Navaratri Festival

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This festival occurs twice a year, at the change from winter to

summer in the Spring, and again at the change from summer to winter

in the Autumn. The Autumn festival is celebrated from the first day

to the ninth day of the bright half of Ashvina/Aswayuja (September-

October), while the Spring Festival is celebrated in Chaitra (April -

May). The two Navaratri celebrations are known as Rama-Navaratri in

Chaitra and Durga Navaratri in Ashvina. The celebration of Navaratri

is in honor of the great Mother Goddess. The festival lasts for nine

days, signifying the nine glorious aspects of the Divine Mother.

 

Indian tradition is one of the few traditions in which the Feminine

aspect of the divine is worshipped with as much reverence as the

Masculine aspect. Throughout India you will see thousands of temples

dedicated to various manifestations of the Divine Mother. You will

find hundreds of thousands of people who are " Shakti worshippers. "

 

Shakti is the energy of the Lord. Without the divine Shakti, even

God is powerless. The creative aspect (Lord Brahma), the sustaining

aspect (Lord Vishnu) and the destructive aspect (Lord Shiva) all

have their respective Shaktis who provide the cosmic energy and

omnipotent power needed for these great feats.

 

Additionally, everything for which we pray – knowledge, prosperity,

love – these are all manifest in the Divine Feminine. Goddess

Saraswati is the Goddess of knowledge. Maha Laxmi is the Goddess of

prosperity. This shows that without the Divine Mother, our prayers

would be in vain, and our wishes would go unanswered.

 

So, Navaratri is the time of worship of the Divine Mother. Beautiful

Pujas, Havans and Aartis are performed for Her. Through singing Her

glories we pray that She will purify our lives and bring us health,

happiness, peace and prosperity.

 

This victory, and other beautiful stories associated with Goddess

Durga, are celebrated with great fervor throughout different parts

of India. Shakti Puja is performed in elaborate and lavish ways.

 

The nine days of the festival also represent the three stages

through which one passes on the spiritual path. During the first

three days, the Mother is worshipped in her powerful, destructive,

terrifying aspect. Many people, when beginning the spiritual path,

have an inherent fear of God; therefore this first phase of

Navaratri represents the first stage of a spiritual path. During

these three days, the devotee prays to the Mother to use Her

destructive power to destroy his imperfections and his faults. He

prays for Her to make him pure enough to receive the divine energy.

Additionally, this terrifying aspect of the Divine is the one who

protects the new spiritual seeker on his path. Thus, the first three

days of Navratri are devoted to annihilating the negative tendencies

of our minds and hearts.

 

The second three days of Navaratri are days in which the Mother is

worshipped in Her prosperity-bestowing form. Once the negative

tendencies have been annihilated, one is ready to begin developing a

positive, spiritual personality. These are the days that positive

attributes replace the negative attributes which were removed. These

days are the worship of Maha Lakshmi, the bestower of prosperity. On

the spiritual path, after people overcome the fear of God, they

frequently pray for material wealth or external prosperity. They

pray for success in their ventures and for the removal of

obstructions in their path. The prosperity Maha Laxmi bestows is not

merely material prosperity, but it is also all of the qualities

which a sincere spiritual seeker craves - calmness, peace,

equanimity, compassion, love.

 

During the last three days, Goddess Saraswati is worshipped as the

bestowal of true wisdom and understanding. Once the devotee has been

purified by Goddess Durga and has had his vices annihilated, and

once he has had the spiritual wealth of inner peace, calmness,

compassion and love bestowed upon him by Maha Laxmi, then he is

ready to receive the true light of understanding. This wisdom can

not come unless the devotee has passed through the first two stages.

Just as one would not pour divine nectar into an unclean, broken and

impure cup, one can similarly not expect to have divine wisdom

granted unless the vessel has been purified and made divine.

 

Frequently on the spiritual path, seekers wish to attain divine

knowledge without first purifying themselves and attaining positive

qualities. This is impossible, however. The true light of Divine

Wisdom can only be bestowed once the seeker has annihilated his

negative tendencies and begun to develop a positive, spiritual

attitude.

 

Therefore, Navarati should be a time of not only celebrating Goddess

Durga's triumph over the evil demon, but rather it should also be a

time of praying to Goddess Durga to remove the evil from within us,

not only the evil in the external world. We must pray to her to

annihilate our inner enemies — our ego, our greed, our anger — just

as she vanquished the evil demon. These traits inside us are just as

powerful, just as insidious, and just as deadly as any of the Asuras

or Rakshasas.

 

Let us note also that Goddess Durga wears red, which symbolizes

divine action. The Goddess is never idle. She is always busy in the

destruction of evil in the world. As we vow to remove the evil from

our own hearts and our own lives, we must be just as vigilant, just

as active and just as conscientious. We must never become

complacent; for anger, greed, ego, and lust are always present,

always lurking, and always ready to make home in welcoming hearts.

 

Regards

Prasanna Kumar

Group Owner