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"Holy Mother" painted by Swami Tadatmananda
Used courtesy of the Vedanta Society of Southern California
My humble offering to all devotees of Mother.
Durga Puja or Navaratri
'Namah Tasyai Namastasyai Namastasyai Namo Namah!'
A salutation to the Divine Mother, Durga, who is the consort of Lord Shiva, who creates, sustains and destroys the universe.
Navaratri lasts for nine days in honour of the nine manifestations of Durga (Divine Mother). During Navaratri (the word literally means “nine nights”) devotees of Durga observe a fast.
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 the Rama-Navaratri (April-May) and the Durga Navaratri in (September-October). Sri Rama is worshipped during Ramnavmi, and Mother Durga during Navaratri.
The one basic aim of Durga Puja is to propitiate Shakti, the Goddess in Her aspect as Power, to bestow upon man auspiciousness, wealth, prosperity, knowledge (both sacred and secular), and all other potent powers. Everyone is blessed with Her loving mercy and protection.
Durga Puja or Navaratri 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.
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.
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 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, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Knowledge, peace, lust, anger, greed, egoism and pride, are all Her forms.
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.
Devi is ignorantly understood by some as a mere bloodthirsty Hindu Goddess. 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.
We are all Shakti-worshippers, whether we are aware of it or not, for there is no one who does not love and long for power in some form or other. According to science 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.
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 and unreserved 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.
On the first three days, the Mother is adored as supreme power and force, as Durga the Terrible (Kali). You pray to Mother Durga to destroy all your impurities, your vices, and your defects. Once you have accomplished your task of breaking down the impure propensities and old bad habits, the next step is to acquire positive qualities. This is done by the worship of Mother Lakshmi during the second set of three days. She bestows on Her devotees the divine wealth or Daivi Sampath. Lakshmi is the wealth-giving aspect of God. She is purity itself.
Once the aspirant succeeds in routing out the impure propensities, and develops Sattvic 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. So, on the last three days, worship of Mother Saraswathi, who is the embodiment of divine knowledge, is performed. 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.
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.
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