Swami Sivananda Vani

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Durga Puja or Navratri

by

Swami Sivananda

 

SALUTATIONS to the Divine Mother, Durga, who exists in all beings in

the form of intelligence, mercy, beauty, who is the consort of Lord

Shiva, who creates, sustains and destroys the universe. This

festival is observed twice a year, once in the month of Chaitra and

then in Aswayuja. It lasts for nine days in honour of the nine

manifestations of Durga. During Navaratri (the word literally

means " nine nights " ) devotees of Durga observe a fast. Brahmins are

fed and prayers are offered for the protection of health and

property.

 

The beginning of summer and the beginning of winter are two very

important junctions of climatic and solar influence. These two

periods are taken as sacred opportunities for the worship of the

Divine Mother. They are indicated respectively by the Rama-Navaratri

in Chaitra (April-May) and the Durga Navaratri in Aswayuja

(September-October). The bodies and minds of people undergo a

considerable change on account of the changes in Nature. Sri Rama is

worshipped during Ramnavmi, and Mother Durga during Navaratri.

 

MOTHER DURGA

 

The Saviour from all Sorrows and Dangers

 

The Durga Puja is celebrated in various parts of India in different

styles. But the one basic aim of this celebration is to propitiate

Shakti, the Goddess in Her aspect as Power, to bestow upon man all

wealth, auspiciousness, prosperity, knowledge (both sacred and

secular), and all other potent powers. Whatever be the particular or

special request that everyone may put before the Goddess, whatever

boon may be asked of Her, the one thing behind all these is

propitiation, worship and linking oneself with Her. There is no

other aim. This is being effected consciously or unconsciously.

Everyone is blessed with Her loving mercy and is protected by Her.

 

Durga Puja or Navaratri commences on the first and ends on the tenth

day of the bright half of Aswayuja (September-October). It is held

in commemoration of the victory of Durga over Mahishasura, the

buffalo-headed demon. In Bengal Her image is worshipped for nine

days and then cast into water. The tenth day is called Vijaya Dasami

or Dussera (the " tenth day " ). Processions with Her image are taken

out along the streets of villages and cities.

 

The mother of Durga (that is, the wife of the King of the Himalayas)

longed to see her daughter. Durga was permitted by Lord Shiva to

visit her beloved mother only for nine days in the year. The

festival of Durga Puja marks this brief visit and ends with the

Vijaya Dasami day, when Goddess Durga leaves for Her return to Mount

Kailas. This is the view of some devotees.

 

In Bengal, Durga Puja is a great festival. All who live away from

home return during the Puja days. Mothers reunite with their sons

and daughters, and wives with their husbands.

 

The potter shows his skill in making images, the painter in drawing

pictures, the songster in playing on his instrument, and the priest

in reciting the sacred books. The Bengalis save money throughout the

year only to spend everything during the Puja days. Cloth is freely

distributed to the Brahmins.

 

The woman of Bengal welcomes the Goddess with a mother's love and

sends away the image on the last day, with every ceremony associated

with a daughter's departure to her husband's home and with motherly

tears in her eyes. This signifies the parting of Durga from Her

beloved mother.

 

Durga Puja is the greatest Hindu festival in which God is adored as

Mother. Hinduism is the only religion in the world which has

emphasised to such an extent the motherhood of God. One's

relationship with one's mother is the dearest and the sweetest of

all human relations. Hence, it is proper to look upon God as mother.

 

Durga represents the Divine Mother. She is the energy aspect of the

Lord. Without Durga, Shiva has no expression and without Shiva,

Durga has no existence. Shiva is the soul of Durga; Durga is

identical with Shiva. Lord Shiva is only the silent witness. He is

motionless, absolutely changeless. He is not affected by the cosmic

play. It is Durga who does everything.

 

Shakti is the omnipotent power of the Lord, or the Cosmic Energy.

