Navaratri Special Edition

Navaratri Upasana and Upavasas

Student: Guruji, What is Navaratri Upasana and Upavasa?

Guruji: Upasana – Upa-asana. Upa means upa-adhi. Something that up-

lifts you. Asana means posture. Upasana means the posture that uplifts

you. What is the posture that can uplift you? The posture that can uplift

you is, what can take you closer to God or Consciousness. We have a

posture now. Posture means mental posture, I am not saying physical

posture. What is the posture you have? I am husband of so and so; I am

wife of so and so, that is your posture. That is your mental posture. But

do you have the posture of ‘I am the son of the Divine Mother.’ Do you

have that posture? Does it cross your mind that ‘I am a child of the di-

vine Mother’? And when that strikes you that is called Upasana. Then all

other relationships become secondary. The primary relationship is ‘The

universal Mother is my Mother. I am the son of the universal Mother’.

That is the posture and that is the Upasana. And then whatever you do

is out of that upasana. Understand? Upasana is not meditating and do-

ing puja. Upasana means upa – asana. Mental posture. What is the mental attitude with which you do puja? That is

called Upasana. Puja is an act. Upasana is a state of the mind. You understand? Only thing that can uplift you is your

relationship to the Universal Mother, which is called Upasana. Clear? Any questions?

Student: While fasting how can one be in a higher

state?

Guruji: Upavasa is different. When you are writing

a good program, you will forget your lunch, dinner

right? Either out of joy or fear that boss will kick

you. So when you are involved in some activity

your mind will not be focusing on the food.

‘Upavasa’ means Upa-vasa, when your mind is up-

lifted and you are staying with the higher level

Consciousness, then lower things will drop. By

dropping the lower things automatically higher

things will come.

Student: So by doing fasting nothing will come?

Guruji: By doing fasting, you might get a good physical health. Ok? Your body will get cleaned. But if you do Upavasa

your mind is focused on the higher-level Consciousness, naturally your attention to the food will decrease. That is

called Upavasa. So it is the other way. Because you are so focused, so engrossed in the higher Consciousness, the low-

er activities drop. But for practice (teaching purpose) we say, do Upavasa.

Prabhuji Speaks

P a g e 2 D i v y a J y o t h i

P a g e 3 D i v y a J y o t h i

The Greatest Dissolution

Mahalaya Amavasya carries the message of new birth.

It shows the way to transcend ourselves through Yagna

- especially pitr yagna (representing other four yagnas)

to reduce the vasanas in the mind and transcend the

mind through meditation (laya).

Maha - means great, laya - means sublimation, sup-

pression. Amavasya is the time when moon does not

reflect sun light. Moon is the representation for mind.

Sun represents the Self - Atman. During the state of

meditation, mind becomes thoughtless, silent. This is

called laya of the mind. All the tendencies of the mind

become dormant. We experience the bliss of the self.

Mahalaya Amavasya is the great dissolution of new

moon day. Mahalaya Amavasya and Dasara (Navaratri)

in spiritual terms is as follows:

The day before Navaratri starts, it is the day when the

Universal Mother gives new birth to the human beings

who seek her. It is the day when our entire ego, igno-

rance gets dissolved and new birth happens. It is the

new moon day, the day when the darkness vanishes.

Darkness means the ignorance or the absence of Jnana.

The dissolution of ego and ignorance – the ajnana, is

the new birth for a seeker. This dissolution of ego and

ignorance is Mahalaya and the new birth is Jnana -

Wisdom.

Mahalaya Amavasya

Jaganmata in Confinement

Jaganmata manifests as Jagat Prasutika on Mahalaya

Amavasya day. With a smile on her face the Universal

Mother fondles a cute baby on her lap as if she is tell-

ing her devotee, “I am the mother of the whole crea-

tion and you are my child. You will always be taken

care as this baby on my lap, if you seek me”.

You must have heard the Kannada/Sanskrit word

‘prasava’, which has come from the ‘Prasavitha/

Prasava’ means to give birth, ‘Prasava vedana’ means

the birth pain, the labour pains. Prasutika comes from

the word Prasavitha. Prasavitha means giving birth.

Whom did the Jaganmata give birth? She gave birth to

this whole world. Jagat Prasutika, one who has given

birth to this Universe, we praise you.

Jaganmata appears in the form of Sadguru and gives

birth to the spiritually evolved child.

Nine days of Navaratri from tomorrow represent nine

months that is a symbolic representation of new birth

in spirituality. New birth from the womb of Sadguru.

Jagat Prasutika

P a g e 4 D i v y a J y o t h i

Navadurga as Shailaputri

Three different types of Shaktis come from Brahma

they are called Brahmi Vaishnavi and Kumari. From

these three Shaktis, different Shaktis manifest and they

are called Navadurga, nine different forms of Durga

and in Navaratri, each day different name is given to

Durga Shakti. These forms of Shakti represent the

powers of Consciousness. The Navaratri Pooja is first

three days for Durga, next three days for Lakshmi and

last three days for Saraswati. Each day is dedicated to

one power of Consciousness called Nava Durga. Nava-

ratri varies from region to region. Navadurga is wor-

shiped, Astamatrika is worshiped, saptamatrika is wor-

shiped, Dashamahavidya is worshiped. First day of

Navaratri Navadurga takes the form of Shailaputri.

Shailaputri represents the rebirth of Consciousness in

various forms. Nava means new, it is rejuvenating.

Every year on the first day of Navaratri there is a fresh

Universal Energy that flows into the creation. The cos-

mic energy, a fresh wave of energy influences the

earth. This is the time when we can receive the maxi-

mum amount of spiritual energy and prepare ourselves

for spiritual rejuvenation. So, Navaratri is the time for

Self Realization. Shailaputri the daughter of the moun-

tain is the positive strength that destroys the negativi-

ty in us. Mountain means immovable. Shailaputri de-

stroyers the immovable ego and ignorance in us and

makes way for the fresh cosmic energy to flow in us.

Shailaputri

Durga Shakti as Hamsa Vahini

Brahmi - The Durga Shakti manifests as Brahmi, the

creative energy of Brahma Deva. Seated on Hamsa vaa-

hana she blesses her devotees and the seekers of the

Truth. In Navaratri in some parts, Durga Shakti is wor-

shiped as Saptamatrikas. Durga Shakti as Saptamatrika

takes the form of Brahmi/Hamsa Vahini on the first

day of Navaratri.

As the creative energy of Brahma, Brahmi Shakti is the

force of Consciousness behind this creation. The Con-

sciousness behind this, they called as ‘shaktha'. The

power of Consciousness is called 'Shakti' and the Con-

sciousness itself is called 'shaktha'. This is also called

as Shiva and Shakti, the Consciousness and energy.

The Consciousness and energy together is responsible

for this creation. So the entire Universe is nothing but

dance of the Consciousness in the form of energy.

As Hamsa Vahini, Brahmi is Saraswati the one who

gives the essential knowledge of our own Self. ‘Sara’

means essential and ‘Swa’ means Self. Brahmi as Saras-

wati bestows the knowledge of wisdom to the seeker.

Goddess Saraswati is the source of all knowledge. As

the consort of Brahma, Brahmi is knowledge of herself,

knowledge of intelligence, crafts, arts, etc.

Hamsa or swan has an ability to separate milk from

water that represents the power of discrimination. Vi-

veka and vairagya – discrimination and dispassion.

Jagat Prasutika

P a g e 5 D i v y a J y o t h i

Navadurga as Brahmacharini

Second day of Navaratri Durga Shakti manifests as

Brahmacharini. Brahmacharini represents the power of

Consciousness to contemplate and meditate on the

highest truth. In this form, the Durga Shakti as Parvati

was a great Sati and her unmarried form is worshipped

as Brahmacharini. Brahmacharini is depicted as walk-

ing on the bare feet. She has two hands and carries Jap

Mala in the right hand and Kamandal in the left hand.

Brahmacharini did severe penance to get Lord Shiva as

her husband. She performed hard austerity and was

called Brahmacharini. She helps devotees to control

their senses and attain salvation. Brahmacharini repre-

sents the ‘Karma yoga’.

Let us contemplate on the deeper meaning of Brah-

macharini. There is word in Sanskrit called Brah-

macharya. Brahmacharya is wrongly translated as celi-

bacy. Brahmacharya means Brahmani Charitam Ma-

nasam. Brahman is supreme reality. When the mind is

engaged in higher pursuit, lower pursuit will drop. For

example, scientist in research may forget food and

Brahmacharini sleep for many days. When mind is focused on higher

reality, lower urges of body and mind drop. This is

called Brahmacharya.

On the contrary, if somebody is celibate, it does not

naturally mean that mind goes to higher reality. It is

like saying if somebody does not sleep for three days

and does not take food for three days, he will do re-

search !!. Some of the so-called spiritual pursuits are of

this nature. Need to be careful about real meaning of

Brahmacharya. Now if someone is not able to control

his or her senses what is the solution? Physical dimen-

sion of sensual pleasure is very negligible. Psychologi-

cal dimension - mind dimension is the real problem in

human beings. By spending mind on spiritual pursuit,

meditation, mind calms down. Gradually there is a

dropping of desires of body and mind since the mind

experiences deep bliss of the self. This is a natural way.

We need to understand the difference between - sup-

pression, sublimation and transcendence. Suppression

of senses is dangerous. You might have seen criminals

committing violence, soldiers committing violence,

even crimes in monasteries. These are due to suppres-

sion of senses. Sublimation of senses happens when

the mind is engaged in higher pursuit - for example

research, spirituality, meditation. Transcendence of

senses happens when enlightenment takes place. I do

not advice suppression. I advise sublimation and tran-

scendence of senses for you. This is the real meaning

of Brahmacharini. Nava Durga in the form of Brah-

macharini helps her devotees/seekers to transcend the

senses and attain Mukthi – Jeevan Mukthi.

P a g e 6 D i v y a J y o t h i

Durga Shakti as Vrishabha Vaahini

Second day of Navaratri, Durga Shakti takes the form

of Maheshwari. Adi Shakti, the concert of Ma-

heshwara, sitting on Vrishabha vaahana, wearing Crest

-Moon, beholding Trishula and blesses her devotees.

