Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 723: Shri Svatrantra (ōṃ svatantrāyai namaḥ)

From Namam 684 to 741 the glories of the Divine Mother are discussed.

The Divine Mother is self-driven and free from all limitations.

The Divine Mother is dependent only on Her own self.  She does not need any universal soul to support or assist Her. She is smoothly running the universe. ‘Those who are not commanded are a great source of strength’ is a concept.

In the universe, it is generally found that we all need and seek others’ help and guidance throughout our life. There is no one who can live their life entirely without anyone else’s support. Since both Shiva and the Divine Mother are equal, the Divine Mother is called ‘Svatantra’. Tantra is a form or method of worship to a group of deities; All such tantras are derived from the Divine Mother, therefore, all others are called Paratantra.

She is independent. She does everything only as She wishes. To get something done, the tools, place and time are needed. She is doing all these activities without any such assistance; She is called ‘Svatantra’.

Ganapathy and other deities, before being worshipped, must be established with their Pranasashakti..  They accept the prayers only after that establishment.  The Divine Mother is such Pranashakti Herself and as such She does not need to be established before praying to her. She has a separate praying procedure which are called ‘Tantras. Shiva provided sixty-four Tantras; He followed the Divine Mother’s desire to provide the means for salvation for all. This is mentioned in Soundarya Lahari by Adi Shankara.

The Divine Mother is independent; She does not need the help of anyone during the process of universal creation. Sva means ‘Self’ and tantra means ‘She who depends’. Hence, She is the one who depends on the Self only, the Divine Mother abides in unison with Shiva, who is the Self.

The Divine Mother is free from all limitations.

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 17 January 2022; updated 26 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