Lalitha Sahasranamavali

Lalitha Sahasra Namavali brings forth and portrays one important attributes of Devi, in its central theme, that SHE is a ' Viswa Matha ' (934 th Namavali - Mother of the Universe ) and ' Kshethra Swarupa " (341st Namavali) meaning that HER Swarupa pervades in the entire soil of the Earth. (Omnipresence). SHE imbibes the vibration in the body or in the places (Kshethra).

We can draw examples from the names of some of the cities. Chandigarh belongs to Chandiga Devi. Simla is that of Shyamala Devi. Chennai belongs to Chennamma Devi. Kolkutta belongs to Kali Devi.

Jalander city bears the name from HER 378th namavali viz Jalandara Stitaayai Namaha - meaning salutations to SHE who is the purest of the pure.

The 341st nama ' Kshethraswarupa ' needs to be explained in detail coceptually numbering 24. Prithvi, Appu, Theyu, Vayu and Akasa are conceived as five States of matter. Ahankar, Budhi moola, Prakrith are the three broad qualifications that go with the States. Jnanendriyas and Karmendriyas are 5 nos each respectively and along with the ' Mind', these concepts number 11. The physics of Indriyas consist of 5 concepts namely Sound, Touch, Forms or Roopam, Taste or Rasam and Smell or Ghandham. These kshethras add up to 24 concepts and Devi is in command of all of them. The Five Jnanendriyas refer to cognitive senses which act as entrance doors and they are smelling, tasting, seeing, touching and hearing. The 5 Karmendriyas which act as exit doors refer to eliminating, reproducing, moving, grasping and speaking. Salutations to SHE whose blesings are needed for the orderly functioning of all Indriyas.

Maha Kavi Bharathiyar, who was a devotee of Shakti , illustrates the above facts by singing " Vande Matharam ". The poet praises and worships Devi as SHE is the mother of the world and rules over the soil in all Kshethras.

Bharathi in his "Kumbidadi pappa" song describes India's Bharath Desam as "Deiva Thirunadu" (in Tamil ) which means Devi occupies the whole India or it can mean there is a strong blend of divine aspects in India.

There is a mythological story to this background. When Devi took the avtar as Dhakshayini(598th Nama), as the daughetr of Dhaksha King, and later married Siva, she went to attend the yagnya conducted by Dhaksha. Lord Siva advised HER not to do so as Dhaksha would insult HER. It happened so and Dhakshayini wished to leave her physical form and jumped into the burning fire. HER atma got freed first as SHE is a unification of Siva and Sakthi (999th namavali 'Sivasakthirupinya') before SHE fell into the fire. Siva took the body and cursed Dhaksha for the episode.

Padmanabha alias Lord Vishnu decided to tear the body into pieces, as the existence of the body caused all the troubles.HE aimed HIS Vishnu Chakra at the body of Dhakshayini which split it into many pieces and each part fell at different places or Kshethras. Those places became to be known as '51 Sakthi Peetams '. They are Varanasi, Nepal, Kailash, Kethar, Ohmkar, Hardwar, Ujjain, Hasthinapur, kanyakubjam and Kanchi, to name a few.

One of her Sahasra namavali describes HER as "Padmanabha Sahodari" (sister of Vishnu or Padmanabha)-(280th nama) after this episode.

It is quite common for us to refer to the old articles at home as the ones used by our grand parents / father or likes of these. We refer for example that the silver plate was left by our grandmother and so on. The expressions portrays simply the family bond or ties.

Bharathiyar goes many steps ahead to describe this country as the place left behind by our forefathers after living a long and and fruitful life.

Bharathi attaches importance to our elders who lived yesteryears He enunciates this theme in the song " Enthayum thayum ..... " that the heritage of India or what India shines today is as the result of the contributions of our great grand parents and elders of yester years.

The splendour and glory of Devi is revealed in the Sahasranamavali and to cite a few of them :-

(6th namavali) :- ' Udayabhanaanu Sahasraabhaa' - SHE who glitters like thousand rising suns

(94th) :- ' Koulini ' - SHE is the unification of Siva and Sakthi

(203rd):- ' Sarvamayee' - SHE who is every where

(215th) :- ' Mahamaya' - SHE who is a great illusion

(250th) :- ' Uma ' - SHE who is in Ohm, the Pranava Mantra

(295th) :- " Ambiga' - SHE who is the mother of the world

(294th) :- ' Bhuvaneswari' - She who is the mother of the Universe

(290th):- ' Poorna " - SHE who is complete

(754th):- 'Aparna' - SHE who did meditation without even eating a leaf

(764th):- " Trigunaathmikaa " - SHE who is personification of three gunas viz Thamo(Kali); Rajo (Durga); and Satva (Parvathy)

(866th):- "Ajay' - SHE who does not have birth

(1000th);- ' Lalthambiga' - SHE is the mother and easily approachable.

Brahmandapurana is an old epic where Lalitha sahasranamavali figures as a discussions between Hayagrrva, who is an incarnation of Vishnu and Agasthya. Hayagreeva at the request of Aghastya taught him the most 1000 holy names of Lalithambiga.

A family that prays together stays together !