Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 658: Shri Iccha Shakti jnana Shakti kriya Shakti svaupini (ōṃ icChāśaktijJṇānaśaktikriyāśaktisvarūpiṇyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother is the form of power of will, knowledge and action. 

Wish or will, the Iccha shakti is in desire form in Brahman. Due to this Iccha shakti, all the galaxies in the universe are functioning systematically. Each soul or creature lives happily in harmony with its own kind.  Mother and child have that attachment is the clear example in every stage. All creatures gain knowledge at their own speed and need. Tree branches and leaves grow towards the Sun’s light. That light is essential for everything in the universe. Jnana shakti is even in plants, is evident from this tree example. If we mix good and the not good type of food, even the ants, they first take the good nutritious food before taking the other type. The animals are equal or even better than mankind in searching for food indicating their wisdom or knowledge.

Mankind is motivated by desires, works for the good of all loved people. Any man understands what is good through jnana shakti and strives to attain that good thing for himself and for his loved ones. So, the souls as forms of the Divine Mother use the iccha, jnana and kriya shabtis is one interpretation of this name. 

 All universal creatures and systems use will or desire (Iccha shakti), knowledge (jnana shakti) and action (kriya shakti) for smooth operations. The Divine Mother is in all three shakti forms. Likewise, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are three forms of the Divine Mother. The mind will create the desire; it will try to use the knowledge and action are used for fulfilling the original objective in the same sequence. 

When a child is born, it feels a hunger for which food is needed. Mother provides the milk and to get that the child cries. This crying will give the child the needed food is the knowledge learnt in many earlier births the child’s soul had gone through. Crying is an action or using kriya shakti. So even as soon as a soul gains rebirth as a child, it can use all three shaktis in sequence as granted by the Divine Mother who is in three shaktis Herself, Iccha, jnana and kriya shaktis. 

Brahman is the original cause of the universe. At the start of creation, the energy latent in Brahman manifests as Iccha shakti, the power of will or desire (to create). Then comes the jnana shakti, the power of knowledge, deciding how creation should be done. The need for action then comes in and manifests as kriya shakti the power of creation. 

According to Sanketapaddhati, the power of will is the Divine Mother’s head, the power of knowledge is the trunk of her body and power of action, the kriya shakti Her lower divine body from waist to feet. When will or desire for action arises, proper knowledge must follow before action can follow. “He desired to give rise to many,” that Brahman desired “why not become several?” Wisdom arose to fulfill the wish, and the universe began to emerge. For every action, the will and proper knowledge are necessary; only then, proper action will take place. 

The trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara is another example of the same concept or idea, Bhaskar Araya quotes appropriately from Vamakesvara Tantra: “The Divine Mother, the Tripura Devi, is in three forms namely Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. She is as the power of will, wisdom and action." 

Kriya Shakti the power of action, is said to be of five types (suta samhita): movement (spanda), counter movement (pratispanda), beginning (aramba), repetition (avartana) and spreading (paracara). A very similar division is also seen in Tarkasastra, the science of logic. There, karma is divided as rising, falling, bending, spreading and going forth to the goal. 

We should strive to keep our desires, knowledge and actions from being tainted since they are inherently divine. They represent and are part of the Divine Mother, herself.

 The Divine Mother is the power of will, knowledge and action.

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 13 November 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