Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 235: Shri Catuh sastyupacaradhya (OM chatuHShaShTyupachArADhyAyai namaH)

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

The Divine Mother is more beautiful and attractive when worshipped with sixty-four different forms of welcoming and showing respects. These sixty-four different forms of welcoming and showing respects to Her are described in Parasurama’s Kalpasutra. 

The other Tantras describe eight more ceremonies, making a total of seventy-two. Acharya Baskararaya also says about these Upacaras in the Puja Sampradaya (character worship) in his book Varivasyarahasya. These are basically for the people who are not deeply involved in the Divine Mother’s worship and to draw them closer to Her. 

 With increased devotion one can focus on lesser forms of welcoming and showing respect submissions to Her. 

These are five internal offerings and 16 important external offerings to the Divine Mother. These 16 expands into 64 ceremonies. The people can offer these 64 ceremonies to the Divine Mother either in the form of physical materials or with the mind, internally. 

Of these sixty-four ceremonies, sixteen are considered as important. They are known as sodasopacharas (sodasa means sixteen) and are listed as:

1.       Invocation (avadana)

2.       Offering  a seat (asana)

3.       Water for washing the feet (padya)

4.       Offering of water or other materials (arghya)

5.       Water for rinsing the mouth (achamanam)

6.       Bath (snana)

7.       Clothes (vastra)

8.       Ornaments (abharanam)

9.       Fragrance (garidam)

10.    Flowers (pushpa)

11.    Incense (dupa)

12.    A lamp (dipa)

13.    Food (naivedya)

14.    Betal leaves (tambula)

15.    Circumamabulation (pradaksina)

16.    Prostration (namaskarah) 

Sri Adi Sankara lists all ceremonies in slogams form beautifully. It will be a pleasure to understand the meaning and read these slogams.

 

The Goddess in Chanmudi Devi form, sitting on lion with devil's head in her hand. 

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 14 September 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.

The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sithbavandar.