Citiḥ चितिः (362)

She is in the form of eternal knowledge. Cit can be explained as pure knowledge that helps in realizing the Brahman. The opposite of cit (vidyā) is nescience (avidyā or ignorance about the Brahman).  Her vimarśa form is discussed here.  Brahman has two forms prakāśa or the static and self illuminating energy and vimarśa or the kinetic and reflecting energy.  The one without the other is not capable of sustaining this universe and this interdependency is called as the union of Śiva and Śaktī.

{Further reading on cit: Brahman is the essence of sat (eternity), cit (pure or foundational consciousness) and ānanda (the bliss).  Cit is also known as spiritual conscience, which is also known as citātma.  When citātma is reflected in universal nescience, it assumes the role of God.  When citātma is reflected in individual nescience the role assumed as the individual souls.  Both God and souls are nothing but mere reflections of purest form of consciousness of the Brahman. But there is a distinction between God and soul.  God is the Lord of prakṛti and soul becomes liable to the bondages of prakṛti.}

Tatpada-lakṣyārthā तत्पद-लक्ष्यार्था (363)

Tat means that and pada means word. Tatpada (that word) means THAT referring the Brahman. Lakṣyārthā means indirect reference.  Tat-tvam-asi or you are That is said to indicate that you are the Brahman where ‘That’ refers to the Brahman.  This goes to prove the omnipresence nature of the Brahman and His non-dualistic nature.   The previous nāma discussed about the two forms of the Brahman.  Prakāśa form is without attributes and is eternally pure and vimarśa form is with attributes and though pure is subjected to modifications exclusively for the purpose of administering the universe. Though they are interdependent, in literal sense there appears to be no difference between these two as they are embodiments of pure knowledge or cit.  In fact this undifferentiated form of the Brahman is known as That or Cit.  In order to avoid any confusion arising out of the previous nāma, this nāma confirms Her nir-guṇa (unconditioned) Brahman status. 

Cideka-rasa-rūpiṇī चिदेक-रस-रूपिणी (364)

She is the essence of knowledge.  The difference between knowledge and the essence of knowledge is to be understood.  The knowledge of the unconditioned Brahman or the Prakāśa form of the Brahman is different from the conditioned Brahman or the vimarśa form of the Brahman.   The Brahman with attributes and without attributes remains the same, so also their purity of knowledge.  This is the reason for establishing the identity of the both as one.   This nāma says that She is not different from Cit (nāma 362) or That (nāma 363), the qualities of the Brahman.  There is no difference between conditioned and unconditioned Brahman as any modifications take place purely at the will of Brahman for the purpose of creation, sustenance and dissolution.  When knowledge is extracted, the essence of knowledge is obtained, possibly from its gross form to its subtle form.  But, the foundational nature of both gross and subtle forms of knowledge is not different. This can be compared to milk and its derivatives.

Svātmānanda-lavī-bhūta-brahmādyānanda-santatiḥ स्वात्मानन्द-लवी-भूत-ब्रह्माद्यानन्द-सन्ततिः (365)

The sum total of bliss of Gods like Brahma and others is only a droplet of Her bliss. All gods and goddesses enjoy the ānanda or bliss.  Brahma and other gods indicate the three actions of the Brahman viz. creation, sustenance and dissolution.  Every action of the universe is said to be controlled by a form of god or goddesses. For example Brahma is said to be in charge of creation, Viṣṇu for sustenance and Rudra for destruction, Varuṇa for waters, Agni for fire, etc.  But what is bliss?  Our real nature is always in the state of bliss or happiness or ānanda whatever you call it.  But this perennial nature of bliss is disturbed by the powerful tools of desire and associated losses.  Desire is always for the one that one does not possess and loss is a situation where, what one had earlier is not with him now. 

Taittirīya Upaniṣhad (II.8) beautifully describes bliss.  “To give the idea of bliss that Brahman represents, take a young and honest man with a commanding personality, well versed in the scriptures, well built and strong.  Suppose he owns the wealth of the entire world, then take his maximum stage of happiness as one unit and multiply it with infinity, is the bliss of the Brahman”. In the next verse, the Upaniṣhad says “…being free from desires, he first attains the self represented by the vital breath, then the self represented by the mind, then the self represented by the intellect and the self represented by bliss and finally merges into the cosmic self or the Brahman”. 

The bliss is the penultimate stage of the final salvation. Such a sort of bliss can be experienced only during the last stages of merger into the Brahman, the final stages of liberation, the state of kaivalya.

This nāma is in confirmation of nāma 363 which says that she is in fact the Supreme Brahman or the Brahman without attributes.