Navaratri is celebration of the Universe

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Navaratri is celebration of the Universe

 

The festival of Navaratri is celebrated with prayers and gaiety in the

beginning of autumn and spring. This period is a time for self-referral

and getting back to the source. During this time of transformation,

Nature sheds the old and gets rejuvenated.

 

Vedanta says, matter reverts to its original form to recreate itself

again and again. The creation is cyclical, not linear; everything is

recycled by nature in a continuous process of rejuvenation. The human

mind, however, lags behind in this routine cycle of creation. Navaratri

is a festival to enable us to take the mind back to its source.

 

The seeker finds the true source through fasting, prayer, silence and

meditation. Night is called Ratri because it brings rejuvenation. It

gives relief at the three levels of our existence — physical, subtle

and causal. While fasting detoxifies the body, silence purifies speech

and brings rest to the chattering mind, and meditation takes you deep

into your own being.

 

The inward journey nullifies our negative karmas. Navaratri is a

celebration of the spirit or prana which alone can destroy Mahishasura,

inertia; Shumbha-Nishumbha, pride and shame and Madhu-Kaitabha, extreme

forms of craving and aversion. They are opposites, yet complementary.

Inertia, deeply ingrained negativities and obsessions, Raktabeejasura;

unreasonable logic, Chanda-Munda and blurred vision, Dhoomralochana can

be overcome only by raising the level of prana and Shakti, the

life-force energy.

 

The nine days of Navaratri are also an opportunity to rejoice in the

three primordial qualities that make up the universe. Though our life is

governed by the three gunas, we seldom recognise and reflect on them.

The first three days of Navaratri are tamo guna, the second three of

rajo guna and the last three of sattva guna. Our consciousness sails

through the tamo and rajo gunas and blossoms in the sattva guna in the

last three days. Whenever sattva dominates life, victory follows. The

essence of this knowledge is honoured by celebrating the tenth day as

Vijaya Dashami.

 

The three primordial gunas are considered as the feminine force of the

universe. By worshipping the Mother Divine during Navaratri, we

harmonise the three gunas and elevate sattva in the atmosphere.

 

Navaratri is celebrated as the victory of good over evil. From the

Vedantic point of view, the victory is of absolute reality over apparent

duality. In the words of Ashtavakra, it is the poor wave which tries to

keep its identity separate from the ocean, but to no avail.

 

Though the microcosm is well within the macrocosm, its perceived

separateness is the cause of conflict. For a gnani or a wise person,

entire creation comes alive and he recognises life in everything in the

same way children see life in everything. The Mother Divine or pure

consciousness pervades all forms and has all names. Recognising the one

divinity in every form and every name is the celebration of Navaratri.

Hence, special pujas honouring all aspects of life and nature are

performed during the last three days.

 

Kali is the most horrific manifestation of Nature. Nature symbolises

beauty, yet it has a horrific form too. Acknowledging the duality brings

a total acceptance in the mind and puts the mind at ease.

 

The Mother Divine is recognised not just as the brilliance of intellect

buddhi, but also the confusion, bhranti; she is not just abundance,

Lakshmi, she is also hunger, shudha and thirst, trishna. Realising this

aspect of the Mother Divine in entire Creation leads one to a deep state

of samadhi. This gives an answer to the age-old theological struggle of

the Occident. Through wisdom, devotion and nishkama karma, one can

attain advaita siddhi or perfection in the non-dual consciousness.

 

(By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar)