Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 425: Shri Tat (ōṃ tasmai namaḥ)

In Namams 381 to 474, the Divine Mother’s Jnana Yoga worship methods are discussed in details. 

The Divine Mother is meant by “That”, the Supreme truth which is Brahman.  That has got specific meaning so better to use tat or thath or Tat.  

The Divine Mother means Supreme truth; She is in truth form. All known things are called Tat. What we can visualize using our mind is also Tat. This can be used to indicate the pure mind. What is seen and unseen are Tat. 

Tattva means the things having the supreme truth form in them. The Divine Mother is in that Tat form. What we can understand through our knowledge and which we cannot visualize through our thinking is also Tat. The Divine Mother is in these things or forms. 

Knowledge of Brahman increases with our intellect. Tat (That) is the word used to identify the Brahman (earlier namam 363: “Tat pada lakshyartha” with the meaning that the Divine Mother is the embodiment of Truth, which is indicated by the word “Tat”). 

Tat is pronoun; a word used to identify something already existing. All known things are included in that, as the Divine Mother is behind everything; She is the Supreme Consciousness. 

In the Namavali version of Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam this namam is called “ōṃ tasmai namaḥ”. Tasmai is the derivative of the pronoun Tat.

 

 The Divine Mother in Supreme Truth “Tat” form.

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 25 March 2021.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San 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 Chithbavandar.

 

Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 424: Shri Tattvasana (ōṃ tattvāsanāyai namaḥ)

In Namams 381 to 474, the Divine Mother’s Jnana Yoga worship methods are discussed in details. 

The Divine Mother has tattvas as Her asana (seat). She abides or lives in tattvas. 

Tattva means Supreme truth in things. There are said to be twenty-five tattvas including five universal elements, five karma related and four items such as consciousness, mind, knowledge and ahan-kara (ego). Twenty-fifth is Purusha(purusa) same at the bottom of the picture. tattva representing Lord Shiva or soul. The Divine Mother is in all these twenty-five tattva forms. Since She is the favourable deity for all these, She is called the  Tattvas. Manifested or un- manifested forms of Her are to be seen by the devotees as tattavas. 

Total number is also said to be thirty-six more than earlier explained twenty-five. The Divine Mother resides in all these thirty-six tattavas. Since She makes these tattvas available for outside use, She is also called Tattvasana. 

Tat + tvam is “That is You”, the Supreme truth. The Divine Mother resides in everything as inner Truth. The Sankhyas are called “Knowers of the twenty-five tattvas”. The Divine Mother is inner power in all these tattvas.

Tattva also means, “a cosmic element”. She abides in all these elements from earth to Lord Shiva. In thirty-six tattvas,  the last one being the Lord Shiva who is not different from the Divine Mother, through their unison at Brahman. 

Asana can also mean the, “one who discards”. In this sense, the Divine Mother is the one who discards all the thirty–five cosmic elements. There is only one Truth left, which is the Divine Mother Herself. Earlier statements, “neti, neti” (not this, not this) are used to describe the Supreme Truth.

Gayatri, the mother of Vedas has three levels of manifestations. Vyahrtih is at the gross level; Sandhya is at the subtle level and tattvasna the causal level. All these are creations of the Divine Mother. She abides in all of them. These are the steps leading to Her.

 

 Lord Shiva is one of the Tattvas, named as Pursa tattvam.

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 24 March 2021.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San 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 Chithbavandar.

  

Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 423: Shri Dvija vrnda nisevita (ōṃ dvijavṛndaniṣēvitāyai namaḥ)

In Namams 381 to 474, the Divine Mother’s Jnana Yoga worship methods are discussed in details. 

The Divine Mother is worshipped by twice-born people. 

Taking human life from the mother is the first birth as sudra. Since then, due to one’s actions and maturity, reaching the Brahman is his second birth. They are called twice-born or Brahmana. People cannot easily become twice-born just by performing rites. Maturity and devotion is the key to this. From someone’s life style, he can be judged whether he is sudra or Brahmana. Getting to the dvija state is the aim of all humans. To this extend, these twice-born are treated well, the dharma in the society increases. Divine worship increases. 

To explain this further, by birth all humans are sudras. Karma makes the sudra into a dvija, a twice-born, normally interpreted as Brahmana. The  Vyasa by birth sudra but by his tapas has become Rishi is the proof that in India, actions decide a person’s caste (varna). The Divine Mother is the one worshipped by those twice-born through their actions. 

Dvija is also teeth. The Divine Mother’s teeth were compared in earlier Namam 25 to thirty-two forms of worship starting with Suddhavidya or Srividya. The present Namam can be interpreted as She who is to be worshipped by these means. 

The Divine Mother is Sandhya and according to the Renuka Purana, “This Sandhya is to be worshipped by the twice-born, devas and mahatmas (great souls) always while sitting, walking, eating and sleeping.” 

