Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 417: Shri Cetana rupa (ōṃ cētanārūpāyai namaḥ)

In Namams 381 to 474, the Divine Mother’s Jnana Yoga worship methods are discussed in details. 

The Divine Mother is in pure Consciousness form. 

Cit and consciousness refer to the same Brahman, which knows its existence is eternal. The humans do not have any doubt on the Brahman is alive always or is eternal. 

A man went to sleep in a room locked up by him. A dim light was burning. During sleep, he saw his enemy; their verbal angriness ended in physical fight. His enemy stabbed this man with a knife. He shouted that he had died and fell down; along the process he had hurt his leg. He woke up, saw no knife or enemy; the door was still locked. He said that he did not die and remained calm. This state can be termed as cetana. When he was asleep, he believed that he was dead. That was also his cetana sleeping state. He could not see what was happening actually around him in sleeping state. He could have said that he did not see anything; he is the witness to himself. The Divine Mother is in this cetana rupam. 

The Divine Mother is the shakti, who can understand Her ownself. She lives in all universal beings in cetana form, which is to be understood as consciousness of these beings. The humans understand their eyes, ears, mind etc through this cetana shakti. One needs to understand the actions of cetana shakti, to understand its existence. We can understand the consciousness due to its working. 

The Divine Mother has Self-knowledge. Adi Shakara says that the power of consciousness of the Lord is called caitanya. Devi Bhagavata praises the Divine Mother in the form of Koota traya Gayatri which is also known as Tripada Gayatri.  Devi Bhagavatha also says, “We salute the consciousness in all, which is the original knowledge; may it inspire our intelligence!” The Divine Mother is the power that confers consciousness to all and gives Her devotees the power to overcome the senses. 

Adi Sankara explains in his Vidyaratna that the vimarsa form of the Divine Mother is cetana. In Shakti doctrine this cetana is referred as the Self-manifested. Reality is surveying or experiencing Itself. (We will also see namam 548: Vimarsa rupini with the meaning that the Divine Mother is in the form of Vimarsa which is luminosity and reflection). 

 

The Divine Mother as Cetana Shakti

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 17 March 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.

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