As the part of tradition, we have been celebrating different festivals, following different rituals and sometime our intellectual mind doesn't agree following these age old traditions and ask what is the meaning behind all this and at that time the only what can quench our intellectual thirst is somebody wise de-codify the deep meaning behind these rituals and restore the faith. The following talk by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, spiritual Master from India whom millions of people around the world revere as Guru, has helped to understand the meaning the traditions of navaratri and elaborate pooja performed during these nine days. I hope you also enjoy this. :-)
DEVI MAHATMYAM
‘The Glory of Divine
Mother’
A portion of the Markendeya Purana is called Chandi or Devi Mahatmya. It is also called Sri Durga Saptasati, which means 700 verses to Sri Durga. These sacred verses are recited during Navaratri, Durga Puja and chanted during the Chandi Homa. It extols the worship of God as the Divine Mother and her various deeds are recounted in Sanskrit.
It contains 13 chapters (Chapters
74 to 86 of Markendeya Purana), and has 700 stanzas, which can be further
classified into three sections each of: Prathama
(first), Madhyama (middle) and Uttama (final) Charitra. The stories are told by Sage Markendeya to disciple Sage
Baguri. He recounts the story of the Mother Goddess in her many incarnations,
which in all she destroys evil. The Puranas have many levels of meaning to
them, told as stories. Three different stories are narrated by the Sage on how
the Divine Mother restored peace and order, by slaying Madhu and Kaitabha,
Mahishasura and Shumbha and Nishumbha and many other demons.
Devi vanquished the asuras (demons). These asuras are symbolic of the
negative forces that can grab anyone at anytime. Guruji has explained the
meaning of these negativities or asuras in his talk.
A Talk by H.H. Sri
Sri Ravi Shankar
The Art of Living International Centre, Bangalore (Navaratri 2004)
‘Nava’ means nine. It also means new or fresh. ‘Ratri’ – ‘Ra’ means
giving solace or rest. ‘Tri’ means
three. These are the three types of botherations or problems that can haunt a
person: the physical, mental and the spiritual problems that come to you. That
which gives you relief from these difficulties is ‘ratri.’ ‘Ratri’ literally means night. Night is called ‘ratri’, because it relieves you from
misery and brings you comfort. It takes you in it arms and puts you to
sleep. Birds and animals do not worry at
night they go to sleep happily. Night relaxes everybody; whether one is unhappy
or miserable, everybody goes to sleep. It gives relief from any type of misery:
physical, mental or emotional. ‘Navaratri’
means the new night or the nine nights that give you rest from all these three
aspects of your lives.
An infant is in its mother’s womb
for nine months. It is in the rest period. Similarly, these nine days are an
opportunity to get back to your Self and take your mind off all the mundane
things that bother you. This is the time for self referral and self inquiry, “Who
am I?”, “What is the world all about?”
Then you become creative. You become victorious. When negative forces haunt
you, you are disturbed, unpleasant, unhappy, uncreative, unproductive and
grumbling. Craving, aversion, uncertainty and fear are negative forces. Get
relief from all this, go to the source of energy within you. That is Shakti.
And, what are the ‘asuras’ (demons)?
‘Madhu and Kaitaba’ – ‘Madhu’ is craving and ‘Kaitaba’ is aversion. The second
signifies hatred towards anybody. These are the first rakshasas (demons).
‘Raktabijasur’ is that which is in your genes. ‘Bija’ means seed. Sometimes your behaviour is not under your control.
It is in your genes. This can be changed.
With pranayama and meditation,
certain genetic changes happen inside you. That is Raktabijasur. Sometimes people have to take medication to behave
properly. The medication is for killing the Raktabijasur.
For example, when there is a lack of lithium in the blood it causes
restlessness and valium is prescribed. The body and mind are not two separate
things. They are interlinked. Sometimes the body affects the mind. When 'Raktabijasur' is transformed, the 'Shakti" (energy) is awakenend and
negatitivty disappears. When this happens, all physical ailments disappear.
‘Mahishasur’ – Mahi means
dullness; like a buffalo. ‘Mahisha’
is symbolic of heaviness and jadatwa
(inertia).The Divine Shakti brings
energy, and inertia is lifted off.
‘Shumbh - Nishumbh’ is doubt of everything. Doubt of the self is ‘Shumbh’. Some people doubt themselves:
“Am I right? Am I really devoted? Do I have my intelligence? Can I do this?”
Doubt of others is ‘Nishumbh.’ Nishumbh is to doubt everybody else
around you. You think that a person is not good, he / she wants to pull your
leg. That is when you always think
others are after you. That is Nishumbh.
