NAVRATRI
Navaratri (“nine nights”), Nava means “nine” and Ratri means “night”. The Lord in the form of the Mother Goddess is worshipped in Her various forms as Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. Though the Goddess is one, She is represented and worshipped in three different aspects. On the first three nights of the festival, Durga is worshipped. On the following three, Lakshmi and then Saraswati Devi on the last three nights. The following tenth day is called Vijayadasami. Vijaya means “victory”, the victory over our own minds that can come only when we have worshipped these three: Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Durga Devi Havana (sacrifice), we invoke that Divine Power within us to destroy our decadent tendencies.
The nine days of the festival also represent the three stages. During the first three days, The Mother is worshipped in her powerful, destructive, terrifying aspect. First three days, the devotee prays to the Mother to use her destructive power to destroy their imperfections and their faults. We prays for Her to make us pure enough to receive the divine energy. Thus, the first three days of Navratri are devoted to annihilating the negative tendencies of our minds and hearts. Shakti is the energy of the Lord. Without the divine Shakti, (MA DURGA or MA KALI) even God is powerless. Additionally, everything for which we pray – knowledge, prosperity, and love – is manifest in the Divine Feminine. Maha Laxmi is the Goddess of prosperity. Goddess Saraswati is the Goddess of knowledge.
This shows that without the Divine Mother, our prayers would be in worthless. 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. During Navratri, some devotees of Durga or kali, observe a fast and prayers are offered for the protection of health and prosperity. A period of introspection and purification, Navratri is traditionally an auspicious and religious time for starting new ventures.
Navratri is celebrated as the time that Goddess Durga (Shakti) conquered the evil demon, Mahishasura, It is said that Mahishasura was dominion horror over the world and nobody was capable to destroy him. Thus, all God approached Goddess Durga – also known as Shakti – together and gave Her their weapons. Thus armed with Divine Shakti and the most powerful weapons, She conquered the demon. She was most capable but she got the help from all. She had fighting for nine straight nights. On the tenth day, Vijaya Dasami, the demons was destroyed or kill. “Mahisha” meaning “buffalo.” Isn’t there a buffalo in our minds as well? The buffalo stands for Tamo-guna, the quality of laziness, darkness, ignorance and inertia. We have these qualities too. We love to sleep. Although we may have a lot of energy and potential inside us, we prefer to do nothing - just like the buffalo that likes to lie in pools of water and we sit with computer, IPod.. etc. In the Puraanic story, Durga Devi’s killing of the Mahisha demon is, symbolically, the destruction of the Tamo-guna within us that is very difficult to destroy.
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. Our worship of Sakthi reconfirms the scientific theory that energy is constant and imperishable. It is always in one form and it cannot be created or destroyed. Hinduism is the only religion in the world, which gives so much importance to the mother aspect of God because we believe that the mother is the creative aspect of the absolute.
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, they frequently pray for material wealth or prosperity. They pray for success in their life and for the removal of obstructions in their path. The prosperity Maha Laxmi bestows is not only for the material prosperity, but it is also for the– calmness, peace, generosity, compassion, and love. For knowledge to dawn within us, we have to prepare our minds. The mind must be pure, concentrated, and single-pointed; this purification of the mind is obtained through the worship of Lakshmi Devi. In our society today, however, when we think of “Lakshmi”, we think only counting dollar bills..and gold! Everybody likes Lakshmi Puja (Lakshmi worship) because they think she represents material wealth. But what is real wealth? Even if we have material wealth but no self-discipline or self-control, nor the values of love, kindness, respect and sincerity, all our material wealth will be lost or destroyed. The real wealth is the inner wealth of spiritual values that we practice in our lives, by which our minds become purified. Only when we have these noble values, we will be able to preserve our material wealth and make good use of it. Otherwise, money itself becomes a problem. In Taittriya Upanishad, They first asked to have all the noble virtues fully developed in them because in the absence of right values and good qualities, all our money will be wasted, and there are countless examples of this in the world around us. Our wealth of virtues is our true Lakshmi. Its importance is shown by the fact that Adi Shankaracharya himself, in Vivekachudamani, describes that sat sampati, or six forms of wealth (calmness of mind, self-control, self withdrawal, forbearance, faith and single-pointedness) that are to be cultivated to attain wisdom. These virtues are important because our goal is victory over the mind. The victory such that we do not get disturbed by every change that takes place in our lives. This victory comes only when the mind is prepared, and this mental preparation is the symbolism of the Lakshmi Puja.
