Pañca-yajña-priyā पञ्च-यज्ञ-प्रिया (946)

Pañca means five and yajña means act of worship and devotion that prevailed during Vedic period and offerings, oblations and sacrifice prevailing in post-Vedic literature. Yajña actually means sacrifice personified. 

There are two types of yajna-s, the one referred in Veda-s that has been heard or communicated from the beginning.  It is the sacred knowledge orally transmitted from generation to generation.  Rig Veda contains numerous references to rituals. Yajur Veda samhita on the other hand contains mantra-s that are to be recited at the rituals and prose passages explaining them, known as brāhmaṇā-s.  Brāhmaṇā passages guide to execute and preserve the intricacies of Vedic rituals.  The other type of yajña is referred in smṛti, the whole body of sacred tradition or what is remembered by human teachers in contradistinction to śruti. Smṛti includes the six Vedāṅga-s, the sūtra-s (both śrauta and gṛhya), the law-books of Manu, etc.

The five yajña-s referred in Veda-s are agntihotra, darśapūrṇamāsa, cāturmāsya, paśubandha and soma.  Soma ritual includes all the other four rituals and considered as the supreme among the five. 

The five yajña-s referred in smṛti-s are known as pañca mahā yajña-s.  They are Deva yajña (appeasing gods and goddesses), brahma yajña (the knower of Vedas), pitṛ yajña (for ancestors), bhūta yajna (animals, etc)  and nara or atithi yajña (nara means man and atithi means guest). Atithi is explained as a person who is entitled for hospitality).  Deva yajña is the worship to one’s kula devatā (the deity worshipped through lineage).  The study of Veda-s is the next.  Remembering our ancestors is the third.  This is performed on the anuual death days of ancestors.  The idea behind this yajña is not only to remember them, but also to remember and follow the family’s culture and values. Bhūta yajña means sharing with other living beings.  Feeding the hungry animals develops universal love.  The last one also known as manuṣya yajña (manuṣya means friendly to man), traditional hospitality extended to fellow beings. 

Pāñcarātra āgama-s prescribe five rituals for worshipping Viṣṇu.  Abhigamana (approaching Viṣṇu), upādāna (collecting pūja materials), ijya (the pūja worship), and svadhaya (repetition of Veda-s, verses-s, etc).  Viṣṇu is often praised with gadya (prose, composition not metrical yet framed in accordance with harmony, elaborate prose composition).

Chāndogya Upaniṣad (V.4 to 9) talks about five types of oblations that cause the birth of man.  They are offered by gods as oblations.  First gods offered water as oblation from which appeared Soma (moon). They offered Soma as the second oblation from which appeared rain.  They offered water as third oblation and there appeared food. They offered food as the fourth oblation and there appeared fluids of procreation.  They offered fluids of procreation as the fifth oblation and there appeared foetus.

This nāma says that She is fond of above yajña-s. 

Pañca-preta-mañcādhi-śāyinī पञ्च-प्रेत-मञ्चाधि-शायिनी (947)

Preta means cadaver.  When prāṇa leaves the body, the once existed physical body becomes preta or corpse and the soul immediately comes under the control of Pretādhipati, Lord Yama. 

The intricacies of this nāma are discussed in Saundarya Laharī (verse 92).  Pañca-preta means Brahma, Viṣṇu, Rudra, Mahādeva and Sadāśiva.  This is a correlation between the conception, where mind is involved and the perception where senses are involved.  She is seated on a throne whose legs are Brahma, Viṣṇu, Rudra and Mahādeva and whose seat is Sadāśiva. 

There are two ways of looking at this nāma.  The first way is look at the scene from philosophical doctrine.  The omnipresence nature of the Brahman is the focal point of this nāma.  Macrocosmic existence of the Brahman has been repeatedly stressed in all the Upaniṣad-s.  Brahma, Viṣṇu and other gods mentioned in this nāma are only the manifestation of the Brahman.  To enable us to understand the philosophy of creation, Veda-s have created distinct gods and goddesses to take care of each of the phenomenon in the process of creation.  Considering Lalitāmbikā as the kinetic force in the process of creation, sustenance, dissolution, annihilation and recreation, the nāma aptly refers Brahma, Viṣṇu, Rudra, Mahādeva and Sadāśiva as parts of the throne where She is seated.  It is not the name that matters, but the assignment given to them by the Brahman for effective equilibration of this universe is important. 

The other way of looking at this nāma is to resolve on the basis that without kinetic energy, the predominant static energy does not become functional. In other words, Śiva cannot be said to be the functional head of the universe, unless ably aided by His consort Lalitāmbikā, the able dynamic energy, the energy created by Śiva Himself.  Tantra loka (IV.6) says, “only by the union with Śaktī, subtle Śiva is known.  She is the ultimate unified Śaktī, the Parameśvarī, the very Self of Brahma, Viṣṇu, and Īśā.”  This nāma says that the functional heads become ineffective (dead) without the presence of divine energy infused into them by Her. The five cadavers refer to a stage where the superior functional heads turn into corpses in the absence of energy infused by Her.   This nāma decisively and authoritatively confirms Her Bramanic status. 

Please refer nāma 249 and 250 for further details.

Pañcamī पञ्चमी (948)

Pañcamī means the fifth.  Out of five gods discussed in the above nāma, Sadāśiva is considered as the Supreme, as He recreates the universe after great dissolutions (pralaya). He is also known as Pañcama and His wife is Pañcamī.  In Sadāśiva tattva, the experience of ‘I’ is more predominant than the experience of ‘this’.

Vārāhi Devi is also known as Pañcamī.  Pañcamī forms a part of one of Vārāhi mantra-s. Vārāhi has already been discussed in nāma 67.  She is one among the seven mātā-s known as sapta (seven) mātā-s and fifth in that order.  Hence Pañcamī.

The fifth oblation discussed in nāma 946 is also known as Pañcamī.

Kaivalya is the fifth and the last stage in liberation.  The other four are sālokya (being in the same sphere of deity), sarūpa (assimilation to the deity), samībhya (very very close to the deity, but as a different entity) and sayujya (intimately united with the deity).  Kaivalya, the fifth stage is where the soul is completely disconnected from the mind-stuff and the liberation is attained without further transmigrations.  Kaivalya means the complete isolation of the self.  Please also refer nāma-s 625 and 926. 

This nāma could mean all these interpretations.