Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 374: Shri Krtajna (OM kRRitaj ~ nAyai namaH)

Namams 373 to380 are describing, the Divine Mother’s Shakti  Peetams where She is residing. 

The Divine Mother knows and is fully aware of all our actions as they happen; She shows Her gratitude with immense kindness to all Her created beings, who are performing their actions as directed by Her. 

The creation, preservation and dissolution of the universe and its beings are Her cosmic drama, as directed by Her.

The Divine Mother understands all the actions and movements in the universe. All creatures in this universe are karma based. The creatures without any feelings follow their karma. All universal cosmic planets also move smoothly without any pressure. These are all happening with the Divine Mother’s grace. She knows every move by the universal beings. 

There are nine witnesses for all actions. They are the Sun, the Moon, Time, Yama (the lord of death) and the five elements sky, wind, earth, fire and water and they witness every actions of humans. Essentially these are the Divine Mother’s vibhutis or grace or glories, through which She holds witness to everything in this universe. They calculate the effect of soul’s karmic actions and determine their benefits and results for the souls. The Divine Mother is in these nine witness forms watching all good and bad karmic actions of universal beings. She plans our future based on good or bad karma performed by the universal beings. She is Krtajna. 

The embodied souls try to understand their karma effect in their current life. Some do good karma and some do bad karma. Good and bad karmas for the universal creatures are part of their creation itself. Some karmas looking good to one group may be bad for another group of beings. The Divine Mother makes such good and bad for each and every universal creatures; She is called Krtajna. 

Repaying a kindness through a similar kind action is also meant as Krtajna; showing one’s gratitude. The matured devotees performing good karmas are pleasing the Divine Mother. She shows Her kindness by giving to them the Knowledge. This knowledge provision is basically the gratitude shown by the Divine Mother for the small positive actions done by Her devotees. We have to further judge Her total infinite Kindness. This is one of the key aspects of the Divine Mother’s kindness and compassion shown towards her loyal devotees. 

As part of witnessing our actions, She says.”Son, a thorn pricks your feet and it hurts instantly. One feels the pain because a message about the prick of the thorn arrives in one’s brain. Similarly, the Lord in your heart knows each of your good and bad actions then and there. This is not blind belief. It is the truth declared by ancient Hindu scriptures.” 

The Divine Mother knows all of the Yugas and also all of movements. Krta can mean Krta yuga, the first of four ages. In Krta yuga the dhrama (righteousness) was valued fully. In next Treta yuga, dharma declined to three fourth while adharma, which is unrighteousness, took one fourth, the balance. In next Dvapara yuga the dharma and adhrama were balance to be equal at half each. Finally, in present Kali yuga, dharama is said to be having one fourth only while adharma is taking the bulk of three fourth part. Krtajna means that the Divine Mother has the full knowledge of dharma taking full part in Krta yuga; She is implementing that level of dharama in subsequent Yugas. 

It is said that in the game of dice between Lord Sadashiva and the Divine Mother in their unison, there are four throws called Krta, Treta, Dvapara and Kali, with values four, three, two and one respectively. The one who makes the Krta throw, which has the highest value of four, wins the game. The Divine Mother always throws the Krta or four all the times in the game with Sadashiva and wins every time. She is so certain of the Krta in the dice game that She called Krtajna or the knower of Krta. 

Krtam is performance of actions; Jnana is knowledge. She ensures the actions are not stopped midway or left incomplete. She understands all that is needed to complete the all started actions. She is Krtajna.

 

Bhaskararaya who wrote the Bashyam for Shri Lalitha Shasranamam,   worshipped Lalitha Devi, in Thirumeeychur in Tamilnadu, India.

C  N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 02 February 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 Chithbavandar