Indian Festivals

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THE AUSPICIOUS NAVARAATHRI AND VIJAYADASHAMI
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The ‘Navaraathri’ is being observed since the days or yore as an
auspicious   period for activating the spiritual energies in human life.
Literally, nine auspicious nights, the period begins just after the new
moon in the month of Ashwini (September-October). These nine days of
spiritual intensification fructifies as the Vijaya-dashami, the day of
Supreme Triumph, on the 10th day.

Triumph over what? Over the negative, anti-evolutionary trends in the
human mind that keep man in pain and thralldom.  These are personified
in the Puraana-s as various Asuras, the demoniac characters having
predominantly distorted disposition and intelligence. Of them, the
Mahishasura, the grotesque Buffalo Demon, symbolizes an extremely senseless
human mind. 

According to Hindu philosophy the phenomenal universe is a conditioned
expression of the Supreme Reality, referred to as Brahman/Shiva. The
phenomenal expression is a characteristic of Reality and this is brought
about by the supreme Power of Brahman, Paraa-Shakthi or Shakthi. As the
originator of everything, Paraa-Shakthi is Divine Mother.    The
interactions of the three modes of energy latent in Shakthi evolve the
conditioned universe. They are the three guan-s, namely satthva, rajas and
thamas. As everything else, man is also conditioned by these special
modes of energy. Yet, he is in such an evolutionary stage that he can
transcend their influence and attain spiritual liberation, the timeless and
unconditioned freedom of the Supreme Divine. (The manifestation of the
universe step by step from the subtle to the gross phases from Reality
forms a well-coordinated  and rational  knowledge presented by the
Hindu philosophy.)

All energy forms – spiritual and material – that maintain the universe
originate from the Source, Paraa-Shakthi, the Divine Mother, the
Intelligence-Energy Supreme. The Divine Mother has three major aspects, Mahaa
Kaali, Mahaa Lakshmi and Maha Saraswathi, who preside over these three
major conditioning modes of energy.  Mahaa Kaali has the control over
the thamas, the energy mode that is responsible for the gross appearance
of the universe. The predominance of thamas in the human mind causes
dullness and insensitivity. Mahaa Lakshmi exerts control over the rajas,
the mode that causes all movements and its predominance in the human
mind causes reckless activity without any higher objective, selfish
pursuits, conflicts and wars. Mahaa Saraswathi presides over the satthva
mode, which is the most refined conditioning mode and its predominance in
the human mind is expressed as harmony, compassion, happiness, sense of
beauty, etc. Even though satthva is the most refined mode and closest
to
the Divine, this mode is also considered responsible for keeping the
human consciousness in a stage of   bondage by the sense of duality of
good and evil. Transcendence of this guna is achievable though the
cultivation of spiritual wisdom and its practice. Maha Saraswathi is the
aspect of the Divine Mother that imparts this liberating knowledge and
wisdom. (The guna-s and their action form another well-coordinated science
in Hindu philosophy.)

The above-mentioned three major   aspects of Divine Mother are invoked
in the nine days of Navarathri – a reinforcing special occasion of the
effort to achieve Perfection by transcending the three conditioning
energy modes.

Modern biology indicates that the evolution of the life stream has been
a movement towards greater levels of physical complexity expressing
higher stages of consciousness and the movement culminated in the
phenomenon of man. The ancient seers of India discovered that man is not an end
product of evolution but a remarkable phase in the progress of the
stream of life towards greater expansion and freedom.

The flow is like that of a stream, which trickles down from some source
and while it moves towards an unforeseen goal, joins other streams and
moves on till the  awareness dawns that it has been transformed
thoroughly and is one with   the endless ocean.  It cannot but finally achieve
this goal although facing many obstacles on its  course.  Hopelessly
blind searches at last find out the way. While facing the high
obstructive mountain walls it increases itself and jumps  down to proceed towards
its goal. Likewise, the stream of life through its persevering and
obstinate search through the millennia slowly moved expressing the
faculties latent in it, increased itself and finally evolved to be the human
being.  And Nature has bestowed on him the responsibility for  the
further advance.

Man is endowed with a great freedom – the freedom to evolve himself.
Naturally the situation bestows on him the freedom to create obstacles
also on his own progress. Thus misusing the freedom, he often chooses to
allow the grossest energy mode, the thamas to increase and dominate his
mind which creates within him a grotesque demon, Mahishaasura, the
buffalo-headed monster - the demon who knows the technology to create the
most sophisticated weapons that without causing the slightest damage to
the consumer goods, furniture or buildings can successfully wipe out
all human and animal life from the earth’s surface.

The Puraana-s describe the characteristics of Mahishaasura.  He is very
clever, shrewd and diplomatic.  He is able to assume any shape. He has
sharp intelligence and can conceive many things, but his consciousness
is dull. He has immense physical prowess, but no power of
discrimination. He is neither aware of, nor has faith in the higher possibilities of
life. As he has gained much control over the physical world, he is
under the illusion that he is all-powerful. He feels he has even the might
to vanquish and possess Paraa-Shakthi, who appears before him as an
enchanting damsel!

The sages reassure man that he is really powerful. But he is a weakling
as long as he fosters in him the Mahishasura  - the boosted up ego with
all its limitations.  They advise him to destroy the Mahishaasura
within and without by invoking Divine Mother and be as powerful and free as
She is.  This effort to destroy Mahashaasura has become all the more
important today as he is ably usurping the kingdom of heaven within man,
and stifling the great possibilities latent in him.

The fertilized ovum, a single cell, divides itself to form millions and
millions of cells and expressing their possibilities emerge into the
world in the 10th month as a newborn babe. And the birth bears the
responsibility of expressing its higher possibilities, which Nature bestows
on no other being except man. It is the responsibility of man to
struggle to increase the positive qualities within and evolve to freedom. But
instead  the  human mind often facilitates the birth and growth of
Mahishaasura within.

The rosary, the Veena, the musical instrument, the book and the sword
are the weapons to destroy the Mahishaasura.  The principles symbolized
by these insignia will activate the evolutionary possibilities of human
expansion and freedom. A new dimension of the human phenomenon then
unfolds itself – the Universal Man. In place of the monstrous Mahishasura
in man there emerges the Divine. Without and within the Mahishaasura
today is on an effort to overwhelm mankind. For the destruction of
Mahishaasura both the physical and spiritual power have to be employed as
symbolized by the glorious figure of Divine Mother annihilating the
Buffalo-Demon. This is the triumph over the anti-evolutionary trends in man 
– signified by the Vijaya Dashami – in his evolution to Perfection.
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