Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 346: Shri Vijaya (OM vijayAyai 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 ever-victorious; She also has special knowledge. 

The Divine Mother is eternally victorious. The universal beings do various things, depending upon their body forms, effort and means used by them; they achieve victory at different levels. All these actions and the resultant victories by all universal beings are through the Divine Mother’s grace. 

The Divine Mother achieves special victories over Her opponents. Normal beings get their victory by destroying or eliminating the opportunities for their opponents; whereas the Divine Mother’s victory over Her opponents results in positive effect for Her opponents getting special benefit to the extent of liberation from samsara cycle after being defeated by Her. 

The Divine Mother was named Vijaya when She killed the asura called Padma. Visvakarma says that in his architectural science write up, “Vijaya is an auspicious building name which gives the Kings victory in battles.  The Divine Mother lives in the Vijaya palace. One of the sixty-eight scared places of Lord Shiva’s worship is in Kashmir (India). The deity in that place is called Vijaya. 

Vijaya is the name of the auspicious hour. In Kanny (Puratasi/ asvina, September-October) month, the tenth day (dasami in Moon’s growing Shkula phase), the hour when the stars appear in the sky is known as the hour of Vijaya (Vijayadasami). It is usually 7 to 9 pm in India on that day. This timing may vary accordingly in other countries. This hour is considered as the most auspicious time for initiating all undertakings.  In ancient days the Kings usually started their battle field operations in this Vijayadasmi hour.  It is again most beneficial to worship the Divine Mother during this Vijayadasami hour. In Mysore Kingdom in India and Calcatta  (Kolkatta) in West Bangal State in India, this Vijayadasmi is celebrated in grand scales with different names, yet the purpose is to seek the Divine Mother’s blessings during this auspicious hour. 

There is a practice, to start the learning process for the young child during this Vijayadasami hour to write, do art like singing, dancing etc. Also the disciples pay their due respects to their Gurus during this Vijayadasami hour and learn something new during this hour from the Gurus, as it is considered ideal to start learning anything new at this hour.

 

The Divine Mother as Goddess Vijaya.

C  N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 05 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