Why Devi Is Addressed as Swaha and Swadha

ब्रह्मोवाच
त्वं स्वाहा त्वं स्वधा त्वं हि वषट्कारः स्वरात्मिका
सुधा त्वमक्षरे नित्ये त्रिधामात्रात्मिका स्थिता

Brahma is praising Yoganidra Devi. He is addressing her as हे अक्षरे, हे नित्ये. 'Kshara' means kshaya, vinasha, depletion. 'Akshara' means without destruction, without depletion. She is always the same, and she is eternal, nitya. There is no time—in the past, present, or future—when she is not there.

त्वं स्वाहा—'Swaha' is the suffix added to mantras when offering ahutis with them. If you don't add 'Swaha,' then the ahuti will not reach the devata for whom it is meant. For example, if you say 'Om Namo Narayanaya' and offer ghee in Agni, nothing will happen. You have to say, 'Om Namo Narayanaya Swaha,' and then offer ahuti. Then only it will go to Narayana. 'Swaha' is the enabler. 'Swaha' is the force, shakti, which will enable Agni to carry this ahuti to Narayana. 'Swaha' is the dahaka shakti in Agni; 'Swaha' is the vahaka shakti in Agni. Dahaka shakti is not just physical burning. The material offered in Agni has to be burned in a specific way so that it can be carried by Agni, and the recipient devata can consume it as well. This shakti is provided by Swaha. When 'Swaha' is pronounced, then only Agni gets this power. Without 'Swaha,' it is simply physical burning. And this 'Swaha' is Jagadeeshwari Mahamaya. Brahma is saying त्वं स्वाहा—you are Swaha.

Swaha is patni of Agni. Like Brahma’s patni Saraswathy is his shakti, Vishnu’s patni Lakshmi is his shakti, Shiva’s patni Parvathy is his shakti—in the same manner, Agni’s patni Swaha is his shakti, and Swaha is Devi Mahamaya herself.

त्वं स्वधा—you are Swadha. Just like Swaha, when something is offered to Pitrus, the suffix is 'Swadha.' Swadha is Pitru patni. Anything given to Pitrus will go to them only if 'Swadha' is pronounced. 'Swaha' and 'Swadha' are sometimes used as prefixes also. So, whatever we offer to Devas and Pitrus, it will reach them only when Devi’s shakti is involved. She is the provider of annam, food, both to Devas and Pitrus.

त्रिधामात्रात्मिका—
The vowels in Sanskrit alphabets, swaraksharas, starting from अ and ending with अः, are of three durations—Hrasva, Deergha, and Pluta. Hrasva’s duration is a single matra. Deergha’s duration is double of that. Pluta’s duration is three times that (अ, आ, and आ३). All the swaraksharas are Devi only. All the swaraksharas existing with these three durations are Devi only. She is the atma of swaraksharas.

And the vyanjanaksharas—kavarga, chavarga etc.—are of ardhamatras. Their duration is half of that of hraswa akshara. One point to be noted here: when we pronounce kakara (क), it is a combination of vyanjanakshara क् and the hraswa swara अ. (क् + अ = क). The vyanjanaksharas by themselves cannot be pronounced. Even when we say क्, that is not the actual vyanjanakshara; it still has got some अ added to it. You cannot pronounce a vyanjanakshara by itself. You always need to add a swara to it, like क, कि, कु, to pronounce the vyanjanakshara क्. That is why it is said vyanjanas are अनुच्चार्या. So, both tridhamatras and ardhamatras are she only.

There are two more terms here:
Vashatkara—'Vashatkara' is another suffix or prefix used in yajnas, sometimes for invocation and sometimes in specific ahutis. She only empowers 'Vashatkara.'

And she is the sudha, amruta, nectar that is present in the aksharas. Aksharas are eternal. Even after pralaya, they come back in the same form. They are never destroyed. That is why they are called aksharas. And this immortality, amaratva, amrutatva in aksharas is Devi Mahamaya.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi