Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 603: Shri Guru murtihi (ōṃ gurūmurtai namaḥ)

The Goddess Divine Mother has assumed a serene form or one who has assumed the form of the Guru or teacher. 

The Divine Mother is in Guru’s form. The one who is senior in age and in knowledge usually becomes the Guru for the one junior in both aspects.  The guru is the one to remove the ignorance in his disciples. For a human improving the maturity towards the Brahman, someone guides him in certain areas to be entitled as his Guru. Also depending upon the increased level of Guru Bakti, the human achieves his increased maturity. Guru Bakti is critical for one’s advancement.  Guru is the one equal to mother, father, and the deity of worship; here it is the Divine Mother. He gets all the good comforts from such Guru Bakti. 

For all universal beings, depending upon one’s maturity level, the Divine Mother sets up different Murthi as his Guru to progress the soul. So, one must praise the Guru he has got as the Divine Mother’s form. Since the Divine Mother, through Her scheme of things, takes all universal beings to higher level. She is called the “guru murti.” 

Through Her simple smile, the Divine Mother grants Her blessings to Her devotees. The form She takes is Guru. When we start a mantra Japa, we touch our head and pray to Her as Guru. In words form mantra are there; She teaches them as Guru to Her devotee. She is in” Achariya form, Guru murti”. 

Just as a pot, a jar or a cup are all different shapes of clay, mantra, deity, and Guru should all be understood as different forms of one and the same Truth. This is the significance of Adiguru, Shri Dakshinamoorthy. Gu means darkness; ru means that which removes it. So guru murti is the embodiment of light that dispels darkness. Taking Gu to mean Brahman and Ru to mean Knowledge, then this Namam can mean, “She who is in the form of the Knower of Brahman.” 

Guru murti is interpreted in Nitya Hridaya as the Divine Mother is the one who can assume any form at will.

Raja Shymala a form of Sarasvati Devi  providing Knowledge.

C N Nachiappun

Singapore,19 September 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