Maheshwari, the chethana shakti of Maheshwara. Ma-

ha means the great and Ishvari means one who pro-

tects the whole Universe.

Crest-Moon represents the mind of the human beings,

which is under the control of the Universal Mother. In

ignorance, the mind is full of materialistic desires and

noise. When one seeks the Mother, she destroys the

ignorance. Crest-Moon represents the spiritual evolu-

tion of the seeker. The word crescent means ‘to grow’,

thus meaning, ‘increasing’, and so was originally ap-

plied to the form of the waxing moon (lunar cres-

cents).

Trishula represent various trinities — creation,

maintenance and destruction; past, present and future;

the rajo, tamo and sattva guna. When looked upon as a

weapon of the Divine Mother, the trishula is said to

destroy the demons/demonic nature in us.

We come across many stories in Devi Mahatme. The

Vrishabha Vaahini

stories give us the clarity to recognize the negative

tendencies in us. Let us contemplate spiritually on the

first story. First three days is prayer to Durga. The first

story is about Mahishasura. He was called ‘Mahisha’

that means a buffalo headed monster. He was trou-

bling all the beings on earth, land and water. Durga,

the Shakti took the form of Mahishasura mardhini and

killed him. If you look at that story, it looks very

strange, there is a buffalo headed monster and Devi

comes and kills that buffalo headed demon.

Now what is the spiritual significance of the story?

What is that buffalo head? It is nothing but our ego, ‘I

am the Body, I am the mind, and I am the intellect’.

Buffalo headed means somebody who cannot under-

stand. The Ego cannot understand anything, it says, ‘I

went, I did, I said, I made, I only did all those things, I

understood etc. Our ego, very stubborn, whatever we

do, we keep saying ‘I me mine, I me mine, everything

is I–me- mine’. It is buffalo headed and the Durga de-

stroys that.

So, my dear friends, how does your intellect work, how

does your heart work, how does your breathing hap-

pen? Are you doing those things? Then how can you

say, ‘I, I and I’? Who is that I? Who did all these

things? You forget all the time that it is the Shakti who

does all this operating through your body. It is like

electricity, when the electricity flows, the tube light

works, the fans rotates, the motor works. But, the tube

light can never understand that it is the electricity that

is responsible for its working nor does the fan under-

stand that it is working due to electricity. They say, ‘I

am moving, I am giving light’. This is what ego is, eve-

rything happening in your body-mind complex the ego

says, ‘I am doing, I am doing’, what did you do?

When you eat a banana, the banana goes inside the

body and becomes blood and muscle, are you doing it?

But, you still say, ‘I did it? So that ego is called buffalo

headed and the ego always says, ‘I did it’ and that is

Mahishasura.

What is buffalo head about, whatever you say nothing

goes inside the head. So about the buffalo, it is said, if

someone comes and hits the buffalo it thinks, ‘Oh oh!

Someone is hitting someone somewhere’. The next

P a g e 7 D i v y a J y o t h i

time you hit buffalo, it thinks, ‘someone is hitting

someone somewhere nearby’. The third time you hit, it

thinks, ‘Oh oh! Someone is hitting on my back’. Fourth

time you hit, it realizes ‘Oh oh! Somebody is hitting

me!’ then it starts running, it takes a long time to un-

derstand. This is called buffalo head. There are lot of

troubles we go through in life, and most of the times

we say, ‘this trouble is because of this person, because

of that person’. We start ascribing every trouble to out-

side. Somewhere someone is hitting. The kicks are

there all time; it can come in the form of husband,

wife, in-laws, boss, stock market etc. Then it takes

some time to realize that there is something inside me

that needs to be corrected. Have you ever seen a per-

son who says, ‘I am suffering because of my own igno-

rance’, if yes, that man is great, at least he knows the

problem. This is called buffalo headed monster, do not

think it is sitting somewhere; it is the ignorance of hu-

man beings at the universal level, it is not only you,

everyone has this buffalo head.

That destruction of ignorance of human beings is

called Mahishasuramardini. It is happening at the uni-

versal level, gradually human beings will evolve, what

happens at the universal level will happen at the indi-

vidual level also, the same happens in your life also,

you have to come out of ignorance gradually, buffalo

head, for that you need a prayer to the Mother Shakti.

And Mahishasura has very great companions, kama

(desire), krodha (anger), moha (possessiveness), lobha

(greed), mada (pride), matsyara (jealousy) - these are

the six companions of Mahishasura. So the prayer is

‘Please destroy this monster called Mahishasura in the

form of ego in me.’ This is the three day prayer for

Durga.

‘’Ya Devi Sarva Bhuteshu Shakti Rupena Samshtitam;

Namastasmy Namon Namaha’’

Navadurga as Chandraghanta

Chandraghanta means one who is wearing the moon

as her jewel. The mind which is disturbing becomes

ornament; gradually the Consciousness is able to use

the moon as ornament rather than an obstacle.

Today is the third day of Navratri. Durga Shakti mani-

fests as Chandraghanta. Chandraghanta means the

Divine Mother wearing the half-moon in a bell shape.

She is suvarna means golden complexion, with ten

hands and rides a tiger. Her weapons are in her eight

hands and in the remaining two, one hand she has a

bell and the other is abhaya hasta - blessing the devo-

tees. During the battle between the Gods and demons,

the horrible sound of the Divine Mothers’ bell or ghan-

ta sent thousands of demons to the abode of death.

Chandraghanta is the representation of Supreme bliss

and knowledge. By her blessings, all the sins, suffer-

ings, bad energies etc. are eliminated from her devo-

tees' life. By riding a tiger She inspires Her devotees to

be fearless.

Let us go deeper to understand the meaning of Chan-

dragantha. Chandra represents mind. The key to Peace

is that the mind has to become silent. Now the prob-

lem is, throughout the day, your mind keeps jumping.

Not only your mind is jumping, you can make others

minds also jump. So, that process of making the mind

silent is called meditation or Dhyana. When your mind

is silent, you will not disturb others. When the mind

becomes silent, it becomes an ornament and not an

obstacle.

Chandraghanta

P a g e 8 D i v y a J y o t h i

Ghanta Nada represents Nadbrahma. The universal

primordial sound Omkara rings and reverberates

throughout the Universe continuously. In ancient In-

dia, seers and/or rishis were named after their realiza-

tion. It was Sage Mandukya’s realization that just as

the frog croaks, incessantly, irrespective of the pres-

ence or absence of listeners, similarly the universal

primordial sound Omkara rings and reverberates

throughout the Universe continuously. This Primordi-

al sound Omkara is Nadabrahma.

Nada is the sound vibration in manifestation. We can

feel the Nada in four stages. The first one is what we

speak and listen in the materialistic world. The second

one is subtle than the first one, which cannot be heard

by sense, but one can perceive through Dhyana. The

third one is more subtler and one see through higher

consciousness when all the senses can contemplate on

the sound. The fourth one is the subtlest Para shabda,

the primordial; the source of all sound can be felt

through oneness with the sound. This oneness is Sa-

madhi or Turiya and the sound felt, heard is

Nadabrahma – Omkara.

Ghanta nada is called Nadabrahma, because the sound

of the bell washes out thousands of demons that are

accumulated from birth after birth in the form of

thoughts and the desires – samskaras and vasanas.

Riding on the tiger represents the courageous one.

One who has assimilated all the three states of Con-

sciousness in the Super Conscious state is the Coura-

geous One.

All knowledge obtained by the mind acquired from

external world during waking state is needed for sur-

vival. Dream state is characterized by knowledge when

mind is not in contact with external world. Deep sleep

is a state of unawareness of both the internal and ex-

ternal world.

Waking, dreaming and deep sleep are normal states of

consciousness. These are called jagrat, swapn and su-

shupti respectively. All these states arise and merge

back into super conscious awareness called Turiya.

Super consciousness is not a different state at all, but

the background for all these states. The relationship

between super conscious state and the other three

states is like the relationship between ocean and the

waves or sky and the clouds. Waves rise and fall in the

ocean but ocean is ever unchanging. Waves have the

same quality as that of the ocean. Similarly, clouds

appear and disappear in the sky. But sky itself never

undergoes changes.

Turiyatita is a state in which one transcends the state

of turiya. In Turiyatita state, the state of waking,

dreaming, dreamless sleep and even turiya is realized

as nothing but the expressions of pure consciousness.

This is a state of non-duality. One who has this realiza-

tion experiences supreme bliss.

He sees every manifest and unmanifest thing in the

universe as glory of his own Self. Path of Self Realiza-

tion is path of joy. As one starts exploring his inner

consciousness, he gets filled with wonder. As the intui-

tion develops, leading him closer and closer to the na-

ture of Self he starts acquiring the latent power, loos-

ening up the bondages caused by Maya. As he starts

coming out of the bondages, he gets filled with bliss.

Bliss is the Natural state which has to be realized; rec-

ognised. He is Veera - the courageous one.

By worshipping Goddess Chandraghanta one gets rid

of all the worldly sorrows and attains supreme spiritual

bliss.

P a g e 9 D i v y a J y o t h i

Durga Shakti as Mayura Vaahani

Durga Shakti takes the form of Koumari, the Divine

Mother sitting on a Pea-

cock, beholding Shakthi

Ayudha, in the form of the

Power of Kumaraswamy -

Koumari to protect the

world with her grace. Shak-

thi Ayudha is the power of

the Divine Mother. She

presented the Shakthi

Ayudha to Kumara Swamy

as an embodiment of her

Shakthi. Shakthi Ayudha represents discrimination and

spiritual insight. Its blade is wide, long and sharp imply-

ing that our knowledge must be broad, deep and pene-

trating. The shakthi power of the weapon, the eminent,

intricate power of righteousness over the wrong doing,

conquers confusion within the realms below. Peacock,

the vehicle of Koumari represents the vehicle of thou-

sands of eyes. The sharpness, Viveka required in con-

quering the forces of darkness – negative qualities in

us. The awakening and arising of Kundalini uncoiling

itself, along the central channel and reaching the thou-

sand petalled lotus is the union of Shiva and Shakthi -

The eternal Bliss. The Divine Mother manifests as Kou-

mari to awaken the kundalini Shakthi in sadhaka – the

seeker. Today let us contemplate on the second story of

Devi Mahatme. There were two demons called Shumbha

and Nishumbha who were troubling all the people. They

had a boon from Brahmaji that only a female can kill

them and they were very sure that no female can kill

them. So Devi took the form of Kathyayini and went for

a war. Kathyayini means ‘Karth-yayini’, the power of

Consciousness responsible for action. So, she went for

the war. They got attracted by Kathyayini. They asked

her to marry them. She told them that she would marry

them if they defeat her in the fight. They thought a lady

can no way defeat them and they started fighting. She

killed both the demons. Shumbha and Nishumbha in

Sanskrit means, pride, extreme pride (madha). You

think your intelligence is sharp because of education

and training, this is the pride and extreme pride. Your

intelligence is sharp because of your inner Self. Intelli-

gence is tuned to the outer world. So, Kathyayini de-

stroyed this pride.

