Lalita Sahasranamam — Word-by-Word Meaning

I meditate upon the Supreme Mother (Para-Ambika) — vermilion-red of body, three-eyed, crowned with rubies and the crescent moon, smiling of face, bearing in Her hands a jewel-cup of mead and a red lotus, Her feet resting upon a jewelled pitcher. I contemplate the great Empress Bhavani, rosy-hued, Her eyes brimming with compassion, holding the noose, the goad, the flowery arrow and the sugarcane bow, surrounded on every side by rays of power (animā and the rest). She is Sri Vidya, the embodiment of peace, praised by all the gods, the giver of every wealth. The thousand names that follow — revealed in the Uttara-khanda of the Brahmanda Purana, taught by the sage Hayagriva to Agastya — proclaim Her as Sri Mata, the Auspicious Mother; Sri Maharajni, the Great Empress enthroned upon the lion-seat; born of the fire of Consciousness to accomplish the mission of the gods; radiant as a thousand suns, four-armed, holding the noose of desire, the goad of anger, the mind-bow and the five arrows of the subtle elements. They sing of Her as the Queen of Sripura within the Chintamani palace at the heart of the Sri Chakra, as the Kundalini rising through the chakras to shower nectar at the thousand-petalled lotus, as Maha-Tripura-Sundari, Rajarajeshwari and the union of Shiva and Shakti — the remover of all disease and death, and the bestower of liberation. To recite Her thousand names with devotion is held to be the surest worship of the Mother for those who cannot perform the worship of the Sri Chakra.