mahA-lAvaNya-SEvadhiH

शुक्लाम्बरधरम् विष्णुम् शशिवर्णम् चतुर्भुजम्|

प्रसन्नवदनम् ध्यायेत् सर्व विघ्नोपशान्तये||

श्रीगुरुभ्योनमः

निधिम् लावण्यानाम् निखिलजगदाश्चर्य निलयम्

निजावासम् भासाम् निरवधिक निश्श्रेय सरसम्|

सुधाधारासारम् सुकृतपरिपाकम् मृगदृशाम्

प्रपद्ये माङ्गल्यम् प्रथम मधिदैवम् कृतधियाम्|| 

(श्रीकृष्ण कर्णामृतम् 2.45)

I pray to Krishna, the storehouse of all lustre, the abode of all the beauty in the entire creation, the personification of all the happiness, the essence of ambrosia, the result of all the good deeds of young ladies, auspicious for the intellectuals, and the primordial reason for the entire creation.

mahA-lAvaNya-SEvadhiH

mahA – great

lAvaNya – delicate/tender/beauty

Sevadhi – treasure

mahA-lAvaNya-SEvadhayE namaH

Amma is the treasure house of beauty. She, with ethereal resplendence, is the most beautiful lady.

This name is given in masculine. So while reciting the namavali, it should be said as mahAlAvaNyaSEvadhayE namaH.

मुक्ताफ़लेषु छायायास्तरलत्वमिवान्तरा|

प्रतिभाति यदङ्गेषु लावण्यम् तदिहोच्यते||

 (रूपगोस्वामि विरचित उज्ज्वलमणि -10/28)

The immaculate light emanating from the entire body similar to the blemish-less light emitting naturally from pearls, is called Lavanya.

The entire creation is nothing but the inexplicable evolution of the Supreme Consciousness, the cause-effect material that is known as एक्म् सद् विप्रा बहुधा वदन्ति (ऋग्वेदम् 1.164.46).  Creation does not mean something that was not there before it is made afresh.  We have seen in the earlier four namas that, the creation comprising of infinitely many Cosmic eggs is manifested from a small portion of the light emitted from the Brahma vastu (Param Brahma) due to its mild spandana.

The light (vimarsa) inherent to the Param Brahma, the Supreme Consciousness (Prakasa), that is emitted recurrently is the Lavanya that is referred to, here. The store house of that coruscating light is the Param Brahma/Mahesa.  So, mahAlAvanyaSevadhi, here refers to Siva (prakasa) and Sakti (vimarsa) in unison.  This is the secret behind the masculine form of this nama.  While commenting on this nama in Saubhagya Ratnakara, Bhaskararaya uses द्वन्द्वतत्पुरुषयोरिति पाणिनिसूत्रात् पुल्लिञ्गमिदम् – According to Panini’s rule, Dvandva tatpurusha samasa becomes pullingam, this nama is given in masculine.

The Lavanya in this nama indicates that the light keeps emanating from the ever effulgent Param Brahma continuously.  Since this light is the source of all the creation, this means that the creation happens all the time without a break.  It is not as though this universe is created once and just stays.

Krishna in Bhagavad Gita says

सर्वभूतनि कौन्तेय प्रकृतिम् यान्ति मामिकाम्|

कल्पक्षये पुन्स्तानि क्ल्पादौ विसृजाम्यहम्||

प्रकृतिम् स्वाम् अवष्टभ्य विसृजामि पुनः पुनः|

भूतग्रामम् इमम् कृत्स्नम् अवशम् प्रकृतेः वशात्|| 

(भगवद्गीत -9.7,8)

At the end of each kalpa, the entire creation gets dissolved in the prakriti (maya). In the beginning of the subsequent kalpa, I bring forth the creation again and again with my own prakriti.

As to how the creation has been done again and again, the following is said in the RigVeda mantra

सूर्याचन्द्रमसौ धाता यथापूर्वमकल्पयत् | 

दिवम् च पृथ्वीम् चान्तरिक्षमथो स्वः | (10.190.3)

Sun and moon, the rulers of time, Bhu, Bhuvar and Svarlokas, and the luminous celestial sky filled with all the milky ways are created as before (यथापूर्वम्).

Even before starting the saguna description of Amma, in the nama udyadbhAnu-sahasrAbha, we have seen that Lalita Maha Tripurasundari emerged from the chidagni kunda with the brightness of innumerable rising suns. Now, at the end of the saguna description, vagdevatas are yet again mentioning that She is possessing splendiferous brilliance.

Adi Sankara Bhagavatpada in Soundaryalahari 12^th sloka, describes the magnificent beauty of Amma as

त्वदीयम् सौन्दर्यम् तुहिनगिरि कन्ये तुलयितुम्

कवीन्द्राः कल्पन्ते कथमपि विरिञ्चि प्रभृतयः

यदा लोकौत्सुक्यादमरललना यान्ति मनसा 

तपोभिः दुष्प्रापामपि गिरिश सायुज्य पदवीम्||

The beauty of Amma, the primordial source responsible for the immeasurable vast creation is beyond words.  Vachaspati, Lord Brahma, the foremost among poets and others like, think that they have immaculately described Her beauty.  Sankara Bhagavatpada means that, they only think so, but fail to do so!!  He further says, Amma, the celestial damsels wishing to have a glimpse of your enchanting beauty fail even after hard penance. So they think that the only way for this is to attain sayujya (oneness) with Girisa, since your divine beauty is known only to Him.

Ganapati muni in Uma Sahasram talked about the Lavanya of Amma as follows.  The daughter of Himavan known as Gauri is the most exquisite beautiful lady (uttama lavanyavati) (1.18) and She with Her lavanya rupa being delighted in presence of Girisa, is known as Lalita (27.4).

May I attain Girisa sayujyam to have the glimpse of Amma’s lavanya!!

श्रीमात्रेनमः