MayuraVaahani Navadurga as Kushmanda

Kushmanda means in the dark-

ness of the night there is the

birth of the egg of the universe,

and this represents the big

bang. Durga Shakti manifests

as Kushmanda on the fourth

day of Navaratri. In Sanskrit

kushmanda means 'ku' 'ushma'

and 'anda'. 'Ku' means little,

'ushma' means warmth and

'anda' is means egg. She cre-

ates the whole universe as a

little cosmic egg. She is with eight-arm holding

Kamandalu, Gada (bludgeon), Dhanush (arc), Chakra,

lotus-flower and other edges. Her eighth arm with a

Japmala (rosary). She resides on Saurmandal (solar

system). Like Sun, Kushmanda illuminates and re-

moves darkness. Kushmanda signifies the beginning of

what we see, beginning of the manifest world, begin-

ning of the beginning. What was there in the begin-

ning of beginning? There was nothing, the plants, ani-

mals, stars, galaxies nothing. What was there before

beginning? Was there something or nothing was

there? The exploration of the beginning of the begin-

ning is Kushmanda. There was something in the begin-

ning of beginning but it is not something that we are

seeing now or we know today. It is that supreme reali-

ty ‘Tat’. It was in the beginning of the beginning; mid-

dle and will be there even after the end. It is ever

there. From which the new creation of the Universe

starts repeatedly. In scientist language, it is ‘Big Bang’

theory. Before the Big Bang day, there was nothing, at

the time Big Bang happened and all the matter and

energy collapsed into microscopic dot, smaller than

the tip of the needle. Smaller than the smallest that

exploded into all that is there, the galaxies; stars; solar

system; the living and non-living came from one small

pinball of light, and that moment of explosion is Big

Bang to scientist; that pinball is Bindu to yogis and

that Bindu is Kushmanda – concentrated energy point

from which the whole Universe was exploded/

created. Fourth day of Navaratri is to remember that

beginning of the beginning; that Supreme reality; the

cause of all causes; manifestation of the Universe from

the Unmanifest Supreme reality – kushmanda.

Kushmanda

P a g e 1 0 D i v y a J y o t h i

Durga Shakti as Vaishnavi – Garuda Vaahini

The Universal Mother as the Power of Sri Mahavishnu,

sitting on the Garuda, beholding Shankha - Conch,

Chakra - Disc, and Gadaa, blesses her devotees.

Sudarshana Chakra is weapon in hand of Shri Vaishnavi.

Shri Vaishnavi carries conch, disc Sudarshana, Gada.

Each symbolises one aspect of creation. For example,

conch signifies primordial sound Omkar, maze symbol-

ises law of karma and lotus symbolises enlightenment.

Sudarshana symbolises the universal intelligence Mahat

tatwa. You may know stories from Purana where Shri

Vaishnavi kills demons with Sudarshana. Demons repre-

sent ignorance. Su+darshana means clear seeing. A puri-

fied intellect is able to see demon called ignorance and

kills it. At universal level, Shri Vaishnavi kills ignorance

using universal intelligence to help the humanity evolve.

Garuda

Garuda is strong and is said to be the worst enemy of the

snake. The Universal Mother is the Kundalini Shakti in

all human beings. When the Kundalini Shakti awakens

and starts moving, the Garuda acts as the vehicle for the

Universal Mother. Sudarshana bestows Su -auspicious;

GarudaVaahani darshana - vision while the sadaka - seeker moves up-

wards in his spiritual journey. When the seeker starts

moving upwards from muladhara chakra to sahasrara

after the awakening of the Kundalini shakti, he starts

visualizing auspicious forms of the Universal Mother

in each chakra.

Shankha

The shankha (conch-shell) is considered sacred and

auspicious. The conch and the bell produce blissful

sounds. A great yogi is said to subliminally hear the

shankhanaada - sound of perfect blowing of Conch,

within him during the higher stages of trance in Sad-

hana. When the conch is blown with controlled

breath, the primordial sound of "Om" emanates from

it. This eternal sound is said to be the origin of all Ve-

das. All knowledge enshrined in the Vedas is an elabo-

ration of the omnipresent sublime sound of ‘Om’. It

was this sound that was chanted by the Lord before

manifesting the cosmos. It represents the creation and

the Truth behind it. It represents Dharma or right-

eousness that is one of the four noble goals of human

life - Dharma; Artha; Kama; Moksha. It represents the

victory over the evil. Spiritually saying, it represents

the victory over the ego and ignorance.

Gadaa

Gadaa is the weapon used to destroy the evil - the de-

monic nature in the seeker.

P a g e 1 1 D i v y a J y o t h i

Navadurga as Skanda Mata

On the fifth day of Navaratri Durga Shakti manifests as

Skanda Mata. Skanda is the Mother of Subramanya. He

is the chief commander of the army of the divine gods,

the divine qualities, that is why he is called Subramanya.

He is the commander, the Senadhipati of the six chank-

ras in us, Muladhara, Swadhistana, Manipura, Anahata,

Vishuddi , Ajna, Sahasrara and that is why he is called

the Skanda and he has the weapon the Vel. This weapon

represents the spinal cord.

Vel Ayudha - The Universal Mother presented the Vel

Ayudha to Kumara Swamy as an embodiment of her

Shakti or power wielded by Lord Karttikeya, or Skanda,

embodies discrimination and spiritual insight. Its blade

is wide, long and keen, just as our knowledge must be

broad, deep and penetrating.

The shakti power of the weapon, the eminent, intricate

power of righteousness over wrongdoing, conquers con-

fusion within the realms below. The holy Ayudha, that

when thrown always hits its mark and of itself returns to

Karttikeya's mighty hand, rewards us when righteous-

ness prevails and becomes the kundalini serpent's un-

leashed power thwarting our every effort with punishing

remorse when we transgress dharma's law. Thus, the

holy vel Ayudha is our release from ignorance into

knowledge, our release from vanity into modesty, our

release from sinfulness into purity through tapas. When

we perform penance and beseech Skanda Mata’s bless-

Skanda Mata ing, this Vel Ayudha hurls into the astral plane, pierc-

ing discordant sounds, colors and shapes, removing

the mind's darkness.

Skanda Mata is the Queen of Queens. That is power in

the scepter. Standing behind the temporal majesty,

She advises and authorizes. Her weapon empowering

the ruler, justice prevails; wisdom enriches the minds

of human beings.

Six faced Lord Skanda is the Adhidevata for six chakras

in the body. Karthika devatas are the bright stars rep-

resenting the wisdom. The weapon represents the Spi-

nal cord. Six faces of Lord Skanda energize the Six

Chakras.

The birth of the Lord Skanda heralds the upward

movement of Kundalini energy in Sadhak. Tarakasura

– undefeatable demon is the ego that has survived mil-

lions of life times. The marriage of Shiva and Shakti in

Sahasrar heralds the march of Divine Army lead by

Lord Skanda. Lord Skanda is the Senadhipathi – Com-

mander in Chief of armies of Devas. Devas represent

light. Devas are the forces of light of consciousness. All

positive qualities or Divine qualities

Kundalini : Kundalini is the supreme spiritual power

residing in the lowest of the six psychic centres in an

individual (muladhara) as a coiled serpent gone to

sleep. As long as this energy is asleep, the individual is

outward oriented; he involves in the world and lives an

ordinary life. The grace of Sadguru is the only way to

wake up this energy. When an individual is graced

with Shakti-path deeksha from his Sadguru, the

Kundalini gets awakened and suddenly the individual

becomes inward-oriented and intensifies his spiritual

practices. When the Kundalini is awake, the energy

moves upwards , breaking through the three phenom-

enal knots of life named Brahma granti, Vishnu granti

and Rudra granti burning up the six lotus chakras and

reaches the thousand-petalled lotus on top of the head

Sahasrara where Shiva-Pure Consciousness resides.

The Kundalini shakti moves upwards and unites with

Shiva and this Union is the purpose of what is known

as Kundalini –yoga. Kundalini shakti is ever present in

the form of '' hissing'' sound. When we close both our

ears we hear this sound from inside. Zzzzz

The central ascending 'Channel' known as Sushumna

P a g e 1 2 D i v y a J y o t h i

occurs inside the most minute channel enclosed within

another channel, which runs inside and along the back-

bone called Meru-danda and reaches up to the subtle

opening on top of the head (brahma-randhra). To the

left of sushumna but outside the meru-danda is another

channel called ida, originating from the same source as

the Sushumna, but ending in the left nostril; and to its

right, also outside the meru-danda, is the channel

known as Pingala, originating as ida does but ending in

the right nostril. Sushumna represents the principle of

Fire, ida (masculine) represents the solar principle, and

Pingala (feminine) represents the lunar principle.

The three channels are united in their origin in the basal

centre (muladhara) and hence they are called Yukta-

triveni, (three streams united). The streams are subtle

and representatives of the river Ganga-ida, the river Ya-

muna-pingala, and the hidden river Sarasvati-

Sushumana.

The central channel being blocked is responsible for the

separation of Shakti and Shiva (pure consciousness). The

awakening and arising of Kundalini uncoiling itself,

along the central channel and reaching the thousand

petalled lotus is the union of Shiva and Shakti - The

eternal Bliss.

The Divine Mother manifests as Skanda Mata to awaken

the kundalini Shakti in sadaka - seeker.

