Names of Yoganidrā in the Brahma Purāṇa

Yoganidrā Nāmāni · yoganidrā nāmāni, “the names of Yoganidrā”

The Names of Yoganidrā are the names by which, as Bhagavān Vishṇu foretold, people would praise Yoganidrā, his Vaishṇavī Māyā, in the morning and in the afternoon: Āryā, Durgā, Vedagarbhā, Ambikā, Bhadrā, Bhadrakālī, Kshemyā and Kshemaṅkarī. They are found in the Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 181, where Vyāsa tells the munis how Bhagavān Hari descended to take away the burden of the earth. Bhagavān Vishṇu gives them at the close of his charge to Yoganidrā before the birth of Śrī Kṛshṇa, and promises that by his grace all who praise her will gain what they desire.

The setting

Vyāsa tells the munis that when dharma declines and adharma grows, Janārdana is born yuga after yuga to protect the good, establish dharma and restrain the wicked. Long ago Bhūdevī, oppressed by the daityas born as kings, went to the assembly of the devas on Meru and asked to be freed of her burden. Brahmā led the devas to the shore of the ocean of milk and praised Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bhagavān Vishṇu plucked two hairs from his head, one white and one black, and said that they would descend on earth and remove her burden; one would be born as the eighth child of Devakī and slay Kaṃsa. The devas came down to earth with their aṃśas.

Nidrā Devī, Yoganidrā, is the Vaishṇavī Māyā by whom, in the form of avidyā, the whole world is deluded. Bhagavān Hari charged her: to bring the six sons from Pātāla, who in their first birth were sons of Hiraṇyakaśipu, one by one into Devakī’s womb; to draw the seventh child, an aṃśa of Śesha, into the womb of Rohiṇī in Gokula, so that he would be known as Saṅkarshaṇa; and to be born herself from Yaśodā’s womb when he took birth from Devakī at midnight on Śrāvaṇa bahula ashṭamī in the rainy season. Kaṃsa would seize her and dash her on a rock, but she would rise into the sky, and Indra, out of reverence for Bhagavān Vishṇu, would bow to her again and again and honour her as his sister. She would slay Śumbha, Niśumbha and thousands of other daityas, and adorn the earth in many places in many forms.

Her śaktis

Bhagavān Vishṇu said to her: “You are Bhūti (prosperity), Sannati (humility), Kīrti (fame), Kānti (radiance), Pṛthivī (the earth), Dhṛti (steadfastness), Lajjā (modesty), Pushṭi (nourishment), Rushā (wrath), and whatever śaktis there are, all of them are you.”

The names

“People will bow to you and praise you in many ways, in the morning and in the afternoon, as:

Āryā,
Durgā,
Vedagarbhā,
Ambikā,
Bhadrā,
Bhadrakālī,
Kshemyā,
Kshemaṅkarī.”

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 181

The phala

“By my grace all that they desire will come to them. Those men who worship you with offerings of kallu, of meat, and of foods to chew and eat, to whom you are gracious and grant all their wishes, all of them, at all times, by my grace, will become auspicious and blessed. There is no doubt. Devī, go as I have said.”