LALITHA SAHASRANAMAM 352-354

Vahni-mandala-vasini (352) She lives in the sphere of fire. Vahni means fire. The sphere of fire is said to be in muladhara chakra and in akash or ether. Already nama 99 ‘muladharaka nilaya’ explained that She resides in the base chakra. The other interpretation that She resides in akash or ether does not appear to be convincing. Vahni also means numeric 3. This numeric 3 could mean the moon, the sun and the fire one below the other in the spine. The moon is in sahasrara, the sun in anahat and the fire in muladhara. She is in the form all these three. The Panchadasi mantra consists of three kutas and this nama could mean that She resides in this mantra. Possibly this is the reason why Panchadasi mantra is considered as the supreme mantra. Bhaktimat-kalpa-latika (353) Kalpa is a divine creeper that grants boon to those who sit under it. In the same way She gives boon to Her devotees. ‘Latika’ means spread over. This indicates that Her devotees spread are over across the earth (devotees is a general term representing the whole humanity) . ‘Kalpa’ also means imperfection. Those who worship Her with imperfect devotion, She makes them to acquire perfect devotion over several births and gives them final liberation. There is difference between final liberation and reaching the Heavens which is called moksha. The final liberation means no re-birth and moksha means after exhausting all good karmas in the Heavens (the heaven can be explained as a place where certain souls are rested for some period of time. Other souls are reborn immediately after leaving a body) the soul has to be reborn. The soul reaching the Heavens does not attain perfection to become eligible to get liberated. Such final salvation is possible only with Her grace. This is the inherent meaning of this nama. We will discuss more on this concept in Bhagavad Gita. Pashu-pasha-vimochini (354) The concept of self-realization is best explained in Brahadaranyaka Upanishad I.iv.10. It says “Through the knowledge of Brahman, we shall become all”. When we realize the Brahman, we realize everything. Those who do not have the requisite knowledge to know the Brahman are called ‘pashus’. Pashu means cattle; pasha means bondage arising out of ignorance. The cattle need just food and beyond food they do not think about anything, because they are incapable thinking. That is why those who do not possess wisdom for knowing the Brahman are called ‘pashus’. Linga Purana says Pashus are the individual souls and pasha is the bondage and such bondage of pashus are destroyed by Pashupati , the lord of all the pashus (Shiva). It is better to know a little more on ‘pashu’ as this has been more frequently used in many Upanishads. Shiva Sutra 2 says ‘jnanam bandhaha’. Jnanam means vitiated knowledge and bandhaha means bondage. Limited knowledge is ignorance. Ignorance is the cause for bondage that veils the true Brahman. This phenomenon is called ‘anava mala’. ‘Mala’ has been explained as ignorance that hampers the free expression of the Brahman. ‘Anava mala’ means innate ignorance of the soul. Anava is the word derived from the root ‘anu’ which means the empirical individual. This ‘anava mala’ is subdivided into two. The first one is the ignorance innate in the very being of the individual Self and other is ignorance inherent in the intellect or buddhi. The anava mala is the cause of bondage. Those who are afflicted by such anava mala undergo birth and death. This nama says that She removes this anava mala for Her devotees, which is a precondition for final liberation.