Lalita Sahasranama meanings per name
71. Jvālāmālinikā-kṣipta-vahni-prākāra-madhyagā
Meaning – Goddess Jwālāmālini created a boundary of fire (vahni prākāra) and threw it around the Supreme Mother. The Divine Mother is securely seated within this fortress of fire.
Creation of this fortress of fire by Goddess Jwālāmālini symbolizes the formation of a kavacham against the demon Bhandāsura.
Goddess Jwālāmālini’s temple is at Vaishnoi Devi. It is Agni sthana (point of fire). A fire endlessly glows at this temple. Goddess Rājarajeshwari is seated motionless (nischala) within this boundary of fire.
Jwālāmālini is the presiding deity for the fourteenth day of the fortnight as per lunar calendar (Chaturdasi) and is worshipped on that day.
Swamiji’s birthplace Mekedatu is a natural Srichakra. All the triangles, the concentric circles and the angles that exist in a Srichakra can be found there when observed closely. He was born in the centre of this Srichakra.
Mekedatu is a natural fortress.
72. Bhanḍa-sainya-vadhodyukta-śakti-vikrama-harṣitā
Meaning – The Supreme Mother is delighted that Her forces are going to attack and destroy the demon Bhandāsura.
A war ensued between Her forces and demons while She is seated motionless. Her forces, fully aware of the tasks allotted to them, were prepared to destroy all the evil forces. Their ability, enthusiasm and valour were delightful to Mother.
The demonic forces of Bhanda represent the hindrances and obstacles that appear in our spiritual (yogic) path as well as those that appear in our day-to-day life. It includes ego as well as the ignorance that clouds the intellect. To overcome these, Her divine energy is required. Only when we acquire this energy and are able to fill it in our heart, Her grace will fall on us. When we put in the efforts towards obtaining this, She is delighted.
73. Nityā-pārākramāṭopa-nirīkśaṇa-samutsukā
This name has two meanings –
1) The enthusiasm and valour displayed by the 15 Nitya Devis, caused the Divine Mother to be overjoyed and She is watching the war with great enthusiasm.
The 15 Nitya Devis are the presiding deities for the 15 days of the lunar fortnight. They destroy the fifteen leaders of the demon army.
This is a war that in reality takes place within the spiritual aspirant. It is war between the ignorance, ego and other demonic traits one the one side and the divine forces on the other.
2) The efforts of the great sadhakas who relentlessly work towards the supreme goal, bring great joy to Her.
Nitya means daily. ‘Parakrama+ atopa’ refers to the one who is putting the step forward towards the goal.
The actions of the great sadhakas who strictly abide by their discipline and daily duties (nitya karmas) give Her great joy. Learning of Veda (Vedabhyasa), practice of yoga (Yogaabhyasa) and studying (vidyabhyasa) are daily duties. ‘Abhyasa’ means that it is an endless learning procedure and that which needs to be abided daily. ‘Relentless practice’ is the key word here.
74. Bhaṇḍa-putra-vadhodyukta-bālā-vikrama-nanditā
Meaning – The Divine Mother is very ecstatic to note that young Bālā destroyed the sons of Bhanda (Bhanda Putra).
Bālā is the mind born daughter (mānasapurtika) of the Supreme Mother. She is eternally 9 years old.
When Goddess Bālā entered the war field, Goddesses Mantrini and Dandanayaka stood as her bodyguards. The sons of Bhanda attacked Bālā from behind through unfair means. However She valorously fought with them the whole day and finally killed all of them. The Divine Mother, Lalita Devi was highly elated to see this.
Bālā Devi takes to task those who adopt unfair means.
The name ‘Bālā’ brings to our mind Lord Bālaji who has made Tirumala His residence. In addition to sharing their name, they share many more similarities. This Lord of the seven hills wears silk sari daily; keeps Srichakra near Him; has chosen Friday as His day for abhisheka, has long hair (kasha), has special naivedyas. He stands in a ladylike posture (tribhangi) with a bend near the waist. All these are traits/features of the Supreme Mother (Supreme Energy).
Bāla mantra has many significant meanings and is a very powerful mantra in Srividya upasana. The first initiation into Srividya is through this Bāla mantra. During Kumari Puja, Bāla Devi is worshipped in 16 forms.
75. Maṇtrinyambā-viracita-viśanga-vadha-tośitā
Meaning – The Supreme Mother is thrilled that Mantrini (Shyamala) has destroyed the demon Vishanga.
Vishanga and Vishukra are the two brothers of Demon Bhanda and were created by him.
After the death of all his sons, Bhandasura sent his brothers for the war. Vishukra approached the enemy at night and threw a mystic yantra (vighna Yantra; Yantra is a esoteric goemoetric design) through the firewall (vahni prākāra) that had been created by Jwalamalini. This Yantra brought about delusion, ignorance and laziness to the troops of the Divine Mother. Goddess Mantrini and Dandini, who were unaffected by this obstacle, approached the Supreme Mother. She smilingly glanced at Lord Kameshwara and out of that smile Ganesha was born. He shattered the yantra created by demon Vishukra. With this, the divine troops woke up from their ignorance/ slumber and rushed for the war under the leadership of Goddesses Mantrini and Dandanatha. During this war, Mantrini Devi destroyed Vishanga.
