Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 633: Shri Uma (ōṃ umāyai namaḥ)

The Goddess Divine Mother is Parvati Devi. 

The Divine Mother has another name “Uma”. Uma is the word that shines in Omkara sound. This is the Divine Mother’s Brahma mantra. U means Shiva; ma means Lakshmi; So, Uma is understood as the Lakshmi aspects of Lord Shiva. Shiva means auspiciousness, which has led to a name Uma Maheswaran for Lord Shiva. Because of Uma, Lord Shiva is also called Sundareswaran. 

As Himavan’s daughter, the Goddess is shining as Brahmavidya and is called Uma. Even with purest of heart, the manifested and non-manifested the Divine Mother Uma is far beyond for the humans. However, due to Uma Devi’s blessings, the Brahman’s graces and attributes can be understood by human’s purest heart. 

She was born as Hemavati, the daughter of Hemavan. When She was five years old, She took up severe penance to get Lord Shiva as Her spouse, which Her Mother wanted to stop by uttering U and ma; as a result, She got the name Uma.

U stands for Shiva; Ma stands for Lakshmi. She provides an identity for Lord Shiva. Shiva was colourless. By taking left side of Lord Shiva in Ardanareesvara, She spreads Her colour to Shiva to give Him an identity. She turned deep blue colour at the age of six from where She later turned into yellow coloured girl Uma. 

AUM means A-karam, U-karam and M-karam representing Vishnu, Rudran and Brahma respectively. The Divine Mother as Supreme Brahman represents Shiva,Vishnu, and Brahma. As Sadashiva, She blessed them and set them to do the task of creation, sustaining and dissolution of the universe. 

U can be understood as high; ma as mindset; Uma burns the karma balances of Her devotees. When the universal beings are a wake and sleep, they may hear breathing represents sow hum (AUM) which is Ohm. Yogins call Uma as Iccahashkti. She has a peetham in Ganapathy temples. 

Als0, Uma is the one who measures. Anything that can be measured has limits. Thus, the Divine Mother is the one who has assigned limitations of Rudran or Shiva. 

Uma also means red, Vermillion, fame and radiance. Poet Kalidasa says in Kumarasmbhava that Mena, the wife of Himavan, dissuaded her daughter Parvati from embracing penance by saying. “Uma (Oh do not attempt to do the penance)!” and Parvati got the name Uma because of this. 

Also, Uma means Indukala, which, according to Tantra, creates the waking and sleeping states. Its position is in the centre of lotus of the heart. 

Uma also stands for a girl of six years old. This is the meaning of Kumari puja. According to Saiva doctrine, Uma is Iccha shakti (will power). 

Kena Upanishad refers to UMA, Hemavati as the Supreme Devine. She is the power behind the glory of Devatha.

            The Divine Mother is Uma Devi, the Lakshmi aspect of Lord Shiva.

 C N Nachiiappun

Singapore, 19 October 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