During the last three days, Goddess Saraswati is worshipped as of true wisdom and understanding. Once the devotee has been purified by Ma Durga 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 cannot 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. Victory over the mind can be gained only through knowledge, through understanding; and it is Goddess Saraswati who represents this highest knowledge of the Self. Although there are many kinds of knowledge of Science, Engineering.. etc.. but the real, knowledge is in the spiritual knowledge. Lord Krishna himself says in the Bhagavad Gita: “The knowledge of the Self is the knowledge”; and He adds, “It is my vibhuti, my glory.” In other words, we may have knowledge of many other subjects and sciences but if we do not know OUR OWN SELF, then that is the greatest loss. Therefore, the supreme knowledge is the knowledge of the Self that is represented by Goddess Saraswati.
Thus, at Navaratri, Goddess Durga is invoked first to remove impurities from the mind. The Goddess Lakshmi is invoked to cultivate the noble values and qualities. Finally, Saraswati is invoked for gaining the highest knowledge of the Self. This is the significance of the three sets of three nights when all these three are gained subjectively, and then there will be Vijayadasami, the day of true victory!
At Navaratri time, the Rasa dance of Sri Krishna and the Gopis is also performed. As the mind becomes purer, calmer quieter, and more cheerful and greater understanding is gained, do we not feel happier? Similarly, the Rasa dance is the dance of joy and realization. However, now a day, the theme of the Rasa seems to have been lost in our society. The true meaning and purpose of the ritual is often forgotten, as more importance is given to other types of dancing.
Navaratri festival celebrated at Nighttime generally, the time when we go to sleep, so the spiritual message is, “You have lived long enough in the sleepy ignorance of Tamo-guna. It is time to wake up now. Please wake up!” For a puja, unfortunately, we are never willing to stay up late and so we ask, “What time will it end?” For a party, we never ask this question. If the party ends at 1.00 A.M., we say “What! The party is finished?! What kind of a party is that?!” Yet we find it difficult to stay awake for a puja!
Not everyone, it is true, will be of the intellectual type to appreciate everything philosophically. Therefore, philosophy or spiritual truth must be demonstrated visually in some ritualistic form. In this way, when children are first introduced to it, they enjoy a dance or a festival, and then later begin to question, “What is this dance? Why are we doing this Puja? What is the meaning of Navaratri?” So the purpose of the concretized ritual is fulfilled when these questions begin to arise in the children’s minds. Unfortunately, when we take our children to functions at the temples and they begin to ask questions about what they see, we cannot answer them. Yet when the children revolt later as teenagers, we say, “What happened to the children? These kids are terrible. We never used to question our religion!”
We take pride in the fact that we never used to question anything, but it would have been better if we had asked questions and found out. Why did we not ask? Because of intellectual inertia. Inertia is of different kinds. Physical inertia is not as bad because it is usually temporary. There are also mental or emotional stupors that some people remain in, but the intellectual inertia is the worst kind because under its influence, we do not want to think at all. It is said that people can live without air for two minutes, without water for a few days, without food for a month or so, and without thinking for generations! Some people just do not want to think. This is our inner Mahisha (the lazy buffalo), and our spiritual Mahisha is that we do not want to wake up from this sleep of ignorance.
As we can see, the theme of the entire Vedas is reflected in the Navaratri festival: Purify the mind and remove all negativities; cultivate positive virtues; gain spiritual knowledge and transcend limitations. This is the real victory - the dance of joy - ritualistically performed at night, as it is also on Shivaratri (auspicious night), to signify our spiritual awakening. 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, Navaratri 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. 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 dangerous, and just as deadly as any of the Rakshasas.
