To find absolution, discard all desire! (Bhaṇḍāsura-vadhodyukta-śakti-senā-samanvitā)
In the realm where ignorance weaves its dark shroud,
Mother Lalitha stands, radiant and proud,
Destroyer of desires that bind the soul.
Her army, a pantheon of goddesses so grand,
Assembled to vanquish Bhaṇḍāsura from the land,
Each a force in the Śrī Cakra's sacred scroll.
Born from the ashes of Manmatha's demise,
Bhaṇḍāsura, the embodiment of ignorance and lies,
Crafted by Gaṇeśa, but lost in a darker role.
"Jñānam bhandaḥ," the Śiva Sūtra's wise call,
Ignorance the chain, in its shadow we fall,
But knowledge shines, to enlighten the soul.
In Lalitha's gaze, ānava mala fades,
She guides the jīva through consciousness's shades,
To realize the Brahman, the ultimate goal.
With intense awareness, her śakti-s unite,
Dissolving illusion, ending the eternal fight,
In her war against ignorance, she plays her role.
For Lalitha's grace liberates from birth's cycle,
Her war not of weapons, but wisdom, a vital,
A call to awaken, in self-realization's console.
Against Bhaṇḍāsura, her Shakti-senā's might,
Symbolizes her acts of creation, and light's right,
In her cosmic battle, she makes the soul whole.
So, in Lalitha's name, let ignorance dispel,
For in her wisdom, the soul finds its well,
And in her light, we find liberation's goal.
-Mani