Navratri is a festival to worship Shakti (power,
strength) and acquire it through spiritual practices
or sadhana. This year this festival commences
on 21st September, 2017 and concludes on 29th
September, 2017. The nine nights in this sacred
period bestow special energies and so are called
as Navratri. Historic significance is attached with
these nine days as our scriptures have described
a large number of divine events that unfolded in
this period.
Navratri is a festival of sadhana. Param Pujya
Gurudev has stated two specific facts about
sadhana: (i) sadhana leads to attainment of
extraordinary powers, and (ii) sadhana cleanses
the inner self. Sadhana is an ascetic practice
which is performed in a number of different
ways, but each of its form has the same goal
– to attain purity and refinement. The more
one purifies and refines oneself, the faster he
moves towards attainment of divine powers
and inner-fulfilment. But on the other hand,
if someone takes up sadhana to attain powers
without adequate efforts to refine oneself, then
the impurities in his mind and character cause
great harm and lead him to destruction.
Pure milk when put into an unclean, dirty
utensil also becomes dirty and unfit for drinking.
Similarly, if an unworthy, undeserving person
attains divine powers, he doesn’t utilize them
for any good purpose. He misuses them and then
these powers, in place of benefiting him, cause
him great harm and lead him to destruction. So,
in spiritual domain, efforts should be directed
primarily towards self-refinement. As the level
of refinement of the aspirant reaches higher and
higher dimensions, the divine powers associated
with these dimensions naturally come to him.
For this very reason, before daily worship
purification rituals are done so that our mind,
speech and inner self get refined, and we become
deserving and worthy of retaining the power and
energy received.
We have accessed many domains of energies
through technology, but we are not able to put
them to good use because of lack of refined
thinking. There is much pollution inside ourselves,
which emerges out in the form of various kinds of
mental and physical ailments. Likewise, at a larger
scale, this inner pollution has also contributed to
pollution of Mother Nature. Our thoughts and
emotions are manifested in our actions. Thus in
order to control outer pollution, apart from many
approaches (that are being adopted to control it)
we should put in efforts to control the pollution of
thoughts. And the only way to remove pollution
and purify thoughts is by performing sadhana.
A perfect time to take quick steps in sadhana is
during Navratri.
The period of Navratri falls four times in a year
- Two direct Navaratri periods during the lunar
months of Ashvin and Chaitra and two indirect
during the months of Ashadh and Magh. During
all these Navratris significant changes take place
in Nature as seasons gradually change over
sequentially from summer to rainy, to autumn, to
cold, to winter and then to spring. These changing seasons affect our bodies too. To be able to bear
these changes and adapt the body for the new
season we need to make changes in our food
habits and life style, and practice abstinence. The
training and discipline needed is received through
the spiritual practices prescribed during Navratri.
Exponents of our culture have associated all our
festivals with some form of spiritual sadhana so
that we can make ourselves capable of soaking
in special flows of cosmic energy during these
festive periods, cleanse ourselves of all the dirt
and impurities, and make our body, mind, and
soul strong, pure and proficient.
During Navratri primordial power of Supreme
Soul is worshipped in the form of nine Goddesses.
These are – (i) Shailputri, (ii) Brahmacharini, (iii)
Chandraghanta, (iv) Kushmanda, (v) Skandmata,
(vi) Katyayini, (vii) Kalratri, (viii) Mahagauri
and (ix) Siddhidatri. These nine forms of the
primordial power are also nine dimensions of
consciousness, which a spiritual aspirant begins
to access as he undergoes the cleansing process
of the inner self. The focal points of these nine
forms of power lie within the subtle body in the
forms of chakras which get awakened during
spiritual sadhana.
In the first dimension of consciousness, the mind of
the spiritual aspirant gets seated in the muladhara
chakra. Sadhana primarily starts from this
dimension. Shailputri is regarded as the mother
Goddess (presiding deity) of this dimension.
Shailputri stands for the power which emerges
by breaking free from inertia. By performing
sadhana in this dimension, a seeker’s mind gets
awakened as its inertia gets quelled. The mind
becomes honest, non-deceitful and earns victory
over enemies of worldly desires, anger etc.
In the second dimension of consciousness,
a seeker’s mind gets rooted in svadhishthan
chakra. The presiding deity of this dimension
is known as Brahmacharini. Brahma stands for
the all-pervading, ultimate element of existence
and charini stands for one who stays within. This
means Mother Brahmacharini is the one who is
completely engrossed in the ultimate element and
performs penance with diligence. Mind fixated in
this dimension gets entrenched into penance and
begins to receive grace of the Supreme Soul.
In the third dimension of consciousness, the
seeker’s mind gets rooted into the Manipur
chakra. The presiding deity of this dimension is
Chandraghanta. By Mother Chandraghanta’s grace,
sound came into being for the first time during the
creation of universe. By performing sadhana in
this dimension, the seeker begins to hear divine
sounds and then gets entranced into supreme bliss.
In the fourth dimension of consciousness, it is the
anahata chakra in which the seeker’s mind gets
seated. Kushmanda is the Mother Goddess of this dimension. When this universe did not exist and
darkness pervaded everywhere, then this Goddess
through ‘Ishat’ laughter created the cosmos and
received the name Kushmanda. Entering Her
realm, the seeker attains divine cosmic powers.
In the fifth dimension of consciousness the seeker’s
mind gets seated in the vishuddhi chakra. The
presiding deity here is known as Skandmata. She is
the Mother of God Skand or Kumar Kartikeya. In
this dimension all the desires of a seeker get fulfilled.
In the sixth dimension of consciousness, the
seeker’s mind gets established in the agya
chakra. Mother Katyayini is the presiding deity
of this dimension. In the lineage of Maharshi
Katya (Katya Gotra) who was son of Maharshi
Kat, was born as Maharshi Katyayan. He
undertook great penance and pleaded Universal
Mother to be born to him as his daughter. It is
said that when Mahishasur began to wreak
havoc, then by combined grace of Lords Brahma,
Vishnu and Mahesh, Mother Katyayini took birth
as the daughter of Maharshi Katyayan. In this
dimension, seeker’s mind gets filled with energy
and is able to terminate all its inner distortions.
In the seventh dimension, whose Mother Goddess
is Kalratri, seeker’s mind gets seated in sahastrar
chakra. The exterior form of Mother Kalratri
is extremely fearsome, but She always bestows
grace and benevolence. In this dimension seeker’s
mind suppresses all the distortions of mind.
By entering the eighth dimension of consciousness,
seeker’s mind gets rid of all its defects and receives
grace of Mother Mahagauri, who has a fair skin tone.
When all distortions of mind are got rid of, the inner
being of a seeker also becomes clean and refined,
and attains worthiness of receiving divine grace.
In the ninth dimension of consciousness seeker
attains the grace of Mother Siddhidatri who
bestows all divine powers. In this dimension the
seeker attains complete fulfilment and attains all
the divine powers of the universe.
In the journey through all these nine dimensions,
the nine syllables of Gayatri Mantra lend a
terrific support and refine the consciousness.
Navratri sadhana thus forms a process of
refinement of all the nine dimensions of
consciousness.
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