Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 604: Shri Guna nidhihi (ōṃ ōṃ guṇanidhayē namaḥ)

The Goddess Divine Mother is the treasure house of all qualities. 

Three gunas (qualities of life) Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas, have been used in creating this universe. Static forms of things has many divine aspects with them. The earth’s glory is immense. Stones unearthed have high qualities such as diamonds and rare gems; these are the glories of the Divine Mother who created the universe. 

During sleep, which has tamasic qualities, the universal beings are given re-birth every morning, when they wake up. While sleeping, the souls are suffering to reach the Brahman. The Divine Mother is in beings’ sleeping as well. 

Nature has static and cit shaktis. Heat, sound, lightning are static shaktis and they occupy the key conditions in the universe. In living creatures, feelings, knowledge etc are in cit shakti form. Various feelings indicate the glories of the Divine Mother. Those who are arrogant about their knowledge and intelligence levels must learn many more things from nature or the Divine Mother, the creator of nature. Dogs have smelling skills, which is not the specific skill available to mankind. All these kinds of knowledge and special skills are basically from the Divine Mother. 

Sattva guna is one of the basis for life. With Sattva guna, various lifestyles of the universal beings come up. Yogins understand all the living beings are divine. Yogins, devotees and sages have superior qualities in countless ways. Praising the three gunas is a form of the Divine Mother’s worship. 

Gunas also means “rope”; the Matsya and Kali Purana describe the following incident which dates to incarnation of Lord Vishnu as a fish. Before the whole universe was to be destroyed in Great Dissolution or Pralaya, all the good seeds in the world and seven great Rishs were put in a large boat. The boat was tied to the horn of the Great Fish with the rope called ‘Vatirika’ as mentioned in Matsya Purana. To keep the rope from breaking,the Rishs prayed to  the Divine Mother to infuse it Her strength. As She made the rope (guna) the repository (nidhi) of Her strength, She, is called “Gunanidhi”. 

The Divine Mother has all the good qualities which are together or separately within Her. Three gunas combine to give billions of various beings in this universe. They are all covered in her original creation and form. She is the originator of all beings’ good qualities. Nidhi numerologically means number nine. 

The Divine Mother has assumed various forms resulting from combining three gunas; Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. As guna also means Vyuha (an aggregate, an arrangement of body or senses) and nidhi numerologically means number nine, Lord Shiva is said to be the form of nine vyuhas. The nine vyuhas are listed as time, family, name, knowledge, mind, nada, bindu, kala and jiva(soul).This Namam can mean, “She who is the treasure house of nine vyuhas”.

                 The Divine Mother is the Treasures House of all good qualities.

C N Nachiappun

Singapore,20 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