LALITHA SAHASRANAMAM 53,54

Shiva (53) There is no difference between Shiva and Shakthi; hence she is called as Shiva. Shiva also means auspiciousness. She is the embodiment of auspiciousness. She is the iccha form of Shiva. There are three types of shkathis – iccha (desire), jnana (knowledge) and kriya (action). Since Shiva is the Brahman and as such He does not have any desires. But his iccha form is reflected in the form Lalithai. Here desire means desire to self-realization. “Yata Shiva –tata Devi; Yata Devi- tata Shiva” is the saying. Wherever Shiva is there will be Shakthi and wherever Shakthi is there will be Shiva. That is why it is said there is no difference between Shiva and Shakthi. Elsewhere it is said that Parvathi and Parameshwara cannot separate from each other. This is compared to the in-separation of a word and its meaning. They are considered as father and mother of the universe. Scriptures say that there is no difference between Uma (Shakthi) and Shankara (Shiva). Shankari is the wife of Shiva and is known as Shiva Shankari. She is the maya shakthi that is connected to one’s consciousness. How does she look like? She is knowledgeable, self-illuminating (remember our discussions on self-illuminating Brahman), without qualities, the cause of destruction of samsara (desires and related issues) and the bliss. She is Shiva the supreme Devi, the ocean of mercy and compassion. Men who have intellect get everything out of her. There are two important points mentioned here. One is Lalithai is no way different from Shiva. Both Shiva and shakthi are in a single form only. Only out of ignorance, we worship them as two separate individuals. Secondly, assuming that we continue to worship her individual form that has been described in the above verses, still we get all auspicious things. We will discuss more on this in the subsequent namas also. Svadhina-vallabha (54) Her husband (Shiva) belongs to her alone. This confirms our discussion in the previous nama. We have been discussing that Shiva alone created Her to take care of His three acts. For this exclusive purpose, Shiva created Shakthi, the kinetic energy as opposed to the static energy of Shiva. As she is the only creation of Shiva, it is said that Shiva belongs to Her alone. Shiva is the cause of this universe and Shakthi is His power. Without this combination, the universe cannot exist. This is confirmed in SL 1 – Without being united with Shakthi, Shiva cannot even make a single move. Possibly this can also be interpreted as follows: Brahman is omnipresent. Soul is the jiva where karma of living beings is embedded. Neither Brahman nor soul in their individual capacity can create a life. You need Brahman to make the soul function with a gross form and the soul definitely needs the Brahman to get birth. That is why Shankara said in SL 1 that Shiva cannot act alone. In the same way Shakthi also cannot act alone. Since the verses are about Shakthi, generally negative points (not qualities) in such cases are left out. It is poetic way expression. With this verse, the physical description of Lalithai ends. From 53 to 64 it is going to be the description of Srinagara, the place where Lalithai lives. You could have observed in the verses 13-54, the description of Lalithai and some of them are delicate to discuss. Not only in this Sahasranamam, but also in Soundarya Lahari such descriptions are found. Generally a question arises, whether such descriptions are right, beyond a certain level. There could be two possibilities for making such narrations. One is the possibility of the poetic visualization which is generally allowed in poems. We can apply this to SL, composed by Adhi Shanakara. How a great sage like Shankara can make such descriptions? Sankara is no ordinary person about whom we can discuss. He is said to the incarnation of Lord Shiva himself. If this is true his descriptions can be accepted, subject to the question why he should express such things in public. It is difficult to give the right answer. There should be something extremely subtle in such descriptions, which we are not aware of. Take this Sahasranamam composed by vak devis, who are always with Lalithai. Further, this Sahasranamam was recited in the presence of Lalithai herself. If she found something wrong with the verses, she could have burnt these vak devis. She did not do so. So, it is clear that such descriptions are approved by Lalithai herself. Her panchadasi mantra is meditated upon her parts which are considered to be highly secretive. Following could be the reasons for such descriptions in this Sahasranamam and elsewhere. The first point is, in any poetic visualization such narrations are permitted. Poetic skills are expressed through such descriptions. Second thing is to test a devotee whether he gets exited on such descriptions. This is a sort of test before proceeding to higher awareness. Thirdly, such descriptions are a part of maya played by Shakthi. Unless maya goes away from a person, realizing the Brahman is not possible and hence such descriptions fall under the gaze of maya. It could also mean the kundalini energy and its path. But beyond such reasoning that we can think of, we have no authority or right to analyze such narrations. One has to understand that the world of illusion is full of desires and one has to cross such desires to reach higher planes of consciousness only after knowing such realities, as realising the reality alone leads to the Brahman. Before we close our discussion on this subject, we should not forget that the nirguna Brahman is formless and to realize the nirguna Brahman, one has to realize the saguna Brahman (with qualities and form) first. Possibly such narrations could help those not-so-intelligent (those who never heard about the Brahman) people to at least visualize the saguna Brahman, possibly a stepping stone to spirituality.