In Kerala, three days: Ashtami, Navami, and Vijaya Dashami of Sharada Navaratri are celebrated as Sarasvati Puja in which books are worshipped. The books are placed for Puja on the Ashtami day in their own houses, traditional nursery schools, or in temples. On Vijaya Dashami day, the books are ceremoniously taken out for reading and writing after worshipping Sarasvati. Vijaya Dashami day is considered auspicious for initiating the children into writing and reading, which is called Vidyarambham. Tens of thousands of children are initiated into the world of letters on this day in Kerala.
In Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, people celebrate Bathukamma festival over a period of nine days. It is a kind of Navratri celebration. In North India, as the culmination of the Ramlila which is enacted ceremoniously during Dussehra, the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and Meghanada are burnt to celebrate the victory of good (Rama) over evil forces on the 'Vijaya Dashami' day.
In Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, people celebrate Bathukamma festival over a period of nine days. It is a kind of Navratri celebration. In North India, as the culmination of the Ramlila which is enacted ceremoniously during Dussehra, the effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakarna, and Meghanada are burnt to celebrate the victory of good (Rama) over evil forces on the 'Vijaya Dashami' day.
Devi bhagavatam notes that Rama meditated and fasted for nine days after Sita was kidnapped by Ravana. There are numerous such incidents on how people's wishes were granted.
The Bhagavata Purana mentions 25. However, the ten most prominent incarnations of Lord Vishnu are referred to as `Dashavatara'. `Dasha' refers to the number `ten' and `Avataras' implies the `descent ‘the Lord who is in the Vaikunta Paramapadam chooses to come down to the Earth. The ten avataras are: Matsya, Kurma, Varaaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Balarama (an alternative list includes Buddha in place of Balarama) and Kalki. The first four of the ten avataras appeared in the Satya Yuga (the first of the four Yugas or ages that comprise one Mahayuga). The next three avataras appeared in the Treta Yuga, the eighth incarnation and ninth (Balarama) in the Dwapara Yuga (Buddha, considered the ninth avatara, appeared in the Kali Yuga). The tenth is expected to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga. Usually in the Kolupadi in almost all housed Dolls, symbolizing the Dasavatharam will be placed. For creativity, Decoration aspects and tradional background will be depicted in the Dolls arranged in order on the planks induces one to look with admiration. Kaleidoscopic Dolls set in order depicting the Puranic stories and modern life
The Bhagavata Purana mentions 25. However, the ten most prominent incarnations of Lord Vishnu are referred to as `Dashavatara'. `Dasha' refers to the number `ten' and `Avataras' implies the `descent ‘the Lord who is in the Vaikunta Paramapadam chooses to come down to the Earth. The ten avataras are: Matsya, Kurma, Varaaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Parasurama, Rama, Krishna, Balarama (an alternative list includes Buddha in place of Balarama) and Kalki. The first four of the ten avataras appeared in the Satya Yuga (the first of the four Yugas or ages that comprise one Mahayuga). The next three avataras appeared in the Treta Yuga, the eighth incarnation and ninth (Balarama) in the Dwapara Yuga (Buddha, considered the ninth avatara, appeared in the Kali Yuga). The tenth is expected to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga. Usually in the Kolupadi in almost all housed Dolls, symbolizing the Dasavatharam will be placed. For creativity, Decoration aspects and tradional background will be depicted in the Dolls arranged in order on the planks induces one to look with admiration. Kaleidoscopic Dolls set in order depicting the Puranic stories and modern life
- Festivals help exercise self control!
- Festivals not only help to increase devotion, but also bond the society!
- Shrīrām and Goddess Sree Durgā fought evil during Navarātri
- Dassera: A triumph of good over evil
- Worshipping the three forms of Goddess for spiritual benefits!
- Durgā - the Nations strength and wealth!
- Nature of celebrating Navarātri today only spreads Demoniac traits!
- Malpractices which have killed the devotional elements of Navarātri
- Garbi and Garbā - to appease the Goddess!
- Women in Gujarat were taught the Divine 'Lasya' !
- Dandiya symbolizes the war against our own defects!
- The Piety of Navarātri has been replaced by obscenity
- Today's Garbā - a story of lust, unwed mothers and abortions!
- It is criminal to celebrate ostentatiously when the Nation is in a crisis!
- Step forward to stop malpractices!
HAPPY NAVRATRI Rita Sheth
