Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 742: Shri Bhava dava Sudha vrushti (ōṃ bhavadāvasudhāvṛṣṭyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother is the nectar rain falling on the forest fire on souls in their worldly existence.

To put out the samsara (Birth and death) forest fire, the Divine Mother showers bliss as rain.

Happiness and sorrow are always present in worldly existence. Every sensory pleasure is mixed with fear, pain and sorrow. The devotees experience these in their life when they seek happiness. They dream of happiness without sorrow and try to avoid sorrow. Those who pray to Divine Mother first to release them from sorrow, the Divine Mother with Her Grace showers the ultimate happiness, bliss on Her devotees and saves them.

Bhava is birth. Birth and death are continuous chain of events for the soul. We get the current worldly life by birth. It will have to end with the death coming later. The soul forgets all its earlier lives, after its last death. Samsara is like a forest fire. How do we put out this fire? What we seek to live is the current life but that becomes the cause of death. Two young green trees scratch one another due to the wind. It will not catch fire, but dry tree scratching will cause frictional fire. This fire cannot be put out by a single human. That fire spreads to the whole forest; the forest rain from sky can prevent this fire from spreading. At that stage the Divine Mother’s grace comes in as bliss of rain to put out the samsara cycle for all souls. The Divine Mother converts this current worldly life into a useful one and makes sure birth is not happening again to souls. She with Her grace is helping Her devotees to eliminate their samsara cycles.

“The Divine Mother is the nectar rain falling on the forest fire on the worldly existence clearing the samsara birth /death cycle of the souls. The Divine Mother is indeed one who showers nectar on the devotees who are circled by the intense fire of worldly existence or samsara cycle”. The above meaning is obtained by splitting this nama as Bhava (Worldly existence) + Dava (Forest Fire) + Sudha (Nectar) +Vrushti (Rain).

A different meaning is derived splitting it as Bhava (Shiva) + Da (Dhana, giving) + vasu (Wealth) +Vrusthi (Rain); then it becomes “She is the one who gives us Shiva, the bliss of Self and also showers on us the immense richness without reservation”.

One who yearns for the bliss of the Self does not wish for worldly riches, yet the Divine Mother’s grace is present in plenty. As Rudra Yamala says “whenever there is worldly enjoyment there is no salvation; where there is salvation there is not worldly enjoyment. But the devotees of Sundari or the Divine Mother receive both salvation and enjoyment in their life”.

The Divine Mother is the nectar rain to eliminate

the samsara cycle of the devotees.

 

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 05 February 2022; Updated 26 April 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