Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 424: Shri Tattvasana (ōṃ tattvāsanāyai namaḥ)

In Namams 381 to 474, the Divine Mother’s Jnana Yoga worship methods are discussed in details. 

The Divine Mother has tattvas as Her asana (seat). She abides or lives in tattvas. 

Tattva means Supreme truth in things. There are said to be twenty-five tattvas including five universal elements, five karma related and four items such as consciousness, mind, knowledge and ahan-kara (ego). Twenty-fifth is Purusha(purusa) same at the bottom of the picture. tattva representing Lord Shiva or soul. The Divine Mother is in all these twenty-five tattva forms. Since She is the favourable deity for all these, She is called the  Tattvas. Manifested or un- manifested forms of Her are to be seen by the devotees as tattavas. 

Total number is also said to be thirty-six more than earlier explained twenty-five. The Divine Mother resides in all these thirty-six tattavas. Since She makes these tattvas available for outside use, She is also called Tattvasana. 

Tat + tvam is “That is You”, the Supreme truth. The Divine Mother resides in everything as inner Truth. The Sankhyas are called “Knowers of the twenty-five tattvas”. The Divine Mother is inner power in all these tattvas.

Tattva also means, “a cosmic element”. She abides in all these elements from earth to Lord Shiva. In thirty-six tattvas,  the last one being the Lord Shiva who is not different from the Divine Mother, through their unison at Brahman. 

Asana can also mean the, “one who discards”. In this sense, the Divine Mother is the one who discards all the thirty–five cosmic elements. There is only one Truth left, which is the Divine Mother Herself. Earlier statements, “neti, neti” (not this, not this) are used to describe the Supreme Truth.

Gayatri, the mother of Vedas has three levels of manifestations. Vyahrtih is at the gross level; Sandhya is at the subtle level and tattvasna the causal level. All these are creations of the Divine Mother. She abides in all of them. These are the steps leading to Her.

 

 Lord Shiva is one of the Tattvas, named as Pursa tattvam.

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 24 March 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.