Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 860: Shri Akanta (ōṃ akāntāyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother ends all sins and sorrows for Her devotees.

She removes sins or papa. The sins due to ignorance committed by living beings are called Akam. The root cause of one’s sorrow is his ignorance. While sleeping, one dreams disproportionately and lands in great sorrow. On awakening, that huge sorrow is not there. He understands the immense sorrow he felt in his dream was his own making. Whenever human deviates from dharma means, he sins ending in sorrow. When he leaves the happy state, he trips into ignorance. The Divine Mother within him, corrects these mistakes and brings him to stable state.

The Divine Mother destroys these two negatives, sins and papa. Kasthakanta is one word split as Kastha and Kanta. See Namam 329 Kanta with the meaning that the Divine Mother is beautiful, ka is Brahman, anta is final.

Aka means sin and sorrow. Sorrows have three types namely, those caused by oneself, those from the physical world, and those from divine forces (See Namam 397: Mula Prakritih, with the meaning that the Divine Mother is the first cause of the entire universe). All varieties of sorrows and sins are destroyed by the Divine Mother.

          The Divine Mother ends all sins and sorrows for Her devotees.

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 02 June 2022; updated 12 September 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