Navratri and the Significant Transformative Power behind its Symbology.

If there is to be a future, it will wear a crown of Feminine Design.

~ Aurobindo Ghosh.

The festival of Navratri is celebrated all over India in reverence to the Divine Feminine. These nine days of celebration are a journey to have a mystical communion with the Divine Feminine. The nine days of Navratri are specifically given nine Divine Feminine names of Goddesses, which not only holds tremendous power but have a deep-seated mythological and symbological significance for the seeker who wants to understand and learn about the mysteries of life. In India that the Divine Feminine has 1000 names and 1000 moods known as ‘Bhavas’ in Sanskrit, but over here we are going to speak specifically of the nine names of the Goddesses.

It is said that all humans have Masculine and Feminine energies within us, and this is true. But when the word Divine Feminine comes it denotes and symbolizes something far more powerful than the Masculine and Feminine energies within human beings, hence the Divine Feminine is more often called ‘Shakti’ to understand this very difference. This power is infinite, and in my words, the Shakti that prevails and pervades can only be experienced, as it cannot be explained in any other words than calling it Ecstasy.

The word ‘Shakti’ means ‘power’ and Shakti as ‘power in reality’ is manifested as ‘to be conscious’, ‘will power’, ‘power to know’, and ‘the power to act’. All of reality is thus Shakti’s Dance that comes into play when Divine Intelligence becomes an act of cosmic creativity.

She is also the cause of the biological process of our physical body. She enacts through our thoughts and our emotions. In this context, it would be appropriate to say that Shakti is that force that leads us to bring the evolution of our consciousness. To bring this change, we must seek conscious transformation. This alchemy process is brought forth by the act of Shakti, known in Tantra as ‘Kundalini Shakti’.

This deep profound transformative knowledge and its mystical nature were well known by ancient Tantriks. Through ancient scriptures, this mystical knowledge was imparted in a mythical language that held the secret of the science of Alchemy for transforming human energy for transcendence, by working with the myriad figures and names of the Goddesses. In today’s world, all these mystical powers or energies are generically summarized in one word 'Devi'.

Let us now try to gently understand what I have written above about the nine days of transformation during the auspicious festival called Navratri.

These nine days hold the power of Tripurasundari, which is an indestructible force in the Brahmanda and nothing moves in this world without this supreme Divine energy. If these nine days are to be divided into slots of three days each, the first three days are to invoke the Goddess Kali, the next three days are to invoke Goddess Laxmi or abundance, and the last three days are to invoke Goddess Saraswati. Each Goddess that presides over the three days holds very deep knowledge of how transcendence and illumination can be evoked in Human consciousness. To simply state this is the journey from darkness to light.

Navratri is generically recognized around the world as the festival of Goddess Durga. So, let’s begin with the word ‘DURGA’ Durga is made up of two words DUR & GA. Dur means Far, and Ga is the unmanifested form or power of Ganesha. These two words in Sanskrit mean ‘that is difficult to reach or attain’. The worship of Goddess Durga in her one word summarizes the entire symbology of conquering our ignorance and all undivine qualities in us with the help of our own higher self to invoke the light that burns away the darkness of our ignorance.

Tripura Sundari

Mahakali who presides over the first three days, also known as the black one, stands for time and timelessness, for constructive destruction of our fears, ego, attachments, etc, and is that mysterious force that brings radical changes in our lives.

The next three days are presided by Mahalaxmi and Laxmi means ‘Auspicious’. She is known as the Goddess of Good luck, fortune, wealth, and inner and outer abundance. Once the baser qualities within us, known as lead, have transformed through Alchemy into virtues, also known as gold, the purity that shines within us is seen as the resplendent glory of Laxmi.

The last three days are presided over by Mahasarawati who is known as the ‘Flowing One’. Once our inner world has been turned into gold through alchemy, in such a place of purity resides Saraswati. She is the Goddess of Language, intuitiveness, creativity, speech, and music which we all know to have the quality of flow.

The 10th day of Navratri which is known as ‘Vijayadashmi’ during which the process of immersing the idol in water takes place. The 10th day signifies the victory of the person over his/her 10 Kriyas. These 10 kriyas are nothing but the 5 senses of perception, and the 5 organs of action. The understanding of this in the word itself VIJAYA. Jaya means victory over one’s baser instincts which in Kabbalah are known as the 10 tiers of shadows like anger, envy, malice, hatred, wrath, etc. and Vijaya means external victory over others. Hence the word Vijaya also contains the word Jaya which means total victory from Jaya to Vijaya, internal to external.

