During Navratri, a stream of thoughts assails one’s mind. Some are soothing, some others agitating. Quite often the rituals overwhelm, the discipline encages, the abstinence restraints. Some of this seems necessary possibly to constructively engage one’s energy and time. Yet, what are the gains by following these rituals? Are we a better person by the end of festivities, penance or sadhna, in whatever way we may like to deem it.
What do these nine days do to us? Do they indeed affect and enhance our action and thoughts, our body and soul, our character and conduct? Are we a better person as the Navratri concludes? Or is it merely a ritual to be gone through, a set of restrictions to be followed, which may give us the comfort of pursuing something that will bring peace and prosperity? What do these nine days do to us?
Our scriptures speak of three dimensions of Shakti (the feminine energy): Mahakali (strength or power), Mahalakshmi (wealth, passion, and material well-being), and Mahasaraswati (knowledge, dissolution, transcendence of the limitations of the mortal body). They are believed to represent the cosmos as the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon. They are also symbolic of the 3 gunas (virtues/qualities): Tamas(inertia), Rajas (activity, passion) and Sattva (knowledge, purity), respectively.
Therefore, the first three days are dedicated to Durga or Kali, the next three to Lakshmi, and the last three to Saraswati. The tenth day is called Vijayadashmi (or Dussehra) where ‘Vijaya’ means victory – of good over evil, the victory of Lord Rama over the ten-headed demon king, Ravana. His ten heads represent ten negative qualities: Kaam (Lust), Krodh (Anger), Lobh (Greed), Moh (Attachment), Ahankar (Ego), Bhay (Fear), Irshya (Jealousy), Jadta (Inertia), Dvesh (Hate), and Paschataap (Guilt). Vijayadashmi, thus, essentially signifies victory over our own minds.
‘Durga Saptashati’, contained in Markandeya Puran, comprising of 700 mantras and 567 shlokas spread over 13 chapters, is an ancient and well-regarded spiritual text. During these nine days, many people go through this holy book daily. Written in praise of Goddess Durga, it provides some clue to the dilemmas of our existence. On the face of it, the stories contained within its beautifully crafted poetry, concern the various incarnations of Goddess Durga and her victory over the demon kings. But the real purpose behind the narration must lie beneath these stories. Explained through the life experiences of a king and a tradesman, Surath and Samadhi, it deals with the deeper questions of human existence and the tribulations that unfailingly accompany such a life. The stories of Madhu-Kaitabh, Mahishasur, and Shumbh-Nishumbh merely represent the arrogant display of all that is evil and unholy- greed, attachment, anger, lust, and cruelty. The incarnations of Durga illustrate the omnipotence of the divine power, to who we must submit to conquer the demons that enslave us. The characters of Surath and Samadhi demonstrate that sorrow, agony, failures, attachments are an inseparable part of human lives, and yet one seeks the wisdom and the will to cope with it without wallowing in them. To accept that life is essentially sorrowful, and yet live it with full energy and involvement, is a progression in our quest for salvation.
Sorrow, ‘dukkha’, is the essential nature of human life. Pleasure and happiness are nothing but another form of sorrow. In a beautiful verse in Savitri, Sri Aurobindo describes human happiness as a “mutilated statue of ecstasy” and “a wounded happiness that cannot live.” Behind the superficial smile, laughter, and humour of man there is hidden sorrow. And one does not carry only one’s own share of sorrow. There are some who shoulder the sorrows of those who surround them. Sri Aurobindo says that when you advance spiritually your consciousness widens beyond your body and personality, and begins to embrace, penetrate, or identify with the surrounding humanity, which is mostly sorrowful. We, then, take on the sorrow of that humanity. Our integration with the surroundings, then, becomes manifest in this enlarged suffering.
Gautam Buddha has perhaps best demonstrated it and therefore he is worshipped as an Avatar.
One messages that clearly dawns on us as we read Durga Saptashati, is that our lives are lived according to the attitudes formed within us over several births. We live a happy or unhappy life according to the attitudes that control us in dealing with the challenges of life. Several times, even after realizing the fault or futility of our actions, we helplessly continue to do so. This happens because the divine power makes us do by clouding our minds and thinking.
ॐ ज्ञानिनामपि चेतांसि देवी भगवती हिसा ।
बलादाकृष्य मोहाय महामाया प्रयच्छति ॥
We can get over that stupor or inertia only by praying to Her to free us from the bondage that compels us to do what we do. A total surrender to this divine entity can guide us to overcome the weaknesses of our conduct and lead us to a life free of misery and mistakes. Both Surath and Samadhi were aware of the trap their minds and actions were ensnared in, yet they were unable to get over the illusion, till they surrendered to the Goddess and prayed for her grace.
Why it is that we behave in a certain manner while fully aware of the futility of our actions and get into bonds of unrequited attachment. This attachment or Moha persists because the Goddess has put us in that state. A deliverance from this illusion is possible only through submitting to her completely, unreservedly, and unconditionally. The salvation, then, is sure to follow.
Arcane and inscrutable, is how some would like to describe Her ways. For me, faith undoes all riddles. The key to unravel these complexities is simply surrender- complete, unconditional, unfettered.
A renewal and reaffirmation of this faith with a rejuvenated resolution to pursue the rightful path and yet surrender every effort, action, and outcome to Her is what Navratri teaches me. Not that I may succeed in doing so but even a sincere desire would have taken me ahead on this long road of evolution and salvation. It is still progress.
scribo ad LX 