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Nine nights and a thousand names
From: jagbir singh <www.adishakti.org@gmail.com>
Date: Sat Oct 30, 2004 2:29 pm
Subject: Nine nights and a thousand names
Nine
nights and a thousand names
Saturday October 16 2004 17:51 IST
Ratna Rajaiah
Aditi,
Malini, Nalini, Sandhya, Medha, Ranjani, , Gauri, Nirupama,
Savitri, Madhumati Yashasvini , Vidya, Damini, Meenakshi,
Mohini, Lalita, Jayanti, , Madhavi, Prabha, Indrani,
Shalini, Arundhati, Nidhi, Sudha, Tara, not to mention
Saraswati and Lakshmi.
Just think of how many girls or women you know who have
one of these names. All names of the Goddess. It’s my
guesstimate, and probably a conservative one — that over
half of all the girls in India have been named after Her.
I recently heard a beautiful explanation about why we name
our children after our deities. Each time we call out
their names, we remember God!
Today is the 4th of those 9 days in the year that we
dedicate to the Goddess. Navratri. For these nine days, we
celebrate and exult in the Goddess, in her many forms and
manifestations. But ‘Goddess’ is a miniscule description
of She whom we so often call ‘Devi’. Because it is with
her that everything began, begins and will begin.
And so, nothing, not even a million names and descriptions
would ever suffice to describe the infinitude of Her. But
the Lalitha Sahasranama is a beautiful place to start
with. ‘Lalitha’ meaning one the Devi’s most beautiful
incarnations and ‘Sahasranama’ meaning a thousand (sahasra)
names. When you first hear it, just the sound of the
Lalita Sahasranama being chanted, has a strange effect —
calming, yet energizing; washing over you in wave after
wave. But after a while, the meanings begin to filter
through. I’m not a Sanskrit scholar, but even to me, who
could understand just a few of the thousand names, the
awesome beauty was evident.
So, this Navaratri, I share with you a few small glimpses
of the Devi through extracts from the Lalitha Sahasranama,
in the hope that you will be both touched and blessed by
Her and go in her quest...
Mother incarnate
Perhaps, the Devi’s most beloved aspect is that of the
Mother. And so the Lalitha Sahasranama is replete with
names for the Devi in her most powerful but most benign
aspect — the Divine Mother. Vishvagarbha or She who has
the universe in her womb. Brahma-janani — the Mother of
everything. Sri Mahi — Mother Earth. Pranada, the Giver of
life, Pranesvari, the Queen of all forms of life.
We fervently invoke her presence because She is
Duhkhahantri, who ends all sorrows, but like a mother,
doesn’t stop there and becomes Sukhaprada, enveloping us
with peace and joy. There is room for all in her
compassionate embrace, because She is Bhedanashini,
destroying disparity and because She is Nirbheda — without
any differences. Where She is, there is no fear. Because
She is Mrutymathani, the destroyer of that terrible fear
that haunts all who are born –– the fear of death.
She is the mother who guides us through the right path.
She is the mother who empowers us because She is
Iccha-shakti-Gyana-shakti-Kriya-shakti- Svarupini, the
power of will, knowledge and action. In her presence,
obstacles melt away because She is Vighna Nashini. In her
purifying radiance, we are freed from sin because She is
Parampaapanashini. And so, She is Vandaru jana Vatsala —
who loves her devotees like a mother. Or then, She is just
simply — Mata.
Supreme being
As Maha Vishnu lay resting on a fig leaf in the form of a
child, he began thinking about who he was, who created him
and how he should act, a celestial voice said:
‘Sarvankhalvidamevaham Nanyadasti santanam’. (All that is,
I am. There is nothing eternal but me). So, the Devi is
Supreme — the peak, the zenith, the maximum. She is
Bhagavati, the supreme goddess. So replete is She with
greatness of every kind that She is Maha-Pujya — the most
worthy of worship, even by Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
But She is not just the pinnacle of an attribute, but the
very attribute itself. So, She is Lajja or modesty. She is
Tushtih or contentment, Pushti or nourishment and health.
