Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 457: Shri Mata (ōṃ mātrē namaḥ)

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

The Divine Mother is the Mother of the Universe. 

The Divine Mother is also the Matrka; which are letters of the alphabet. The Supreme Goddess is called Matrka, as She is the Mother of all mantras. (Skanda Purana). She is also (pra)mata or one who knows, the first member of the triad of knower, known and knowledge (pramata, prameya and pramana). So this Namam Mata can be interpreted as She who knows everything. 

Moon growing phase tenth day and Moon waning phase sixth day has the daily deity named as “Nithya”. The mantra for Nithya Devi is called Mata in mantra satras. Shreem Lakshmi bijam is also called the Mata; Sri, Ma, Rama, Kamala and Mata all mean Lakshmi. The Divine Mother is in all these forms.  We can recall the very first Namam “Sri Mata” with the meaning that She is the auspicious Mother for all universal beings. 

She is the one who created and gave birth to all of us in this universe; so he is Mata or Mother. Mother means the one who gave birth to devotees’ birth. So the biological mother is considered as the form of the Divine Mother. Worshipping daily the biological Mother is a form of prayer to the Divine Mother.

The Divine Mother is the Mother of the Universe.

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 26 April 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.

4.       Mata is the deity of the Kayavarahana temple; Kayavarohan or Karvan is a village in the Vadodara district of the state of Gujarat, India. Kayavarohan is popularly known as Karvan and is situated on the National Highway 8 at a distance of 30 km from Vadodara. Kayavarohan is considered as the birthplace of Lakulisha; there is a dedicated Shiva temple.