the meaning of navaratri- the conquest of demons within!

[Guest guest]

Why do we celebrate Navratri?>by Jyotinanda Malekzadeh

 

I will try to tell from my true nature with

intellect what does this mean. I feel Navratri is the

celebration of the divine Mother: the entire perceivable

universe (Chandi, The Highest Meaning of theGoddess) and

the imperceptible subtle being (Chandi, Fourth

Chapter)that is the source of everything, or the relative

world and the absolute world.

 

Mother can be described,but not known,using any of those intellectual

constructs that pair what seem to be two opposites as one

phenomena. The classic example uses fire and heat. Though

they are intellectually objectified as two distinct

parts, we experience fire as an inseparable entity.

Mother is that way ,too. She is Hrim: The three worlds

and that which is beyond maniefestation, thus, she is

the totality of existence.(Shiva Puja, Hriileka

nyaasa).

 

We experience her fullness of existence in every

breath we take,yet we don't know that it is she who

dwells closest to us.(Chandi, Rigvedoktam Devi Suktam)

So Navaratri is the celebration of the Divine Mother

in all her diversity and how She helps us to regain

our divine essence through recognition that we are

none other than her. During Navratri we celebrate the

victory of the Goddess over the forces of duality, the

forces and energies which make us think that we are

separate from Mother.

 

The principal scripture, the Chandi

depicts the pyschological drama through which we pass to

come to realize who we are. The internal battles

fought are ferocious and seemingly interminable

especially the one fought with the Great Ego, the subtlest

of all demons with his myriad cohorts and advisors

of duality.

 

Navratri is a time for aconscious and rigorous examination of our own

lives. For nine days, we pray to the three Goddesses:

Mahalakshmi, Mahakali, and Mahasaraswati who wield many

weapons to cut away at the demons, the confusions that

keep us away from our divine nature.(Chandi, Navarna

Vidhi) While the weapons are the attitudes we assume,

and like weapons of war, their intention is to

destroy, the goddesses are none other than our selves

seeking to reestablish our divinity.

 

During this self-examination we have to be very honest with ourselves

and this attempt at honesty, what Swamiji calls Indra (Rule of the

Pure),a new wave of demons and confusions arise who want

to obscure the truth.

 

Despite all the battling,the nature of Navratri is redemptive because

it gives us a second chance at restoring ourself and

reconnecting with our divine nature. Actually because it

happens four times, there are four chances a year each

with nine days!

 

Apparently, the sages of long ago

recognized the inevitability of the Great Ego to raise its

ugly head at any time and the need to tame it

immediately. Mahalaya which preceeds each of the four

Navratris means the Great Dissolution. It is a time when

all of creation is destroyed and then recreated with

the help of the Nine Durgas.

 

The whole process of dissolution and creation gives us another chance

at reworking ourselves and our perceptions of the

world around us. Each of the Nine Durgas is part of the

creative process of Navaratri allowing for the

construction of a portion of a new creation on one of each of

the nine days. The first being the Goddess of

inspiration who initiates the whole process with a vision, a

ruup of who we want to be.

 

Then follows the Goddess ofSacred Study who begins to mold the vision

and flesh our the concepts.

There is a goddess of practice, and so

on.

Each of the Durga's effects is cumulative and

recursive, and possibly sequential; explained by Swamiji as

united in succession. Each Durga performs a specific

function until the final Durga who is the grantor of

perfection manifests on the ninth and tenth days as our

newselves, victorious over the Great Ego and transformed

with reinvigorated resolve to live as closely as we

can to the spirit of Mother's life.

>From sreemaa's devi mandir

 

om sree durgayaii namha!!!!!