The Divine Mother is represented as having ten different weapons in

Her hands. She sits on a lion. She keeps up the play of the Lord

through the three attributes of Nature, namely, Sattwa, Rajas and

Tamas. Knowledge, peace, lust, anger, greed, egoism and pride, are

all Her forms.

 

You will find in the Devi Sukta of the Rig Veda Samhita that Vak,

symbolising speech, the daughter of the sage Anbhirna, realised her

identity with the Divine Mother, the Power of the Supreme Lord,

which manifests throughout the universe among the gods, among men

and beasts and among the creatures of the deep ocean.

 

In the Kena Upanishad, you will find that the Divine Mother shed

wisdom on Indra and the gods and said that the gods were able to

defeat the demons only with the help of the power of the Supreme

Lord.

 

The worship of Devi, the universal Mother, leads to the attainment

of knowledge of the Self. The story in the Kena Upanishad known as

the " Yaksha Prasna " , supports this view. It tells how Uma, the

Divine Mother, taught the Truth to the gods. Goddess Shakti thus

sheds wisdom on Her devotees.

 

MOTHER KALI

 

The Destroyer of Demoniac Attributes

 

Devi worship is, therefore, worship of God's glory, of God's

greatness and supremacy. It is adoration of the Almighty. It is

unfortunate that Devi is ignorantly understood by many as a mere

blood-thirsty Hindu Goddess. No! Devi is not a vicious demoness nor

is She the property of the Hindus alone. Devi does not belong to any

religion. Devi is that conscious power of God. The words Devi,

Shakti, etc., and the ideas of different forms connected with these

names are concessions granted by the sages due to the limitations of

the human intellect; they are by no means the ultimate definitions

of Shakti.

 

The original or Adi Shakti is beyond human comprehension. Bhagavan

Krishna says in the Gita: " This is only My lower nature. Beyond this

is My higher nature, the life-principle which sustains the universe " .

 

The Upanishad also says: " The supreme power of God is manifested in

various ways. This power is of the nature of God, manifesting as

knowledge, strength and activity " .

 

Truly speaking, all beings in the universe are Shakti-worshippers,

whether they are aware of it or not, for there is no one who does

not love and long for power in some form or other. Physicists and

scientists have now proved that everything is pure, imperishable

energy. This energy is only a form of divine Shakti which exists in

every form.

 

A child is more familiar with the mother than with the father,

because the mother is very kind, loving, tender and affectionate and

looks after the needs of the child. In the spiritual field also, the

aspirant or the devotee—the spiritual child—has an intimate

relationship with the Mother Durga, more than with the Father Shiva.

Therefore, it behoves the aspirant to approach the Mother first, who

then introduces Her spiritual child to the Father for his

illumination.

 

The Mother's Grace is boundless. Her mercy is illimitable; Her

knowledge infinite; Her power immeasurable; Her glory ineffable; and

Her splendour indescribable. She gives you material prosperity as

well as spiritual freedom.

 

Approach Her with an open heart. Lay bare your heart to Her with

frankness and humility. Be as simple as a child. Kill ruthlessly the

enemies of egoism, cunningness, selfishness and crookedness. Make a

total, unreserved, and ungrudging self-surrender to Her. Sing Her

praise. Repeat Her Name. Worship Her with faith and unflinching

devotion. Perform special worship on the Navaratri days. Navaratri

is the most suitable occasion for doing intense spiritual practices.

These nine days are very sacred to the Divine Mother. Plunge

yourself in Her worship. Practise intense repetition of the Divine

Name, having a regular " quota " of repetitions per day, and the

number of hours spent on it.