Durga Shakti as Varahi

According to Devi Mahatme

from the Durga Shakti mani-

fests as Varahi from the bod-

ies of the gods on the fifth

day of Navaratri. The scrip-

tures say that Varahi was cre-

ated from Varaha. She has a

boar form, wields a chakra

(discus), and fights with a

sword

The goddess Durga in the

form of Varahi leads the eight Matrikas in battle

against the demon Raktabeejasura. So let us go

through the story of Raktabeejasura and its spiritual

significance.

After destroying Shumbha and Nishumbha the pride,

extreme pride (madha) another demon called Rakta-

beejasura came. He had a boon from Brahmaji that if

one drop of his blood falls on the earth, a million Rak-

tabeejasuras will be born out of that single drop of

blood. So, then the lion of Kalika Ma came and suck

the entire blood and not a single drop of blood fell on

the earth and the demon, Raktabeejasura is killed.

What does Raktabeejasura mean? Rakta means blood

and beeja means that which is deep inside the blood.

So what is deep inside our blood? The desires, con-

stantly they sprout. One desire has the ability to create

one million desires. So the Raktabeejasura represents

this desire and she kills the Raktabeejasura also. Now,

the desires cannot be killed, desires have to be elimi-

nated with right understanding. Symbolically this rep-

resents the destruction of the negative qualities in us

and also it represents the process of the evolution in

Universe. It is not just at the individual level, it is at

the Universal level also. At the universal level, there is

movement of human beings from the unconsciousness

to Consciousness and more and more evolved human

beings are born. The Varahi Shakti represents this.

Varahi

P a g e 1 3 D i v y a J y o t h i

Durga Shakti manifests as Karthyayini who in turn be-

comes Sri Chamundeshwari. Kathyayini represents the

power of action in the universe, everything in the Uni-

verse is moving, earth is moving, more importantly, your

head is moving, and constantly thoughts are moving.

The power behind this moving or happening is called

Kathyayini.

Change or moving is eternal. Something happened yes-

terday, something is happening today and something is

going to happen tomorrow. Everything is changing,

what was there yesterday it is not there today, what is

there today it will not be there tomorrow; moment to

moment it is changing. You might have noticed, when

you meet your relative you see their daughter or son of

young age but when you meet them after one year that

child has become big and next year if you go, that same

child would have grown up with moustache etc. So

many changes happen to the extent that you cannot rec-

ognize. The seasons change, the weather pattern

is changing, life style is changing. Everything changes;

there is nothing in the Universe that is constant.

Oh! If everything changes, then why is not everything

collapsing? Everything is changing moment to moment.

Something must be there which is not changing or else

how can it sustain the ever changing? Everything has to

collapse. The building is there, the building has founda-

tion. Only if you have the foundation you can build the

building, otherwise the building will collapse. To make

something, to have something which is changing there

should be something which is not changing. What is

that which is not changing in the world? That is the

power behind any action, Kathyayini. In you, there is

Kathyayini something, which is not changing, in the world there is

something that is not changing, that is called Kathy-

ayini. The unchanging principle in

the changing Phenomena is called Kathyayini.

There is very interesting story in Devi Mahatme relat-

ed to action without thinking and no action. Kathy-

ayini

means ‘Karth-yayini’, the power of Consciousness re-

sponsible for action. So she went for a war and in that

war, two demons called Chanda and Munda attacked

her whom she killed and that is why she is called

Chamundeshwari. We have the Chamundeshwari tem-

ple in Mysore. Now what are Chanda and Munda?

Munda means the head without body and Chanda

means the body without a head. Now what are the

qualities of the body without a head and a head with-

out a body? There are people who keep on doing with-

out thinking. They just go on doing and they are also

demonic in nature. They keep on creating mess. They

are called Chanda. They do not have head, but they

have body.

Chanda is someone who does action without thinking.

There are some people and whether it is action at

office, home or anywhere, they never question 'why'? If

they have to do puja in the morning for 15 minutes,

they do that puja exactly for 15minutes. They do not

think anything further. If something is told to do they

do it without any questions asked. They do not think,

they just blindly do that. They are called as Chanda.

Then we have people who are Munda. They have only

head, no body, and no action. They keep on thinking,

criticizing, they do not do any action at all. We come

across such people in life who just keep on criticizing

and finding faults in others. They keep on saying ‘This

is not happening, that is not proper, they cannot do

that, etc.’. So these are the two kinds of people, Chan-

da and Munda, both are Asuras, demons. Sometime

back, we were trying to teach Sri Lalitha Sahasranama

P a g e 1 4 D i v y a J y o t h i

at our place. Some of our neighbors came for a couple of

days and then they stopped coming. Somebody told

them that if you do a mistake while chanting Sri Lalitha

Sahasranama, then Lalitha devi will get angry with you

and curse you. What all types of ignorance we have!

Then somebody came and told that women should not

chant Shri Vishnu Sahasranama and women who were

chanting Shri Vishnu Sahasranama stopped chanting.

So, we will not question why and we just accept some-

body's ignorance as it is. This is the state of Chanda and

Munda, doing without thinking and thinking but not

doing. These are the two categories of ignorance in the

world. So Devi Kathyayini after destroying these two

types of ignorance is called Sri Chamundeshwari. Only

when we pray to this power of Consciousness energy

that will give us the right thinking and right action, we

can be ready for evolution.

Airavata rising from the ocean during the churning of

the ocean (samudra manthan), the elephant becomes

associated with Indra and assumes celestial im-

portance early in the tradition. He is mounted upon

the white elephant Airavata, who has seven trunks,

denoting the six chakras in the body and the seventh

one is the Sahasrara. Samudra manthan is the awaken-

ing of the Kundalini shakti and moving upwards un-

leashing the knots of six energy chakras. Airavata is

associated with Ganesha who is the deity of Muladhara

chakra.

Vajrayudha is the weapon made from the backbone of

Dadhichi Rishi. Vajrayudha represents the Sushumna

Nadi where the six energy chakras move upwards to-

wards Sahasrara. Indrani is the Devata means light, the

shining one. This is not physical light, it is the light of

the consciousness shining through the sense organs.

Indrani means master of Indriyas, the sense organs.

When the Devatas are in some trouble, the Universal

Mother manifests to support them and to safeguard

them. Devatas are the subordinates of lord Indira.

Even though they are Devatas, they are not yet liberat-

ed, hence get attracted to the sensual pleasures and

get into troubles. As jīvas (human beings) need food

for survival, Devatas need Amrutha for survival. As

human beings are attracted towards the sensual pleas-

ure, Devatas are also attracted. The only difference is

they live for a long time, but after their good get ex-

hausted, they have to take birth as human beings.

They can never get liberated as Devatas. Vritrasura -

The Asura who attacked the Devatas is Vritrasura who

represents the disturbances in our mind. Vritrasura is

the Chitta (Intellect), vrittis are the impressions and

vasanas stored in Chitta. The mind filled with desire is

full of disturbances due to the stored impressions and

vasanas is Vritrasura.

Devatas represent our sense organs. The inputs from

sense organs are received by the objective mind

(manas). When the senses become aware of some ob-

ject, an impression of the object is created in the ob-

jective mind and the associated impressions and

vasanas for that particular object arise from the sub-

conscious mind. For example, if the chair is the object

here, then Chitta (stores impressions and vasanas)

identifies the object as “plastic chair or wooden chair”.

Egoistic impressions color the perception with “my

chair, nice chair ... etc.” The intellect takes decision

based on the inputs from Chitta and directs the organs

Mahendri

Durga Shakti as Mahendri

Durga Shakti manifests as Mahendri. Devi beholding

the Vajrayudha, sitting on Airavata, as the chethana

shakti of Devendra and as the destroyer of demons like

Vritrasura, takes

care of her devo-

tees.

The Universal

Mother manifests

as Indrani (queen

of Indra). Indrani

is the goddess of

wrath and jeal-

ousy. She is one

of the seven

Matrikas (mother

goddesses). She is

described as beautiful and having one thousand eyes.

She is associated with lions and elephants. It is said that

Indrani has similar characteristics of Indra and the same

Vahana (vehicle) – white elephant.

P a g e 1 5 D i v y a J y o t h i

of action. This ego and ignorance is our lower mind.

This lower mind is also a asura called Bhandasura –

the stubborn nature of the mind which causes the

disturbance - Vritrasura. When these sense organs get

fed up of the outer world (materialistic), they start

moving inwards surrendering completely to the Di-

vine Mother. Indrani manifests to fulfill the wish of

the devatas - Mukthi from Vritrasura.

DurgaShakti manifests as Kalaratri on the seventh day

of Navaratri. Kalaratri represents the power of time

that cannot be seen. Time is darkness, only the effect

of time can be felt. The effect of time can be felt in

our birth, growth and death and this power of time is

called Kalaratri. Kaal Ratri means one who destroys

ignorance and removes darkness. This form primarily

depicts that life also has a dark side – the violence of

Mother Nature, creating havoc and removing all dirt.

Kalaratri is explained in the form of Time. The time

has past, present and future and timeless aspect,

which is beyond time. These three aspects represent

the Saguna, Nirguna and Para Brahma

(Transcendental). Saguna rupa is form aspect of God.

Nirguna rupa, the formless aspect of God is Kalaratri.

Para brahma is beyond all these.

What is time? How did this concept of time come?

The time comes because you see two different events.

For example, you saw sunrise yesterday, sunset yester-

day; you see sunrise today, and sunset today. You ob-

serve two different events and conclude there is a gap

between these two events. That is time. The time is the

space between the intervals between

the observations of two space objects. What about

space? Space itself is time as per the relative theo-

ry. The space and the time are one. The time and space

are very relative, what happens is, you infer about time

based on the space that is between two events. In reali-

ty, you have not seen the passage of time. You remem-

bered to have seen sunlight yesterday, you are seeing

the sunlight today; you are comparing the real event

with the memory event and making issues, the time has

passed. Yesterday was today for you when you experi-

enced the

sunrise; to-

day is today

for you when

you experi-

enced the

sunrise.

There is

nothing

called yester-

day or tomor-

row, it is only

today, the

present mo-

ment. Real

event is what

you are see-

ing now, all others are unreal events. What you experi-

enced yesterday was real yesterday, but that moment

was today for you. Everything is required for interac-

tion, but in reality it does not exist. What all is happen-

ing is at the present moment, now, now and now. Now

is the only reality. The time is unreal. Is space real? The

gap between any two objects is space. This again is

nothing but the memory. Seeing one object and looking

at the other object makes you remember about the

memory object, and the gap between the memory ob-

ject and the real object makes you feel there is

space. In reality, there is no time and space but the ap-

pearance of time and space as real is due the memories

and accepting the time events consequently. Kalaratri

represents the power of time that cannot be seen.

