More benefits of chanting the Lalita Sahasranamam

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Chapter 3 of the Lalita Sahasranama describes the benefits (phala

sruti) of chanting the Lalita Sahasranama (Ref. "Lalita Sahasranaman

with Bhaskaraya's commentary translated into English by R. Anantha

Krishna Sastry) I have summarized some of the salient points here

for the benefit of the members of the Forum.

 

 

1. There has been no stotra equal in merit to this, nor is there

ever to be one such. This stotra causes all diseases to subside and

confers all prosperity.

2. It averts untimely death, avoids timely death, removes the pain

caused by fever and confers longevity.

3. It blesses the issueless with sons and confers all the

purusharthas. This stotra is especially highly pleasing to Sri Devi.

All the Purusharthas: "The wise should worship the gods. If one

worships Ganesha, the impediments (vighna) will never trouble him.

One should worship Surya for health, Vishnu for dharma and moksha;

Siva for dharma, artha and moksha; and the Chandika for all the four

(dharma, artha, kama and moksha)."

 

4. The devotee of Lalita should always with effort repeat this.

After the morning bath he should perform the Sandhya ceremony

regularly, go into the puja room and there worship Sri Chakra. Then

he should repeat the Panchadasi or Shodasi Vidya a thousand times or

three hundred or one hundred times (the least).

5. Then again he should repeat this secret Lalita Sahasranaman. The

wise one who repeats it at least once in his lifetime (attains the

following results).

6. Equal to bathing in Ganga and all other holy waters numberless

times.

7. Instituting crores of Lingas. Givinga away (in charity) crores of

candies of gold to learned dwijas during the solar eclipse;

performing innumerable horse sacrifices on the banks of Ganga.

8. All sins of omission of prescribed daily duties and commission of

prohibited actions, are surely destroyed.

9. No person in all the fourteen worlds is capable of committing a

sin which cannot be removed by a single name in this Sahasranaman

which is the antidote of all sins.

10. If the devotee repeats this Sahasranaman daily, Lalita is

pleased and confers on him the desired objects.

The devotee: Who has the following four qualifications, namely: 1.

he must be devoted, 2. he must recite the stotras (Sahasranaman,

etc.) in full (3 chapters), 3. he should continue this till the end

of his life, and 4. he must daily follow it by early bath, japa,

etc.

The desired objects: The Shastras, which treat on prayaschitta

(expiation) are useful to those who are not the devotees of Lalita.

The devotees of Lalita should not resort for their sins committed,

to those prayaschita-sastras, when they have this Sahasranaman.

 

11. How can one who does not repeat this hymn be called a devotee?

If he is unable to repeat it daily, let him do so on auspicious days

at least.

Be called a devotee?: According to the Bhagavad Gita (VII.

13), "Fourfold in division are the righteous ones who worship me, O

Arjuna; the suffering, the seeker for knowledge, the self-

interested, the wise, O Lord of the Bharatas"; there are four kinds

of devotees amongst them, the 1st should repeat this Sahasranaman

for removing his sins, the 2nd for the purification of his mind; the

3rd to acquire wealth and the fourth for the welfare of the world.

 

12. And worshipping her with five kinds of upacharas one should

repeat this Sahasranama. Such a person gets all his diseases

destroyed and obtains a long lease of life.

 

Worshipping, etc.: Says the Shruti, "He is that I.That He is

I.That indeed art thou.Thou art indeed that," etc. Therefore

one should identify himself with the deity meditated upon. This is

the chief worship.

 

With five kinds: 1. Offering of Sandal, 2. of flower, 3. of scent,

4. of light, and 5. of food. The Padma Pr. Describes the result of

the worship thus: "The thousands of horse sacrifices and the

hundreds of Vajapeya sacrifices are not equal to one lakh of a part

of the worship of Lalita. He is the giver (of gifts), he is the

sage; he is the sacrificer, he is the performer of penance, he is

the pilgrim, who worships the Devi always with sandal paste, flower,

etc." Again, "Having smeared the Devi with sandal, one gets the

results of Jyotistoma sacrifice." Further, "Having applied Lalita

with sandal paste, Agaru, and Karpura with fine powders, and with

Kumkuma, one will reside in heaven for crores of years." One should

perform two kinds of worship.

 

Inner worship: Indeed is the identification (of Devi with himself):

the outer worship: is with offering of sandal, flowers, etc. only

with mental ideas.

 

13. If one chants this with devotion continuously for six months,

the Goddesss of

Wealth will permanently reside in his house.

 

14. If one reads this Sahasranaman once a month (at least), or daily

(if he can), or

(still better) thrice a day (if possible), the goddess of speech

will keep

dancing forever on (the tip of) his tongue.

 

15. The result of worshipping the great Devi, with this Sahasranaman

in Sri chakra

On Fridays: All one's desires in this world are fulfilled; he is

attended with all prosperity and is blessed with sons and grandsons.

And after enjoying all the desired objects he is sure to attain at

the end the state of Lalita-saayujya, which is hard to reach and

which is also coveted by Shiva and others.

Prosperity: Progeny, wealth, health, knowledge, strength, etc.

 

16. The ignorant do not recognize this hymn of Devi as the best.

Some devote themselves to the names of Vishnu and others to those of

Shiva.

 

17. Rarely one in this world is devoted to the names of Lalita. It

is by repeating the names of other deities in crores of births, that

faith is generated to repeat the names of Sri Devi.

 

18. Just as it is in the last of all his births that a person

devotes himself to Srividya, so it is that the repetition of this

Sahasranaman is taken up by him whose (present) birth is the last

(or who is to have no more births).

 

19. As sthere are only a few who know the method of Srichakra

worship, even so

there are only a few who chant this Sahasranaman.

 

20. The practice of Srividya, the worship of Srichakra and the

repetition of this holy Sahasranaman are not attainable by a slight

penance.

 

21. You should not impart this to one who is not initiated into the

Srividya nor to one who is not a devotee.

 

22. Just as Srividya is to be kept secret, so also, O Muni, this

(Sahasranaman) should be kept concealed from the eyes of the

uninitiated.This holy hymn ought not to be promulgated among those

whose nature resembles that of beasts.