stops at words(mouth) level and for others it goes into action level. If the compassion truly comes from the heart, there is no end to showering it on others. Such compassion is like a melted butter. "sAndra " which is the Divine Mother’s compassion is same as a melted butter. Ladies in general are having very kind heart towards others; they are much more kinder towards young children. For the Divine Mother one cannot even imagine the softness she has towards her devotees. 

For example, a broadcasting station’s programme is available to all who wants to hear or see with proper receiving device like a radio or a television receiver. If someone staying very near to this broadcasting station cannot hear such programme without a proper receiver, it is not the fault of the station. Similarly, the Divine Mother is showering Her kindness to all in the universe. If someone does not want to worship and reach for Her kindness, it is not the Divine Mother’s fault;  but it is the fault of such negative devotee. 

 The Divine Mother is Sandra karuna.

                                                            

  The Divine Mother as Shyamala Devi ready to bless.

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 08 August 2020.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San Ramon, California, USA, with Commentary by T. V Narayana Menon

2.       Shri Lalitha Sahasranama Stostram published in Tamil by N. Ramaswami Iyer charities’ societies, Trichirapalli, India, with Commentary by C. V. Radhakrishna Sastry.

3.       The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sithbavandar.

Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 196: Shri Sarvajna (OM sarvaj ~ nAyai namaH)

In Namams 188 to 198, the Divine Mother’s  glory is described. 

The Divine Mother knows everything. No one or nothing can hide anything from Her because She is omniscient. 

Even the great scholar’s or learned man’s knowledge is only partial. His knowledge can be measured by the amount of grace he receives from the Divine Mother. 

The Divine Mother pervades everything; She knows the courses taken by all scientist and inert. 

The Divine Mother is embodiment of all knowledge;  so is the Namam  Sarva Jnaayai. The Divine Mother knows not only knows all the languages, but also technical, scientific knowledge. There is nothing which the Divine Mother does not know. Time wise also the Divine Mother knows all the past, present and future. Further, the Divine Mother knows what is in others mind and what they think; also whether what others think coincide with their sayings and actions. So no one can escape from the Divine Mother’s purview and or scrutiny. Even the dust from her feet knows all. The Divine Mother spitted her thampoolam from her mouth (betal leaves) into the mouth of  a devotee named Kalamegam. At once he became a poet started singing the greatness of the Divine Mother. It is so much greatness in Her. 

She is full of wisdom. No need to teach Her anything. Eternally Her wisdom shines. Whatever object is bright explains itself and to others surrounding it. With Her wisdom, She provides the knowledge to all universal creatures. The devotee’s level of knowledge increases as he understands more about the Divine Mother’s infinite wisdom. It is no wonder that She knows everything as She creates and stabilizes all universal creatures. She holds Her infinite knowledge to perform all three functions, namely to create, to sustain and dissolve the universe as and when needed. 

There is a difference between real reality and apparent reality. The Sun is revolving in its own axis. The Earth goes around the Sun and also revolves in its own axis. This is real reality. But for a person on the earth, it looks as if the Sun rises in the east in the morning, moves up and sets in the west by the evening. This is apparent reality. Likewise, the Divine Mother holds infinite wisdom to know everything in this universe, which is real reality. Normal humans think that they know all and they can hide their actions from others and the Divine Mother is apparent reality. 

She knows That, with the meaning that She knows all. She is Sarvajna or omniscient. 

                                                                                

  Shri Shyamalaba Devi

                                               

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 07 August 2020.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San Ramon, California, USA, with Commentary by T. V Narayana Menon

2.       Shri Lalitha Sahasranama Stostram published in Tamil by N. Ramaswami Iyer charities’ societies, Trichirapalli, India, with Commentary by C. V. Radhakrishna Sastry.

3.       The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sithbavandar.

Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 195: Shri Dosha varjita (OM doShavarjitAyai namaH)

In Namams 188 to 198, the Divine Mother’s  glory is described.

The Divine Mother is free from all fault and short comings. 

Dosha means fault or negative aspect or shortcoming. 

All things in this universe are under Her control; others cannot do anything to Her; it also means that the Divine Mother with her compassion for devotees remove dosha for Her devotees and purifies them. Further, the Divine Mother protects the devotees from other doshas affecting them.

 Lord Krsna says in Gita that the desire and anger are the worst faults. These two cause faults in thoughts, actions and words. Every danger to society arise from these faults.

 If we pick a serpent by mistake, we would immediately throw it away to a distance to avoid it’sbite. Likewise we ought to throw away these evil faults, desire and anger.

 In five universal elements namely earth, water, fire, air and space there are no basic faults, as they are controlled by the Divine Mother. She is above all these elements. In the actions of human, there are cause and effect, which may lead us to desire and anger. But the Divine Mother being the Supreme Self, there are no cause and effect for Her actions; there are no faults with Her.

 She is Dosha varjita.

                                                                     

                                    Shri Shyamalaba (in Andhra pradesh Temple)

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 06 August 2020.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San Ramon, California, USA, with Commentary by T. V Narayana Menon

2.       Shri Lalitha Sahasranama Stostram published in Tamil by N. Ramaswami Iyer charities’ societies, Trichirapalli, India, with Commentary by C. V. Radhakrishna Sastry.