Kalaratri is the time, the space between the intervals of

observations of two space objects that cannot be seen.

Kalaratri is the present moment, now, now and now.

Kalaratri

Kaal Ratri primarily depicts that life also has a dark side –

the violence of Mother Nature, creating havoc and re-

moving all dirt. Generalizing about what happened in

Uttarakhand, most of the people say, it is because the

Mother Earth could not bear the sinful acts committed

by the human beings, she got frustrated and wanted to

clean up. She pleaded with the Universal Consciousness

and the Chetana Shakti of the Universal Consciousness –

Ganga cleaned up a portion of Mother Earth. She could

have cleaned up the whole Universe by taking it back to

her womb, but this incident is to bring awareness in hu-

man beings about the sins they are committing or the

way nature responds. When we go deeper and contem-

plate on this tragic incident, the inner Consciousness

answers our question, the cause and the effect of this

disaster. The answer comes out in the form of Pancha

Maha Yagna which is our Nitya Dharma. Are we per-

forming this Pancha Maha Yagna in our day to day life?

What is this Pancha Maha Yagna? What has this to do

with this disaster? Pancha Maha Yagnas are Deva Yagna;

Rishi Yagna; Pitru Yagna; Manushya Yagna; Bhuta Yagna.

Deva Yagna – Respecting divine forces of nature. It is

service for conservation of environment, worship of

Ishtadaivata. In modernization we damage nature which

is the main cause of natural calamities.

Rishi Yagna – Bringing awareness of our higher responsi-

bility by reading scriptures like Upanishads, Bhaga-

vadgita. Service through learning and teaching the mes-

sage of Rishis and surrender to Sadguru.

Pitru Yagna - Service to elders/senior citizens. Have love

and compassion towards elders and senior citizens.

NaraNarayana Seva - Manushya Yagna - Service to

guests, human beings, service to orphans and physically

handicapped. Doing motivational workshops for chil-

dren.

When these are missing in one’s life, when people do not

perform these yagnas, there is pain and suffering in their

lives. This is the real cause and the effect is the disaster.

Uttarkhand disaster is just a part of cleaning up process.

Such incidents bring awareness in human beings as to

how nature strikes back when it rages up. This is nothing

compared to the tsunamis that we see in many parts of

the world. Still, if the human beings are not aware of all

their sinful actions, which are going beyond the limit of

nature control, then the Deluge happens and that is ‘The

End’. What does ‘The End’ mean? The end means, it can

be the beginning of a new Era or end of an existing Era.

When speaking about our inner world the ‘End’ can be

the end of our ignorance and the beginning of the

Jnana. Kaal Ratri is the one who destroys ignorance and

removes darkness.

P a g e 1 6 D i v y a J y o t h i

Saraswati Durga Shakti as Saraswati

Durga Shakti manifests as Saraswati on the seventh day

of Navaratri. The last three days we do Sharada, Saras-

wathi Puja. Saraswathi is the Adi Devata for Vidya,

Knowledge. Saraswati is the Shakti (creative energy) of

Brahma. She is the Devata for wisdom

Music art and meditation. Sharada is incarnation of

Saraswati. Saraswati is also the river flowing from Kash-

mir area where Vedic wisdom flourished. Sharada is the

form in which Saraswati appeared to Rishis. Saraswati is

formless. Sharada is with form (Saguna). Saraswati is

worshipped as Sharada during last three days of Nava-

ratri beginning of winter (sharat ritu hence name

Sharada). Saraswati is Brahma Vidya. Saraswati is

Nirguna Brahman attributeless and the absolute. Saras-

wati is the river which is not visible but merges with

Gangotri and Yamunotri. That river is Saraswati –

which is known as Guptagamini – the hidden one.

Guptagamini is Nirguna Brahman. She is the Jnana that

flows internally. Saraswati represents consciousness

and wisdom. She is also regarded as the bestower of her

own knowledge. Saraswati literally means as the one

'swa' (own) who gives her own knowledge 'Sara'. God-

dess Saraswati dressed in the colour of purity and seat-

ed on a white Lotus represents that she is supreme real-

ity and knowledge. The rosary signifies concentration

P a g e 1 7 D i v y a J y o t h i

and meditation. The Veena in Her hands is the intellect.

Saraswati has a vehicle called swan, swan has an ability

to separate milk from water that represents the discrimi-

nation. Viveka and vairagya – discrimination and dispas-

sion.

Sharada – Sharada is Brahma Vidya Rupini. Sharada is

Goddess Saraswati herself. Sharada is Saguna Brahman

means with attributes. Sharada holds a mala represent-

ing meditation with silence; a book that signifies

knowledge; veena represents viveka and vairagya, the

arohana and avarohana. Sharada represents Sadguru as

she is the bestower of the auspicious Knowledge. The

peacock represents the Soundarya or the Bliss/Joy of

Brahma Vidya. The difference between attributeless and

attribute is just how we perceive. There are two types of

Vidya, Para Vidya and Apara Vidya. Para Vidya is high-

est wisdom and Apara Vidya is lower wisdom. What we

do for living, whether it is Engineering, Medicine, Sci-

ence, Arts, Cooking, Cycling etc., they all come under

the category of Apara Vidya, the lower knowledge. This

lower knowledge is required for our daily living. We

then pray her for Para Vidya, the wisdom of the Self,

Atma Jnana, knowledge of the Self, which comes

through Upanishads, Vedanta, Brahmasutras, Yoga Shas-

tras, and teaching of the Guru. The prayer for Saraswathi

is to shows us the path for Para Vidya, grant us the path

of Para Vidya. What is this highest wisdom and how to

get it? I am not the body, I am not the Mind, I am not

the intellect, and I am pure sprit’. This realization is

called Self Knowledge ‘Atmajnana’ This is the spiritual

knowledge that one has to gain. To understand this

truth one has to study Shastras, Vedanta, Bhagavad Gita,

Yoga Sutras. We have to understand ‘What is my reali-

ty?’ To understand our true nature, we need to get

teachings from a Sadguru, Enlightened master. So, three

days we pray Saraswathi to show us the path of Enlight-

enment. So Navaratri is about is about Path of light, Ut-

taraadi marga or Path of Darkness, Dakshinaadi marga.

Navaratri is about Shreyas and Preyas, it is about Libera-

tion or eternal bondage. Navaratri is about prayer for

freedom from all ignorance, our illusions. Navaratri is

about prayer for granting us all the divine qualities

which is the sadhana Sampatti. And Navaratri is about

the prayer for Para Vidya.

Maha Gowri represents the auspiciousness, the ability of

human beings to evolve.

DurgaShakti manifests as Maha Gowri on the eight day

of Navarati. Her power is unfailing and instantly fruitful.

All sins of past, present and future get washed away and

devotees get purified in all aspects of life by worshiping

Maha Gowri. . Maha Gowri is intelligent, peaceful and

calm. Due to her long austerities in the deep forests of

the Himalayas, she developed a dark complexion. When

Lord Shiva cleaned her with the water of the Ganges, her

body regained its beauty and she came to be known as

Maha Gauri, which mean extremely white. She wears

white clothes, has four arms, and rides on a bull. Her

right hand is in the pose of allaying fear and her right

lower hand holds a trident. The left upper hand holds a

‘damaru’ (a small rattle drum) and the lower one is in

the pose of granting boons to her devotees.

Goddess Gowri is one of the manifestations of Goddess

Parvati. She is the divine energy, Mother Goddess. She is

considered as a perfect wife for her husband, Lord Shiva.

She is a clear representation of purity and austerity. She

is the Kanya (unmarried girl) who performed severe pen-

ance to marry Lord Shiva. Uma is the Supreme Will

power of Lord Shiva. It is the Will power of Lord Shiva

makes him manifest the entire universe out of his own

body of consciousness and take the body of jiva – indi-

vidual self to explore the Universe. It is She who bestows

her grace on highly evolved yogi in the form of intuitive

flash that bestows liberation. Due to merger of his self-

identity with absolute identity of Lord Shiva, yogi ac-

quires the supreme Will power and can manifest any-

thing if he desires so. Consciousness is the sole reality of

Maha Gowri

P a g e 1 8 D i v y a J y o t h i

Gangotri , Yamunotri,

Badarinath and Ked-

aranath are the Chard-

hams (four sacred

places). Ganga ugama

is Gangotri; Yamuna

ugama is Yamunotri;

Badari is for Narayana

and Kedar is for Shiva.

Ganga and Yamuna

represent the energy

channels in spinal cord

of human beings. This

is called Ida and Pinga-

la and the central

channel called Sushumna is Saraswathi that is not visi-

ble and is called as Guptagamini. Gangotri and Yamu-

notri represent the energy systems in the human body

according to the individual level. The mind is of double

nature, outgoing nature and inward moving nature.

They represent Ida and Pingala Nadi. Sushumna is the

central Nadi that takes you to the higher Conscious-

ness. Higher Consciousness is what we call as the

Abode of Narayana, which is actually Badari. The mind

that loses all its outgoing nature because of detach-

ment (Vairagya) is Kedara. Mind that is detached is

Kedaranath and that has to be moved inwards towards

Narayana is Badari. Narayana means Naranam Aaya-

naha – Narayana. Nara means human being who has

identified with body and mind. His suffering is due to

his identification with body and mind. Aayanam means

resting place. Resting place for such a soul – detached

soul is called Narayana and that is nothing but your

Consciousness; Atma; Sakshi; that is Badarinarayana.

Kedara is Vairagya; Narayana is Mukthi dhama; Gan-

gotri and Yamunotri is outgoing and inward flowing

minds.

