So this begins the auspicious introduction to Śrī Lalitā-sahasranāmam, the thousand names of Goddess Lalitā; the most beautiful and powerful prayer. In the opening you heard:

अरुणां करुणा-तरंगिताक्षीं धृत-पाशांकुश-पुष्प-बाण-चापाम्।

aruṇāṁkaruṇā-taraṁgitākṣīṁ dhṛta-pāśāṅkuśa-puṣpa-bāṇa-cāpām |

“I meditate on Bhāvanī: Āmbā, the supreme happiness, whose color is like the Sun at dawn—in other words red—and from whom rays of light are emanating. Her compassion for Her devotees comes out of Her eyes like waves of the ocean. She has four hands. In the rear hands She holds two weapons: pāśām (lassoo) and ankuṣam (elephant goad). In the front hands, She holds a bow made of sugarcane and arrows made of flowers. I meditate on Her form called Bhavānī, the state of supreme happiness, with beams of light.”

So this is called the dhyānam. Before every stotram or prayer, there is a verse that defines the object of meditation, and this is called the dhyānam-śloka. You’ll find it in every Sahasranāmam, or in every major prayer. So this practice is to focus our minds on Devī—Śakti, the goddess in Her most auspicious form. What does auspicious mean? It means, it gives good results in the future.

There are two kinds of happiness: immediate happiness and extended happiness; happiness that we get right now, and happiness that we pile up for the future. So this kind of prayer, either hearing or reciting, give us happiness in the future. It’s called śreyas; whereas immediate happiness is called preyas, and from which comes our English word pray. ‘God, I want this right now!’ But God is not our order-supplier. He’s not our servant. God is more like the controller; that which manifests.

So, any manifestation takes some time. Try to understand: it’s not that you can pray for something and get it right away. That’s not how it works—unless, of course, you’re praying for a particular state of mind. But even in that case, it takes some time to adjust everything. So really we should be interested in śreyas: eventual happiness, future happiness, happiness in the next birth even. So these prayers don’t give immediate results, but they very quickly give results.