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 4^th 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.