The document is an introduction to the Sri Lalitha Trishati, a Hindu religious text that is part of the Brahmanda Purana. It summarizes that the text contains 300 divine names of the goddess Lalitha and describes its history, structure with 8 chapters, and contents which include rituals, mantras, meditation and philosophy. The introduction praises the text for bestowing mental peace and satisfaction on the sage Agastya when other profound concepts did not.
The document is an introduction to the Sri Lalitha Trishati, a Hindu religious text that is part of the Brahmanda Purana. It summarizes that the text contains 300 divine names of the goddess Lalitha and describes its history, structure with 8 chapters, and contents which include rituals, mantras, meditation and philosophy. The introduction praises the text for bestowing mental peace and satisfaction on the sage Agastya when other profound concepts did not.
The document is an introduction to the Sri Lalitha Trishati, a Hindu religious text that is part of the Brahmanda Purana. It summarizes that the text contains 300 divine names of the goddess Lalitha and describes its history, structure with 8 chapters, and contents which include rituals, mantras, meditation and philosophy. The introduction praises the text for bestowing mental peace and satisfaction on the sage Agastya when other profound concepts did not.
The document is an introduction to the Sri Lalitha Trishati, a Hindu religious text that is part of the Brahmanda Purana. It summarizes that the text contains 300 divine names of the goddess Lalitha and describes its history, structure with 8 chapters, and contents which include rituals, mantras, meditation and philosophy. The introduction praises the text for bestowing mental peace and satisfaction on the sage Agastya when other profound concepts did not.
The tamil translation of Sri Lalitha Trishati bhashyam of Acharyal by Sri
Chidanandanatha (NSubrahmania Iyer) contains a beautiful 20-page introduction by him. When i read it, I was inspired by Her to translate it and share it with all AmbaL's bhaktas while we approach the sacred Navarathri festival. I would like to present the first part of my english translation here. I am fully responsible for any mistake in rendering the orginal tamil text into english.
In this Part-I, we will see the history of Sri Lalitha Trishati, Lalitha Upakhyana and its table of contents and details of what each chapter in Lalitha Upakhyana contains.
*Introduction to Sri Lalita Trishati*
By Brahmashri Sir Sri Chidanandanatha (N Subrahmaniya Aiyer)
*History of the Text*
Sri Lalita Trishati Nama stotra is present in the Uttara khanda of Sri Brahmanda purana in the form of dialogue between Sri Hayagriva and the Sage Agastya called Sri Lalita Upakhyana.
*Lalitha Upakhyanas Table of Contents*
Sri Lalita Upakhyana is divided into 8 khandams or cantos. They are Caritra-khanda, Mahatmya-khanda, Nyasa-khandam, Puja-khandam, Purascarana-khandam, Homa-khandam, Stotra-khandam and Rahasya-khandam.
*Details of each Chapter in Lalitha Upakhyana*
In the Caritra-khandam, Sri Lalita Devis spectacular activities, creation of Sri Nagara, marriage with Kameshwara, coronation, destruction of Bandasura and so on are described. The Mahatmya-khanda describes the greatness of Sri Nagara (more details of this is found in one of the publications of Sri Guhananda Mandali called Sri Nagara Vimarshanam), the immense power of the Sri Cakra, the greatness of Srividya Panchadasakshari mantra and so on. In the Nyasa-khandam, laghu shodasa nyasa containing Ganesha-graha-nakshatra-yogini-rasi-pitha nyasas and the Maha-shodasa-nyasa containing Prapancha-bhuvana-murthy-mantra-devata-matruka nyasas are described elaborately. Also, it describes many other nyasas required in the Srividya Upasana. Puja khandam contains the procedure for antar-yaga and bahir-yaga and other details required for the puja.Purascharana khandam explains the characteristics of japa, vzualizations & meditation procedures for the five levels of avasthas, six types of shunyas, seven kinds of vishuvatsa and the nine chakras. It also gives the rules for japa, form & indications for the mantra-siddhi and so on. The Rahasya khandam lists the secrets behind the Sri Chakra, Sri Vidya, Parabhattarika Sri Lalitha Tripurasundari, Sri Guru, characteristics of the disciple, the non-difference between all these, the esoteric philosophy of prakasha & vimarsha and their union. Stotra khandam contains Sri Lalitha Sahasranama, Lalitha Trishati and other stotrams.
Sage Agastiya, husband of Sri Lopamudra, was instructed into all these subjects directly from Lord Hayagreeva. Even after carefully hearing & understanding such profound concepts, the Sage did not attain mental peace and satisfaction. Only after hearing the Lalitha Trishati stotra did Agastiya attain the peace and satisfaction. From this incident, we can understand the greatness of Sri Lalitha Trishati stotram. This stotra encompasses the fifteen-lettered Srividya Panchadasi mantra and contains twenty divine names for each letter making a total of three-hundred divine names.
All these three hundred divine names represents & extol Sri Pamchadasakshari Mahavidya. This is explained in Varivasya-rahasyam by Bhaskararaya as
kalyANyekAkSaryAvIshitrI cApi lalitA ca |
itthaM nAmatrishatIvAcyordhastattadakSarasyApi ||
The next part will feature greatness of SriVidya, divisions of Para-Rupa Brahmavidya, nature & effects of Avidya, Atma-svarupam, etc.
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