Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 764: Shri Svargapavargada (ōṃ svargāpavargadāyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother bestows time-bound heavenly Bliss (Swarga) and eternal Blissa (Apa Varga).

All worldly pleasures are inevitably associated with fear and sorrow. Happiness without any such attachments is termed as heavenly bliss. These two types of happiness accumulate punya and papa (merits and demerits).

Even the ones in heaven must revert to universal life when their punya or credit balance is depleted. So, for those souls, happiness in this world and in heaven have an ending. However, Divine Mother can bestow ultimate happiness to souls (internal bliss). The matured soul or sage on reaching Brahman enjoys eternal happiness. He is not caught in samsara, the birth and death cycle again.

Depending upon one’s Punya level, heaven grants happiness with variations. There is no sorrow mixed with this happiness. Whatever deserved is got. When Punya balance is depleted, the soul cannot stay in heaven. That represents happiness with an ending.

Apavargam is an endless happiness in Brahman. Due to Punya and Jnanam, the soul leaves the body and reaches heaven. Due to its accumulated papa the soul returns to earth after consuming the merits of punya. Over many cycles of birth and death, the soul attains eternal salvation (Brahman). The Divine Mother grants both these types of happiness to devotees based on their maturity.

Swarga is heaven, the place of happiness, a pleasant resort, gained through merit. Apavarga is Liberation which is eternal. The Divine Mother gives both the temporary heaven and eternal Liberation.

The highest state that can be reached by sacrifice (yoga) and other rites is the transitory heaven. Some religions consider heaven as the ultimate state to be reached. The Sanatana Dharma, the system of eternal tenets that is Hinduism, treats heaven only as pleasant interlude. Heaven can be attained only through the accumulation of much merit.

However, the mind will not be satisfied even after reaching heaven. That mind itself must be dissolved. That is called a-mani bhava, the absence of mind, that is Liberation. The Gita (IX.21) says, “Having enjoyed spacious world of heaven, they return to the world of mortals when their merit is exhausted; thus, following three Vedas, desiring objects of enjoyment, they attain the state of samsara, the cycle of birth and death”. For them, the cycle of birth and death does not end. The aim of Jiva is Liberation, and the Divine Mother is the one who confirms that.

The Divine Mother grants moksha and Liberation.     

 

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 27 February 2022; updated 14 May 2025.

References:

1.   The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamis AparnaSan 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