So, the Paduka of Sadguru gives Viveka and Vairagya

(Gangotri); the feet of Sadguru gives Prema and Jnana

(Yamunotri); the words of Sadguru makes us move in-

ward which is Spiritual evolution (Badari); the inner

journey gives us the knowledge of wisdom, the

Knowledge imparted by Sadguru which is not visible is

Atmajnana (Saraswathi); this is the complete detach-

ment from the Universe and merge in the Universal

Consciousness which is nothing but the Manolaya that

is Kedara. This Manolaya is the end; the deluge of the

mind. This is the state of mind and way of living all the

Universe. The energy of consciousness Para Shakti in

the form Will, Wisdom and Action creates, sustains

and dissolves the Universe.

Let us contemplate how Ganga flows internally and

cleans up the darkness or ignorance in human beings

and brings ability in them to evolve. There are four sa-

cred places (Chardham) in Uttarkhand – Gangotri, Ya-

munotri, Badarinath and Kedaranath. Gangotri is the

Ugama Sthana, Yamunotri is the flow and joins Gan-

gotri. There is one more river that is not visible but

merges with Gangotri and Yamunotri. That river is Sar-

aswati – which is known as Guptagamini – the hidden

one. She is the Jnana that flows internally as Jnana Gan-

ga. Next come Badarinath and Kedaranath.

It is said ‘Gurucharano mein Charodhaam’. These four

sacred places are at the feet of the Master. How is it

possible? What we visit the Chardham in Uttarkand are

the physical places we go year after year with never

ending process. The whole purpose to go there is to

drop Ajnana that is ignorance. Going to Yatra – pil-

grimage is the Sadhana done for purification. Ultimate-

ly the Guru paduka of the Master that can never said to

be physical is Viveka and Vairagya. Viveka and Vair-

agya are the Padukas of Sadguru. Without Viveka and

Vairagya if you keep on going to Yatra, you may feel

peaceful for a short while, but again your mind is dis-

turbed. The reason for this is because Viveka and Vair-

agya are missing. Viveka and Vairagya are the Paduka

of the Sadguru and the Feet (Pada) of the Sadguru is

prema and Jnana, which is love and Wisdom. The wis-

dom is complete detachment. Nothing to do with the

world, I am free, I am Atma is Mukthi. Prema is, every-

thing in the world has come from me. This is the feet of

the Master. The wisdom is the Jnana Ganga that puri-

fies, which is flowing from Shiva’s head. The river Gan-

ga purifies physically, but it is the Jnana Ganga that

purifies one from internally. There was meaning in ear-

ly days for Ganga Snana (bath). What happened was, in

these Yatra Sthalas there were many Sadhus and Ma-

hatmas staying there. In earlier days there was no bus,

train and airplanes for transportation. It used to take

six months, eight months for journey. In between jour-

ney, you see many people, you interact with many peo-

ple and go to Ganga teera and take rest there where

you come across many Mahatmas who will give you

Jnana Ganga and then you get into Ganga Nadi. Now

Jnana Ganga is missing and Ganga Snana has become a

dip and come back.

P a g e 1 9 D i v y a J y o t h i

very very difficult. The illusion of Maya is very difficult

to cross it is impossible. The prayer for Durga is

‘Durgati naashini’, the destroyer of Durgati. What is

Durgati? We think what is unreal to be real and what is

real we forget. Unreal is the world and real is the Self.

The Self is forgotten and only the world becomes real.

That is called real durgati. The prayer for Durga is to

free us from this Durgati which is the eternal cycle of

birth and death. The prayer for Durga to destroy Tamo

guna that is the ignorance. The power of Durga will

invoke to destroy the ignorance in us because of which

we forget our own divine nature in us. The prayer is,

‘Please free us from our ignorance, destroy as a destroy-

er, the kaama, krodha, mada, moha, lobha and

maatsarya, the six enemies, the six children of igno-

rance which are making me suffer and more than mak-

ing me suffer, they are making others suffer because of

me’. The prayer is for freedom from all these six ene-

mies.

When you start, ok, you want to go on the path of

Enlightenment, then all the disturbance of the mind

has to go. The disturbance of the mind is caused by

Kama, Krodha, Madha, Matsara, Moha, Lobha. The

six enemies, adhishatwarga. And who else better

than, who else other than Durga can destroy these

six enemies? Because enemies are born out of what

you call as Tamo guna, so the prayer for Dur-

gaashtami or prayer for Durga is for Shakti, the

power to destroy the six enemies of human beings.

It is called adhishatwarga. In India, people are

called as Mahavira only when they conquer the six

inner enemies. Surprisingly anywhere else in the

world, Mahavira is one who has conquered the

kingdom. One who has won the wars. What we re-

alized in India is, to win a war outside maybe easier,

but war inside is much tougher. The inner war is much

tougher. That is why Mahavira is a name given to a per-

son who has won the inner war, battle of Kama, Kro-

dha, Madha, Matsara, Moha, Lobha. Destroy the inner

enemies. For destruction of inner enemies, there is

Durga. Durga is called Durgatinashini, destroyer of ig-

norance.

There is one more interesting story in Devi Mahatme.

The story is about Mahishasura. He was called

‘Mahisha’ which means a buffalo headed monster. He

was troubling all the beings on Earth, land and water.

Durga, the Shakti took the form of Mahishasura

mardhini and killed him. If you look at that story, it

time. This is the power or Shakti of Maha Gowri on the

eight day of Navarati. Her power is unfailing and in-

stantly fruitful. All sins of past, present and future get

washed away and devotees get purified in all aspects of

life.

Maa Durga Durga Shakti as Maa Durga

Durga Shakti manifests as Maa Durga on the eight day of

Navaratri.

Durga is durgathi nashini, destroys the ignorance so she

is called Durga. So the prayer is for Durga for destruc-

tion of the negative qualities in us. If you are leading a

spiritual life, Durga prayer is to destroy your ignorance

(Ajnana) and get liberated. For outer life Durga gives

victory over the enemies. That is why Durgashtami

means celebration of the victory, whereas inner life,

Durga is the destruction of negative qualities called

Adhishatwarga – kama, krodha, madha, matsara, moha,

lobha.

Durga is ‘durgama’ which means very difficult to cross,

P a g e 2 0 D i v y a J y o t h i

By the time fourth hit has happened, you will realize

that outside is not relevant, something I have improve

within me, that is called buffalo headed. And most of

the people you come across, you see them saying, ‘I am

suffering because of this person’. You please find out

some person, who says, ‘I am suffering because of my

own ignorance’, that man is great, at least he knows the

problem. This is called buffalo headed monster, don’t

think it is sitting somewhere; it is the ignorance of hu-

man beings at the universal level, it is not only you,

everyone has this buffalo head.

Universe is gradually moving from unconsciousness to

Consciousness. If you look at the animal instincts will

be preserved in the first level of human beings, the na-

ture has to gradually come out of that. That destruction

of ignorance of human beings is called Mahishasura-

mardini. It is happening at the universal level, gradual-

ly human beings will evolve, what happens at the uni-

versal level will happen at the individual level also, the

same happens in your life also, you have to come out of

ignorance gradually, buffalo head, for that you need a

prayer to the Mother Shakti.

And Mahishasura has very great companions, kama

(desire), krodha (anger), moha (possessiveness), lobha

(greed), mada (pride), matsyara (jealousy) - these are

the six companions of Mahishasura. So the prayer is

‘Please destroy this monster called Mahishasura in the

form of ego in me.’ This is the prayer for Durga.

looks very strange, there is a buffalo headed monster and

Devi comes and kills that buffalo heeded demon.

Now what is the spiritual significance of the story? What

is that buffalo head? It is nothing but our ego, ‘I am the

Body, I am the mind, and I am the intellect’. Buffalo

headed means somebody who cannot understand. The

Ego cannot understand anything, it says, ‘I went, I did, I

said, I made, I only did all those things, I understood

etc.’. Our ego, very stubborn, whatever you do, you keep

saying ‘I me mine, I me mine, everything is I–me- mine’.

It is buffalo headed and the Durga destroys that.

So, my dear friends, how does your intellect work, how

does your heart work, how does your breathing happen?

Are you doing those things? Then how can you say, ‘I, I

and I’? Who is that I? Who did all these things? You for-

get all the time that it is the Shakti who does all this op-

erating through your body. It is like electricity, when the

electricity flows, the tube light works, the fans rotates,

the motor works. But the tube light can never under-

stand that it is the electricity that is responsible for its

working nor does the fan understand that it is working

due to electricity. They say, ‘I am moving, I am giving

light’. This is what ego is, everything happening in your

body-mind complex the ego says, ‘I am doing, I am do-

ing’, what did you do my dear?

When you eat a banana, the banana goes inside the body

and becomes blood and muscle, are you doing it? But

you still say, ‘I did it? So that ego is called buffalo headed

and the ego always says, ‘I did it’ and that is Mahi-

shasura. What is buffalo head is about, whatever you say

nothing goes inside. So about the buffalo, it is said,

someone comes and hits the buffalo and the buffalo

thinks, ‘Oh oh! Someone is hitting someone somewhere,

ok.’ The next time you hit, it thinks, ‘Some one is hitting

somewhere nearby’, the third time you hit, it thinks, ‘Oh

oh! Some one is on my back’, then fourth time, ‘Oh oh!

Somebody is hitting me!’ Then it starts running, it takes

a long time to understand. This is called buffalo head,

have you come across buffalo headed people? There are

lot of troubles of we go through in life, and most of the

times we say, ‘This trouble is because of this person, be-

cause of that person this trouble is there’. We start as-

cribing every trouble to outside. Somewhere some one is

hitting. The kicks are there all time, it can come in the

form of husband, wife, in-laws, boss, stock market etc.

Somewhere someone is hitting, ok. It is not me, some-

body is hitting. Then it takes some time to realize that

there is something inside me that needs to be corrected.

P a g e 2 1 D i v y a J y o t h i

Siddhidatri

Navadurga as Siddhidatri

Durga Shakti manifests as Siddhidatri on the ninth day

of Navaratri.

Siddhidatri represents the powers of the mind, many

powers of the mind can be developed, and these are

called nine powers of Consciousness that will help you

to evolve.

The eight Siddhis (Supernatural powers) one can ac-

quire by praying Ma Durga are as follows:

Anima: Ability to reduce one's size; Mahima: Ability to

increase one's size; Garima: Ability to increase one's

weight infinitely; Laghima: Ability to become lighter

than the lightest; Prāpti: Ability to Obtain anything;

Prākāmya: Ability to acquire anything desired; Isitva:

Lordship over creation; Vaśitva: Having control over

things.

