Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 804: Shri Pushkara (ōṃ puṣkarāyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother is complete; She provides nourishment to all universal beings.

For all living beings She has created, She provides food and nourishment. Even for microorganisms She is providing food and nourishment. In Kashmir’s frozen mountain area there is a Shiva temple, which is also frozen. During winter nothing but ice is seen there. The birds living in the cave where Siva temple is there, get their food and needed nourishment. How they get such things is a mystery. The Divine Mother provides food for the birds there. This Nama can also mean that She gives all universal beings the wealth, they desire. Each living being accumulates the wealth it needs, with the Divine Mother’s grace and kindness.

She is fully nourished; She provides nourishment to all beings. This Nama Pushkara and earlier Nama Pushkala both mean the same thing, “She who is full and complete”.

Pushkara has many other meanings, such as lotus, sky, and water. Like the sky, the Divine Mother is all pervading, untainted and formless. Not only is the essence of water contained in Her, but She is also the source of life-giving power of the water.

The deity at the temple of Pushkara Tirtha is Pushkara Devi, representing the Divine Mother. Pushkala Devi is one of two wives of Swami Ayyappan

The Divine Mother is complete; She provides

  nourishment to all universal beings. 

 

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 07 April 2022; updated 21 June 2025.

 

References:

1.   The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayis Aparna 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