NAVRATRI - a

[Guest guest]

A religious festival or utsav is a religious

function in which those celebrating it or participating in

it experience joy, Bliss and mental

peace.<br><br>Dharma (Righteousness) teaches that ‘there are as many

temperaments as there are people and a corresponding number of

paths of spiritual practice’. This is the basic

principle of sadhana or spiritual practice. Doing spiritual

practice in a group occurs to a less extent. In spite of

this, festivals are celebrated so that man overcomes

the social limitations and tries to blend with

society at least to some extent, forgetting all

differences such as those of status, caste and class,

literacy etc. By celebrating these religious festivals

some attempt is made in this direction by practicing

spirituality in a collective way. Those participating actively

in such festivals benefit spiritually to some

extent. <br><br>Any action in relation to God is to

increase the sattva guna or the component of purity and

spiritual knowledge within oneself. A person with

pre-dominant sattva guna gives happiness to others without

thinking about his own happiness or unhappiness. It does

not decrease ones own happiness. In fact it generates

100% happiness in oneself. A person with pre-dominant

raja guna, that is, the component of action and

passion, thinks about his own happiness without causing

unhappiness to others. A Tamasic individual, full of lethargy

and inertia will achieve happiness only by causing

unhappiness to others. The people who celebrate this festival

will benefit spiritually by increasing the sattva guna

of the Trigunas or three components. <br><br>Most of

the Hindu festivals are celebrated in the

‘Chaturmas’, which means four months. They are from Shravan to

Kartik (July to October). In these four months the Yama

vibrations, which have a predominant tama guna are in the

maximum. To counter affect this, it is essential to

increase the sattvikta or purity level. It is beneficial

for us to understand the science behind the

celebration of religious festivals. In fact, in our daily

lives, we should practice a certain amount of

discipline. But very often it is lacking. It is expected that

at least by means of these festivals we may be able

to bring discipline, which can gradually become a

way of life. <br><br>Today’s day-to-day life is very

stressful and causes monotony and depression. Celebrating

religious festivals help us to forget the routineness of

daily life. People get opportunities to display

cultural and artistic talents and work with enthusiasm.

They work in unity and generate a lot of new ideas.

This is also beneficial to society. Hence, humanity

can progress. It is also important that through these

festivals we are able to increase our faith in God and

religion. <br><br>The festival of Navaratri is a festival,

which is celebrated as enthusiastically as the Ganapati

festival. Sage Narada asked Lord Rama to perform this

‘vrat’ or vowed religious observance to enable Him to

slay Ravana. After completion of this observance, Lord

Rama attacked Lanka and finally killed Ravana. The

female deity, Devi, combated with the demon, Mahishasur

for nine days from the first (pratipada) to the ninth

day (navami) and finally slayed him on the ninth

night. Since then She has come to be known as

“Mahishasuramardini”, the slayer of Mahishasur. This victory is

celebrated on the tenth day (dashami) and is called

Dasra.<br><br>Continue.....<br><br>Love<br>Sanatan <br>Glenn-Sampada