ॐ श्री गुरुभ्यो नम: 

ॐ श्री मात्रे नम:

Who exactly is देवी or शक्ति in the धर्म ज्ञान परम्परा? Who exactly is देवी or शक्ति in the धर्म ज्ञान परम्परा? Simple meaning of देवी is one who is a स्वयं-प्रकाश favourable शक्ति. It exists to help us and its presence enables us to live well. श्री ललिता देवी is however not a mere beneficial देवी but a deeper reality. How do we appreciate such a deeper idea of देवी? Some background may be useful here. 

There is only one सत्य or Truth. The whole universe has emanated from the One, sustained within the One and eventually merges into the One only to emerge again. And while there is only One substance, it has two aspects – Divine masculine referred to as शिव and Divine feminine referred to as देवी. Just as a lamp in a room as two aspects – the दीप which is the source and ज्योति which spreads across the room, शिव & देवी too are One. And while शिव may be seen as आधार, देवी may be seen as that aspect of the One that becomes व्यक्त (meaning manifests or comes into being). The शिवसूत्र conveys this beautifully as below:

A conscious being  (चेतना) is one who thinks, who is absolutely free in pursuit of any ज्ञान and क्रिया. चैतन्य is the state of one who has चेतना. The highest शिव alone has that absolute freedom. शिव (also referred to as आत्मा) is प्रकाश which means light – not in the ordinary sense of physical light but one in whose presence, one can detect light (or darkness too). Hence, whenever there is any appearance, there is प्रकाश or presence of चैतन्य. Nothing can have its own being without प्रकाश.

But the Ultimate Reality is not just प्रकाश – it is विमर्श too. विमर्श is शक्ति, the स्वभाव or शिव. It is, so to speak, the mirror in which शिव realizes His own grandeur, power and beauty. विमर्श is the कर्तृत्व शक्ति of शिव, the power of doership. विमर्श is explained as non-relational immediate awareness of “I”. If Ultimate Reality is merely प्रकाश and not विमर्श, it will be inert and powerless. It is this ”I-consciousness” of the Ultimate Reality that is responsible for सृष्टि, स्थिति and लय of the universe. Creativity is thus the essence of Divinity. चित् is consciousness of Itself as चिद्रूपिणी शक्ति which is referred to as विमर्श. Other names used for विमर्श are पराशक्ति, स्वातंत्रय, ऐश्वर्य, कर्तृत्व, स्फुरत्त, सार, हृदय or स्पन्द.

Once this basic idea of देवी is comprehended, we are rightly placed to enter into one of the most fascinating स्तोत्र of all viz श्री ललिता सहस्रनाम स्तोत्रम् 

