Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 711: Shri Sadhu (ōṃ sādhunē namaḥ)

From Nama 684 to 741 the glories of the Divine Mother were discussed.

The Divine Mother possesses equanimity, having calmness and composure, in all situations. That is why She is Sadhu. Sadhu also means the capability to do anything appropriately.

The Divine Mother has appropriate calmness and composure in any situation. Each being/thing in this universe has attributes and Gunas. The earth doesn’t look useful as mud and rocks, the stones are lying all over the place. Ruby got from that earth is a stone also and yet it is a gem. Each thing maintains its attributes. We do not need to give explanations differently than their original attributes for each being. The Divine Mother is naturally in all  forms; She displays each being’s attributes in an excellent manner That  is one  interpretation of this Nama.

Sadhu is also the capability to do a job appropriately. Shiva is full of dharma Rupa; The Divine Mother can show that She can separate Herself from Shiva and yet have the dharma. Such Shakti is Brahman itself. She can be in many forms and still be as one; as such She is Sadhu which can also mean one who does not oppose the inequality to him and bear the suffering in calmness. When others harm a person, without him opposing, he can be called a sadhu. Such harm meted out to him does not affect him. It will affect the person who causes or initiates such harm. If we hit a stone with our hands, the pain comes back to us. The Divine Mother is in Sadhu’s form.

The combination of this Namam and the next one 712 ’Ee’ can be called Sadhvi. Bhaskaracarya takes this Nama to be Sadhu meaning neutral gender and the next Namam to be ‘Ee”.

Sadhu is that which possesses calmness and composure, especially in a difficult condition. As Gita says Sadhu is abidance in yoga. Just as heat is inherent in fire and coolness in water, so is Sadhu (equanimity) to the Divine Mother.

Bhaskaracarya assigns the meaning ‘appropriate’ to the word sadhu. What is appropriate is dharma; what is inappropriate is adharma. The appropriate aspect is the Divine Mother and inappropriate is Her Maya.

The Divine Mother has equanimity,

calmness, and composure always

 C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 05 January 2022.; updated on 08 March 2025

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