Lalita Sahasranama meanings per name
281. Unmeṣa-nimiṣotpanna-vipanna-bhuvānāvalī
Meaning – The creation, sustenance and dissolution of this entire creation takes place just within the blinking of Her eyelids.
Unmesha and nimesha are the 2 actions of opening and closing of the eyes respectively. Within the fraction of the second that the Supreme Mother takes for this action of blinking, the creation (utpanna) and dissolution (vipanna) of the universe (bhuvana) gets complete.
‘Nimisha’ also means ‘minute’. Emperor Nimi sought a boon that kala (time) should be named after him (nimit or nimisha). Nimit got altered to minute. In common usage, nimisha is a time of 60 seconds. However, the true meaning of nimisha is a ‘fraction of a second’- the smallest unit of time.
What is fraction of a second to Her, is the total of all these eons to us! This is the time difference between Gods and humans.
282. Sahasra-śīrṣa-vadanā
Meaning – She wears thousand heads and thousand faces.
Sahasra (thousand) denotes infinity. It means that She has innumerable heads and faces. In the Purusha sooktam of the Vedas, the Supreme entity is addressed as- sahasraśīrṣā puruṣaḥ sahasrākṣaḥ sahasrapāt’.
The dwarf form of that Almighty is known as Vamana. In the Vamana avatara (one of the 10 incarnations of Lord Maha Vishnu), the Lord who initially was as infinitesimal as a thumb suddenly covered the entire land and space with 3 steps. He expanded into the Trivikrama form (Tri (three)+ vikrama (steps to cross the lokas)). This incarnation teaches that creation, which was until then the size of an atom or sub-atom, suddenly expanded. The Lord suddenly took on various forms and spread Himself throughout the creation. He now had infinite heads, eyes, faces and so on.
283. Sahasrākṣī
Meaning – She has thousands of eyes.
284. Sahasrapād
Meaning – She possesses thousands of feet.
285. Ābrahma-kīṭa-jananī
Meaning – All beings right from Brahma up to the tiniest insect (keeta) are born out of Her. She is the mother (janani) for all life in this creation.
This teaches us to see Divinity in every object and in living being in this creation.
286. Varṇāśrama-vidhāyinī
Meaning – She is the force who has created the ashramas (stages of life) and varnās (castes) for the well being of the entire creation. This is Her directive.
Ashramas (stages of life) are 4- Brahmacharya (student life or celibate), Grihasta (stage of life as a householder), Vānaprastha (the third stage of life after completion of all responsibilities) and sanyasi (renunciate). Each stage has its own rules and code of conduct.
287. Nijājñā-rūpa-nigamā
Meaning – She passes down Her commands (ajna) through the medium of Vedas, agamas and scriptures (shastras).
288. Puṇyāpuṇya-phalapradā
Meaning – She delivers the results/ fruits (phala) for all the deeds –good and bad.
Actions can be classified as good or bad. Good actions are the meritorious deeds that lead to accumulation of punya (merit) while bad actions lead to accumulation of pāpa (apunya, sin). Meritorious deeds include genuinely thinking about the well being of others, undertaking good deeds that benefit them, entertaining good and healthy thoughts and not harming others even in thoughts. The reverse of this is pāpa (sin). The onus of performing the action rests with the individual. She delivers the fruits of these actions on to the individual.
Many a time different people who perform identical actions are rewarded with different results. This is because the outcome depends upon of the balance of punya-pāpa (merit-sin) in their individual account. There is a profound saying- ‘you can choose to compliment others but you cannot demand admiration from others.’ Recognition, reward or appreciation for a good deed should not be sought. Even appreciation arises out of the balance of punya in the individual’s account. Various instances when service to others goes unrecognized happen due to lack of adequate good balance in the individual’s account.
289. Śruti-sīmanta-sindūrī-kṛta-pādābja-dhūlikā
Meaning – When the Vedas (shruti) bow at Her feet, the dust of Her feet (pādabja dhūlika) forms the sindhūra on the forehead of the Vedas.
This name is very deep in meaning and represents the Vedas (the ultimate sacred texts) as Goddesses who bow at Her lotus feet. Sindhūra is a red colour powder that adorns the seemanta (the partition made in the hair above the forehead) of married ladies and it bestows auspiciousness.
The Vedas worshipping Her feet shows Her supremacy over them.
For various different reasons, men and women offer complete obeisance (sāshtānga namaskāra) to the deity in different ways. Men have to touch their entire body to the ground when bowing down before the deity. With this, the dust from the feet of the Lord touches their forehead (lalāta). The destiny (Brahma lipi) for men lies on their forehead and to change this towards the good, such obeisance should be offered by men.
The ladies carry their auspiciousness in their head (siras, the area above the forehead). When ladies offer obeisance, it is their seemanta (the partition in the hair above the forehead) that touches the ground and brings to them auspiciousness. In addition, both these respective styles also have health reasons to support them.
290. Sakalāgama-saṃdoha-śukti-saṃpuṭa-mauktikā
Meaning – If the Vedas are the oyster shell, then She is pearl within it.
She is a treasure house of knowledge. Just as a pearl is enclosed by the outer shell, She is enclosed within the scriptures, Vedas and agamas. In other words understanding all the scriptures, one can reach Her.