The Secret Doctrine of Goddess Lalita
(Sri LalitaAṣṭottara Rahasyārthamu)
32. mṛtyumathanī 33.nirbhavā
She who destroys death.
She who is without origin.
When the limited sense of me and mine are destroyed in the Oneness of the Self, there is no more death to the jīvā. Ego (me) and attachment (mine) are the reason for death. Change is death. Only the finite is subject to change, not the Infinite and Immutable. Once we have transcended the finite body and attained the Supreme Self, whatever we perceived earlier as a separate world will now appear as a manifestation of śakti.
When the notion of “I” and “mine” merge into the formless Consciousness, there is nothing left that can change. When there is no change, there is no death. That is why Devī is called mṛtyumathanī, the one who destroys death. As the formless, attribute-less Pure Consciousness, Devī transcends death. As the immortal One, She bestows immortality.
Immortality is the very nature of the Self. When we say there is no death, we also mean there is no life after death. Because we forget our immortal nature, we erroneously assume we will die. If we mediate on Devī who is mṛtyumathanī (the destroyer of death) as our very own Self, we will realize that death is non-existent. When there is no death, life flows smoothly with no obstruction. Not life as the physical body, but life as Consciousness. Consciousness is ever present, never absent. When we realize there is no death, we also realize there is no birth. The nāma nirbhavā signifies this truth. The word bhava means birth. Birth is at one end of life and death at the other end. When there is no end called death, there can be no beginning called birth. mṛtyumathanī means no death, and nirbhavā means no origin or birth. If we contemplate on these nāma-s of Devī, we will transcend birth and death and attain the immortal Self. This is the essence of these two mantras.