3.       The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sithbavandar.

Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 194: Shri Duracara samani (OM durAchArashamanyai namaH)

In Namams 188 to 198, the Divine Mother’s  glory is described. 

The Divine Mother stops or puts an end to evil customs and practices. 

Customs which go against the sacred vedic scriptures are considered evil. It is the Divine Mother who controls all customs. When a devotee realizes about his evil tendencies and when he surrenders to the Divine Mother, She then removes the sins of him, from such evil acts.

She removes all his previous negatives from his vasanas and brings him to correct path and leads him to salvation from the cycle of birth and death. 

Long and deepened sorrow is Duracara. The Divine Mother reminds Her devotees that Duracara always gives increasing sorrow. This will prompt the devotees to worship Her for Her kindness, for removal of such Duracara from them. 

It is difficult for an individual to distinguish the good and bad. Due to such difference of views, arise hatred between religions. This causes the violence in many regions of the globe. 

The codes of conduct as lay down by the Divine Mother for the security of the society, gets corrupted with the passage of time and due to selfishness tendencies of the mankind. The Divine Mother corrects these moral codes and their resultant decaying effects. She corrects and re-establishes them for the welfare of mankind. 

Lord Krsna says in Gita (IV-7) “Whenever and wherever, there is a decline in righteousness and predominance in unrighteousness, O descendant of Bharata (Arjuna), I descend Myself at that time”. 

Similarly in Durga sapthasi (Devi Mahthmiyam chapter 12), the Divine Mother says that She will take different incarnations to correct the evil and save Her devotees. 

To hear and recite Her Namams will give the devotee the benefits to remove the sorrows such as mentioned in Namam 544 “Punya sravana kirtana”. This adds Puniya to the devotee.  Namam 356 “Sadacara pravartika” gives right conduct for the devotee. 

It is not only enough to do away the worries of devotees and also blessed them; it is also necessary to guide him in the right path for future. He should be told what is good and  what is bad so that he can avoid wrong path and follow good path. Duraachara means anything that is bad , food, habits, behaviour, work interpersonal relationship, hygiene and  all  interconnected;  so all such durachara should be avoided by the devotees. Hindu Dharma sasthram gives in detail what is good and what is bad.  

It is said in vishnu sahasranamam."Sarvagamaanaa achaaraha prathamam parikalpathe".  Top most priority for "acharam" is right conduct. 

Lalitha Sahasranamam refers to Her Namam "Vishnu Rupinyai". She takes different forms, whenever there is need,  to set things right and do away with dura-chara;  like what Krishna told in Bhagava Geetha  "dharma samsththaapanaarthaaya sambavaami yuke yuke" He will come down to establish dharmam whenever there is fall of dharma

                                                                             

                                                 Shri Kanchi Kamatchi Amman

  

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 04 August 2020.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San Ramon, California, USA, with Commentary by T. V Narayana Menon

2.       Shri Lalitha Sahasranama Stostram published in Tamil by N. Ramaswami Iyer charities’ societies, Trichirapalli, India, with Commentary by C. V. Radhakrishna Sastry.

3.       The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sithbavandar.

Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 193: Shri Dustha dura (OM duShTadUrAyai namaH)

In Namams 188 to 198, the Divine Mother’s  glory is described. 

The Divine Mother is unapproachable by sinners or untrustworthy evil people. 

With thoughts, actions and or words one can commit evil deeds on others. Between thinking and action, the word is the bridge. Even if one’s thinking and actions are pure but if he utters evil words, it amounts to committing sin or evil. With evil activities, one becomes unworthy person. He cannot perform any worship or practice any devotion to the Divine Mother to seek Her blessings. 

Due to devotee’s previous evil deeds, he is not liked by the Divine Mother. When he tries to malign the Divine Mother, She does not allow such evil actions. Instead, such evilness moves away from Her. 

On cold days, the person sitting near the fire gets better heat than the one who is seated far away from the fire. It is not the fire’s fault that one gets lesser heat to the one staying away from fire. Similarly, the devotees closer to the Divine Mother enjoy the divine bliss better. 

This universe functions in accordance with the rules set by the Divine Mother. Evil people, in spite their experiencing difficulties, still to do evil things. They do not understand the Divine mother’s Supremacy. They continue to spend time in evil activities. For them the Divine mother’s True Self is afar; which implies that, She is not attainable to such Dusta (evil) persons. 

This Namam can also be interpreted as “She is the one who drives away evil people for protection of Her devotees”. She is not reachable by evil people. 

Evil persons "Dushta" cannot go near to her because of her self effulgence. But the evil persons may cause hardships to her devotees. Knowing this She keeps dushtas far away, unapproachable mentally, physically, emotionally from her devotees; they can lesst do any harm to her devotees. 

Durga sahasranama "Namam 236 - Dushta Nashinyai namaha" which means that She completely destroy problems of Her devotees.

                                                                          

Shri Durga Devi

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 04 August 2020.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San Ramon, California, USA, with Commentary by T. V Narayana Menon

2.       Shri Lalitha Sahasranama Stostram published in Tamil by N. Ramaswami Iyer charities’ societies, Trichirapalli, India, with Commentary by C. V. Radhakrishna Sastry.

3.       The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sithbavandar.