The Namams Vyahrti, Sandhya and Dvijavrndanisevita represent the three states of waking, dreaming and deep sleeping. Vyahrtih denotes the operation of speech and symbolizes the waking state. Sandhya, being in between the other two states, denotes the dream state. Dvija (twice-born) also means birds, here referring to the souls. Just as the birds fatigued from their flight finally come to their nets to rest, the souls after waking and dreaming, merge with the Brahman in the deep sleep state. The Bhadaranyaka Upanisad (lV.3.19) says, “ Just as a hawk  or falcon flying about long time, is exhausted and comes to its nest, so does this person hasten to this state where falling asleep, he desires nothing nor sees any  dreams.” In the Chandogya Upanisad (V1.8.11) it is said, “When a man is said to be sleeping, then dear boy, he has become united with Brahman.”

The Divine Mother as Madurai Meenakshi.

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 23 March 2021.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San 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 Chithbavandar. 

Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 422: Shri Sandhyayai (ōṃ sandhyāyai namaḥ)

In Namams 381 to 474, the Divine Mother’s Jnana Yoga worship methods are discussed in details.

The Divine Mother is in the form of twilight. 

When two time periods are meeting (here for example day and night) is called Sandhya. There are three such periods in a day are: in the morning night to day, in the evening day to night and at midday forenoon to afternoon. So it is three times a day. To do meditation during calm Sandhya is ideal. To control one’s mind and thinking, Snadhya is the best possible timing. Matured devotees and yogins use these three Sandhya periods for their mediation to achieve divinity. For those involved in other active works, morning and evening Sandhya periods are important to use for the soul’s advancement. 

The ones under hot sun sweating will like a cool shaded place to take rest. Sandhya period is equivalent to such cool place for getting relief for the devotees. Even in Himalayas frozen cold conditions, the pilgrim people will seek relief with the warm fire pot in a tea shop. The happiness through Sandhya is such relief for the devotee. Such Sandhya periods comforting the souls are considered as the Divine Mother’s rupam. When the devotee merges himself with Gayatri mantra, it is called Sandhya also. On meditating, when the devotee reaches and merges with Brahman, it is called Sandhya also. When the devotee realizes the Lord Shiva and the Divine Mother’s unison, it is also called Sandhya. 

According to Puranas, when Brahma was doing the meditation Sandhya Devi emerged. If the devotee prays to that Goddess, he gets the benefits of meditation, which the devotee has to make full use of it. Sandhya Devi created such calm periods for meditation. She is supposed to come out from Sun as Brahma shakti. The creation, sustaining and dissolution of the universe are one set of acts by Brahmam; this happens from morning Sandhi to evening Sandhi. 

The brightness of the Brahman is reflected during the devotee’s meditation. When the devotee realizes Brahman and the soul are the same during his meditation, it is called Sandhya shakti. 

Madavacarya says that the Divine Mother is known as Sandhya as She is worshipped at that three Sandhya twilights. 

Kalika Purana tells the story that Sandhya (which is also means “meditation”) is the celestial beauty that arose in the mind of Brahma as he sat in meditation. 

Reka Purana says, “The shakti known as Ida is Kali, Pingala is Lakshmi, and Sushmna. is Ekavira.  Sandhya is the combination of all three.” 

Sandhya is the symbol of beauty sacredness and auspiciousness which is indeed, a form of the Divine Mother.

Sandhya (san + dhya) means that,”She who is to be meditated upon with focus on one point”. During meditation the moment in which the  meditator realizes that he is none other than the Supreme is called Sandhya. 

The Shruti says that the knower’s call Brahman, the witness to everything by the name Sandhya. During Sandhya (twilight), worshippers meditate on the Divine Mother, who is the Brahman, as manifested in the Sun. 

One interpretation says that Sandhya is that the “mental sheath” (manomayakosa) among the five sheaths or kosas that cover the Atman. 

According to Dhaumya, a one year old girl is called Sandhya. 

 The Divine Mother is brighter than the Sun.

 C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 22 March 2021.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San 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.

The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Chithbavandar

Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 421: Shri Vyahrtyai (ōṃ vyāhṛtyai namaḥ)

In Namams 381 to 474, the Divine Mother’s Jnana Yoga worship methods are discussed in details.

The Divine Mother is the nature of utterance. She presides over the power of speech. 

The Divine Mother is the form of utterance of power of speech. Devotee has the responsibility to correctly utter the mantra. The food taken by him has to be well digested to add strength to his body through blood circulation. Likewise, proper and correct utterance of the mantra at all times, gives the devotee the divinity he seeks. 

Bhuh, bhuvah and suvah are the common three stages of words to utter. Further bhuh, bhuvah suvah, mahah, janah, tapah and satyam are seven words usually uttered. These are the seven upper worlds above our earth.  The related to mental conditioning of the devotee, whatever may be the mind of the devotee, the mantra uttered carefully leads him to the divinity he seeks. 