 

Devi fought with Bhandasura and his forces for nine days and nine

nights. This Bhandasura had a wonderful birth and life. When Lord

Shiva burnt Cupid with the fire of His " third eye " , Sri Ganesha

playfully moulded a figure out of the ashes, and the Lord breathed

life into it! This was the terrible demon Bhandasura. He engaged

himself in great penance and on account of it obtained a boon from

Lord Shiva. With the help of that boon, he began harassing the

worlds. The Divine Mother fought with him for nine nights (the

demons have extraordinary strength during the night), and killed him

on the evening of the tenth day, known as the Vijaya Dasami. The

learning of any science is begun on this highly auspicious day. It

was on this day that Arjuna worshipped Devi, before starting the

battle against the Kauravas on the field of Kurukshetra.

 

Sri Rama worshipped Durga at the time of the fight with Ravana, to

invoke Her aid in the war. This was on the days preceding the Vijaya

Dasami day. He fought and won through Her Grace.

 

In days of yore, kings used to undertake ambitious expeditions on

the day of the Vijaya Dasami. Those kings who did not go on such

expeditions used to go out hunting in the deep forests. In

Rajputana, India, even up to this date, people arrange mock attacks

on some fort on Vijaya Dasami.

 

This day, however, has much to do with the life of Sri Rama. Nowhere

in the history of the world can we find a parallel to the character

of Sri Rama as a man, son, brother, husband, father or king.

Maharishi Valmiki has exhausted the entire language in describing

the glory of Sri Rama. And, we shall be rightly celebrating the

Dussera if we make honest efforts to destroy the demon of our ego,

and radiate peace and love wherever we go. Let us all resolve to

become men of sterling character. Let us resolve and act. The story

of Sri Rama is known in almost all parts of the globe, and if we but

succeed in following even a hundredth part of His teachings, we

shall make our lives more fragrant than the rose and more lustrous

than gold!

 

Dussera can also be interpreted as " Dasa-Hara " , which means the

cutting of the ten heads of Ravana. So, let us resolve today to cut

the ten heads—passion, pride, anger, greed, infatuation, lust,

hatred, jealousy, selfishness and crookedness—of the demon, Ego, and

thus justify the celebration of Dussera.

 

Religious observances, traditional worship and observances at times

have more than one significance. Apart from being the adoration of

the Divine, they commemorate stirring events in history, they are

allegoric when interpreted from the occult standpoint and, lastly,

they are deeply significant pointers and revealing guides to the

individual on his path to God-realisation.

 

Outwardly, the nine-day worship of Devi is a celebration of triumph.

This nine days' celebration is offered to the Mother for Her

successful struggle with the formidable demons led by Mahishasura.

But, to the sincere spiritual aspirant, the particular division of

the Navaratri into sets of three days to adore different aspects of

the Supreme Goddess has a very sublime, yet thoroughly practical

truth to reveal. In its cosmic aspect, it epitomises the stages of

the evolution of man into God, from Jivahood (the state of

individualisation) to Shivahood (the state of Self-realisation). In

its individual import, it shows the course that his spiritual

practice should take.

 

Let us, therefore, examine in detail the spiritual significance of

Navaratri.

 

The central purpose of existence is to recognise your eternal

identity with the supreme Spirit. It is to grow into the image of

the Divine. The supreme One embodies the highest perfection. It is

spotless purity. To recognise your identity with That, to attain

union with That, is verily to grow into the very likeness of the

Divine. The aspirant, therefore, as his initial step, has to get rid

of all the countless impurities, and the demoniacal elements that

have come to cling to him in his embodied state. Then he has to

acquire lofty virtues and auspicious, divine qualities. Thus

purified, knowledge flashes upon him like the brilliant rays of the

sun upon the crystal waters of a perfectly calm lake.

 

This process demands a resolute will, determined effort, and arduous

struggle. In other words, strength and infinite power are the prime

necessity. Thus it is the Divine Mother who has to operate through

the aspirant.

