Ramyā रम्या (307)

She is the most beautiful of all.

Rājivalocanā राजिवलोचना (308)

The choice of words by Vāc Devi-s is amazing.  Rājiva means deer, fish or lotus, depending upon the context and locanā means eyes.  Eyes of Mā look like the eyes of deer or appear like a fish or look like a lotus flower.  They could have addressed Her as Mīnākṣī (refer nāma 18) (eyes look like fish) or could have used kamala-nayanā (eyes look like lotus) (refer nāma 62).  They have used only Mṛgākṣī (nāma 561) meaning eyes look like the eyes of deer and this nāma to describe Her eyes.

The intended meaning of this nāma is that Her eyes are not comparable to anything.  Her eyes are full of grace and compassion.  By mere winking of eyes, She performs three actions of creation, sustenance and destruction (nāma 281).  Rājiva also means king and rājivalocanā means eyes of one who is dependent on king.  It has been already seen that Śiva is known as Rājarāja and dependent refers to His devotees.  She blesses His devotees with the grace of Her eyes.  

Rañjanī  रञ्जनी (309)

She gives happiness to Her devotees during this birth and also in the Heavens, possibly meaning no-rebirth.  The appropriate interpretation of this nāma would be:  Rañjana means the act of colouring and also pleasing, charming, rejoicing, delighting, befriending, etc. From this point of view, everything associated with Her is red.  Śiva is beyond colour and is pellucid like crystal.  When She sits with Him, Śiva’s complexion also turns into red.  His crystal complexion becomes radiant with the red complexion of the Supreme Saundarya Laharī (verse 92) explains this scenario in a different way. “Śiva with His clear lustre has transformed Himself into an apparent bed-cover reddened by your reflected lustre, as the embodied erotic sentiment and yields joy to your eyes.”

Ramaṇī  रमणी (310)

She plays around.  She plays with Her devotees.  Devotees are everything for Her.  She gives happiness to them and She plays with them too.  Providing happiness to one’s children and playing with them is one of the motherly qualities.  Her motherly attribute is highlighted here.  But devotees always keep a distance from Her out of fear and respect.  This is the biggest setback in God realization.  Fear and respect should pave way for love and affection.  Unfortunately, She is being considered as a different entity from one’s own self.  When we say that She is omnipresent, why should we consider Her as a different person? 

This is what Chāndogya Upaniṣad VIII.12.3 says “In the same way, the joyful self arises from the body and attaining the light of the Cosmic Self, appears in his own form. This is the Paramātman, the Cosmic Self.  He then freely moves about eating, playing, or enjoying himself with women, carriages or relatives, not remembering at all, the body in which he was born.  Just as horses or bullocks are harnessed to carriages, similarly life remains harnessed to the body due to karma”. 

The articulation by this Upaniṣad clearly proves that Self is not different from the Brahman.  If one feels the difference, it is due to māyā or illusion.  When we eat meat, She also eats meat with us.  When we relish onion, She also relishes onion with us.  When we are poor, She is also poor and when we are rich She is also rich.  This is the uniqueness of omnipresence.

 Arjuna says to Kṛṣṇa after seeing his universal form (viśva-rūpa-darśan) “Overjoyed I am, that gazed upon a vision never seen before, yet my mind is afflicted with fear.  Be merciful to me and show only your God form (the original form of Kṛṣṇa)” (Bhagavad Gīta XI.45).  We should never feel that God is different from our Self.  The God within you and within him is one and the same. The only difference is the soul.  Certain souls realize God and certain others do not realize God and this purely depends upon one’s karma.