We celebrate Navaratri for nine days to celebrate the victory of good over evil. The festival is associated to the battle that took place between Durga and the demons (asuras).
We celebrate Navratri in lots of different ways as per our beliefs. Some of us will fast, observe a strict vegetarian diet, kanya pooja or even by playing garba. Some focus on the aspects of Goddess Durga, Godess Laxmi and Goddess Sarawswati. This is the celebration of the energy which is in the female form. Almost everyone prays during nine days either for material results or in general follows the rituals, which has been followed religiously for generations.
Luckily, during the Navaratri period, I was able to join the yoga class as I had half-term holidays. I am so blessed to learn the real and true spiritual meaning of celebration Navaratri. I have never been taught or given a light on the true spiritual aspect of celebrating Navaratri. Our yoga guruji explained it so beautifully, I thought I should share some of the explanations she has given us about the demons (asuras) killed by Ma. The beauty of the explanation is that it can be brought into our practical life to become one with divine. She gave us a very good way of doing this by telling us how we relate to the victory of Ma over asuras and get over the asuras in our lives.
Mahadevi or Durga Ma killed the king of asuras named Mahishasur. Mahisha means buffalo and asur means demon. Mahishasur had lust and anger. He always felt that he would not ever be killed. He had a boon from Lord Brahma that he would be killed only by a woman. He was confident that no woman will be able to kill him. However, Ma Durga killed him.
With Ma Durga’s positive energy and blessings, we will also get rid of our lust and anger.
Ma Durga killed the egotistic demon called Dhumralochan. We read the story and learnt that good always win against evil.
She gave the vishleshan (explanation) of Dhumralochan.
Dhumra mean dhuwa (smoke).
Lochan means eyes.
She helped us to understand on how to get rid of Dhumralochan within us. The demon within us is that smoke which we see through our eyes. The smoke is the illusion (maya) which we constantly see through our eyes and believe that is the reality. We need to get rid of illusion (maya). We always find good and bad in others. We like and don’t like things. We are not limited to our body. We need to get rid of the veil of dhuwa.
The other demon was Madhukotak..
Madhu is sweet
Kotak is bitter.
We need to control our senses like sweet and bitter taste and go above all that. When people talk positively about us, we feel so happy and become egotistic. When they talk negatively about us we feel bad or down. When we have anger, lust, jealously then the love for God is destroyed. So we should kill our negativity and stay in a neutral state, and not feeling up and down depending on our current life situation.
Raktabija :- Ma Kali or chamunda killed this asura.
Rakta means blood
Beej means seed
When Raktabīja was wounded by the Goddess, the blood started falling on the ground creating numerous other Raktabījas,. So Ma collected blood pouring from Raktabīja’s body in a skull.
Our wishes or demands are like Raktabijas (endless). We need to destruct our desires like Ma destructed the asura. When we destroy our desires, we get what we actually deserve.
Shumbha Ashumba was another demon killed by Ma.
Shumbha is a depiction of goodness and positivity.
Ashubha is a depiction of evil.
We are stuck to shubha and ashubha which stops us from praying to God. We give so much importance to the rituals where we forget God’s naam. We think that if we don’t perform certain rituals during specific times at a specific time, god will punish us. There is no shubhamuharat (time) to chant his name. We need to go way away from these rituals which are created by us and not God. Every moment is good for him.
The last but not the least, Ma Kali also killed Chandmund asur which represents our ego. We need to let go of our ego and pride which is a major obstacle in our spiritual journey.
So the demons (asuras) were destroyed by Goddesses. How can we apply that to our modern life where there aren’t actual asuras which we need to fight? We should fight or destroy the demons within us (lust, greed, jealousy, negativity, back biting, fear and ego).
When goddesses give us blessings, we will gradually get rid of all the negativity within us. We need to accept the truth that we are not the doer. We should surrender to divine feet always. When all the demons are killed and the illusion is removed, we will become a pure soul (Avinashi).
Dhanyawad for making us understand the spiritual meaning of celebrating Navratri. We are truly blessed to have you in our lives and thank you so much for guiding us all the time on our spiritual journey.
Shat Shat pranam guruji.
