Hindu Festivals No 23.

[Guest guest]

Dear friends and devotees,

 

Bhakti is eternal.

 

23. DURGA PUJA OR NAVARATRI.

 

(Aswiyuja suddha padyami – dasami.)

 

 

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

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

worshipped during Ramanavami and Mother Durga during Navaratri.

 

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 is the particular or special request that everyone may put before the

Goddess, whatever boon may be asked of Her, and 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 Aswiyuja (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 emphasized 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, Satwa, 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.

 

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 Dussara 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!

 

Dussara 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 Dussara.

 

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.

 

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 Devi 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

Satwic 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 is 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!

 

At the Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, the following are the regular features

during the Durga Puja celebrations:

 

A special ritualistic worship of the Mother is conducted daily, which includes

the recitation of the Durga Saptasati.

 

Laksharchana for the Mother in the temple, with recitation of the Sri Lalita

Sahasranama, is also conducted.

 

All are exhorted to do the maximum number of Japa of the Navarna Mantra, Aim

hreem kleem chaamundaayai vichche, or the Mantra of their own tutelary Deity.

 

An elaborately decorated altar is set up for the evening Satsangs, with the

picture of Mother Durga for the first three days, Mother Lakshmi for the next

three days, and Mother Saraswathi for the last three days. Many sacred verses

from the scriptures are recited and many Kirtans are sung. The Durga Saptasati

or the Devi Mahatyam is recited and explained in discourses. The function

concludes with the formal floral worship and Arati. Sometimes scenes from the

Devi Mahatyam are also enacted.

 

Earnest spiritual aspirants fast with milk and fruits only on all the nine

days, or at least once in each of the three three-day periods.

 

Besides the books representing Saraswathi, all instruments and implements like

typewriters, printing machinery, etc., are also worshipped on the ninth day.

 

On the Vijaya Dasami day, all aspirants en masse are given initiation into

various Mantras according to their tutelary Deities. Deserving aspirants are

initiated into the holy order of Sannyas. Initiation in the study of the

alphabets is given to young children and to the old children also! New students

commence their lessons in music, etc. During the morning Satsang the books which

were worshipped on the ninth day are again worshipped and a chapter from each of

the principal scriptures like the Gita, Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, Ramayana, and

Srimad Bhagavatam is recited.

 

On the Vijaya Dasami day, there is Kanya Puja also. Nine girls below the age

of ten are worshipped as the embodiment of the Divine Mother. They are fed

sumptuously and, amongst other things, presented with new clothes.

 

On this last day a grand havan is conducted in the temple, with recitation of

the Durga Saptasati and other verses in praise of the Divine Mother.

(By Swamy Sivananda)

 

With love and regards,

 

Sastry.

 

 

 

 

Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Search.