Vyahrti is utterance. Before creating the universe, Brahma took the first letters of three Vedas “A”, “U” and “M” and uttered the three merged letters. He wanted to create three worlds. Because they were uttered first, they are still staying stably. Later these three words were expanded to seven words after uttering bhuh, bhuvah, suvah, mahah, janah, tapah and satyam. These seven words represent the seven worlds and are called vyahrtis and the Divine Mother is in their form. 

These are used to invoke the Divine Mother and She is called Vyahrti. A mantra is named as vyahrtih. As the Divine Mother is invoked by uttering this mantra, She is known as Vyahrtih according to Vayu Purana. These vyahrtis represent the gross and subtle levels of the sphere of consciousness. Bhuh is the grossest and satyam is subtlest. These syllables are used for invoking the Gayatri mantra.

Sarasvathi Devi  as the Divine Mother. 

 C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 21 March 2021.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San 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.

The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Chithbavandar

Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 420: Shri Gayatryai (ōṃ gāyatryai namaḥ )

In Namams 381 to 474, the Divine Mother’s Jnana Yoga worship methods are discussed in details.

The Divine Mother is the Gayatri mantra. 

Gaya means the one who recites; tri means the safe guarding. So the gayatri means it protects the devotee who chants the mantra. With improvements for the  chanter come on its own. As the devotee recites the Gayatri mantra with involvement, he gets the purity and clarity of his mind. 

The Gayatri mantra is famous in worship of the supreme Divine. It is celebrated as the essence of the four Vedas. Each deity worthy of worshipping has its own Gayatri mantra. There are three sections for each Gayatri mantra. The first section talks about the reference to the deity. The second section describes the attributes and the glories of the deity. The third section asks for blessings, protection from the deity up on whom the mantra is recited. These mantras give a means to get the benefits in worshipping the deity of devotee’s choice; here with this Gayatryai mantra, it is the Divine Mother. In these Gayatri mantras recitation gives the benefits much faster. So the Gayatri mantras are considered important.

Gayatri celebrated as the mother of Vedas, has 24 syllables. It is safe guarding the person, makes his mind to move to Ananda state in reciting the Gayatri mantra. 

In Padma Purana, a story about Brahma is told: In initiating a rite, Brahma asks his spouse Sarasvthi to be with him at the place of doing the rites. She was with Mahalakshmi Devi conversing deeply and delayed her participation in the rites. Brahma got angry, and created a divine shakti  using his servant maid Gayatri and married her to start the rites. The Divine Mother is in Gayatri rupa. 

Essentially, Gayatri mantra consists of a meter with twenty-four syllables. Lord Krishna says, “I am Gayatri among the meters” as in Gita X.35. This mantra is used to pray to the Divine Mother. Gayatri is that which protects (tra) one who sings (Ga). The Divine Mother’s holy names are equal to the Gayatri mantra. In Padma Purana, Gaytri Devi herself says, “After bathing in the morning, one should repeat Me, the Mother of Vedas. I abide in three parts part with eight syllables in each part, yet I fill the entire universe.”

 The Gayatri mantra is considered to be most exalted mantra. Gayatri is the source of all Vedas, having become the seed for all four Vedas. Gayatri is celebrated as mother of Vedas and as wife of Brahma. 

“Om Bhur Bhuva Suvah

Tat Savitur Varenyam

Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi

Dhiyo yo nah Prachodayat” 

In the Vasistha Ramayana, “The Divine Mother is referred as Gayatri. She is in the form of Song.”

The Gayatri Devi as the Divine Mother

         

C N Nachiappun 

Singapore, 20 March 2021.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San 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 Chithbavandar.

Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 419: Shri Jadatmika (ōṃ jaḍātmikāyai namaḥ)

In Namams 381 to 474, the Divine Mother’s Jnana Yoga worship methods are discussed in details. 

The Divine Mother is in the form of the inanimate world, also. 

The Divine Mother holds the form of Jada rupa universe. Maya is creating a different Jada form universe. She is within chit or cetana or pure consciousness form. 

The Divine Mother is the Maya; She manifests in the form of inanimate world. She is in Jada shakti form in all universal beings. There are more Jada beings in this universe. For example, when a coconut spanning is planted, the life tattva in it is very small portion. To safeguard the small coconut tree, the covering materials which are Jada objects without life are more. So in this world there are more Jada objects to save the small amount of chit object. So the Divine Mother is the Jadatmika. She is worshipped; She is celebrating Her glories in this form.

The Divine Mother as Jadatmika

 

C N Nachiappun          

Singapore, 19 March 2021.

References:

1.       The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamayi Center, San 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.

The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Chithbavandar.