Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 881: Shri Yajna Priya (ōṃ yajJṇapriyāyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother is fond of sacrifices and other rituals.

She is affectionate to the people doing sacrifices (yajna). To leave the universal bondages and attachments, one must sacrifice and become a Yajna Murthy. Human become Yajna Murthy due to due maturity of his mind. Less mature people live to meet only their selfish needs. A human using his skills to worship the Divine Mother and do service to others in the universe, becomes a Yajna Murthy. He becomes dear to the Divine Mother. The Divine Mother helps Yajna Murtis by liberating them from samsara cycle.

Yajna or sacrifices have many forms. The Divine Mother has special interest in all these sacrifices. See Namam 769, Yajna Rupa with the meaning that the Divine Mother is fond of sacrifice.  

Yajna releases our attachments in this universe. We like this universal life and with our bonds we cannot reach the Divine Mother. Agni and Water are the two of the five basic elements. We surrender our things to Agni, by thinking that those things do not belong to us. Those people who get the things we sacrifice are of divine nature as we respect and offer to them. The Divine Mother is fond of people sacrificing.

Yajna also means Vishnu according to the Sruti. This can also mean that She who is fond of Vishnu. She has the form of Vishnu (Namam 893). In one manifestation, She, is Vishnu’s Sister (Namam 280).

Yajna (sacrifice) is in five types, namely.

 

1.     Brahma yajna, the study of Vedas

2.     Deva yajna, Agnihotri and other yajnas.  The pujas for planets Sani Kuja (Mars) and Ragu and the chanting of divine names fall into this category. These are done for various Devas also.

3.     Manasya yajna: Scarifies done for humans. The Vedas instruct that, “The guest is God,” Honouring and worshipping guests fall into this group.

4.     Pitru (the ancestral spirits of departed ancestors) yajna: Sacrifice for the ancestors.

5.     Bhuta yajna: Feeding of animals, birds, and insets (sacrifices done for other universal beings)

 The practice and protection of these five forms of sacrifice are the duties of a householder.

The Divine Mother is fond of sacrifices and other rituals. 

 

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 23 June 2022; updated 02 September 2025.

 

References:

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