Sri Lalita Trishati (153. kAruNya vigrahA)

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|| AUM mahAgaNapataye namaH ||

|| AUM shrI shan.karAchAryavaryAya namaH ||

|| AUM shrImAtre namaH ||

 

153. kAruNya vigrahA

She whose form is kindness.

 

karuNa or Compaasion is an attitude of mind. It is expressed

through benign glance, etc. The consequences of the compassion,

such as, granting the desired objects etc., are expressed by

various parts of HER body. Hence, it is proper to call HER as

embodiment of compassion.

 

SHE as brahman is sat-chit-Ananda and indpendent of any act. But

the through the limitation of mAyA, brahman becomes the efficient

of cause of the jagat (Universe). In that limitation, SHE assumes

a form to grace HER devotees. If SHE did not take a form, it is

not possible for the mind to imagine the deity, and all worship

with attributes will become an impossibility. As it is established

by the brahma sUtra "devatAdhikaraNa", where there is no contradiction,

deities illumined by mantra can take different forms or images. This

further supported by authoritative statments in shruti like "vajra

hastaH purandara", which means "Indra has diamond in his hand" It is

mentioned in devatAdhikaraNa that deities like Indra can assume any

form they like. When the sage medhAtithi called Indra a goat, He

assumed the form of goat and killed medhAtithi.

 

In kenopaniShad, paradevatA is called haimavati. And it is established

in the commentary of kenopaniShad, paradevatA has a divine image, "that

haimavatI means one having ornaments of Gold and that SHE is the daughter

of himavAn". Hence, it is explained that the great ones, the trimurti-s,

who are the forms of Self-luminous awareness, are embodied only to

facilitate meditation, worship, etc. SHE is their ruler. Hence, there

is no ground for atheistic arguments like there is no Ishvara.

 

AUM kAruNyavigrahAyai namaH