Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 813: Shri Murta (Ohmmūrtāyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother has a form.

In fact, She has infinite forms. The whole universe is composed of five basic elements. These five elements are the basis for us to perceive Her different forms in all living beings in the universe. All universal forms, which we visualize, are those of the Divine Mother. When the devotee realizes this concept, he need not look for a deity for worshipping. When he realizes all universal forms are of the Divine Mother, he moves towards Brahman.

Those who do not understand this and start to think the deity is a metal or stone, believe that the worshiping deity resides in the metal or stone form only. The Supreme divine has infinite form.

In temples, in Divine Mother’s Sannidhi, those who worship the Divine Mother in all directions have understood that the Divine Mother is in all forms and in all directions. Whatever we can visualize are the forms of the Divine Mother.

The Divine Mother has two basic identifications. One is visualizing forms such as Shree Rama, Shree Krishna, Durgha, and Lalitha. These are reachable through our knowledge and thinking, through our mind and senses etc. These are suitable for worshipping. So, the Divine Mother has many understandable and realizable forms such as a ‘Murtha’.

She is in these basic visualizable elements fire, water, and earth forms; akasha and air have no specific forms. From Maya and ultimately from these five elements this universe had originated. The Divine Mother is in these five elements’ forms.

She is in visualizable universe and unseen Brahman forms. Like earlier Namams Pasha Hasta and Pasha Hantri, She is in all forms. When we can visualize Her, She is Murta. We must understand though She can come to us as Amurtha or with no form, also.

The entire universe is in Vividhta form, which is the meaning of this Namam (the multitude of forms brought by Maya). This concept implies duality. The akasha is perceived through sound, the air is perceived through touch, the fire is perceived through sight, the water is perceived through taste and the earth is perceived through smell. These are all the Divine Mother’s forms. Sruti says, “All this truly is Brahman”. All is the Divine Mother Herself.

A devotee once asked Mata Amirutanadamayi, “If the Self is all pervading, should not be the life force present even in a dead body”. Her reply was, “Just because the light bulb is off or the fan stops working, we cannot conclude that electricity is off. When we put down our hand-held fan, we stop feeling the air, but the air does not cease to exist. In the same way, the Self is everywhere. The Lord is not absent anywhere. Death is just the destruction of the upadhi (imposition or limitation), the instrument, not the absence of the Self.”

  The Divine Mother has many forms. 

 

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 16 April 2022; updated 06 July 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