knramesh: Navaratri - Part 1 - Sri Durga Sahasranamam

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Navaratri - Part 1 - Sri Durga Sahasranamam - Tantraraja Tantram

Courtesy: Sri.K.Muralidharan Iyengar

Dear All,

Greetings and Namaste. As Navaratri is just round the corner, I am happy to share a rare Durga Sahasranamam from Tantraraja Tantram - as the first instalment for Navaratri. There are many Durga Ashtottarams and Sahasranamas and this is perhaps one of the most potent one as one can see from the Phalashruti - the mere chanting of this gives the benefit equivalent of thousands and crores of different Yajnas.

Durga is worshipped in many forms and is personified as Mahamaya or Vishnumaya. We have seen in many previous postings with citations from different ancient texts that the Devi forms could be many but essentially the same.

We have also seen in the recent posting of Gopala Sahasranama from Narada Pancharatra that a person who treats Durga and Radha as different is not qualified to recite Gopala Sahasranama - remember that this statement occurs in a Vaishnavite Agama Text. In the same text in a different location, Goddess Parvati tells Lord Krishna that she indeed is Lakshmi and takes different forms along with the Avatars of Vishnu as his consort. This very much imessage s corroborated in Varaha Puranam too and declares that one who differentiates between Vishnu/Shiva and Parvati/Lakshmi is an Adhama.

We have also seen in yet another citation from Padma Purana that Lord Krishna mentions that the Shakti takes four different forms and one of the form is Vishnu and therefore Gauri and Vishnu are one the same in masculine and feminine forms - one who differentiates these two is sure to suffer in hell. In Pradhaneeka Rahasyam, Goddess Lakshmi is personified as the root of the universe and the Trinity arose from them. In Rudra Yamala, Lord Shiva mentions that Radha is the root of the universe and everything came from her (this message occurs in Brahma Vaivarta Puran too). So whatever name we choose to call, it is essentially the same - mUlaprakRRirIshvarI.

Durga is known as durgati-hAriNi - one who destroys misfortunes! May we pray to Her and Seek Her Blessings!