Lalita Sahasranama meanings per name
351. Vāmakeśī
Meaning –
1) She has long beautiful hair (kesha).
Hair and nails are symbolic of illusion (māya). Both of these always grow back when they are cut akin to illusion (māya).
2) She rules over Vāmadeva. (Vama is another aspect of Shiva).
352. Vahni-maṇḍala-vāsinī
Meaning – She resides within the fire (Vahni, agni) galaxy (mandala).
Sun, Moon and Fire are the three visible gods (pratyaksha daiva). It is imperative that they should be worshipped daily. Offering arghya to Sun God, tarpana to Moon God and offering worship to Fire God important rituals. Special prayers are offered to Moon on full and new moon days.
Fire inherently exits within every object- living and non-living, albeit in an invisible manner. It exists in water as badabāgni, our digestive system as jatarāgni etc. In her form as fire, She resides everywhere and in everything.
Vahni symbolizes Tretagni (the 3 fires- Garhapatya, Ahavaniya and Dakshinagni) and of the triputi (triad). The location of Agni (fire) is the Ajna chakra located at the centre of the eyebrows. She is the fire of wisdom (jnānagni) and the fire of consciousness (chidāgni). She emerges from there to bestow wisdom and knowledge (Jnana) on to the deserving devotee.
353. Bhaktimat-kalpa-latikā
Meaning – She fulfils every desire of Her devotee (bhakta).
Kalpalata is a creeper (lata) that grants everything that is desired. To those ardent devotees of hers, She is a wish-fulfilling creeper who fulfills every kind of wish.
This name can be interpreted as Bhaktimatkalpa +latika. It then means that She appears like an ordinary creeper (latika) to those who feign devotion. She showers her grace even upon such persons so as to gradually shift them on to the true path of devotion. Such is Her compassion. To them She is not a kalpalatika but an ordinary latika. While a kalpalatika is capable of fulfilling every kind of desire, an ordinary latika (creeper) will grant only one kind of fruit. Here the fruit will be proportionally based on what is deserved.
To develop complete unflinching faith and devotion towards the Supreme Mother, it many require few births. Yet, all through the Supreme Mother stands by us as a creeper (latika), blessing us and encouraging us to move on. Creating in us unflinching devotion is the best boon that She can grant.
354. Paśu-pāśa-vimocanī
Meaning – She relieves all beings from the bondages.
Pasu generally means cow; yet here it implies all living beings including humans. Pāśa is the noose of bondages that we have roped ourselves in. She cuts this noose and frees us.
355. Saṃhṛtāśeṣa-pāṣaṇḍā
Meaning – She destroys the non-believers (pāshandās). She merges their bad intellect (buddhi) into herself and clears the path for the sincere devotees.
Pāshandā are non-believers in existence of God who try to create a mental divide in the minds of true believers and try to destroy their beliefs. With their nonsensical arguments they cause a fall in the spiritual growth of a devotee.
For instance, you visit a friend, who sincerely worships a stone as Ganapati. He is able to see distinctly the features of Ganesha in that stone. With great enthusiasm he shows you the stone. You observe carefully but to your eyes, the features of Ganesha are not visible. God exists in everything and everywhere hence it is improper to discard his theory as rubbish. Perhaps you may not have matured enough to see God in that stone. At such times, be polite and congratulate him on his good luck and be silent thereafter. Pāshandās will ridicule and tease him for worshipping a stone. With this, that person’s faith in that stone will reduce and he will begin to doubt his earlier beliefs. He would have thus fallen one step.
356. Sadācāra-pravartikā
Meaning – She creates/promotes good conduct (sadāchāra).
Āchārah prathamo dharmah- adopting the right conduct is itself dharma. Practicing this dharma as a way of life is sadāchāra. Cleanliness, adhering to the right dress code for worship, speaking truth, practicing ahimsa, not abusing others are all just a part of this sadāchāra.
Adhering to the righteous way of living blesses the person with good health, wealth, prosperity, longevity, name and fame- ācharō bhavati, ācharo bhūti, ācharo keerthi vardhanaha.
357. Tāpatrayāgni-santapta-samāhlādana-candrikā
(This entire line is one single name. Do not pause between santapta and samāhlādana during recitation. Doing so alters the meaning. It will then imply that She is overloaded with afflictions.)
Meaning – Like the full moon She emits cooling rays to douse the fire of afflictions (tāpatrayās) in which people are burning and suffering.
Tāpa means heat and traya means three. Afflictions /troubles are of 3 types- ādhyātmika, ādhibhoutikā and ādhi daivika. The intensity of the afflictions causes a lot of suffering (heat).
Ādhyātmika tāpatrayās do not imply any spiritual afflictions. Here it refers to the afflictions of the physical body such as fever, headache, diseases and so on.
Ādhibhoutika tāpatrayās refers to those afflictions that fall on our head due to other external circumstances such as troubles because of insects, animals and other people.
Ādhidaivika refers to afflictions caused due to extremities of nature for example due to floods, draught, extreme or poor rainfall and so on.
Moon rays soothe and cool. Likewise the Supreme Mother soothes those devotees who are in absolute distress and are sinking under the weight of these afflictions and pacifies them.
358. Taruṇī
Meaning – She is eternally young.
The Divine Mother is worshipped either as small child of 9 years or as a teenage girl or as a young lady. All these re-iterate that She is perpetually young. Being eternal, factors such as birth, death, ageing do not apply to Her.
359. Tāpasārādhyā
Meaning – She is worshipped by all tapasvis (those who undertake penance).
The word ‘tapas’ (penance) instantly brings to our memory the picture of a saint sitting under a tree in a forest with a rosary in his hand, closing his eyes and performing rigorous meditation. At times the picture could be that of a saint standing on one leg in the forest in deep contemplation. Penance (tapas) includes these and many more.
Penance is broadly classified into 3 types- Shāreerika tapas, vak tapas and mānasika tapas. Shāreerika tapas (shareera means physical body) are the physical efforts through which the person aims to achieve the Supreme. Vak is speech. Controlling the speech and speaking just as much is necessary is vak tapas (penance through speech).
Controlling the mind and not allowing it to go astray with unnecessary thoughts is mental penance (mānasika tapas).
360. Tanumadhyā
Meaning – She has a very slender waistline.
This indicates that She has no beginning and no end; She is eternal and hence there can be no visible middle portion. This is similar in meaning to ‘Shaatodari’.