Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 919: Shri Caitanya Kusuma priya (ōṃ caitanyārghasamārādhyāyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother is fond of flower that is devotee’s consciousness.

She is fond of Supreme Knowledge, linked to human consciousness, which is compared to flower. Caitanya is awareness, or pure consciousness. The word Caitanya is not easily understood by most people. In all forms of worship, the flowers are offered. This is ease for the common man to understand. Flower represents the level of universal beings improving in their state. The flowers are attractive to our eyes, and they have fragrance. Honey is the highest-level food. It is born out of a flower blossoming. By touching the flower, the humans get happiness. He is happy hearing the appreciation of the flowers. In these ways flowers are helping the divine aspirations in humans. It is an external icon for happiness through five senses. It is an explanation of the divinity’s glories. Happiness is replenished by humans by flowers. In Caitanya, and happiness we are talking about is the same. Caitanya Kusuma is applicable for both the happiness beyond unmanifested and for the flowers which are manifested. Through the visible flowers, we are trying to understand the Supreme Self which is not visible to us.

The Sun’s rays cannot be visualized by normal human eyes, but when they pass through clouds, we can see the seven rainbow colours. The root of Sun’s status is like Chaitanya. That comes out in five forms: taste, light, sound, smell, and action. The flower is the place for these five sensing results.

Nature or universal process of giving happiness is in external form for the soul. The whole universe is the formalized Chaitanya. The flowers can give happiness to all universal beings. So, the Divine Mother is celebrated as Caitanya Kusuma Priya.

 She likes the Caitanya flowers. A plant’s flower goes through unripe to ripe fruit of that plant. Likewise, our feelings grow through our mind and give many feelings through our five senses. The Divine Mother controls such feelings to be positive. Bhaskar Acarya makes this clear on greatest form of worship using eight kinds of effects: non-injury, restraint of the senses. forbearance, compassion, wisdom, penance, truth, and meditation in offering one’s heart. For all these reasons, the cause is positive thought or feeling. These manifest out of Caitanya happiness, when we practice these sincerely and offer them in our prayers to the Divine Mother, She is very pleased. She is fond of such devotees. She is Caitanya Kusuma Priya.

Worship of the formless is the subject of this Namam. Here, the flower reflects the knowledge of the Supreme. It is the highest form of worship.

According to Tantric experts, Caitanya is the bliss called Kundagolodbhava. This is the bliss experienced when Kundalini enters the Visuddhi Chakra. The Divine Mother is fond of that Caitanya flower or Knowledge of the Supreme.

Adi Shankaracharya says in Soundariya Lahari, verse 3, that for those of low intellect, the Divine Mother is the flower of honey from the bouquet of Caitanya flower.  This flower has the power to discriminate between real and unreal. In saying, “persons of low intellect,” it is implying that even ordinary persons deserve to attain the bliss of Brahman. Hastamalakacarya, Sankara’s own disciple, is an example of this.

The imagery of flowers is a way of giving form to formless ideas.

The Divine Mother is fond of flower that is

                                 devotee’s consciousness.

 

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 31 July 2022; updated 09 October 2025.

References:

1.The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published by Mata Amritanandam in California, USA, with Commentary by T. V Narayana Menon

2, Shri Lalitha Sahasranama Stostram published in Tamil by N. Ramaswami Iyer charities’ societies, Tiruchirappalli, India, with Commentary by C. V. Radhakrishna Sastry.

3. The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamil Nadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sith-bavandar.