Nine Nights of the Divine Mother Celebration Begins
Today Is the first day of the nine night celebration of the Divine mother in most of India. It is a time to celebrate the victory of Goddess Durga over the Mahishaasura Demon.. the Buffalo demon that threatened to destroy all of creation.
But actually it is a celebration of more than that ultimately. Or you might say, all that is symbolized in this victory is exulted during this time.
On the first three nights Goddess Durga is worshiped. Hers is the energy within us that destroys ignorance.
On the next three nights, Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped. Hers is the energy within us that cultivates enjoyment and happiness.
On the last three nights, Goddess Saraswati is worshiped. Hers is the energy within us that cultivates love wisdom.
On the last night, the great victory itself is celebrated.
There’s great wisdom and understanding in Hindu symbology. As shown by this divine mother celebration, there can be no wisdom until there is love. There can be no love until darkness/ignorance is destroyed. As long as we are tangled up in ignorance (anger, fear and delusion – qualities of Tamas) there is no happiness or contentment possible (Lakshmi). Thus, first we need mother Durga to remove the darkness. Only then are we capable of love — either giving or receiving.
At that point, abundance, trust, love, prosperity and the joy of life flows into us through the realm of Goddess Laxsmi. Although she is worshiped for wealth, her main boon is contentment. This Goddess has all of the wealth in the universe, but she cares only to be devoted to Lord Vishnu – the bringer of balance and peace.
Once there is contentment, wisdom flows. As long as we are longing for more wealth, love (passion), beauty or enjoyment, there can be no wisdom. The qualities of creativity, knowledge (of truth / Veda), divine love, harmony and wisdom are given by the goddess Saraswati.
First we must destroy ignorance (Durga) – in order to feel good about ourselves and others. This Leads to contentment (Lakshmi). Once we are calm and contented, wisdom flows into us (Saraswati).
Yet we have a lot of wild buffaloes running around in our heart and mind. These buffaloes of ignorance, desire, attachment, greed and selfishness are what the great Goddess in all forms is ready to unburden us of during this Nine Night celebration. We have a great opportunity to release these wild animals of ignorance and chaos at the feet of the most compassionate Divine Mother at this time.
There is some very good Information at this WikiPedia Page about Navratri. I especially like the background on the nine forms of the Divine mother who are being worshiped.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navratri
This is also a time to honor the Goddess energy in every woman. The Divine feminine in all its forms is the reason there is life on Earth.
The masculine principle is one of power, the feminine principle is one of creativity. This is liter
ally shown by the interplay of our sun and moon. The sun literally has the power for every being that has ever lived. Yet, without the creative principle of the moon – Going around the earth, regulating the seasons – there would be no physical bodies to experience life through form and mind – or in other words, what we call “life”.
This masculine/feminine duality of the Sun and Moon and thier ecstatic lovemaking is expressed by the Hindu deities and their masculine/feminine dualities. The ancient Vedic Seers knew it would be much easier for our human mind to understand the energy of the Sun and Moon portrayed as anthropomorphic deities, with faces, beautiful stories, etc.
Yet we should realize that life comes from the Sun and Moon. If either of these beings were to leave their orbit or stop giving their energy to the earth, everything would be dead immediately. All Vedic/Hindu rituals are in one way or another glorifying our natural connection to the universe and the deep principles this universe expresses through us at the divine beings.
navratri, durga, lashmi, saraswati, sun, moon
what you said, Sam; just from another source;
Sept-30-Oct-1-2 for DURGA:
The first 3 days of the moon, Yagna is dedicated to Durga , the energy destroying obstacles, disease, enemies, debts, accidents, litigations, evil eye, etc. ( Durga is the overlord of the planet Rahu). Powerful to overcome lethargy or depression or get out of debt because Durga takes action against negativity and emerges victorious.
Oct-3-4-5 for LAKSHMI:
The next 3 days of the moon , Yagna is dedicated to Mahalakshmi, the energy of Wealth. Lakshmi is the planetary overlord of Venus and controls silver, gold, diamond, luxurious things and material happiness. Lakshmi is the giver of wealth and pleasures of life.
Oct-6-7-8 for SARASWATI:
The last 3 days, Yagna is dedicated to Saraswati, the energy of Education, Arts, music & speech. Saraswati controls human and divine consciousness. Saraswati has the knowledge of how one can convert energy into matter or matter into energy. We ask for Saraswati’s blessings to increase our creativity and intelligence, and to give us the discernment to pursue Enlightenment.
Thank you so much for this affirming information Sam and George. Peace.
infromation about navathri is good. you can mention
about different type of poja for various forms of durga . it will be useful to others
thank you for keeping us updated on the Hindu calendar–it is a nice reminder to correlate it with our everyday lives. om.
I will to repost this information! Thank you so much! I love that I learned about this!
Thanks Sam and keep up the good
Thanks Sam, Loved the description of Navaratri
have learnt something about the festival.