Restrictions On Worshipping Goddess Lalita

[Dr. Nikhil asked: Pādanamaskārams Swamiji! Many people have criticized Your discourse in which You have said that the Lalitā Sahasranāmam is to be recited only by women. Many people including men have been traditionally reciting this stotram for a very long time and they are not able to accept Your words. They say that the Lalitā Sahasranāmam was revealed as part of a conversation between HayagrÄ«va and sage Agastya, who were both males. They say that since all of us humans are the children of the Divine Mother, there is no question of getting sexually aroused by the descriptions of her divine feminine beauty. No person in his right mind gets sexually aroused on seeing his own mother. In fact, male priests in temples even bathe the idols of the Divine Mother! Many poets, including ÅšrÄ« Ä€di Åšaá¹…kara have described the physical form of the Divine Mother, including her hips, her breasts etc. Clearly, such descriptions were not given with any sexual intention. Besides, Lalitā indicates the kuṇḍalinÄ« Å›akti present in each person. Can males remove the kuṇḍalinÄ« Å›akti present in them? The critics claim that Hinduism does not support such gender bias. Everyone—males and females—can freely worship the Divine Mother. Could You kindly respond to them? At Your Divine Feet, Nikhil.]

Swami replied: O Learned and Devoted Servants of God! Sage Agastya and HayagrÄ«va are divine personalities and both are beyond worldly thoughts. No human being can be compared with both of them. The GÄ«tā says that even a learned soul can get swept by the influence of the powerful senses (Balavānindriyagrāmo…—GÄ«tā). Prevention is always better than cure. Learned saints say that only two people have succeeded in the worship of the divine mother and they are Ä€di Åšaá¹…kara and Rāmakṛṣṇa Paramahaṃsa. Both of them could see the entire world of women as the form of the divine mother. Total control of sex is very essential in the worship of the divine mother. Male householders, who are already enjoying sex, have a risk of slipping in this matter. Even saints have failed to control the powerful attraction for sex (Kāma). Sage ViÅ›vāmitra did a lot of penance for thousands of years, but he fell in love with the heavenly dancer called Menakā.

Practically, there is a difference between one’s actual mother and some form assumed to be one’s mother. The ethical scripture even says that the father shall not touch his daughter after she becomes 16 years of age and the mother shall not touch her son after he becomes 16 years age. Some demons who treated God Åšiva and Goddess PārvatÄ« to be their Father and mother respectively, got romantic ideas in their minds on seeing the extraordinary beauty of Goddess PārvatÄ«. Finally, they were destroyed. The human being is a mixture (miÅ›ram) of divine and demonic natures (Aniṣṭamiṣṭaṃ miÅ›raṃ ca…—GÄ«tā). Hence, there is every chance of the demonic nature awakening in any ordinary human being. It is due to this very reason that, as a devotee, one is allowed to develop any type of worldly bond with God, except one bond. That disallowed bond is the one in which God is the female wife or lover and the devotee is the male husband or lover.

Learned people say that poet Kālidāsa described the body of Goddess Pārvatī in his epic, called Kumāra Sambhavam and due to that, he got the dreaded disease, leprosy. Later on, to pacify that sin, it is told that he wrote another epic called Raghuvaṃśam, in which he avoided such descriptions. The divine mother is also a soul, who has reached such a climax position that she even controls God through her unimaginable devotion. She is also always favourable towards souls and blesses them. If somebody is as good as Ādi Śaṅkara or Paramahaṃsa in controlling his senses, My warning does not apply to such a great person. This is only a warning to avoid any risk. It does not mean I am preventing the worship of the divine mother totally. Very few exceptional cases may exist.

The Veda says that the mother, the father and the preacher are to be worshipped as God (Mātá¹›devo bhava, Pitá¹›devo bhava, Ä€cāryadevo bhava). So, God Himself took these three forms, which are God Åšiva as the father, God Viṣṇu as the mother and God Brahmā as the preacher. Viṣṇu has excellent feminine beauty and He is also fond of jewelry like women. Viṣṇu incarnated in the feminine form of MohinÄ« and became the wife of Åšiva to deliver a divine child called Dharmaśāstā or Maṇikaṇtha. God Åšiva is to be worshipped during daytime and Goddess Åšakti or God Viṣṇu is to be worshipped at night. The commonly conducted ritual worship of Satyanārāyaṇa SvāmÄ« (Viṣṇu) is conducted at night (Yajet devaṃ niśāmukhe…—Skānda Purāṇam). God Viṣṇu is said to have become MohinÄ« by attaining His internal original form called Lalitā (Lalitāṃ SvātmarÅ«piṇīm). It is also told that from the ten fingers of Lalitā, the ten Incarnations of God Viṣṇu came out (Karāṅgulinakhotpannā nārāyaṇadaśāká¹›tiḥ…). When such a wonderful facility is provided by God for the welfare of men, why to take such a risk unnecessarily?