1. श्री ललिता सहस्रनाम स्तोत्र comes within the ब्रह्माण्ड पुराण. हयग्रीव teaches this स्तोत्र to ऋषि अगस्त्य.
2. हयग्रीव is also relaying these स्तोत्र as a part of wider sharing of knowledge to ऋषि अगस्त्य on श्री ललिता देवी. The first ones to express these स्तोत्र are eight वशिन्य वाक् देवता at मणिद्वीप in front of श्री ललिता Herself in the presence of त्रिमूर्ती from infinite ब्रह्माण्ड and crores of देवता. 
3. Who are these वाक् देवता? Out of श्री ललिता Herself, eight forms of light emanated. As students of संस्कृत know, वाक् is composed of 50 अक्षर and these are divided into eight parts as below:
   1. अ वर्ग – अधिदेवता is वशिनी here (power of control)
   1. क वर्ग – अधिदेवता is कामेश्वरी here (power of काम)
   1. च वर्ग – अधिदेवता is मोदिनी here (power of आनन्द)
   1. ट वर्ग – अधिदेवता is विमला here (power of ज्ञान that is निर्मल)
   1. त वर्ग – अधिदेवता is अरुणा here (power of प्रेम or करुणा) 
   1. प वर्ग – अधिदेवता is जयनी here (power of victory)
   1. य वर्ग – अधिदेवता is सर्वेश्वरी here (power to get अधिकार on all)
   1. श वर्ग – अधिदेवता is कौलिनी here (power of कुण्डलिनी)
4. The वशिन्य वाक् देवता are thus the powers that have emanated from श्री ललिता Herself. In line with the approach adopted in शास्त्र to locate the powers of the देवता within the body, वाक् finds expression from eight locations as below:
   1. कण्ठं (throat)
   2. ताळु (gums)
   3. ओष्ठम् (lips)
   4. दन्तम् (teeth)
   5. मूर्धम् (palate)
   6. अभ्यन्तर प्रयत्नम् (internal motivation to express/ speak)
   7. बाह्य प्रयत्नम् (external motivation to express/ speak)
   8. करणम् (tongue)
5. Within us, the चैतन्य present in our innermost essence is श्रीमाता present within us. Through Her presence, all parts of our being are able to undertake their activity. 
6. While a स्तोत्र simply means स्तुति of a certain देवता, one must note that one can guess the content of a स्तोत्र also depends on who is the गुरु who is imparting this teaching. If the गुरु is श्री दक्षिणमूर्ति or श्री दत्तात्रेय or श्री हयग्रीव, one can be convinced that whatever follows is an expression of the highest ज्ञान viz ब्रह्म विद्या. श्री ललिता सहस्रनाम thus becomes an उपासना text of ब्रह्मविद्या itself.
7. The importance of सहस्र maybe worth mentioning here. While a literal translation of the word सहस्र may mean 1000, in the context of the various स्तोत्र, it means infinite. The words शट, सहस्र, सर्वम् and विश्वम् are the वाचक (expressions) for अक्षयत्वम् or infinite. 
8. The various expressions of श्री ललिता become clear for those who develop familiarity with श्री विद्या परम्परा. Here, the Highest principle or truth or reality is expressed as देवी (or Divine feminine). Commentaries by various traditional commentators are available to understand these स्तोत्र better – Bhaskara Raya & Naarayana Bhatta are popular (though others are equally useful for a साधक). 
9. Returning to अगस्त्य, He had already learnt few parts of श्री विद्या ज्ञान from हयग्रीव. He had learnt her चरित्र (meaning a historical story) (how She became manifest, how she was coronated viz पट्टाभिषेकं and how She defeated भण्डासुर). Then He learnt about श्रीनगर where She resides. Then He learnt the various उपासना पद्धति of Her viz मंत्र, न्यास (means of meditating upon a देवता by locating it in a certain part of our body; there are six kinds here – गणेश, ग्रह, नक्षत्र, योगिनी, राशी and पीठ), पूजा, होम (viz यज्ञ which again can be अन्तर्याग and बहिर्याग), पुरस्चरण (meaning जप  one does before one develops capability to concentrate on the मंत्र), रहस्य and स्तोत्र of श्रीमाता (the स्तोत्र of मंत्रिणी and दण्डिनी were already conveyed but स्तोत्र of श्री ललिता had been left out).
10. And then He wondered why the रहस्य names of श्रीमाता which are thousand in number were not as yet taught to Him. Note here that रहस्य is translated as secret but what is meant by रहस्य is something that is subtle and most difficult to comprehend – it remains secretive or unknown to ordinary minds. And only one whose उपासना has reached an advanced level attains qualification to comprehend the 1000 names of श्री ललिता. 
11. The above goes to show that one needs to attain a high level of qualification and including an intense level of भक्ति to receive दीक्षा of श्री ललिता सहस्रनाम from a गुरु. Also, the thousand names represent the highest ज्ञान and therefore not easy to comprehend for a low-level उपासक. 
12. मंत्र are of five kinds – one with a single अक्षर is a पिंड, one with two अक्षर is a कर्तारी, one with three to nine अक्षर is a बीज, one upto twenty अक्षर is a मंत्र and one with more than twenty-one अक्षर is a माला. 
13. Another interesting point on this सहस्रनाम – 32 अक्षर were selected to convey the names. The nineteen that were rejected are ऊ, ऋ, ॠ, लृ, ॡ, ऐ, ओ, अः, घ, ङ, झ, ञ, ट, ठ, ढ, ण, थ, फ and ळ. The break-up of 1000 is as below: 
    1. अ – 40
    2. आ – 10
    3. इ – 3 
    4. ई – 2 
    5. उ – 5
    6. ए – 1 
    7. ओ – 2
    8. अं – 4
    9. क् – 81
    10. ख् – 1
    11. ग् – 24 
    12. च् – 29
    13. छ् – 1
    14. ज् – 19 
    15. ड् – 2
    16. त् – 46
    17. द् – 37
    18. ध् – 14
    19. न् – 75
    20. प् – 81
    21. ब् – 24
    22. भ् – 37 
    23. म् – 112
    24. य् – 14
    25. र् – 38 
    26. ल् – 14 
    27. व् – 79
    28. श् – 59 
    29. ष् – 5 
    30. स् – 122 
    31. ह् – 11
    32. क्ष – 9