 

Let us now consider how, on the first three days, the Mother is

adored as supreme power and force, as Durga the Terrible. You pray

to Mother Durga to destroy all your impurities, your vices, your

defects. She is to fight with and annihilate the baser animal

qualities in the spiritual aspirant, the lower, diabolical nature in

him. Also, She is the power that protects your spiritual practice

from its many dangers and pitfalls. Thus the first three days, which

mark the first stage or the destruction of impurity and determined

effort and struggle to root out the evil tendencies in your mind,

are set apart for the worship of the destructive aspect of the

Mother.

 

MOTHER SARASWATHI

 

The presiding Deity over Creation and Dissolution

 

Once you have accomplished your task on the negative side, that of

breaking down the impure propensities and old vicious habits, the

next step is to build up a sublime spiritual personality, to acquire

positive qualities in place of the eliminated demoniacal qualities.

The divine qualities that Lord Krishna enumerates in the Gita, have

to be acquired. The aspirant must cultivate and develop all the

auspicious qualities. He has to earn immense spiritual wealth to

enable him to pay the price for the rare gem of divine wisdom. If

this development of the opposite qualities is not undertaken in

right earnest, the old demoniacal nature will raise its head again

and again. Hence, this stage is as important in an aspirant's career

as the previous one. The essential difference is: the former is a

ruthless, determined annihilation of the filthy egoistic lower self;

the latter is an orderly, steady, calm and serene effort to develop

purity. This pleasanter side of the aspirant's Sadhana is depicted

by the worship of Mother Lakshmi. She bestows on Her devotees the

inexhaustible divine wealth or Deivi Sampath. Lakshmi is the wealth-

giving aspect of God. She is purity itself. Thus the worship of

Goddess Lakshmi is performed during the second set of three days.

 

Once the aspirant succeeds in routing out the evil propensities, and

develops Sattwic or pure, divine qualities, he becomes competent to

attain wisdom. He is now ready to receive the light of supreme

wisdom. He is fit to receive divine knowledge. At this stage comes

the devout worship of Mother Saraswathi, who is divine knowledge

personified, the embodiment of knowledge of the Absolute. The sound

of Her celestial veena awakens the notes of the sublime utterances

of the Upanishads which reveal the Truth, and the sacred

monosyllable, Om. She bestows the knowledge of the supreme, mystic

sound and then gives full knowledge of the Self as represented by

Her pure, dazzling snow-white apparel. Therefore, to propitiate

Saraswathi, the giver of knowledge, is the third stage.

 

The tenth day, Vijaya Dasami, marks the triumphant ovation of the

soul at having attained liberation while living in this world,

through the descent of knowledge by the Grace of Goddess Saraswathi.

The soul rests in his own Supreme Self or Satchidananda Brahman.

This day celebrates the victory, the achievement of the goal. The

banner of victory flies aloft. Lo! I am He! I am He!

 

This arrangement also has a special significance in the aspirant's

spiritual evolution. It marks the indispensable stages of evolution

through which everyone has to pass. One naturally leads to the

other; to short-circuit this would inevitably result in a miserable

failure. Nowadays many ignorant seekers aim straight at the

cultivation of knowledge without the preliminaries of purification

and acquisition of the divine qualities. They then complain that

they are not progressing on the path. How can they? Knowledge will

not descend until the impurities have been washed out, and purity is

developed. How can the pure plant grow in impure soil?

 

Therefore adhere to this arrangement; your efforts will be crowned

with sure success. This is your path. As you destroy one evil

quality, develop the virtue opposite to it. By this process you will

soon bring yourself up to that perfection which will culminate in

identity with the Self which is your goal. Then all knowledge will

be yours: you will be omniscient, omnipotent and you will feel your

omnipresence. You will see your Self in all. You will have achieved

eternal victory over the wheel of births and deaths, over the demon

of worldliness. No more pain, no more misery, no more birth, no more

death! Victory, victory be yours!

 

Glory to the Divine Mother! Let Her take you, step by step to the

top of the spiritual ladder and unite you with the Lord!

 

(This article has been reproduced from " Hindu Fasts & Festivals " by

Swami Sivananda)