Sri Lalita Sahasranama - 1st. Sri Mata

[Guest guest]

1) Sri Mata

 

— Sacred Mother (feminine); the Seer, the Seen and the Seeing.

— The Knower; the Measurer (masculine)

— " For Whom all creatures are born. " Taittiriya Upanishad 3. 2

 

Sri Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Bhavan's Book University 1989

 

 

" The mother is usually called upon in times of sorrow: but our

natural mothers are not able to remove the three kinds of pains

(tapatraya). Great men have said: Since I have had many thousands of

births, I have had many mothers; many have also been my fathers; I

know not how many I am yet to have in the near future; and their

number is beyond calculation. O Treasure-house of compassion! Save

me, who am overpowered with fear and have no other refuge, from the

vast and disastrous ocean of samsara . The greatest World-mother is

the only one who is capable of removing the endless misery (of

existence). We should praise Her as the Mother so that She may be

induced to show mercy to us. "

 

R.Ananthakrishna Sastry, Lalita-Sahasranama, 

The Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras

 

 

-------------------

 

" The Goddess is the great Sakti. She is Maya, for of her the maya

which produces the samsara is. As Lord of Maya she is Mahamaya. Devi

is avidya because she binds, and vidya because she liberates and

destroys the samsara. She is praktri and as existing before creation

is the Adya Sakti. Devi is the Vacaka Sakti, the manifestation of

Cit in Praktri, and the Vicya Sakti or Cit itself. The Atma should

be contemplated as Devi. Sakti or Devi is thus the Brahman revealed

in the mother aspect (Srimata) as creatrix and nourisher of the

worlds. Kali say of herself in Yogini Tantra: " I am the bodily form

of Saccidananda and I am the brahman that has emanated from brahman. "

 

K. K. Klostermaier, Hinduism: A Short History,

Oneworld Pub., 2000, p. 211.

 

 

---------------

 

" O Goddess, who removes the suffering of Your supplicants, be

gracious! 

Be gracious, O Mother of the whole world!

Be gracious, O Queen of the universe; Safeguard the universe! 

You, O Goddess, are Queen of all that is movable and unmovable!

You alone has become the support of the world,

Because You do subsist in the form of Earth!

By You, who exists in the form of water, all this universe is filled,

O You inviolable in Your valor; You are the Gem of the universe,

You are Illusion sublime! All this world has been bewitched, O

Goddess;

You indeed when attained, are the cause of the final emancipation

from existence on Earth! . . .

O Goddess, be gracious!

Protect us wholly from fear of our foes perpetually, 

As You have at this very time saved us promptly by the slaughter

of the demons!

And You bring quickly to rest the sins of all the worlds, 

And the great calamities which have sprung, from the maturing of

portents!

To us who are prostrate be You gracious, 

O Goddess, who takes away affliction from the universe!

O You worthy of praise from the dwellers of the three worlds, 

Bestow Your boons on this world!

 

Markendeya Purana, Candi Mahatmya 10