Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 965: Shri Bala (ōṃ bālāyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother forsakes the nature of a child.

She is a young playful girl. Nature and the Divine Mother’s form are the same. Nature is there forever, yet we see youngness in it. The Divine Mother wears Kalam or time as Her ornament. She is beyond time eternally as a young child.

There is always happiness when small girls play. At young age, they are yet to know the likes and dislikes. They are in purity stage to play around. When we observe such little girls’ play, we forget about our own sufferings and happiness; we get mental peace which is same as a little girl’s nature. We get to the Parama-Ananda level.  This Ananda is naturally far beyond the universe.

The Divine Mother is called Bala Tripura Sundari. She is in Kumari (young lady) form. The Divine Mother took a young girl Bala form to destroy the Bhandasura’s children. A nine-year old girl forever, She sits on a blossomed flower. Like the Sun’s reddish light rays, She has the red-coloured body, She has Vara mudra, Jamba malai and boots in Her four hands.

The nature of a child is its purity. “O Beloved because You play like a child, You are called Bala (little girl)” says Tripurasiddharntra. The Divine Mother is Bala since She never gives up Her childlike play. We note here that one of the meanings of the Name Lalitha is playful.

Bala can also be a Kumari, a maiden Kanya Kumari, deep south in India where western and eastern parts of India meet is famous place. The deity representing the Divine Mother is Kanyakumari. This Namam, then implies that the Divine Mother is eternally in the form of a young maiden.

    The Divine Mother forsakes the nature of a child. 

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 15 September 2022; updated 31 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.