Nobody is interested in pulling your leg. Everybody is busy in their own
running race. But you sit and imagine, everybody is trying to pull your leg,
they are thinking about you. Who is thinking about you? You know, these days
people are so busy. Nobody has the time to intentionally insult anybody. Even
to insult anybody you need time. You need time to think. People’s minds are
clogged and preoccupied. Where do they have time to insult you? If they insult
you, it has happened by chance…. it’s a by product, because they are so
occupied. They are doing something and their action has insulted you. Do not
think they are after you or trying to insult you. So do not sit and worry. You
need clarity of mind. People don't have this. When you thus doubt everyone
around you it means 'Nishumbh' has
taken over you.
‘Chanda – Munda’. ‘Chanda’
means the one who has only a head. Someone with this tendency will say the very
opposite of what you say. They are determined to oppose, irrespective of
anything. That is Chanda - to say no,
to be negative. ‘Munda’ is one who
does not have a head at all. Some people whatever you say it goes above them.
They cannot take in anything. Chanda
and Munda - they are a big
botheration.
Chanda is one who always goes against you; one who cannot agree
with you at all. Chanda has taken
control over such a kind of person. There is a story. There was once a married
man who found out after marriage that whatever he would ask his wife to do, she
would do the opposite. One day he would want raw food and on that day she would
make him an elaborate cooked meal. She would do the opposite of anything he
told her to do. He said “I want to sleep”. She would say, “I want to play
music.” So he was frustrated. He tried to adjust. He applied all the course
points: ‘Accept people as they are.
Present moment is inevitable. Do not see intention behind other people’s
mistakes.’ But how long could he remind himself. Nothing seemed to work and
he got more tense.
So he went to see a wise man - a
swami and asked him, “I have a big problem. What should I do?” The swami whispered a mantra in his ears and
told him to come back in three months. After three months when he came back,
his face was all bright. The Swamiji said, “You look very happy.” He replied,
“Yes Swamiji, your mantra worked excellently.” There were other disciples there
who were curious to know what the mantra was. The Swami said it was very easy
and that he would tell everybody. He repeated out loud the instructions that he
had earlier given to the man. He said whatever you want her to do, you tell her
to do the opposite. If you want to sleep, you tell her to play music. If you
want to eat dosa, tell her that you
want idlis. Do not speak your plain
heart to her.
I know there are some people
here. When they want to go they will say they do not want to go. They want to
sleep and they say they do not feel like sleeping. If someone says they do not
feel like leaving that means they are leaving now. So, “I am fasting” means “I
am going to eat well!” So you should know the minds of these people and say the
opposite of what you want. That is the way to deal with Chandas. As for the Mundas,
just know that they will not listen to anything. Nothing goes through.
‘Dhumralochana’ – ‘Dhumra’
means smoke and ‘Lochana’ means eyes;
it means one who does not perceive things in the right way. They are neither
blind nor do they have clear vision. These are more dangerous. People who think
they know that which they do not know. People who think they have great logic
but in fact do not have any. It’s like saying:
‘If the door is half open then it is half closed; (hence) that means if
the door is fully open, then it can also be fully closed.’ This type of
argument is Kutarka (illogical
arguments). That is Dhumralochana.
Those under the influence of this do not see anything clearly. For them
everything is hazy. That is another lack of Shakti.
So when you are full of
enthusiasm and energy all these six rakshasas
will disappear. At high prana
level, you will not find any one of these. From time to time they come to you
and you have to get over them. This can happen to everybody.
‘Durga Shakti’ is not limited to some time and space. It’s happening
in every atom in creation, in every mind, every consciousness and in
everybody’s life. All these Chanda – Munda also come not only to one person.
You have all acted like that sometimes; as children you have been like that. Chandi means stubbornness - just being
stubborn without any reason, without any logic, without any cause. All these
are different modes of prana and they
are finally all part of one divinity. They are not an entity somewhere they are
all a play and display of one consciousness. That is beautiful is it not?
Some of the devas (gods) asked, why should the Goddess Durga appear? It would be sufficient for her to say, “Hmmm…” and
all the rakshasas would disappear.
Why did she have to fight them? But we know why she fights… to make it more
playful, more colorful and to make the world more interesting. So, she comes
and just plays with the trishula, chakra and gada and through these weapons even these ‘asuras’ become purified, they attain her.
It’s one light, one consciousness
which plays in two roles to get back to the Self. That is why it is said that
there are no two separate Shaktis (energies) but only one. It is there as deva (god) and asura (demon) that come in different forms and
become one in all. This is ‘Advait Gyan’ (knowledge of nonduality).
It is not that Durga attacks at some particular time.
It is happening everyday. Everyday creation (Shrishti) happens and destruction (Samhar) happens. Everyday a new tree is born. The sun was born, and
now has set. Again the sun is going to rise. It’s all a cyclic phenomenon.
That’s what makes this world diverse and so interesting. You know the biggest
contribution of India to the world is that: everything is cyclic; it is not
linear. Usually people think that things are born and that’s it; it is all
linear: there is a beginning and there is an end. Here everything is cyclic and
spherical. Truth is spherical. Time is spherical.
Wish you all very Happy Navaratri :-)
All Glory to Gurudev!!!
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