Devi Upasana
Navaratri is one of the biggest festivals in Hindu calendar spanning nine nights culminating in Vijayadashami on the tenth day. It glorifies worship of the Universal Mother in various forms and is celebrated in different parts of India in different ways. Like every form of worship and the associated rituals & festivals, Navaratri also indicates:
- The ultimate goal of Supreme Self
- The path to achieve the same
Traditional Spiritual Paths
The time tested spiritual paths of action (Karma), devotion (Bhakti) and knowledge (Jnana) correspond to the usage of our body, mind and intellect in pursuit of the Self.
- Karma Yoga reduces the quantum of our desires. The attitude behind our actions change from selfishness to selflessness. This initial struggle is essential to conquer negativities and purify our minds.
- Bhakti Yoga improves the quality of our desires. Refinement of our emotions results in acquisition of inner wealth characterized by attributes such as forgiveness, self-restraint and compassion.
- Jnana Yoga changes the direction of desires from terrestrial to transcendental. A refined mind takes to deeper study of scriptures and gets fixated in the Reality.
The above traditional practices may be mapped into worship of Durga, Lakshmi & Saraswati for three days each in the festival of Navaratri. Vijayadashami represents the dawn of Knowledge-of-the-Self after ego is completely annihilated.
Nine Forms
Hindusim considers every stage of life holy and divine. Every aspect of womanhood is celebrated. Navaratri, celebrated by invoking Goddess Durga in nine different forms, clearly indicates this.
- Shailaputri – Young girl
- Brahmacharini – Student
- Chandraghanta – Marriage
- Kushmanda – Pregnancy
- Skandamata – Motherhood
- Katyayani – Renunciation
- Kalaratri – Deeper Sadhana culminating in Meditation
- Mahagauri – Enlightenment
- Siddhidhatri – Bestower of knowledge & power to the world
The Goddess indicates that every woman can and should aspire to reach the highest goal of Self-Realization by infusing spirituality in every stage of life.
Victory of Aggressive Goodness
A common paradox seen in the world is that the good & honest people suffer while the corrupt seem to succeed. This is because the good are generally passive and this nature is taken advantage of by the crooked. Though in minority, the bad tend to be aggressive as they manipulate the laws and misuse the powers. They use their thinking capacity effectively, albeit for selfish purposes. The good generally grumble and resign to their fate. Duryodhana & Shakuni causing untold misery to the good Pandavas is a classic example of this case.
The solution lies in good people shedding their inertia and becoming aggressive in their thought process when dealing with the corrupt elements. Vedanta encourages us to develop an aggressive attitude alongside goodness. We need to think & speak the same language of the opposition whenever required but with the lofty ideal of following and establishing Dharma. Such smartness without selfishness naturally results in welfare of the society. Even one aggressively good person can tilt the balance in favour of Dharma as evidenced by Lord Krishna in Mahabharata.
Universal Mother is the culmination of all goodness and yet when situation demands she does not hesitate to take up arms to vanquish evil forces. Thus victory of Goddess Durga over Mahishasura is symbolic of victory of aggressive goodness over aggressive badness. From Lord Rama of yore to freedom fighters of modern India – everyone invokes Ma Durga to rekindle the Kshatra spirit from within.
May we invoke the Grace of Mother Durga this Navaratri for the welfare of all beings.
The talk on Devi Upasana by the author can be viewed here