The Spiritual Significance of Navaratri..

Ratri means “night” and Nava means “nine”. At Navaratri (“nine nights”), the Lord in the form of the Mother Goddess is worshipped in Her various forms as Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. Though the Goddess is one, She is represented and worshipped in three different aspects. On the first three nights of the festival, Durga is worshipped. On the following three, Lakshmi and then Saraswati Devi on the last three nights. The following tenth day is called Vijayadasami. Vijaya means “victory”, the victory over our own minds that can come only when we have worshipped these three: Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati.

Durga

To gain noble virtues, all evil tendencies in the mind must be destroyed. This destruction is represented by the Goddess Durga. The buffalo stands for tamoguna, the quality of laziness, darkness, ignorance and inertia. We have these qualities too. We love to sleep. Although we may have a lot of energy and potential inside us, we prefer to do nothing - just like the buffalo that likes to lie in pools of water. , The destruction of the tamoguna within us that is very difficult to destroy, we invoke that Divine Power within us to destroy our animalistic tendencies.

Lakshmi

For knowledge to dawn within us, we have to prepare our minds. The mind must be pure, concentrated, and single-pointed; this purification of the mind is obtained through the worship of Lakshmi Devi.

In our society today, however, when we think of Lakshmi, we think only of money - counting gold and dollar bills! This is why if one goes to a Lakshmi temple, one will find a crowd. Adi Shankaracharya describes six forms of wealth (calmness of mind, self-control, selfwithdrawal, forbearance, faith and single-pointed ness) that are to be cultivated to attain wisdom.

Saraswati

Victory over the mind can be gained only through knowledge, through understanding; and it is Goddess Saraswati who represents this highest knowledge of the Self. Although there are many kinds of knowledge in the Vedas - phonetics astronomy, archery, architecture, economics and so on - the real knowledge is in the spiritual knowledge. Lord Krishna himself says in the Bhagavad Gita: “The knowledge of the Self is the knowledge”;

In other words, we may have knowledge of many other subjects and sciences but if we do not know our own Self, then that is the greatest loss. Therefore the supreme knowledge is the knowledge of the Self that is represented by Goddess Saraswati.

Navaratri

Thus, at Navaratri, Goddess Durga is invoked first to remove impurities from the mind. The Goddess Lakshmi is invoked to cultivate the noble values and qualities. Finally, Saraswati is invoked for gaining the highest knowledge of the Self. This is the significance of the three sets of three nights when all these three are gained subjectively, and then there will be Vijayadasami, the day of true victory!

As we can see, the theme of the entire Vedas is reflected in the Navaratri festival: Purify the mind and remove all negativities; cultivate positive virtues; gain spiritual knowledge and transcend limitations. This is the real victory - the dance of joy - ritualistically performed at night, as it is also on Shivaratri (auspicious night), to signify our spiritual awakening.

Source: by Swami Tejomayananda

Essence of Navratri & Awakening of Kundalini..

The festival of Navratri is indeed hallowed and venerable. This lasts for nine days and involves performance of daily rituals, spiritual practices and worship of the goddesses. It is universally accepted that although known individually as Durga, Kali, Saraswati, and Lakshmi – they simply represent different forms of Shakti, the primordial cosmic energy, the divine feminine creative power.

Ancient sages have narrated the union of Shiva with Shakti. Shakti represents the primordial cosmic energy responsible for the processes of creation and destruction that occur unceasingly. The foundation of Shiva is the all-pervading Supreme Consciousness, without which even Shakti cannot function. The great sages named this primordial cosmic energy as Devi – the one who creates, preserves and destroys.

This primordial cosmic energy is all-pervasive and is present even in the human body, where it is referred to as the kundalini. This lies dormant in the mooladhara chakra – which is situated in the subtle body, not the gross visible body. This dormant primordial energy residing in the mooladhara chakra is symbolised by a red coloured inverted triangle. As long as this energy remains dormant, the human life cannot evolve, cannot attain greater heights.

Yoga, especially raja yoga, chakra yoga detail the various practices required to awaken this dormant energy. This primordial energy resides in the mooladhara chakra, whereas Shiva resides in the sahasrara chakra (at the top of the head). Until and unless a union takes place between Shakti and Shiva, human life lacks spiritual awakening and upliftment. In most humans, this union does not occur in their lifetime and they live their lives at a very low level of consciousness. And the transformation that happens in a person’s life when the kundalini gets awakened is phenomenally remarkable. It is like the perishable mortal body metamorphoses into the form of Shiva.

Science differentiates between matter and energy. However, tantra regards this as one and the same – matter is the gross form of energy and energy is the subtle form of matter. The divine essence of this energy is called Shakti. One cannot attain spiritual evolution without the presence of Shakti. Needless to say, as long as this energy is not awakened and remains dormant, a human life is no better than that of an animal. If one lives in fear, perpetually seeking sensual gratification, sleep and lethargy despite having a human body, it is then indeed comparable to the existence of an animal.

It is perfectly alright to house and worship an idol of Devi Durga. However, bear in mind that as long as you don’t take efforts to awaken the inner primordial cosmic energy, you will be unable to comprehend the profound spiritual significance of Navratri.

Shakti and Shiva are incomplete without each other. This entails then that unless the Shakti inherent within you is awakened, until it ascends upwards piercing all the chakras and merges with Shiva at the sahasrara, until then Shakti cannot be the source of bliss and wisdom.

The nine days of Navratri is an opportunity to perform and observe the spiritual practices for awakening of Shakti. The importance of this should sink within you so that you realise that if your entire life’s pursuit is just about sensual gratification and fulfillment of worldly desires then you haven’t as yet known the essential nature of Devi Durga.

Source: Great Masters