The Symbolic Meaning of Goddess Durga

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Dassera or Vijayadashami is celebrated all over India, with great

pomp, on the tenth day of the bright fortnight, in the month of

Ashwin. It is essentially a festival to celebrate the eternal

triumph of good over evil. It is always in honour of Goddess Durga,

who is called Dasa-Buja, or "having ten arms."

 

In these festivities, she carries Shiva's trishul, Varuna's conch-

shell, Shesha's snakes, Agni's dart and Vishnu's discus. These

weapons of destruction signify that -- although the Goddess is a

compassionate, loving mother-figure -- if rubbed the wrong way, she

can destroy all evil doers, teaching them a lesson they will never

forget for life. Then again, these weapons are used against various

vices; e.g., ego must be destroyed by Varuna's bow, while jealousy

is killed by the dart.

 

Varuna's conch-shell symbolises the sound of silence, the word, the

Naad-Brahma, often represented by the maha-mula-mantra Aum, the

sound of creation (A), sustaining (U) and destruction (M). Thus, she

is in charge of all moral order on the physical realms of existence -

- and if she cannot restore it by means of a mother's kind

compassion, she doesn't hesitate to bash up the baddies.

 

If you see the etymology of the proper noun "Durga" in Sanskrit, it

means "an enclosed place which is unreachable." She was evoked by

the three Gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (Maheshwara), for the sole

purpose of destroying the demons. Now, the demons are an allegory

for human vices like greed, jealousy, insulting behaviour, harming

others, prejudice, etc.

 

The Goddess always wears red. The lady in red symbolises destruction

(hence the colour of blood) of all that is crass and base in human

nature. She rides a tiger, denoting that she is fearless. She has

other names such as Parvati, Kali, Narayani and Ambika. In

Maharashtra, she is Goddess Bhavani, who was always invoked for her

blessings by Shivaji Maharaj before he went for any battle.

 

As a celestial mother-figure, she has all the feminine attributes.

She bestows material prosperity and her knowledge is immense, which

is why, for those seekers on the spiritual path, she gives

tremendous protection -- so much so that if anyone hurts any of her

children, she destroys that person completely. If used for good

purpose, she bestows spiritual energy to her devotees and protects

them from evil people.

 

Today, Dassera has degenerated into street entertainment for nine

nights or Navratri involving obscene amounts of money and obscenity

among immature boys and girls. There's dancing, loud music, disco-

dandyas and very little knowledge about the festival or the Goddess.

Mother Durga watches all this with pain and compassion in her eyes!!

 

SOURCE: Cybernoon, Mumbai. An editorial by well-known columnist and

writer Ruby Lilaowala. Wednesday, September 27, 2006 10:58:46 IST

URL: http://www.cybernoon.com/DisplayArticle.asp?

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