‘Vishanga’ is the demon who prevents the individual from participating or appreciating satsanga (good friendships and associations). It keeps him away from performing mantra japa (recitation of mantra). Life without a pious and good association will only lead to a great fall. Good intellect (sad buddhi) accrues to a person purely through satsanga (good & healthy association). Such associations arise from performance of adequate mantra japa.
Mantrini destroys the demon Vishanga within the individual and grants Satsanga and Sadbuddhi (good intellect) to the devotee. To acquire Her grace the devotee should begin Mantra Japa.
76. Viśukra-prāṇa-haraṇa-vārāhī-vīrya-nanditā
Meaning – Goddess Vārahi (Dandanātha) destroyed demon Vishukra much to the jubilance of the Divine Mother.
Vishukra is the demon who drains out the life force in the person. He causes entanglements in this samsara and keeps the person away from the divine light.
Godess Vārahi destroyed him and other family members i.e. Bhandāsura’s sister Aamani, her husband Kekasura and their 8 sons.
From this it can be understood that this mother destroys all the mental impurities of the aspirant.
77. Kāmeśvara-mukhāloka-kalpita-śrī-ganeśvarā
Meaning – The Supreme Mother glanced at Lord Kāmeshwara and from that glance Ganesha was born (kalpita).
Kāmeshwara is the eternal omnipresent Parabrahma who resides eternally in the intellect of the Supreme Mother.
As discussed in nama no 75, the demons had created a vighna yantra (a mystic symbol) called Jayavighna- which causes obstacles to the Devatas in achieving victory. Ganesha is the Lord of obstacles, and so his creation was imperative.
Ganapati resides in Mooladhāra of all beings and is the main support (moola bhoota) for all beings. As detailed in nama 75, the creation of Ganesha took place before the destruction of the demons Vishanga and Vishukra. However as the procedure adopted for doing the recitation (Parayana karma) is different, His birth is being mentioned now.
If Ganesha was created now, then is the story where he was created by Supreme Mother when She was bathing, true? Yes, that also took place subsequently. He was created at that time. But at first, to destroy this demon He had to be created. Here, however, he appeared in the seed letter (beejakshara) form; as a protection (kavacha). The Ganesha kavacham states –
Beejapura gadeshukārmukaraja chakrabja …
He appears in the form of beejakshara (seed-letter) and destroys the obstacles that arise in the spiritual pursuits (sadhana) of the devotee and in his life. It means He is destroying the vighna (obstacle) called ignorance (ajnana).
78. Mahāganeśa-nirbhinna-vighna-yantrā-praharśitā
Meaning – She was jubilant when Ganesha shattered the Vighna yantra. (Continuation of the earlier name).
Ganesha is the Lord of obstacles. It is He who places the obstacles in the path of those who are totally immersed in this illusion. The same Lord Ganapati easily removes the obstacles in those who are truly on the spiritual path or those who are truly devoted.
79. Bhandāsurendra-nirmukta-śastra-pratyastra-varśinī
Meaning – She is throwing weapons at Bhandāsura in response to the weapons he hurled at Her.
This is the main part of the war. It should be understood that this is a direct war between ignorance (ajnana) and jnana (knowledge).
Astra (weapon) refers to the power/ energy generated by repetition of mantra (mantra shakti). This is the real weapon. The Supreme Mother was using mantras as Her weapons. With her recitation of mantras, the weapons sent out by Bhanda were automatically being destroyed.
In Mahabharata, Ashwatthama sent a blade of grass filled with Brahmaastra mantra. Here grass was the physical weapon. This tiny blade of grass procured its power from the mantra and turned capable of causing unimaginable destruction in this universe. We often read in Puranic stories about sages who curse using water – it means that they have filled the water with the power of mantra. Mantra can be packed into many things- weapons, grass, haldi (turmeric), kumkum, akshata (rice grains mixed with turmeric/ kumkum) as they are naturally conducive to mantra energy.
80. Karāṅguli-nakhotpanna-nārāyaṇa-daśākṛtiḥ
Meaning – From the end of her finger nails (nakha), the Dashavataras (the 10 incarnations of Vishnu) emerged (utpanna).
There is no doubt that these 10 incarnations of Maha Vishnu took place at a much later period of time. However Bhandāsura was no ordinary demon; he had a complete knowledge of the future as well as of the past. He began to create the demons of the future like Ravana etc. who would create havoc. He was using somaka astra, ravana-astra as his weapons. The Divine Mother in turn created, from her nails, the 10 incarnations of Vishnu (dashavataras) to tackle those demons.
How did demon Bhanda have this knowledge of the future? The future lies in the past. In every cycle of creation, the similar events repeat. All these incarnations had taken place in the past creations/eons. Yoga Vashishta deals in detail with this subject of repetitions during different creations.
The 5 states of existence of the individual (awake, dream, deep sleep state etc.) and the 5 tasks of the Lord (creation, sustenance etc.) total 10 i.e. Dashakritih.