The Divine Mother is enchanting (delightfully charming or attractive).
She makes others to be attracted to Her delightful beauty. Those beautiful girls attracting mankind to them are all the form of Mohini Devi, the Divine Mother. As such the Divine Mother is called Jagan Mohini, meaning that She attracts the whole universal beings with her delightful beauty. The goal of universal beings is to reach Brahman before that indulge in bodily pleasures in this birth in this birth. The Divine Mother’s form Mohini Shakti gives the universal beings such pleasure activities; without her grace the beings cannot go further from these enchanting circles.
She is eternally with all Her glories, does appear in Mohini form to contain universal beings. They try to avoid the Kama fire and by praying to the Divine Mother, the move forward to Brahman. If a devotee sees a female as Mohini, he ought to consider him as a child to Her and consider her as part of the Divine Mother. This is an ideal way to escape the Mohini trap.
During churning of the Ocean of Milk, to enchant the asuras and later Lord Shiva, Mahavishnu with the Divine Mother’s blessings, took Mohini fprm. Lord Shiva is attracted to only the Divine Mother, here he was attracted to Mohini Devi as well, who is basically the Divine Mother Herself. She makes the world enchanted by Her. Those who realize the Divine Mother without thinking others, She, converts them to think about Her only. For those without devotion, She, makes them struggle in life in Mohini form. Earlier Namam 558: Kamalaksa nishevita with the meaning that the Divine Mother gives refuge to Lord Mahavishnu, is related to this Namam.
The Divine Mother enchants everyone with Her beauty and makes everyone do Her bidding. Laghu Naradiya Purana says,” O beautiful one, as the whole universe is enchanted with Thee, Thy name, shall be enchanting one.” According to the Brahmanda Purana, as Brahma sat in meditation, Shakti appeared in front of Him as Prakrti, capable of fulfilling the wishes of the gods. This is her first appearance as Mohini.
The second time was during the churning of the Ocean of Milk. Lord Vishnu meditated on the form of Mohini and assumed that form Himself. Vishnu in female form, as Mohini, appeared before the gods and demons who were fighting for the ambrosia or nectar generated by the churning of the ocean. Seeing the Mohini Rupa, the demons decided that it is best to entrust Her with the jar of ambrosia for serving everyone fairly. Mohini laid down one condition that all of them should remain with eyes closed while She is serving and that She would marry the last person to open his eyes. Any order from the enchanting one was acceptable to them all, so everyone sat with eyes closed.
Mohini started serving the ambrosia to the gods first. The demons waited, afraid to open their eyes. After a while Rahu opened his eyes and saw that the Mohini had already served devas. Vishnu killed the Rahu by severing his head with His cakra, thus cutting him into two parts.
The Divine Mother as Mohini Devi during
the Churning the
Ocean of Milk.
C N Nachiappun
Singapore, 09 August 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 Sithbavandar
4.
There is a temple on the banks of River Pravara
(Pravara is the smallest of the major tributaries of Godavari River located in
Maharashtra, India. Among the 7 major tributaries, it is the only tributary
which originates in the Western Ghats akin to Godavari.). The deity of worship
in that temple is Mohini Devi.
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