The दृष्टि applied 

In the ब्रह्माण्ड पुराण, there is an episode where the multiple देवता are being troubled by an असुर by the name भण्डासुर. देवता were driven out of स्वर्ग and भण्डासुर ruled the entire universe. The देवता then approached शिव. शिव then created a platform and with his तपस्या, He lit up चिदग्नि in the platform. And from the platform emerged श्री माता to fulfil the demands of the देवता. The सहस्रनाम स्तोत्र starts describing श्री माता as She emerges from the यज्ञ कुण्ड from Her head to Her feet. And then She fight the army of भण्डासुर and eventually defeats the असुर. 

The above reads like another story from any पुराण. And श्री ललिता सहस्रनाम can be understood well once the above story as conveyed by हयग्रीव to अगस्त्य. But that is not so. The various commentators have conveyed the meaning and provided a commentary from multiple perspectives or दृष्टि. At the high level, any शास्त्र can be understood simultaneously from three lens – अधिभौत (external), अधिदैव (internal) and आध्यात्म (real as per our core identity or स्वभाव). Thereby, the same स्तोत्र can often be seen and understood from these multiple lenses. In addition, the following lens are also applied and having a background of such a knowledge enables one to draw out more and more from every स्तोत्र. These are:

1. लीला दृष्टि – There are multiple events within various corpus of पुराण. The multiple names of देवी can be understood once one has learnt about the specific stories conveyed. 
2. योग दृष्टि – Situated within our body, there are seven चक्र – from मूलाधार to सहस्रार and many स्तोत्र can be understood once has obtains a background of the workings of the चक्र within ourselves. Along with this, there are 72000 Nadis operating within our human system apart from other शक्ति (like प्राण, etc). Having a basis background of this will also enable us to understand the स्तोत्र more clearly. 
3. ज्योतिष दृष्टि – Our life in Earth is influenced by nine ग्रह (Sun, Jupiter, Mercury, etc). Certain स्तोत्र refer to working of the ज्योतिष मंडल and their influence on us. 
4. मंत्र दृष्टि – As per our परम्परा, a मंत्र cannot be conveyed openly – these are to be taught by a गुरु personally to a willing student. This is because once a मंत्र is learnt, a certain lifestyle has to be maintained by such a student all his life. Since maintenance of such a lifestyle is not easy for most of the people, the various ऋषि, out of करुणा for the masses, composed various स्तोत्र with the various मंत्र hidden within these स्तोत्र and made these available to the common masses. One who therefore may not follow a rigorous lifestyle but chants these स्तोत्र with भक्ति can get the same benefit as one who chants the मंत्र directly by following a rigorous lifestyle.

Source

As a basic level साधक, I am certainly not qualified to write a commentary on this text. Key inspiration to put this blog together is a 40-series lecture on the श्री ललिता सहस्रनाम by Sri Shanmukha Samaveda Sarma. These lectures are given in Telugu and this blog will be in English and use Sanskrit non-translatables at appropriate places. Through this process of writing, the hope is to learn the ideas better and bring at least a few of such ideas into practice. Readers who are unfamiliar with this meaning of text but chanting the स्तोत्र regularly may benefit from this basic overview given here. Once this blog kindles the interest, one may approach a suitable गुरु a get a more direct insight into the text. Additionally, if one is academically oriented, one may also refer to detailed ancient commentaries on this text. Two other sources that I am using in parallel are given below:

1. https://manblunder.com/articles/lalitha-sahasranama and
2. Lalitha Sahasranama with Bhaskarraya’s commentary by R Ananthakrishna Sastry

Just to add – given the complexity of the text, any mistakes are fully mine and cannot be ascribed to the sources.

May we attain suitable qualification to be guided by श्री माता Herself

ॐ तत् सत्