The father is said to be the teacher who gives knowledge to his children and the mother is said to be the giver of worldly gifts, relieving (moká¹£a) the children from miseries. Hence, God Åšiva is the giver of knowledge, whereas, God Viṣṇu is the giver of liberation from miseries (Jñānaṃ maheÅ›varādicchet, moká¹£amicchet janārdanāt…). This is the reason why God Veá¹…kaá¹­eÅ›vara (God Viṣṇu) has become famous as the giver of worldly boons to souls with motherly affection.

There are two lines of worship of the divine mother: (a) the condemned line called Vāmācāra or Samayamatam, in which sex (maithunam) is a mode of worship and (b) the accepted line, called Daká¹£iṇācāra in which the divine qualities of the divine mother like Her power to punish demons, her affection for her human issues etc., are praised. Even though Åšaá¹…kara was an Incarnation of God Åšiva, He always wrote prayers from the viewpoint of devotees and not from His own viewpoint. There is a strong rumour that Saundarya LaharÄ«, in which Goddess PārvatÄ« is described physically, was not written by Åšaá¹…kara, but by a devotee of the Vāmācāra line. This is because in the composition, Samayamatam is praised (Samayinām…). Åšaá¹…kara always followed the Daká¹£iṇācāra line and condemned Vāmācāra. One more verse in the same composition strengthens this doubt because such a highly objectionable verse could not have been written by Åšaá¹…kara. The verse says “How many poets have not become the husbands of Goddess SarasvatÄ« and how many rich people have not become the husbands of Goddess Laká¹£mÄ«? (Kalatraṃ vaidhātram…)”. Some other verses are very ugly too, like “Kucau sadyassvidyattaá¹­aghaá¹­ita-kÅ«rpāsabhidurau…”. In the Kumāra Sambhavam also, such verses exist; for instance, “Anyonyamutpīḍayadutpalāká¹£yāḥ…”. Finally, such verses also exist in the Lalitānāmams including “NābhyālavālaromālÄ« latāphalakucadvayÄ«...”.

If males are reciting the Lalitā Sahasranāmam, they can at least, omit such verses and names. The tongue of a son should never utter such descriptions of the Mother. Such descriptions are relevant from the viewpoint of God Śiva, but not from the viewpoint of human male devotees, who are the sons of the divine mother like Gaṇapati and Kumāra. Other names and verses can be recited, which give the descriptions of Her good qualities. Śaṅkara wrote the Devyaparādhakṣamāpaṇa Stotram, in which Her affection to Her children is wonderfully described and it is worthy of recitation, again and again. It is hard to believe that the author of such a divine prayer could have written those objectionable verses in the Saundarya Laharī. It is quite possible that those objectionable verses have been inserted into the Saundarya Laharī by a devotee belonging to the Vāmācāra line.

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| Shri Datta Swami | Restrictions On Worshipping Goddess Lalita | Hayagriiva kundalini shakti Gita Balavaanindriyagraamo Anishtamishtam mishram cha Raghuvansham Matrudevo bhava, Pitrudevo bhava aacharyadevo bhava Dharmashaasta Manikantha Shakti Satyanarayana Svami Vishnu Yajet devam nishamukhe Skanda Puranam Lalita Lalitam Svatmarupinim Vishnu Karaangulinakhotpannaa naarayanadashaakrutih moksha Jnaanam maheshvaraadichchhet moksamichchhet janaardanat Vaamachara Daksinachara Shiva Samayinaam Paarvati Lakshmi Kalatram vaidhaatram Kuchau sadyassvidyattataghatita-kurpasabhidurau Kumara Anyonyamutpidayadutpalaksyah Nabhyalavalaromali lataphalakuchadvayi Sahasranamam Devyaparadhaksamapana Saundarya Lahari Lalitaanaamans