137. Nirākārā
Devi has no form.
Quite often the devotee is confused by the occurrence of words of completely opposite meanings at different places in the Lalitā Sahasranāma. How can opposites describe one and the same entity, the devotee wonders. At the synthesis of the opposites arises the reality. The opposites appear to be opposites so long as one is limited in some particular dimension which separates a single property into pairs of opposites. In every such instance the devotee has to discover that particular dimension which is missing in his view. Once he discovers that particular dimension, what he achieves is a synthesis of the pairs of opposites which defines the reality.
Earlier we have seen the opposites 'Sat' and 'Asat' both describing reality; the missing dimension there was consciousness, the Devi.
Let us examine here the question of Devi having forms and no forms. Both these have to be proved simultaneously, we already have an answer to this question. Just as there were no colours inherent in the frequencies, so also the forms have no existence apart from the subject. The subject is the objectless subject and is also the object which appears to have different forms. In the recognition that subject and object are undifferentiable lies the synthesis of Devi having forms and no forms. The act of seeing is the act of knowing. Knowledge is the characteristic property of consciousness. The missing dimension here again is the nature of consciousness and that is Devi.
Source: Śrī Amṛtānandanātha Sarasvatī "Sudhā Syandinī Bhāṣyaṃ" Typed Manuscript
(an incomplete commentary on Lalitā Sahasranāma)