She is Kantir or radiance, She is Shantih or peace. She is
Matir or wisdom, She is Nirmala or Purity. But She is also
beyond all of this because She is limitless (Nirantara).
In her, resides all contradictions and so, She is the Sum
of all.
Seat of all knowledge
We worship the Goddess Saraswati, one of the Devi’s five
avatars (the other four being Durga, Savitri, Lakshmi and
Radha) as the Goddess of learning and wisdom. She is Veda-Janani
- Mother of the Vedas, who feeds not only our bodies but
also our souls as Gyanada –– the giver of Supreme
Knowledge. She is Gayatri or the Gayatri mantra itself.
Without her we would’ve been mute, because She is Gomata -
the source of speech. She is Bhasharupa, the embodiment of
language. She is Kalavati –- the fountainhead, the
presiding deity, the very embodiment of all art. She is
Kavyakala - the art of poetry. From her springs rhythm and
music because She is Layakari. She who is all knowing, has
nothing more to know.
Feminine beauty
Perhaps some of the most enthralling parts of the Lalitha
Sahasranama are those, which describe the incredible
beauty of the Devi, a Being so dazzling that in one of the
opening stanzas, the splendor of her toe nails is
described as so radiant that it dispels the darkness of
ignorance in the devotees prostrating at Her feet.
‘‘Nakhadidhiti sanchhanna namajjana tamoguna.’’
And so, the Lalitha Sahasranama extols Her as Sagara
Mekhala, She whose girdle is the sea. Whose shapely nose
is like a freshly blossomed Champaka bud. Whose lips
outshine the redness of fresh coral and bimba fruit. Whose
person is so fragrant with the scent of sandalwood paste
that She is Chandanadrava dhighangi, whose smile is so
radiant that it floods the mind of Kamesvara, Her consort.
Who is sometimes Raktavarna or rosy complexioned,
sometimes Shyamabha or of a shining darkness, sometimes
Shuklavarna or white complexioned, sometimes even
Pitavarna or golden yellow. Her eyes, like the petal of a
lotus (Padmanayana) or of a doe (Mrugakshi), are so
beautiful that She is Vamanayana and Kamakshi, the
beautiful eyed One. Her form is so exquisite (Charurupa)
and her smile so charming (Charuhasa), that She is Mohini,
the bewitching beauty and Shobana, the radiant beauty.
The pervading Devi
If She is all this, then what else can She be but
omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent? And so, in the
Lalitha Sahasranama we praise her as Sarvesvari, the
Empress of the Universe. We worship her as
Sarva-Mantra-Svarupini, the embodiment of all Vedas of all
mantras, totaling 700,000. We bow down to her as
Sarva-mangala - the source of all that is auspicious. We
beseech her as Sarva-mrtyu-Nivarini —the One who cures all
disease of body and mind. We surrender ourselves to her
because She is Sarvadhara - on whom everything rests...
The Devi herself declares in Devi Bhagavata, ‘‘I myself am
the knowledge, grace, courage, memory, sincerity,
intelligence, modesty, hunger, thirst, capacity, luster,
peace, sleep, aging, blood, bone, marrow, nerve, skin,
sight, truth, untruth — and everything else in this
Universe, believe me, I am. What is there that I am not?’’
As I worked on this article, I was struck by limitations -
of the English language that can never truly translate the
vast, expansive, expressive grandeur of Sanskrit. Of a
1000 names, which even in Sanskrit, even though chosen by
Lord Vishnu himself, only begin to describe the Eternity
that is the Devi. But then, it is because of night that we
know day, because of black, we understand white and
because of our limitations, we dimly realise a tiny
fraction of She who is limitless.
Nine nights and a thousand names
Source material: Puranic Encyclopedia by Vettam Mani
http://www.newindpress.com/
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