NAVARATHRI----ITS
SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE,
Navarathri is one of the most important and colorful festivals celebrated all over India. The word NAVA in Sanskrit means Nine. The nine days starting from the lunar mont Asviyuja ( waxing moon) -September -October constitute Navarathri. As Saradritu starts at the same time, this period is called SARAN NAVARATHRI the most important of all Navarathris. This period is also
called NAVADURGA PARVA “ the most
auspicious and unique period of devotional sadhanas. and worship of Shakti the Sublime. In the 10th Mandal of the Rig Veda a
whole chapter addresses the devotional sadhanas of Shakti. Devi Sukta of the
Rig Veda and Rathri Suktha of Sama Veda glorify the sadhanas of Shakti. It is
said that Lord Krishna worshiped Durga Devi for the victory of Pandavas before
the great Kurukshetra war!
The fifth
chapter of RUDRA SAMHITA of SHIVA PURANA describes the various divine
emanations of goddess Durga Devi. On day one she is SAILAPUTRI,the daughter of
the mountain king Himalaya! On the second day she is worshiped as
BRAHMACHARINI. During the third day she takes the form of CHANDRAGHANTA for
worship. On the fourth day VARADA VINAYAKA is offered puja. The fifth day
sees the goddess as SKANDAMATA, the
mother of Lord Subrahmanya. On the sixth day she is invited as goddess
SARASWATHI and KATYAYINI worship is
offered. On the seventh day she is worshi
SARAN
NAVARATHRI is one of the four Navarathris celebrated in India. This is the most
popular of the four. The others are 1 VASANTHA NAVARATHRI during the months of
March—April every year on the first nine days of the month of Chaitra as per
lunar calendar. 2 The second is ASHADA NAVARATHRI during the months of
June—July. 4 the fourth is Pausha—Magha
Navarathri during the months of
December—January every year. But here it starts from sukla ashtami
and ends on the following Full moon- Pournami.
Night is
always associated with darkness! It symbolizes ignorance. To get rid of
ignorance, Devi unified the form of DURGA LAKSHMI and SARASWATI. In his address at
Prasanthi Mandir on 27th September, 1992, Bhagawan Sri Sri Satya Sai Baba described Shakti as the primal Energy accounting for all
the phenomena of NATURE! Nature or PRAKRITI is a mixture of the three gunas or
qualities viz Sathwa, Rajas and Thamas. Goddess Saraswathi stands for
Sathwa, Lakshmi for Rajas and parvathi for Thamo guna. To control NATURE, MAN
has to offer worship to DURGA LAKSHMI
and Saraswathi the deified symbols of the three qualities!
Prakriti and
Paramatma are like negative and positive poles. There cannot be any creation
without PRAKRITI as it is the very basis and foundation. SWAMI points out that
Man becomes a demon like RAVANA when he forgets God and wants to enjoy NATURE!
“ TRIKARANA SHUDDHI”—purity of heart,
purity of speech. and purity of action are essential for this! “ This triple quality is described in Vedantic
parlance as TRIPURASUNDARI! LAKSHMI represents heart, the mouth stands for SARASWATHI and Kriya Shuddhi—purity of action is
represented by DURGADEVI! The observance of NAVARATHRI Celebrations is to
dispel the darkness of ignorance in which Man is
enveloped by cultivating the Triple
purity of thought, word and deed.” Says Sri Bhagawan Satya Sai Baba!
Personifications of evil and ignorance, demons
like Chandasura, Mundasura, Raktha beeja, Sumbha, Nisumbha, Dhumraksha and
finally the most terrible of all, MAHISHASURA are eliminated by the forms of
Durga Devi and thus She earns the name
MAHISHASURA MARDANI! On this NAVARATHRI
let us dedicate ourselves to the worship of Sri Lalitha Maha Tripura
Sundari and seek Her blessings and grace for the removal of the darkness of our IGNORANCE!
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