Lalita Sahasranama meanings per name
171. Lobhanāśinī
Meaning – She destroys the traits of greed and covetousness from her devotees.
172. Niḥsaṃśayā
Meaning – She has no doubts.
Doubts are called saṃshaya. The one with complete self-knowledge can entertain no doubts.
173. Saṃśayaghnī
Meaning – She shreds the doubts that exist within the hearts of devotees.
Our Upanishads declare –
Bhidyate hridaya-granthis chidyante sarva-samśayah
kśiyante casya karmāṇi mayi drishte ’parāvare
Meaning – When the sadhaka directly sees ‘Me’ as Paramatma seated in the hearts of all living beings, the knot in his heart is cut and all of his doubts are shredded. All the bad karmas performed until those moments are completely nullified.
Knot in the heart (hrudaya granthi) refers to the various samshayas (doubts) that exist. When such knots are cut into tiny pieces the person is rendered absolutely pure (nirmala, shuddha). Such a state is achieved on seeing the Lord. However it is up to the being to put in the right efforts to see the Lord.
174. Nirbhavā
Meaning – She is without birth (janma).
Bhava is a synonym for samsāra. In common understanding samsāra refers to spouse, children, property, career and other related aspects that bind us in this worldly life. But samsāra is not just limited to these. Samsāra can be split into sam+sārah. Sārah refers to a flow. ‘Samsāra’ therefore means ‘an endless flow’.
The only aspect that has an endless flow is ‘birth’ (janma) as one birth follows another to in an endless stream and this is the true samsāra.
The Divine Mother is eternal and therefore over and above this samsara (bhava).
175. Bhava-nāshinī
Meaning – She destroys bhava (samsāra) i.e. She pulls out her devotee from this cycle of births and deaths.
176. Nirvikalpā
Meaning – She is changeless.
This is the most prominent trait of Parabrahma.
‘Vikalpa’ means ‘change of state’. The Supreme Lord, Parabrahma, under no circumstances, deviates from his inherent state and hence is Nirvikalpa.
Let us delve a little deeper into the meaning.
Shabda anupāti vikalpah – refers to the changes that take place in the mind based on the sounds heard even though the sound is inherently meaningless.
Certain sounds create in us a kind of fear, agitation, confusion or disturbance. For example, sudden thunder causes fear. Likewise, certain sounds create excessive joy. Certain words are meaningless; even then they cause a change in the mental plane. Let us consider the word ‘Shasha vishānaha’ which means ‘hare’s horn’. Even though it is absurd, it causes an imagination (vikalpa) in the mind. There are also certain meaningless sounds that are created from within us and which are capable of causing changes to the mind. These agitations, fears and joy, imagination, disturbance etc. reflect the changes that take place on a mental plane and are vikalpa. All these subjects have a deep connection to yoga.
All these changes (vikalpa) disturb the mind and hamper spiritual growth. The aspirant should reach a stage wherein even if the word is audible, he should not be able to hear it. This includes unnecessary sounds such as traffic sounds, TV sounds etc. This is the Nirvikalpa state. Have we not heard of Nirvikalpa Samadhi?
Supreme Mother is over and above all these vikalpas and hence is nir-vikalpa.
177. Nirābādhā
Meaning – She is indestructible. Here it refers to the supreme knowledge (Jnana) that is indestructible.
Abādha refers to destruction. Ignorance ropes us in a delusion that leads to destruction. Take the case of a person walking on a beach who suddenly notices a shining silver stone far away. Deceived by its glitter, he rushes towards it in desire and hope, only to realize that it was a piece of shell that had been glittering due to sunlight. This is the case of delusion caused by ignorance. Such knowledge is also destructible.
Being over and above such ignorance and delusion, She has in Her the Supreme Knowledge that knows no destruction. Further, She causes such indestructible knowledge to sprout in us which washes away the delusions and fallacies.
178. Nirbhedā
Meaning – She is without differentiation. She is non-dual.
Let us understand this better.
Among the names most frequently used to address the Divine Mother are Shakti, Adishakti and Parashakti. Shakti (energy) is of varied types- life energy (Prana shakti), energy of knowledge (vidya shakti), the energy of creation (sristi shakti), mental energy (manas shakti), energy of destruction (pralaya shakti), energy that sustains (sthithi shakti) and so on.
Each and every good trait that exists within us is a shakti (energy) that has been especially bestowed upon us by the Lord.
Under normal circumstances, the person passing on the energy, the person receiving the energy and the energy itself are considered as 3 different entities. In the case of the Divine Mother, She is the energy, She is passing the energy and She is receiving the energy. As no differentiations exist, She is Nirbheda. As this relates to Srividya, let us understand the following verse –
śakti śaktimatōr bhedaṃ vadantya paramārtatah
abhedyam chānu paśyanti yoginas tattva darśinah ǁ
Meaning – It is pure ignorance that causes the energy (shakti) and the owner of energy (shaktimator) to be viewed as two different entities. When viewed with the supreme essence (para tattva) in mind, such differences cease to exist. It is only through yoga that the person can see them as non-dual.
Nirbheda (non-dualism) is one of the most important teachings. All our scriptures and Upanishads preach this essence. This is a very important lesson for merging into the infinite.
179.Bhedanāśinī
Meaning – She destroys such feelings of differentiation (dualism) that exist within her devotees.
Differentiation (bheda) exists at various levels. We believe that we are a separate entity from others. We believe that we are separate from God and the like. Due to these beliefs, we imagine that we are superior to others. All these differentiations need to be overcome. Overcoming this itself is a significant milestone in the path of Yoga. Achieving this takes us to the state of Nir-bheda. The Supreme Mother, with Her compassion, blesses us with this achievement.
180. Nirnāśā
Meaning – She is indestructible. She is eternal.
After deeply and truly assimilating the principles of non-dualism and after reaching the non-dual state, the person understands his indestructible nature. This is nirnāśa.