Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 858: Shri Kalpana rahita (ōṃ kalpanārahitāyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother is free from imaginary attributes.

Humans dream. That leads to their own imagination. There are no dreams beyond what one’s mind is capable of thinking. What he can think while being awake is mostly represented in his dreams; from the type of dreams, we can determine one’s thinking activities. So, what one gets while being awake, are his own imaginations. While awake, good-hearted people get good imaginative dreams and thinking. People having good imaginations can better worship the Divine Mother. When the Divine Mother’s worship gets better, one’s bad imagination and thinking get deleted. When one’s thinking is all gone, it is called Kalpana Rahitam; The devotee is ready to merge with the Divine Mother or Brahman. At that stage one’s thinking is without any imagination. Devotees reaching Kalpana Rahita, get better understanding of the Divine Mother’s the true nature. When one’s bad thinking and dreams die down, the universal view disappears from him and only the Divine Mother’s form is visualizable to him.

The Divine Mother is beyond imagination; When one knows a little about a thing, trying to imagine the unknown thing through his mental process is like waves in the ocean. Such an imagination about the Divine Mother will not be correct. The basic need for imaginary thinking is simple understanding of something. This will not work to understand the Divine Mother. So, Kalpana Rahita, the Divine Mother knows every beings’ thinking which are under Her control.

Kalpa is time based until Pralaya happens. The Divine Mother dissolves the whole universe within Her subtle form. She gives anugraha (support) to those souls absorbed by Her during Pralaya.

Kalpana can mean something in command form. This Namam means that the Divine Mother is unequalled, formless, and not subjected to anyone else’s commands.

Kalpana is also a product of imagination. The waves of soul’s samsara sahara are known as Kalpana as they can be imagined. The Divine Mother is free from those samsara waves, being the Kalpana Rahita.

Kalpana means the time which passes until the dissolution of the universe. This Nama can be interpreted as, “one who does what is beneficial (hita) to human beings (nara) until and during the dissolution of the universe.

The Divine Mother keeps within Her subtle forms, all living beings, in their original forms and after dissolution, restarts recreating everything as the beginning of a new age (kalpa). This cycle continues unabatedly. In Astha Vakra Gita, it is said, “In the definite ocean of consciousness, the waves of living beings arise, beat against each other, play and return naturally to me, the Divine Mother”.

The Divine Mother is free from imaginary attributes.   

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 31 May 2022; updated 18 August 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