Inner Significance of the Navaratri Festival

The inner meaning of the Navaratri [nine-night] festival was explained by Bhagavan Baba in His discourse in the Prasanthi mandir [temple]on September 27.

Navaratri means nine nights. Darkness is associated with night. What is this darkness? It is the darkness of ignorance. The purpose of the Navaratri celebration is to enable man to get rid of the nine types of darkness that have taken hold of him. When a reference is made to Devi [goddess], it signifies the unified form of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. The three together represent shakti [power]. Shakti is the energy that accounts for all the phenomena of nature (prakriti). Nature is energy and the controller of that energy is the Lord.

Nature is made up of the three qualities, satwa [purity], rajas [passion, activity], and tamas [darkness, ignorance]. Saraswati represents the satwaguna, Lakshmi represents the rajoguna, and Parvati represents the tamoguna. As nature is made up of these three qualities [gunas] (of satwa, rajas, and tamas), man has been offering worship to Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati to get control of nature. These are not goddesses but deified symbols of the three qualities.

God, man, and nature

To acquire the grace of the Lord, man has to offer worship at the outset to prakriti. On the one hand you need human effort, and on the other you have to acquire the grace of the Di-vine. Prakriti and Paramatma (the Omni-self) are like the negative and positive poles in electricity. How-ever powerful the Lord may be (as positive pole), there can be no creation without prakriti (representing the negative pole). The basis for creation is prakriti. For instance, however good the seeds you have, you cannot reap the fruit without planting them in the ground. The role of nature in the creative process in similar.

The triple purity

When man forgets God and de-sires to enjoy the benefits of nature, he becomes ultimately a demon like Ravana [in the epic Ramayana], who brought about his own destruction. To secure the grace of the Lord, one has to have purity of the heart, purity in speech, and purity in action. This triple purity is described in Vedantic parlance as tripurasundari. Lakshmi, who is the embodiment of all prosperity, is represented by the heart. The mouth represents Saraswati. Purity in action is represented by Durga. The observance of the Navaratri celebration is to get rid of the darkness in which man is enveloped by cultivating the triple purity of thought, word, and deed.

The human body emerged from nature. Nature has two forms: apara prakriti [the lower nature] and para prakriti (the higher nature). Apara Prakriti includes eight forms of wealth (good health, knowledge, learning, strength, power, the cosmic mind, the cosmic intellect, and the cosmic ego [doership]); and kama [desire], krodha [anger], moha [attachment], lobha [greed], mada [pride], matsarya [envy]; and the three mental faculties in man: manas [mind], chitta [will], and ahamkara [ego]. Para prakriti represents the consciousness in man. Without the life force (prana) and consciousness (chaitanyam) man is only a corpse. True humanness consists in controlling the five elements that make up the lower nature (apara prakriti) and merge into the higher nature repre-sented by the life force and consciousness (chaitanyam.)

The Navaratri [festival] has been divided into three parts: the first three days are dedicated to the worship of Durga, the next three days to the worship of Lakshmi and the last three to the worship of Saraswati. All Hindu festivals have a sacred purpose. Unfortunately, nowadays the festivals are observed only with external rituals, without understanding their inner meaning. In the performance of all forms of worship, there should be steadiness of mind and body. Only then concentration can be achieved. Today men are unable to maintain steadiness of body and mind.

(At this stage Swami referred to the advent of Shirdi Sai and described incidents from his  early life. Toward the end of His discourse, Swami again reverted to an exposition of the inner significance of the Dasara [10 day] festival.)

Adoration of nature

The basic significance of Devi Navaratri is the adoration of nature. Devi refers to Bhudevi (mother earth). All the vital requirements of man can be found in the earth. Those who travel to the moon have to carry with them the oxygen, water, and food they need from the earth. None of these can be found on the moon.

Students! The progress of modern technology, by polluting the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, is threatening life on earth. This smoke has already created a hole in the ozone ring above the earth which serves as a protecting cover against harmful radiation from the sun. If the ozone layer is destroyed, the effect of the sun’s rays may be disastrous. All nations are now worried about this threat. All that needs to be done to avert this danger is to reduce the pollution of the atmosphere caused by automobiles and industrial effluents. The uncontrolled development of industries has to be checked. Development should be in the common interest, to promote the welfare of all.

Revering nature

The Navaratri celebration is an occasion for revering nature and considering how natural resources can be used properly in the best interests of mankind. Resources like water, air, power, and minerals should be used properly and not misused or wasted. Economy in the use of every natural resource is vital. Pollution of the air has many evil consequences. The inner significance of observances like nagarsankirtan [going round a village or town singing devotional songs] and bhajans [devotional songs] is to fill the atmosphere with sacred vibrations and holy thoughts.

Today we know how radio and television broadcasts are transmitted to all parts of the world by radio waves. Is it unbelievable that Krishna similarly was able to appear in the homes of gopikas [milk maidens] simultaneously? If a yantra (machine) could achieve such a result, how much more power should be attributed to mantra [spiritual formula]? The power of the divine name and form is all pervading. The electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere can preserve sounds and forms for all time.

When Swami was recently in Hyderabad, His activities there were seen on TV in various parts of the country. If a mechanical contrivance could achieve this, is it incredible that much more could be done by the divine power of mantras? What is needed is the power to tune in to the spirit just as appropriate tuning is needed to receive a radio or TV broadcast. Regard your heart as a radio receiver. Your concentration is the tuning device. You will experience the Divine when you tune your heart properly. This calls for firm, unwavering concentration.

The inauguration of the Navaratri celebrations means that you should use this occasion to offer worship to nature and resolve to make sacred use of all natural resources. Bhagavan concluded His dis-course with the devotional song: “Bhajana bina sukha shanti nahi.”

Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Nov. 1992