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 Hayagrīva 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 Śrī Ādi Śaṅkara 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 kuṇḍalinī śakti present in each person. Can males remove the kuṇḍalinī śakti 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 Hayagrīva are divine personalities and both are beyond worldly thoughts. No human being can be compared with both of them. The Gītā says that even a learned soul can get swept by the influence of the powerful senses (Balavānindriyagrāmo…—Gītā). 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 Ādi Śaṅkara 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 Viśvāmitra 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 Śiva and Goddess Pārvatī to be their Father and mother respectively, got romantic ideas in their minds on seeing the extraordinary beauty of Goddess Pārvatī. Finally, they were destroyed. The human being is a mixture (miśram) of divine and demonic natures (Aniṣṭamiṣṭaṃ miśraṃ ca…—Gītā). 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 (Mātṛdevo bhava, Pitṛdevo bhava, Ācāryadevo bhava). So, God Himself took these three forms, which are God Śiva 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 Mohinī and became the wife of Śiva to deliver a divine child called Dharmaśāstā or Maṇikaṇtha. God Śiva is to be worshipped during daytime and Goddess Śakti or God Viṣṇu is to be worshipped at night. The commonly conducted ritual worship of Satyanārāyaṇa Svāmī (Viṣṇu) is conducted at night (Yajet devaṃ niśāmukhe…—Skānda Purāṇam). God Viṣṇu is said to have become Mohinī by attaining His internal original form called Lalitā (Lalitāṃ Svātmarūpiṇīm). It is also told that from the ten fingers of Lalitā, the ten Incarnations of God Viṣṇu came out (Karāṅgulinakhotpannā nārāyaṇadaśākṛtiḥ…). 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 (mokṣa) the children from miseries. Hence, God Śiva is the giver of knowledge, whereas, God Viṣṇu is the giver of liberation from miseries (Jñānaṃ maheśvarādicchet, mokṣamicchet janārdanāt…). This is the reason why God Veṅkaṭeśvara (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 Dakṣiṇācāra 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 Śaṅkara was an Incarnation of God Śiva, He always wrote prayers from the viewpoint of devotees and not from His own viewpoint. There is a strong rumour that Saundarya Laharī, in which Goddess Pārvatī is described physically, was not written by Śaṅkara, but by a devotee of the Vāmācāra line. This is because in the composition, Samayamatam is praised (Samayinām…). Śaṅkara always followed the Dakṣiṇācāra 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 Śaṅkara. The verse says “How many poets have not become the husbands of Goddess Sarasvatī and how many rich people have not become the husbands of Goddess Lakṣmī? (Kalatraṃ vaidhātram…)”. Some other verses are very ugly too, like “Kucau sadyassvidyattaṭaghaṭita-kūrpāsabhidurau…”. In the Kumāra Sambhavam also, such verses exist; for instance, “Anyonyamutpīḍayadutpalākṣyāḥ…”. Finally, such verses also exist in the Lalitānāmams including “Nābhyālavālaromālī latāphalakucadvayī...”.

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