NAVARATRI - NINE NIGHTS
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Just as the tree is latent in the seed, so this universe of names and forms, lies enfolded in the Shakti of the Brahman. She is the Divine Mother who is the womb of all creatures. As Nature, this Shakti manifests itself in multifarious forms, so we personify the Divine Mother in the forms of various goddesses. She pre-supposes all forms of existing knowledge - past, present and future. But she is also “maya”, the illusory power that entrammels us in her web of beauty and mesmerises us into believing that this world which we see before our eyes is real. The “jivatma” or embodied soul is so fascinated by her beauty that it forgets the purpose for which it has incarnated in a human body. Seen from the background of eternity, the drama of our lives, enacted on the stage of space and time, is only a show of light and shade, like a TV show. It is only a creation of the mind and like all TV shows it passes, flows and vanishes into the space from which it came. This phenomenon is what Hinduism calls the maya-shakti of the goddess who has produced this phenomenal world which has its basis in ignorance of the true nature of the Reality which is the Brahman.
This view of the world as given by our ancient rishis has been corroborated by Quantum Physics. They have discovered that we are connected to every single thing in the cosmos by this one underlying energy field that they call “The Field” and which our rishis called Prakriti. The tiniest bit of matter is not solid as we have been led to believe but only energy in motion. This pulsating energy field is the centre of our existence. Our eyes deceive us into imagining a reality that does not exist in the way that we perceive it. But we are so fascinated by this world which has been created by this enchantress that we forget the purpose for which we have taken on a human birth. In order to remind us of this purpose and re-connect with this source of the universal energy of the Divine Mother, the Hindu culture demarcated two festivals in the year dedicated to the remembrance of that energy.
This festival is known as Navaratri or the nine nights of worship of the Goddess in her many forms. It takes place in the first nine days of the bright fortnight of the lunar month of Ashwin, September/October. This year 2024 it starts on Thursday 3rd October and ends on Saturday 12th October. The 10th day of victory is known as Vijayadasami. The Devi Purana gives the story of how Durga killed the buffalo demon known as Mahishasura on the 10th day of victory. The buffalo demon of course is an allegory for ignorance.
This festival is also known as Durga Puja and actually shows how Hinduism has always revered the feminine and strived to empower women through the ages. Durga, is the virgin goddess. She stands on her own and does not need the support of any of the male gods. She is a true representative of dynamic feminine power at its highest. During these nine days and nights she is worshipped in her nine different forms. However, another method is to worship her in her three greatest forms, each form taking three days.
The nine days of Navaratri are meant for reflection and removal of our negative traits and the acquisition of positive qualities. These nine days can be divided into three parts. The first three days are kept for the worship of Mahakaali, the next three days for Maha Lakshmi and the last three days for Maha Saraswati. Some people also worship the Navadurgas or the nine aspects of Durga on each day.
Let us take the first method of worship of the three different goddesses. Before we can proceed towards our goal of union with the Absolute it is absolutely necessary to remove all the complex amount of negative traits that we have accumulated throughout the year. For this a certain amount of force may be necessary. So, during the first three days the goddess is worshipped as Kali which is her unconquerable form as Kaala or Time – relentless, all-consuming and indomitable. Time is the only killer. Everything in creation falls a prey to Time. All of us fear Death in its aspect of Time, so Kali’s form is frightening to behold. It is meant to intimidate those who are not ready to accept the fact that life is a coin with two sides – birth and death!
She is usually portrayed as pitch black with long dishevelled hair flying behind her like a cloak. She wears a girdle of severed arms and a necklace of freshly cut heads. She has a cavernous mouth dripping with blood from her lolling tongue. She has long sharp fangs and claw-like hands with hooked nails. She portrays one of the masks of Prakriti – of Nature bringing all beings from her womb, feeding them at her breast and then devouring and assimilating them back into herself!
Kali’s nature is such that she cannot tolerate deceit and falsehood. Her wrath is immediate and dire. Thus, we spend the first three days and nights of Navaratri worshipping her, for only she can remove our negativity and greed. When we start a garden, the first thing we have to do is to dig the ground and remove all the stones and unwanted grass and weeds from it. This is the job which is given to Kali so for the first three nights we pray sincerely to her to take away our negative traits even though this may cause some pain.
The next three days are kept aside for Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, beauty and auspiciousness. She is the one who is lavish with her gifts of all types of good fortune which include positive traits of the mind. In the garden of our mind which has been ruthlessly weeded by Kaali we invite the beauteous Lakshmi to come and sow the seeds of love, generosity, consideration, compassion, gratitude and so on. For this we worship this beautiful goddess and entreat her to come and take her abode in our pure hearts.
The last three days are dedicated to the enchanting Saraswati- the goddess of learning, arts, science and wisdom. Seated on her vehicle, the graceful swan, she floats through space looking for an opportunity to bless us. During the last three days we beseech her to enter our hearts and fulfil the goal of human life which is to attain the Absolute. In that garden of our mind which has been weeded of all its negativity by the forceful Kali, and in which the gracious Lakshmi has sown the seeds of positivity, we invite Saraswati, the one who can give us the bliss of union with the Absolute. Only in such a garden can the pure lotus of enlightenment bloom.
This is the esoteric meaning behind the festival of Navaratri which is celebrated all over Bharat. This festival is celebrated twice a year, once in spring and once in autumn. This is to safeguard that our knowledge of the reason behind human birth which is to gain liberation from the coils of maya and enter the blissful realm of the Absolute, is never forgotten and to ensure that all Hindus renew their relationship with the Divine Mother every year. In these following days and nights let us beseech her in her various forms to enter into us and dispel the darkness of the accumulated ignorance of our true nature with the glowing lamp of knowledge which only she can light for us.
Aum Shakti Aum