Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 345: Shri Kshetra pala samarcita (OM kShetrapAlasamarchitAyai namaH)

In Namams 275 to365, the Divine Mother’s  many forms providing benefits to Her devotees in great details are discussed. 

The Divine Mother is worshipped by Kshetrapala; this Namam implies that Lord Shiva Himself worshipped the Divine Mother. 

Bhairava is one version of Lord Shiva who has fearful appearance. He becomes the Kshetrapala. Lord Shiva created the Kali to safeguard the yogis and Devas from the demon Daruka. After destroying the demon, the Kali’s active power and Her aggressiveness did not subside. Only Lord Shiva, the creator of that Kali, can calm Her; this is similar to Lord Shiva taking the Sharbeswarer role to calm Narashimghar, after Narshinghar also had destroyed forcefully the evil element to save an young child Brahalathan. Here Lord Shiva took an infant form of Bhairava; He appeared before the active Kali crying to seek her attention. On seeing a crying child, Her motherly instinct showed up; She took the child in Her arms to feed the child; the child drank Her milk and also Her anger; She calmed down to normal level. Here, through this process, Lord Shiva as an infant saved the Devas from aggressive Kali and the evil demon Daruka. We have seen in earlier Namams that as the Divine Mother resides in human body or Kshetra, She is also called Kshetra. So the Lord Shiva as an infant child is called Kshetrapala. Lord Shiva as Kshtrapala worshipped the Divine Mother. Aggressive Kali had only been calmed in this process by Lord Shiva or fearful Bhairava taking an infant form. Vayu, Sun and Agni are the elements safeguarding the human body where the embodied soul or the Divine Mother resides in human body chakras. She is worshipped by Lord Shiva, as an infant (Kshetrapala) and also by the Devas. 

Each embodied soul is trying to safeguard the human body (Kshetra); he prays to Brahman to save him and his embodied soul. Even as the humans are trying to safeguard their bodies and souls, they are also seeking the Divine Mother’s help by praying to Her, which is ultimately good thing for them to go near and reach the Brahman; due to this, She is called Kshetrapala smarcita. 

Further, Kshetra can be explained in other ways. One such way as the Lord Shiva’s body as in above explanation in calming the Kali. Kshetrapala, the lord Shiva is the protector of the soul; embodied soul is praying to the Divine Mother. Kshetra also means the site of sacrificial ceremonies such as yaga and also the temples where such ceremonies are performed by the keeper (pala) of the holy places.

 

  The Divine Mother as Kali or Durgha.

C  N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 04 January 2021.

 

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 Chithbavandar