Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 677: Shri Bali priya (ōṃ balipriyāyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother is especially fond of sacrificial offerings.

She is also fond of devotees who have controlled their desires for property, wealth and women. She is also fond of the great asura king Mahabali. 

She is fond of devotees’ wisdom and their sacrificial offerings. Whenever the bad is destroyed, the Divine Mother’s presence is there and felt. The Bali Peetha is there at the entrance to the sanctum of the deities of most Hindu temples. The devotees must destroy or give all their low-level behaviors such as akangara. For a devotee to Bali or offer his life is an ultimate devotion to the Divine Mother.

 The soul by controlling and cutting out the unstable non-permanent things, gets the ultimate Brahman with Supreme Bliss. Both the devotee destroying his lower-level behavior and the Divine Mother accepting the devotee’s offerings makes the Divine Mother very pleased. Those who oppose the Divine Mother are facing all the troubles. Like the waves are owned by the sea, the souls are part of the Divine Mother; offering to the Divine Mother is an ideal devotion. 

Bali also means the one who has physical strength(thegabalam), mental strength (manobalam), and spiritual strength (athmabalam); those who can lead a good life and are eligible to get supreme knowledge or Jnana. “Strength leads to life; weakness leads to death had been explained by Sage Vivekananda. The one with strength can achieve his life goals, which is a good form of devotion to the Divine Mother. 

She is fond of people with strength. Those who try to leave ignorance (avithya), desire (kamam) and ego (akangara) are considered strong people. They are the people maturing well and use Iccha, Jnana, and Kriya shakti properly. The Divine Mother is fond of such people. 

The sacrificial offerings are made to divinities to seek their blessings. The Divine Mother is fond and pleased to accept such offerings from such matured strong devotees. 

Humans ought to show gratitude to Nature in the same way that the Divine Mother gives out Her beauty. To worship the various powers of nature (the shakti) with mantras and prayers, for which the ancient sages prescribed the various yajna (sacrificial ceremonies). Since all shakti’s are part of the Divine Mother, sacrifices conducted in any deity’s honour are dear to the Divine Mother as well; just as the praise given to the children brings joy to their parents. 

Mahabali was a King devoted to the Divine Mother. Mahabali’s greatness is shown in his willingness to sacrifice to everything to Mahavishnu (Vamana) and ultimately surrendering by offering his head as the resting place, as third step for Mahavishnu’s foot. Bali also refers to Mahabali. Then Bali Priya means, “She who is pleased by the devotion of King Mahabali.” 

As we have seen earlier, bali is also one who has the strength (Balam) to overcome nescience (benightedness, cluelessness, ignorance, incognizance, innocence, obliviousness, unawareness or unfamiliarity).

The Mahabali offering his head as third step for Mahavishn, which the Divine Mother is fond of this sacrificial offering.

C N Nachiiappun

Singapore, 02 December 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