Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 993: Shri Ajnana dhvanta dipika (ōṃ ajJṇānadhvāntadīpikāyai namaḥ)

The Divine Mother is the bright lamp that dispels the devotee’s darkness of ignorance.

She is equivalent to the lamp of knowledge, which removes ignorance. By using a known thing, trying to understand the unknown is good for increasing knowledge; when someone is walking in dark, with a small handheld lamp; the lamp spreads the light for short distances. This is good enough for that person. As he walks further, the good light from the lamp guides him from darkness. The Divine Mother’s Janna light is like that. In all billions of universal beings, the Divine Mother sits on a ‘prana’ in them. With Supreme Knowledge from the Divine Mother, the universal beings gradually improve. The Divine Mother sits in as conscience in every universal being. She clarifies the evil things to them, even after that some beings go in the evil path. But those who depend on the Divine Mother move in right path to improve themselves. The devotees ought to understand to keep this concept within themselves always.

She removes ignorance or darkness as a lamp’s light. Darkness and brightness are like ignorance and knowledge. From darkness, if someone sees inadvertently bright light, his eye may lose it seeing action. To remove the darkness of night, the Sun rises slowly to spread its light. The Sun here appears smaller than night darkness. The Divine Mother is kinder than the Sun. She reaches the ignorant person, like a small lighted lamp. His ignorance may not be that serious like eyes losing its sight due to excessive brighter light. This ignorance helps him to see the world; yet it hides his own self from him. So, the Divine Mother comes in as a small light to show him his own self through knowledge. So, one’s darkness or ignorance disappears by itself. The Divine Mother does not need any special efforts to remove the ignorance of Her devotees.

This Namam presents the Divine Mother in the form of Guru. The darkness of ignorance can be removed only by the light of knowledge. “Gu means darkness and ru is one who dispels it. That one removes the ignorance is known as Guru” according to the sages. Many prostrations to the Guru who opens the eyes that are blind due to ignorance with a needle giving the knowledge.

The Divine Mother is the bright lamp that

dispels the devotee’s darkness of ignorance.

 

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 13 October 2022; updated 07 November 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.