Spiritual Importance of Navratri
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Spiritual Importance
of Navratri
Navratri is
celebrated four times in a year in India. They are Sharad (sep/Oct), Chaitra
(March/Apr), Magha (Jan/Feb) and Ashada (June/July). The last two Navratris are
called gupta Navratris and are more significant for ascetics. Out of these
four, Sharad Navratri is celebrated all over India and the nine avatars of Maa
Durga are worshiped to remove obstacles from life and attain success
effortlessly.
During the
Navratri period, the climate changes from one season to another. It is
necessary for everyone to take care of his/her mental, emotional and physical
well-being. It is advised to keep Upavasa which means maintaining your
state of awareness in partial existence. The partial existence is needed to
receive the cosmic energy which is flowing throughout the nine nights and
harness it to modify your old mind or habits. At the end of Navratri, you are
reborn with a new mind and ready to explore your opportunities. This clearly
means that both fasting (no food) and feasting (full stomach) will either
mentally remind you that you are hungry or make you go to sleep. Upavasa
is often misunderstood and ritually followed based on its literal meaning.
The
farmers prepare their land by ploughing and put required manure to grow the new
crop in their fields. A similar approach is adopted during Navratri by a Siddha
Guru to evolve the disciple, so that he excels in his life with the new mind. As
we gain capabilities, our mind fills with pride and so it is necessary to cut
the head, which is symbolic, and replace it with a humble follower’s mind. This
brings balance in the life of the disciple. Maa Shilaputri represents mother
nature and makes us experience the inner infinite potential to start the inner
evolutionary journey. Maa Brahamacharini expands the consciousness and enhances
our capabilities to integrate everything. This step is crucial to recognise all
our negative habits while at the same time focusing on the positive habits to
enhance our capabilities.
The
remaining days of Navratri are worshiped with the aggressive form of Durga. The
aggressiveness and intellectual capabilities are needed to remove all the weeds
which are draining our inner infinite potential and to also maintain the
environment so that the seed/egg formed during 4th day of Navratri through Maa
Kushmanda Devi grows without obstacles. This is what Swamiji too does, plants
the seed of awakening on the 4th day of the 8-days shibir. On the
8th day Maa Mahagauri enhances the germination process by creating a new mind.
Shiva (space or potential energy) and Shakti (identification or kinetic energy)
are responsible for every being and they are the constituents of existential
intelligence. The existential intelligence expresses itself through
identifications which are either acquired from outside influences or through
inherited conditionings. These identifications are part of our mind and hence,
a new mind is necessary to bring a new life around us. Maa Mahagauri helps in
preparing a new mind and this new mind will be set in action on the 10th day to
bring changes within us and around us. The disciple should face life using this
new mind to enhance his/her life experience and avoid going back to the old
ways of the mind.
A siddha Guru,
like Swamiji, ensures such an evolution of a disciple by giving experiential
wisdom through meditation during the nine nights of Navratri and accelerates
the progress of the disciple.
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