Lalitha Sahasranamam - An Overview

Lalitha in Sanskrit means playing, sporting, beauty, grace, charm. In general

Lalitha also means a woman. We can define Lalitha as a gracious, charming,
and beautiful playful woman. Sahasranamam consists of two Sanskrit words
sahasram + namam. Sahasram means thousand. Namam means names.
Sahasranamam means thousand names. Lalitha sahasranamam means
thousand names of Lalitha, the gracious, charming and beautiful woman. She
is the Vimarsha form of Shiva. Shivas form is called Prakasha. If you have
missed my postings on prakasha and vimarsha please vist Finding God
7 (For Prakasha) and Finding god 8 (for Vimarsha).

Lalithambigai as she is often called controls the activities of this entire

universe. That is why she is called prakasha vimarsha maha maya swarupini.
This form of Lalitha has been discussed in finding god-viii in this blog. The
one thousand names mentioned in this ancient text called Lalitha
Sahasranamam are rich treatise for our eyes and ears. The phonetic sounds
of the namas are soothing to our ears. When we are able to manifest the
form of Lalitha with the help of these namas, that will be a rich treatise to our
third eye. Let us understand more about Her and Lalitha Sahasranamam.
Lalitha Sahasranamam finds a place in Brahmandapuranam, one of the 18
puranas composed by ancient and well known rishi Vyasar. Lord Hayagriva,
an incarnation of Lord Vishnu first imparted this Sahasranamam to Agastya
rishi. This Sahasranamam was composed by eight vaak devis (vashinyathi
vaak devis) at the instance of Lalitha Devi Herself in Her very presence.. In
other Sahasranamams, a nama is usually used more than once to make up
1000 or 1008 namas. None of the namas here are used more than once. She
was born out of fire. She lives in the middle Sri Chakram. Sri Chakram is in
Sripuram. She is with Lord Shiva. Shiva has various manifested forms and His
ultimate form is called Maha Kameshwarar.

Lalithambigai in Her ultimate form is called Maha Kameshwari. She is sitting

in the left thigh of Maha Kameshwarar, in the central place of Srichakra
which is called Bindu. The Sahasranamam begins by addressing Her as Sri
Mata, which means the mother of all. This indicates that She is the one who
creates this universe. 999th nama says shivashakthi ikya rupini, which
means Her form is the combination of Shiva and
Shakthi. 1000th nama addresses her as Lalithambiga, the meaning of which
has been discussed above. Even though the combined form of Shiva and
Shakthi is said to be the Absolute form, the last nama Lalithambiga is used
after Shivashakthi ikya rupini emphasizes her importance of her Absolute
form. That is why she is also called Pancha brahma swarupini. Most of the
namas have very deep and secret meanings. The secretive nature of the
meaning is not revealed to all, as they are meant to be learnt from a Guru.
Self-realization, kundalini, meditation are widely explained in this
Sahasranamam. She has been beautifully described, her feet, her walking,
her eyes, her fore head, her qualities, her nature. Every nama is to be
enjoyed. At the end of this Sahasranamam, you can visualize her total form
and by deep meditation you can see Her through your third eye. For details
on third eye please read my posting "The third eye". Detailed interpretation
of each of the 1000 namas along with Introudction, Purva Bhag, Dhyana
Verses and Phala Stuti is provided at the following link.

http://www.manblunder.com/articles/lalitha-sahasranama