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.
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.
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.
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!
No comments:
Post a Comment