The highest of all the siddhis is the ninth siddhi is

Naishkarmya siddhi.

Actions in Sakshi Bhava - Witness Consciousness

One can be sakshi while doing action or while doing

or non-doing. Such an attitude will ensure that he is not

affected by the result, nor emotionally disturbed. This is

called Naishkarmya siddhi.

To acquire the ninth siddhi we have to pray Durga to de-

stroy our negative qualities. But just removing the negative

qualities is not sufficient. We need to pray for the positive,

divine qualities. There are two paths, Preyas and Shreyas.

So, when we are in the path of Preyas we seek outer wealth

and when we are in the path of Shreyas which is for our

spiritual upliftment, we seek the highest divine qualities,

Shat Sampatti, called the inner wealth.

Maha Lakshmi gives outer wealth through different forms

like Dhana Lakshmi, Dhanya Lakshmi, Santana Lakshmi

and so on. The outer wealth will give us protection but

what is more important is the inner wealth, the inner

Shakti that is required for us to practice Spiritual practices.

The six highest spiritual inner qualities, Shat Sampatti are

Shama (Patience), Dama (Control over the senses or mas-

tery the senses), Titeeksha (Ability to withstand pain),

Uparati (Turning mind inwards), Shraddha (Faith in teach-

ings of Vedas and Guru), Samdhaana (Contentment and

one pointedness of the mind), Mumukshatva (Desire for

Mukthi/Liberation).

We pray to Mother Maha Lakshmi to grant us the inner

wealth so that we see the path of light, we be in the path of

Shreyas, rather than in the path of Preyas. This is the inner

journey.

Maha Lakshmi also gives the outer qualities that are re-

quired for a Sadhaka like Sadguru (An enlightened mas-

ter), Satsanga (a spiritual support group), Seva (service,)

sadhana (spiritual practice), Shastras (teachings) and Sha-

ranagati (surrender). This is the outer support that Maha

Lakshmi gives for the Sadhaka who is in the path of

Adhyatmika sadhana. So we pray for both inner and outer

wealth

When one acquires the Spiritual wealth – shat sampatti, he

is in the path of acquiring the ninth and the highest siddhi,

Naishkarmya siddhi. Let us understand what is Naish-

karmya siddhi.

In day to day life we do good actions to earn good merits,

this is Kamya Karma.

- Doing actions without expecting returns is Nishkama

P a g e 2 2 D i v y a J y o t h i

Karma.

- Doing actions in a state of witness consciousness is

Sakshi Bhava - Naishkarmya Siddhi.

With respect to any activity there are 2 possibilities.

- Action - Doing

- Non Action - Non Doing

Doing – I plant a seed in fertile land with abundant

water. This is action.

Non-Doing – Beyond that point it is non-action. Come

what may. I will never be able to make the tree grow

faster. I can just watch. This is non-action.

Actions in Sakshi Bhava - Witness Consciousness

One can be sakshi while doing action or while doing

or non-doing. Such an attitude will ensure that he is

not affected by the result, nor emotionally disturbed.

This is called Naishkarmya siddhi.

The cycle of action reaction is difficult to break. Every

action leaves psychological imprint called karma pha-

la. This leads to chain of births and deaths. But for a

non-doer in witness consciousness state, there is no

accumulation of karma phala. There is no birth, no

death. He is in state of being. Being is existence itself.

For such a yogi, fear of death will disappear. This is the

state of abhaya - fearlessness. For him doing is just a

happening since he is the witness of action of his body

- mind complex. This is Naishkarmya siddhi. It is

equivalent to Samadhi in Karmayoga. Siddhidatri rep-

resents Naishkarmya siddhi – the powers of the mind.

Durga Shakti as Maha Navami

Durga Shakti manifests as Maha Navami – Ayuda Devata

on the ninth day of Navaratri.

We

also

cel-

ebrate Ayudha puja, where we worship the different

tools, instruments etc. that we use in our daily life. We

worship vehicles, mechanical devices, tools used in farm-

ing etc. But we forget one important Ayudha, what is

that Ayudha? The sharpest Ayudha that a human being

has is the intelligence, without intelligence what can one

do with the sword, without intelligence invention of all

these vehicles like car, scooter is not possible. Nothing is

possible. That is the sharpest weapon. You think your

intelligence is sharp because of education and training,

no; it is sharp because of your inner Self. Intelligence is

tuned to the outer world; intelligence should be tuned to

God – inner world. That is the sharpening of Ayudha.

Preparing your intelligence for higher reality. That can

happen only through study of scriptures what we call as

Shastras and Sadguru seva. Don’t think that Sadguru seva

means seva to the Master. It is the respect for our spiritu-

al Masters. Many Rishis like, Vedavyasa Maharshi, Adi

Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya, Madvacharya etc.,

these teachers have given us the wisdom. Studying that

wisdom and passing it on to the next generation is noth-

ing but Ayudha puja. Because intelligence is the most

Maha Navami

P a g e 2 3 D i v y a J y o t h i

dangerous and most potent weapon. Nothing can kill

more than intelligence can kill and if you are able to

do that, then that becomes Maha Navami – victory

over the mind. A monster called Mahishasura can be

killed through the weapon called ‘Buddhi Shakti’. The

intellect is the weapon given to the human beings.

Giving respect to that intellect through Shastras and

Guru’s teachings, the prayer is done for the destruc-

tion of Mahishasura. Only the sharpened intellect

alone can destroy the ego. The intellect alone is capa-

ble of destroying the ego. Please understand that this

is all ‘Adhyatmika Chintana’ contemplating on what is

happening inside us is Adi Daivika Puja. So, outside it

is Ayudha Pooja, inside it is respecting the highest fac-

ulty of human being which is the intellect, purifying

the intellect and praying to the intellect in you to kill

the demon Mahishasura – the ego.

versal Consciousness and this is called Mukti.

Navaratri as you know, is celebrated with Rasaleela where

people dance and sing. This is the ‘Rasaleela’ that Lord

Krishna played with Gopikas. So this is actually celebrat-

ed in Gujarat as Garba dance. So we have crossed 3-3-3

Navaratri. We have dropped our negative qualities, posi-

tive qualities, dropped down the wisdom, and then Krish-

na is very close to us. Gopikas represent Jivatma, Sri

Krishna represents Paramatma, the meeting of Jivatma

and Paramatma is the state of bliss, ecstasy, and that is

what is called Rasaleela.

So Navaratri is the celebration of Enlightenment, Nava-

ratri is also the celebration of bliss and ecstasy experi-

enced through Enlightenment. The dance of Jivatma with

Paramatma is called Rasaleela. The song of Liber-

ation, the love that Jivatma feels for Lord Krishna

is called Rasaleela. Navaratri is about Rasaleela.

When you prepare yourself for wisdom and posi-

tive qualities, there is a Rasaleela, there is a play

of energy, the play of Liberation with the Lord.

That is Rasaleela.

And what is this Garba dance about?

There is a typically a dance. According to my

knowledge or understanding, Garba is a dance of

womb, what is this dance of womb? Sri Krishna

played Rasaleela with Gopikas; Garba dance is a reminder

of Rasaleela. Now you have to understand what Rasaleela

is, it is said that Gopis prayed to Kathyayini or Gowri. It is

said that if you pray to Gowri, girls will get a boy of their

choice and they prayed to Gowri, ‘We want to marry a

boy like Krishna’ and it is almost impossible. A boy like

Krishna is impossible to get, one day Krishna was playing

a flute, he was a boy of eight or nine years. All the ani-

Vijaya Dashami

Navadurga as Vijaya Dashami – Union of Jivatma with

Paramatma

Rasaleela

When we get Shakti from Lakshmi, Durga and Saras-

wati we can easily destroy the ego, the Ahamkara, and

when the ego goes, what remains? Atma and Para-

matma. The union of the individual Self with the Uni-

versal Self, individual Consciousness merges with uni-

P a g e 2 4 D i v y a J y o t h i

mals and birds and Gopikas got attracted and they

started dancing Rasaleela. Gopikas also represent,

‘Gopya’, means ‘secret’, in everyone’s heart there is a

secret desire, to experience oneness with the universe,

deep inside us there is a desire to experience the dance

of the lord that is called Gopika everybody is Gopika in

a secret way, so Gopikas danced around Krishna Para-

matma who is the supreme lord. Actually the Rasaleela

represents the divine union, oneness of Jivatma with

Paramatma and that joy is called Rasaleela, so in a

sense, the Garba dance is the union of oneness with

the lord. Then why is it called Garba dance. Garba

means womb, in deep inside the womb the child

grows from one cell to two cells to four and then to

eight cells and finally grows big. Similarly deep inside

us there is a desire to experience the God and like a

child slowly the growth happens and one day the

growth happens and we experience the divinity and

that is why in temple we call Garba gudi, inner sancto-

rum. Garba means womb Garba also means deep in-

side, deep inside all of us there is divine, and divine

has to grow and celebration of that is called Garba

dance. This is my understanding of Garba dance what

is your understanding.

Navaratri is also a festival of dolls. Why this festival of

dolls is there? Is it to encourage some artists? Why do

you celebrate the bombe ata – show of dolls. Each year

together as a family, together as a society let us medi-

tate on higher spiritual truths. Let us understand the

deeper meaning of spirituality because all of us here

are body mind complex are dolls. Each of us what we

think as body is nothing but doll. Shiva and Shakti

operate through this doll to make it alive. Through

bomb ata show of dolls let us understand spirituality.

My daughters Katyayini and Maitreyi has made a

beautiful picturization which shows the principles of spir-

ituality through dolls. Through dolls we learn spirituality

we remind ourselves that there is something more to

learn inside this doll. Coming back to this doll, this doll is

very special. Open up something is there, open up some-

thing is there and who is this doll? This is all of us. We

have five layers of our personality what we call as anna-

maya kosha the external layer, we have pranamaya kosha

the next layer, we have manomaya kosha the next layer,

we have vijnanamaya kosha one more layer and

anandmaya kosha one more layer. These are the five lay-

ers and somebody who has made this doll really knows

what it means, that is why he has made this. Deep inside

you there is this anandamaya kosha – bliss. Do you know

the five layers of yourself? To know these five layers, to go

deep inside you is spiritual journey. That is the real yatra.

