Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 217: Shri Maha saktih (OM mahAshaktyai namaH)

In Namams 199 to 248, the Divine Mother’s  Saguna or infiniteness power and glory are described. 

The Divine Mother has great powers within Her. 

The Divine Mother has all the abilities and strengths. We can see greatness, wherever She is present. Her devotees can reach the Brahman, the Supreme Being, with Her help. For the devotees’ life to be meaningful, they need Her help in worldly materialistic things also. She being the Maha sakthi, She spreads across the universe. 

Sakthi is also means weaponry. The worldly creatures have their body as their weapon. The humans can design their own weapons in trying to defend themselves. In all these weapons of the creatures and the humans, the Divine Mother is present as universal weapon; Shed controls the universe. She, all alone, is running and maintaining the universe’s smooth functioning. 

The Divine Mother’s power expands in all directions in this universe, similar to brightness of a fire spreading in all directions. When one moves away from the fire, the warmness of the fire is felt less by him. Once the devotee moves away from the Divine Mother focus, Her kindness and power shown on him reduces. The loser is the devotee. She may be nearer to the devotee, but yet the devotee needs the merit from his earlier births’ good karma and vasana, to be drawn to Her, for Her blessings. 

Gita (VII.3) says “only one in thousands strives for perfection; and even among the successful strivers only one will have the chance to Know Me in essence”. This emphasizes the point that the devotee’s devotion and   involvement is critical in seeking the Divine Blessings. 

The Divine Mother’s Grace is needed to get Her blessings. It is essentially Her perfect design to get the devotees to be drawn to Her. 

Baskararaya carya interpreted the Maha sakthi “as the board and many sides power; She is required to protect the whole universe”. 

Sakthi can be said to be mightiness, strength, ability, weapons and army. The Divine Mother has all of these in great qualities within Her to be the Maha sakthi. There is no comparison to Her sakthi in this universe. 

She is the Maha sakthi.

The Divine Mother as Maa Durgha and Maha Sakthi

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 28 August 2020.

 

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.