While going through Guruji’s old materials we came across an unfinished typed manuscript titled “Sudhā Syandinī Bhāśyam” which contains Guruji’s commentary on the first 260 names of Lalitā Sahasranāma. We are pleased to share this commentary with all of you. Going forward we will be posting a name from this manuscript per day.
In addition to that, we have uncovered an audio, provided below, in which Guruji gives an introduction to Lalitā Sahasranāma while explaining how the kaṭapayadi sūtra can be used to decode hidden meanings in its verses.
Transcription:
A commentary on Lalitā Sahasranāma by Amṛtānanda Nātha
tripurāṃ kulanidhimīḍe'ruṇaśriyaṃ kāmarājaviddhāṅgīm |
triguṇairdevairninutām ekāntāṃ bindugāṃ mahārambhām ||
The meaning of this is:
tripurāṃ - who has got three bodies
kulanidhim - She's the treasure of the kula
īḍe - I worship
aruṇaśriyaṃ - the one who has got orange rose red lights
kāmarājaviddhāṅgīm - She has entered kāmarāja
triguṇairdevairninutām - Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Maheśvara who are triguṇa svarūpas, by them She is worshipped
ekam - She is one and only
tām - Her
bindugāṃ - in the center of the Śrī Cakra
mahārambhām - She is ready to create the universe, such Tripurā, I worship
This is the bāhyārtha that means external meaning. Now, if you want the internal meaning of this one, you have to know what is called kaṭapayādi sūtra.
In this sūtra, “kādi daśa ṭādi daśa pādi pañcaka yādyaṣṭa”:
The numerical significance is as follows:
ka, kha, ga, gha, ṅa stand for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5;
ca, cha, ja, jha, ña stand for 6, 7, 8, 9, 0; similarly
ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha, ṇa for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5;
ta, tha, da, dha, na for 6, 7, 8, 9, 0;
pa, pha, ba, bha, ma 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5;
ya, ra, la va 1, 2, 3, 4
śa, ṣa, sa, ha 5, 6, 7, 8.
The Sanskrit letters have numerical meanings. So, if you use this coding then you will get the internal meaning of the ślokas we have talked about. For example:
tripurāṃ – “Tri” means 3, “pu” is 1, “ra” is 2. So “puram” is 21. Actually, in Sanskrit, the least significant digit is given first, so if “puram” is 1, 2 but it is read as 2, 1 so 21. So in Lalitā Sahasranāma, this śloka is saying that there are 21 names starting with the letter “tri”.
And similarly, kulanidhim. “Nidhi” represents the number 9 and so kulanidhim means starting with “kula” there are going to be 9 names.
Aruṇaśriyaṃ. “Aruṇa” means Sūrya, the sun. The Sun has got twelve kalās, 12 zodiacal signs. So “śriyaṃ” is the letter “śri” and there will be 12 names starting with the letter “śri” in Lalitā Sahasranāma.
Kāmarāja. “Rāja” is ṣoḍasa rājas. So, “kāma” starting with that [part] there will be 16 names.
Viddhāṅgīm. “Dhā" is 9 and “gi" is 3. So, it's 39 names. There will be 39 names starting with the letter “v”.
Triguṇaiḥ. “Tri” means 3 and “guṇa" also means 3, so there are 3 names starting with “guṇa”.
Inutām. “Nu" is 0, “tā" is 6. So “inutām” is 60. Starting with the letter “n” there will be 60 names in Lalitā Sahasranāma.
“Ekān” means 1. “Tāṃ ekān” means 1. Therefore starting with the letter “ta” there’s going to be one name – tāmbūlapūritamukhīṃ.
Bindugāṃ. “Gām” is 3. So, starting with the word “bindu,” there are 3 names, they are: bindutarpaṇasantuṣṭā, bindumaṇḍalavāsinī, baindavāsanā.
Mahārambhām. “Ra" is 2, “bha" is 4. So it represents the number 42. “Mahā”, starting with that, there will be 42 names.
So this stanza is telling how many names are going to be in what letters constituting the Lalitā Sahasranāma.
Lalitā Sahasranāma has got 182.5 stanzas. Each stanza has two lines. If you multiply by two, you get 365 lines. If you consider day and night as representing Śiva and Śakti. The day representing Devi and Śiva representing the night. So out of the 365 days, 182.5 refer to the day part and 182.5 refer to the night part. So half of the Lalitā Sahasranāma is applicable to Śiva and half of the Lalitā Sahasranāma is applicable to Śakti.
Oṁ is a name of God. This is the śudha praṇavam. For describing the world that is manifested, Śrīṃ is the bījakṣara. Oṁ has got components A U and Ma. Similarly, Śrīṃ has got the components Śa, Ra and Ī and they represent Icchā Śakti, Jñānā Śakti and Kriyā Śakti. The entire manifested creation depends on this. That's why in the stotram, it starts with śrīmātā śrīmahārājñī śrīmatsiṃhāsaneśvarī starting with the letter “śri” there are 3 names here and then, at the end again: śrīcakrarājanilayā śrīmattripurasundarī śrīśivā śivaśaktyaikyarūpiṇī lalitāmbikā. Again it ends with “śrī”. It starts with the śrīmātā, which relates to the sṛṣṭi, janma; mātā is Mother and śivaśaktyaikyarūpiṇī relates to mukti, liberation. Starting from janma to the ultimate mokṣa She carries you. That is one significance of the entire Lalitā Sahasranāma.
Now we start the Lalitā Sahasranāma stotram. Before this, one small note. It may be difficult to learn and practice Śri Vidyā. It may be difficult to do Śrī Cakra Arcana but it is easy to do a recitation of Śrī Lalitā Sahasranāma Stotram and it is available to all without any distinction between male and female, everyone can recite the Lalitā Sahasranāma Stotram and they can understand the meanings...