Going deeper and deeper, layer by layer and going be-

yond the last layer anandamaya kosha, what remains is

pure awareness – Shiva.

May this Dasara bring peace and prosperity to all of you.

There are two journeys we do, one is outer journey and

the other is inner journey. Outer journey is business, life,

marriage success; the inner journey is peace, love, com-

passion and wisdom. Our Mothers, Durga, Adi Parashak-

ti, Saraswathi, Lakshmi, they are very compassionate.

Whichever success you want they give, you want money

take it; you want wisdom take it; you want love take it,

choice is yours. So this festival let us pray for the inner

victory, outer victory most of us had, let us go for inner

victory. With this I conclude my brief or my long Nava-

ratri celebration. Wish you all very happy Dasara and

Navaratri.

P a g e 2 5 D i v y a J y o t h i

Durga Shakti as Vijaya Dashami is Das – Hara. Vijaya

Dashami is a celebration of Victory. For whom is the

victory? Victory is for Dharma and Victory for Sathya

(Truth). Victory for Dharma is the outer Victory and

Victory for Sathya is inner Victory. The means for out-

er Victory is the power and strength. Knowledge is the

ultimate power. Apara vidya lower level knowledge is

the means to outer victory where knowledge includes

all kinds of knowledge required for success in life -arts,

music, sports, politics, economics, medicine. Para

Vidya -supreme knowledge is knowledge of Self- it is

the supreme power. ‘Balam Balam Brahma Balam

Brahma Tejo Balam’ ...means one who is Self Realized

becomes one with God (Brahman) and power of God

flows through him/her in the form of Love compassion

and Wisdom. Such noble soul Mahatma conquers the

heart of everybody in the world. Outer victory can on-

ly give wealth and power but cannot conquer the

heart. Spiritual sadhana -yoga is the way for inner vic-

tory.

After the nine days of Puja to Mother Durga, Lakshmi

and Saraswathi, the blessing comes on the final tenth

day, the child is born. Nine months of being in the

womb of the Mother, doing sadhana, then tenth day

the child is born. We celebrate the new birth. Dasara

means Das-Hara. It means ten is defeated. What is

that ten? Ten is the five sense organs, five organs of

action that is represented through the ten-headed

Ravana. Now we think that Ravana is somewhere in Sri

Lanka and he kidnapped Sita, without realizing that

Ravana is our own ego that has taken control of the

sense organs and organs of action. On the tenth day,

in the Ramleela grounds of New Delhi, they burn the

effigy of Ravana. Why do they burn the effigy of

Ravana? We have to understand who are Ravana,

Kumbhakarna and Vibheeshana.

The Prakriti, Maya has three qualities, Sattva guna,

Rajo guna and Tamo guna. Kumbhakarna represents

Tamo guna, Ravana represents Rajo guna and

Vibheeshana represents Sattva guna. Tamo guna caus-

es trouble for us, Rajo guna causes activity for us and

Sattva guna causes Jnana, wisdom in us. Navaratri is

about the destroying the ten headed monster called

‘Ahamkara’, the ten headed monster operates through

our ten sense organs, five sense organs and five organs

of action and they are always after Sita and Sita is

nothing but Prakriti. The ego takes control of our ten

sense organs. Rama is Atma, the inner self, ego wants to

control everything in nature forgetting about Rama who

is the Atma, the inner Self in us. Ravana is ten headed

who represents the ego in us. We are always seeking to

grab, and keep on accumulating everything in nature. In

reality, nothing in nature belongs to us. Everything be-

longs to the Lord. Isavasyam idam Jagat. Once we under-

stand that, the ten-headed monster, Ravana gets killed by

Rama we experience the highest possible bliss. Rama is

bliss, Ananda, so Vijayadashami is the day we experience

the highest possible bliss called Paramananda, Brah-

mananda, and bliss of Liberation in human life. And that

is the attainment, the peak of what is called as human

life. This is a brief description of what is Das-Hara about.

So, Ravana is destroyed, that is what is called Dasara, Vi-

jaya Dashami, the mastery over senses. And one who has

mastered the sense organs is called Indriya gana adhi-

pathi. And such a person is called Ganesha. Gana-Isha,

Master of sense organs. That is why Ganesha is the repre-

sentation of the highest state of Enlightenment. All the

sense organs of Ganesha are mastered, enlarged. The ears

are enlarged; the eyes are enlarged (enlarged means be-

come subtle). The nose is enlarged. The tongue is en-

larged. The eating, the tooth is enlarged. The sense or-

gans are enlarged to represent that the enlightened being

has mastery over the sense organs. So Vijayadashami is

birth of the enlightened child, Jnani. Bharat - Bha means

knowledge, rat means-enjoyment. People of India -

Bharatiyas excelled in outer knowledge in the form of

science, Ayurveda, astronomy, mathematics and others

through Vedic knowledge - apara vidya. But for contribu-

tion of Bharatiyas world would not have achieved the

progress and prosperity what we are not seeing today.

But for the contribution of Para vidya - the path of non-

violence (ahimsa), love (prema), shanthi (peace) would

have disappeared from face of earth. Glory is to Mother

India. Jai Bharat Mata. Vande Mataram.

~ Vijayadashami 2014...

Dusshera

P a g e 2 6 D i v y a J y o t h i

Durga Shakti as Vijaya Dashami is Das – Hara. Vijaya

Dashami is a celebration of Victory. For whom is the

victory? Victory is for Dharma and Victory for Sathya

(Truth). Victory for Dharma is the outer Victory and

Victory for Sathya is inner Victory.

The means for outer Victory is the power and

strength. Knowledge is the ultimate power. Apara

vidya lower level knowledge is the means to outer vic-

tory where knowledge includes all kinds of knowledge

required for success in life -arts, music, sports, politics,

economics, medicine. Para Vidya -supreme knowledge

is knowledge of Self- it is the supreme power. ‘Balam

Balam Brahma Balam Brahma Tejo Balam’ ...means

one who is Self Realized becomes one with God

(Brahman) and power of God flows through him/her

in the form of Love compassion and Wisdom. Such

noble soul Mahatma conquers the heart of everybody

in the world. Outer victory can only give wealth and

power but cannot conquer the heart. Spiritual sadhana

-yoga is the way for inner victory.

After the nine days of Puja to Mother Durga, Lakshmi

and Saraswathi, the blessing comes on the final tenth

day, the child is born. Nine months of being in the

womb of the Mother, doing sadhana, then tenth day

the child is born. We celebrate the new birth. Dasara

means Das-Hara. It means ten is defeated. What is

that ten? Ten is the five sense organs, five organs of

action that is represented through the ten-headed

Ravana. Now we think that Ravana is somewhere in Sri

Lanka and he kidnapped Sita, without realizing that

Ravana is our own ego that has taken control of the sense

organs and organs of action.

On the tenth day, in the Ramleela grounds of New Delhi,

they burn the effigy of Ravana. Why do they burn the

effigy of Ravana? We have to understand who are Ravana,

Kumbhakarna and Vibheeshana. The Prakriti, Maya has

three qualities, Sattva guna, Rajo guna and Tamo guna.

Kumbhakarna represents Tamo guna, Ravana represents

Rajo guna and Vibheeshana represents

Sattva guna. Tamo guna causes trouble

for us, Rajo guna causes activity for us

and Sattva guna causes Jnana, wisdom

in us. Navaratri is about the destroying

the ten headed monster called

‘Ahamkara’, the ten headed monster

operates through our ten sense organs,

five sense organs and five organs of ac-

tion and they are always after Sita and

Sita is nothing but Prakriti. The ego

takes control of our ten sense organs.

Rama is Atma, the inner self, ego wants

to control everything in nature forget-

ting about Rama who is the Atma, the

inner Self in us. Ravana is ten headed who represents the

ego in us. We are always seeking to grab, and keep on

accumulating everything in nature. In reality, nothing in

nature belongs to us. Everything belongs to the Lord.

Isavasyam idam Jagat

Once we understand that, the ten-headed monster,

Ravana gets killed by Rama we experience the highest

possible bliss. Rama is bliss, Ananda, so Vijayadashami is

the day we experience the highest possible bliss called

Paramananda, Brahmananda, and bliss of Liberation in

human life. And that is the attainment, the peak of what

is called as human life. This is a brief description of what

is Das-Hara about. So, Ravana is destroyed, that is what is

called Dasara, Vijaya Dashami, the mastery over senses.

And one who has mastered the sense organs is called In-

driya gana adhipathi. And such a person is called Gane-

sha. Gana-Isha, Master of sense organs. That is why

Ganesha is the representation of the highest state of En-

lightenment. All the sense organs of Ganesha are mas-

tered, enlarged. The ears are enlarged; the eyes are en-

larged (enlarged means become subtle). The nose is en-

larged. The tongue is enlarged. The eating, the tooth is

enlarged. The sense organs are enlarged to represent that

the enlightened being has mastery over the sense organs.

So Vijayadashami is birth of the enlightened child, Jnani.

Dusshera

P a g e 2 7 D i v y a J y o t h i

Bharat - Bha means knowledge, rat means-enjoyment.

People of India -Bharatiyas excelled in outer

knowledge in the form of science, Ayurveda, astrono-

my, mathematics and others through Vedic knowledge

- apara vidya. But for contribution of Bharatiyas world

would not have achieved the progress and prosperity

what we are not seeing today. But for the contribution

of Para vidya - the path of non-violence (ahimsa), love

(prema), shanthi (peace) would have disappeared from

face of earth. Glory is to Mother India. Jai Bharat Mata.

Vande Mataram.

- Vijayadashami 2014...

Please find the Navaratri article ‘Awareness is Vijaya Dashami’ by Shri Prabhuji in

Bhodivruksh Newspaper (Times of India Group)

http://www.bodhivrukshaepaper.com/Details.aspx?id=1101&boxid=1934731

Komal’s Yoga Self healing & Self Empowering through Yoga

practices and Yoga Philosophy!

Many Free yoga workshops and sessions on follow-

ing are conducted in Adelaide SA (at students hous-

es, temple Community Centre, Yoga Studios, at

home and other yoga places) All these happened as

sadana and seva in past few months with the grace

of Sadguru Prabhuji and the support of my husband

Mohan.

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