Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 190: Shri Durga (OM durgAyai namaH)

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

The Divine Mother is Goddess Durga. 

Durga means is very difficult to approach her. Another meaning is that She, who will help Her devotees to get very difficult things. With sincere efforts and faith one gets her blessings; there

is nothing difficult for him to obtain from Her. Though She is difficult to approach but She makes Her devotees to get their things done easily. 

The demon Durgaman had taken and hid the vedic materials; he had caused a lots of fear to devas. The Divine Mother appeared as Durga with very fearful figure and destroyed the demon. Thereby, She eliminated devas’ fears. She is celebrated by devas for controlling the demon Durgaman. 

The Divine Mother proclaims this in Markandeya Purana “There I will kill the great demon Durgaman and my name will be Durgama”. Acharya Baskararaya says further “Indra and other devas were relieved from mental and physical fear on seeing the Goddess Durga destroying the demon. So She is called Durga, the deliverer. 

Durga means a fort. It is not easy to capture a fort without great effort. The Divine Mother has created and is controlling the universe. To cross the cycle of birth and death and reach the Supreme Self is the aim of all souls in this universe. It is not possible for all humans to reach their goal. One in billions may attain his goal. Ignoring Durga, it is not possible to reach the Brahman. Only with Her kindness and grace some devotees attain Brahman. Since She is such unattainable Self, She is called the Durga. 

The Divine Mother had said to devas that whenever there is evil demons, causing problems for the normal functioning of the universe, She would incarnate in different forms to destroy the evil people and save Her devotees. Her three special rupams as indicated in Mahatripurasundari are; Durga, Lakshmi and Sarasvati. This Durga is an essential form of the Divine Mother. 

King Subahu installed the image of the Divine Mother in Varanasi, which is known as Durga. Devi Bhagavatha says that the Divine Mother granted a boon when the King Subahu prayed to Her to have the Divine Mother in the name of Durga in Varanasi. 

“Durga is known also as one who helps us to cross the ocean of Samsara Sagara”. 

The term Durgama means, one who travels on evil path. In humans, only the mind wanders in search of evils. Durga is the powerful mantra that destroys those evil demonic actions in human minds from evil thinking to pursue good. This is the greatness of Durga worship. 

Durga is one of the dearest names in this Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam. 

Additionally from my earlier writing on Goddess Durga: 

“Durga,” in Sanskrit, means “Invincible.”

The syllable “DU” is synonymous with the four demons of poverty, suffering, famine and evil habits.

The “R” in Durga denotes diseases and

“GA” represents sins, or papaghna (injustice, irreligion, cruelty, laziness, and other evil habits).

Thus the Goddess Durga means, the destroyer of all these evils, represented by DU, R, and GA. 

The worship of Durga has been popular in ancient times. Lord Rama worshipped Mother Durga to attain victory over the demon King Ravana. The Mahabharata mentions that Arjuna worshiped Durga to obtain victory over the Kauravas. In Durga Saptashati, the most beloved scripture of Durga worshippers, She is mentioned by 1008 names; thus She is in all forms of the Divine Mother, or the Divine Mother Herself.

All the Gods provided Durga with powerful weapons. Shiva produced a trishul of His own trident and gave it to the Goddess; Vishnu produced a disk from his Chakra and presented it to Her; Varuna gave Her his conch; Pavan (Marut) gave Her the bow and arrow; Indra produced a Vajra (thunder bolt) from his own Vajra; Yama, the lord of death, gave Her a danda (sceptre); and Brahma gave his kamandalu (water pot). The Sun god gave radiance to each and every pore of Her body; She received a sword and a shield from Kala (lord of Time); and Vishwakarma presented Her with an axe and unbreakable armour. Thus Goddess Durga became a replete with all manner of weapons and decorations.

 

 

                                                        

                                                   Shri Durga Devi

         

C N Nachiappun  

Singapore, 01 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.