Viyadādi-jagat-prasūḥ वियदादि-जगत्-प्रसूः (550)

She is the Creator of the five principles of ākāś (ether) air, etc.  According to Taittirīya Upaniṣad (II.1) “From that Self (the Brahman) sprang up ākāś, from ākāś air, from air fire, from fire water and from water earth.”  During great dissolution, the reverse process unfolds.”  She is referred as that Self or the Brahman.  This nāma augurs well with nāma 397 mūlaprakṛti.

Sarva-vyādhi-praśamanī सर्व-व्याधि-प्रशमनी (551)

She cures all diseases. By sarva-vyādhi it means disease of both body and mind. It is not enough to have purity of mind alone.  One need to have a healthy body to realise the Brahman within. The divine energy is extraordinarily powerful and body should have the stamina to withstand the cosmic energy.  Nāma 876 nirāmayā says that She is without disease.                                                                                                                  

Sarva-mṛtyu-nivāriṇī सर्व-मृत्यु-निवारिणी (552)

Mṛtyu means death.  There are different types of deaths such as premature death arising out of accidents, disease or untimely deaths. 

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (IV.15) explains about death thus: “If you know your oneness with Him, you become free from shackles of death.”

Kaṭha Upaniṣad (I.iii.15) also endorses this view.  “Having known that Self, one can be free from death.”

The concept of self-realisation is conveyed in this nāma.  If one becomes immortal, it is against the laws of the Divine.  Mṛtyu means averting rebirths.  Birth and death is only for gross bodies. When immortality (eternal) is referred, it always means the Supreme Self.  A soul manifests in the form of gross body to undergo pleasure or pain according to its karmic account.  At the time of death, soul leaves the body and enters another body till its entire karmic account is exhausted.  The death here indicates the final liberation of the soul to merge with the Brahman.  The nāma means that She is liberator of such souls.

Karma is like fuel of a vehicle.  The vehicle runs till the fuel lasts.  Fuel is the karmic account and the vehicle is the body.  The quantum of distance traversed by the vehicle is directly related to fuel.  Similarly, the karmic account determines the duration of a bodily form.

Agra-gaṇyā अग्र-गण्या (553)

She is the First, first among the entire creation.  Śiva has no parentage.  Śiva created Her in the form of kinetic power to create and sustain this universe.  This nāma refers to Her own creation.  At the time of first creation, none was there except Śiva and Śaktī.  At the time of annihilation only Śiva and Śaktī alone remain.  Śiva and Śaktī continue to remain during the end of one yug and the commencement of next yug (discussed in nāma 555.)

Śivananda Laharī (verse 100) conveys the same meaning.  “Gods like Brahma know You as the first amongst the most worshipful ones.  You are known as the best among the best of grains.”

Acintya-rūpā अचिन्त्य-रूपा (554)

She is in inconceivable form, a quality of the Brahman.  Reference can also be made to nāma-s 139 and 415 which say that She is beyond comprehension by mind.  This is one of the unique qualities of the Brahman and confirms that the Brahman is amorphous and omnipresent.  She is beyond all qualities and guṇa-s.  Forms appear only if the soul interacts with prakṛti along with elements.  She is the embodiment of all souls and She Herself is the prakṛti.

A soul is known as puruṣa and is supposed to be masculine.  On the other hand prakṛti is described as feminine.  Any creation unfolds only if puruṣa and prakṛti conjoin which accentuates the significance of Śiva-Śaktī union in the form of Liṅga, and considered as not only powerful, but also highly auspicious.

Kali-kalmaṣa-nāśinī कलि-कल्मष-नाशिनी (555)

She destroys the sins committed during kali yug.

The following reading from Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa (Chapter 43 Verses 26-30) is about the duration of each yug.  At the end of each yug the total dissolution takes place and the next re-creation is known by the succeeding yug.  Currently we are going through 5111th year of kali yug ((2010-11) out of 360,000 human years.

“360 human years is equal to one divine year.  12,000 divine years (4,320,000 human years) consists the four ages called Kṛita yug (4000 divine years), Tretā yug (3000 divine years), Dvāpara yug (2000 divine years) and Kali yug (1000 divine years). The balance of 2000 divine years has been calculated for twilight period of each yug.”   Out of the four, kali yug is supposed to have more sinners and She in the form of Goddess Kali destroys sins committed during kali yug.” 

An age of the world, long mundane period of years, of which the first three have already elapsed, while the Kali, which began at midnight between the 17th and 18th of Feb. 3102 B. C. is that in which we live. The duration of each is said to be respectively 1,728,000, 1,296,000, 864,000, and 432,000 years of men, the descending numbers representing a similar physical and moral deterioration of men in each age. The four Yuga-s comprise an aggregate of 4,320,000 years and constitute a great Yuga or Mahā-yug.

Kātyāyanī कात्यायनी (556)

She is the sum total of the effulgence (tejas) of all gods and goddesses. Vāma Purāṇa says that brightness which is the best is known by the name Kātyāyanī.  Kātyāyanī is the presiding deity of oḍyāṇa pīṭhā, situated at ājñā cakra.  Other pīṭhā-s are kāma giri pīṭhā at mūlādhāra cakra, pūrṇa giri pīṭhā at anāhata cakra, jālandhara pīṭhā at viśuddhi cakra.

There is another interpretation. ka (क) means Brahma, the Creator or head or a stone. She rests on this ka; (with particular reference to stone meaning the universe) therefore She is known as Kātyāyanī.