(For a further understanding kindly read the book Mahabharata narrated by the noted mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik.)

The emersion of the idol of the Goddess on the 10th day of Vijayadashmi is known as ‘Visarjan’. Visarjan means ‘giving up’ on all that which hampers our transformation to become whole. We become one with the one within us by transcending knowledge to become the seeker of truth.

Shakti and her nine manifested forms that preside over the nine days of Navratri are a power for us to recognize with. Generally, Feminine power is recognized as receptive or passive, but in Tantra, they have a different perspective.

In Tantra, the Divine Feminine power is seen as a pure creative life force behind every evolution and change whether physical or psychological. In Tantra, the Masculine energy in its purest form is seen as the source of Awareness. So, whenever the masculine energy wants power, it needs to draw the life force energy from the Feminine, and in the same manner, whenever the Feminine energy wants to act or become conscious she needs to draw the capacity of Awareness from the Masculine energy.

Following are the nine forms of Navdurgas that preside over the nice days of Navratri.

1. Shailaputri – The first day of Navratri belongs to her. She is also known as the ‘Rising One’, because she is the point from where the creative life force begins.

2. Bhramacharini – She is the centrifugal force in the universe. Right here the creative force of life comes into play. She holds the mystery of life and within her, she holds the power of Tripurasundari. She is the balancing force and beginning of the manifestation of life on earth. She is Mahakali, Mahalaxmi, and Mahasarawati all in one, and the main force which unites the energy of the body with the energy of the spirit.

3. Chandraghanta – She is known as the High Priestess and the Moon Warrior. She has the power of your inner mind and helps you to develop many psychic qualities. She holds the power of the living memory and holds the power of the blueprint of the creation of life within her. The mysteries of life enfold through her to bring forth into this world the creative life force. She withholds the spirit of life within herself, and it enfolds through her.

4. Kushmanda – She rules over the element of fire which is required for the creation of the life force. Kushmanda literally means the ‘Womb and the Seed within it’. This is symbolized by the fruit Ash Gourd (Kohla). Whenever Navdurga/Navchandi havan is done this fruit is given as an offering to the havan fire. Ku means ‘a little’ Usma is ‘heat or energy’ and Anda means ‘the cosmic egg or universe’.

5. Skandamata – Mata means ‘Mother’ and as her name suggests she holds within herself the power to give birth to the creative life force in physical manifestation.

6. Katyaini – Katyaini is the Goddess who helps you to gain control over the blueprint of human fulfillment. Dharma (Righteousness), Artha (economic values) Kama (pleasure), Moksha (Liberation).

7. Kaalratri – This form of the Goddess is given to the fierce form of Kali. She is also known as Rudri the opposite of Rudra. She is Justice and the Dark Warrior. On this day the Mother comes in full form, and she comes as the fearless one. She comes to break any illusions in your mind created by your limited mind. She holds within herself the power of timelessness because Kaal means ‘timelessness’. To the one who goes as her feet in sublimation, she becomes the person's ultimate protector. By destroying ego and illusion and fear, she makes the person fearless. She is the upholder of truth itself. She holds within herself to give you the fruit of life. The one pure of heart and one who has crossed the dark night of the soul can only be the one to reach her and look beyond her to see her resplendent glory. When a person crosses the dark night of the soul and glorifies Jaya within oneself, then and then only does she become Shubhamkari.

8. Mahagauri – Mahagauri is the one that makes the impossible possible.

9. Siddhidhatri – She is known as the Adishakti or Adiyogini. She is the center of all that is within and without and the one who has got the power to bless you with Moksha and Siddhis. She takes away the ignorance and grants her devotees knowledge.

Significance & the purpose of Puja.

Puja is an action that helps us to strengthen our spiritual evolvement through traditional ritualistic performances or acts that help to cleanse our mental and emotional bodies giving us the experience of the Divine qualities that we already hold, and the Divine energies that are around us. When we celebrate the Navdurgas for nine days through puja we can evoke their blessings for our own transformation. So, for those who cannot directly invoke the Shakti within themselves they can still be blessed by evoking her through the act of puja. During puja, the emphasis is on how we do it - what our motivation and intentions behind it are, and the purity of our thoughts and actions that are required for the effect of the abundance to flow into our life. Hence the purpose of the puja is to use external rituals which have symbolic significance to invoke and evoke the grace of the Goddess for our understanding of ordinary things. Hence puja is a visionary practice that profoundly affects not only our psych but also our physical lives.

Jai Mata di.

~ As always with love and warm light