Goddess Durga represents the power of the Supreme Being that preserves moral
order and righteousness in the creation. The Sanskrit word Durga
means a fort or a place that is protected and thus difficult to reach. Durga, also called Divine Mother, protects mankind from evil
and misery by destroying evil forces such as selfishness, jealousy, prejudice,
hatred, anger, and ego.
Maha (meaning "Great" or
"Terrific") Durga is a composite goddess
who includes different elements of many Gods and local Goddesses. She usually
has eight, or sometimes thirty-two arms, and carries
the weapons of almost all the Deva. The trident is a
symbol associated with Shiva, and it's three points
symbolize the creation, protection and destruction of the universe.She
rides upon a lion.
Legend has it that there was a
time when all the gods had been kicked out of heaven by the evil demon Mahisha, who had the form of a buffalo. In desperation, the
gods turned to Shiva, who advised all of the gods to concentrate and release
their shaktis. These formed into the goddess Durga, the Invincible One, who had 10 arms and had a tiger
as her vehicle. The gods armed her with their weapons and she went off to
battle with Mahisha.
While stunning in her beauty,
the demon armies had no time to admire her radiance, as she attacked them on
the battlefield. Army after army fought against her, and each army was
destroyed during a massive battle. Troops on all sides swarmed into battle, and
hordes of infantry wielding axes and spears attacked the goddess. Squadrons of
demon-archers and thousands of charioteers and a cavalry of horses and
elephants charged at her.
Wielding her divine weapons, so
many demons and elephants and horses were killed that a river of blood flowed
across the battlefield. The ground was left littered with the broken limbs and
body parts of the defeated demon army.
Parvati has another terrible form known as
Kali, who is a manifestation of the power of time. Kali is omnipotent,
absolute, and all-pervasive and is beyond fear and finite existence. Therefore,
her devotees believe her able to protect them against fear and to give them
limitless peace.
The worship of Goddess Durga is very popular among Hindus. She is also called by
many other names, such as Parvati, Ambika, and Kali In the form of Parvati,
She is known as the divine spouse of Lord Shiva and is the mother of Her two sons, Ganesha and Karttikeya, and daughter Jyoti.
There are many temples dedicated to Durga's worship
in
In Her images, Goddess Durga is shown in a female form, wearing red clothes. She
has eighteen arms, carrying many objects in Her hands.
The red color symbolizes action and the red clothes signify that She is always busy destroying evil and protecting mankind
from pain and suffering caused by evil forces. Following is the symbolism
associated with Goddess Durga:
A tiger symbolizes unlimited
power. Durga riding a tiger indicates that She possesses unlimited power and uses it to protect virtue
and destroy evil. The eighteen arms of Durga signify
that She possesses combined power of the nine
incarnations of Lord Vishnu that have appeared on the earth at different times
in the past. The tenth incarnation, the Kalkin (a man
on a white horse), is still to come. Thus, Goddess Durga
represents a united front of all Divine forces against the negative forces of
evil and wickedness.
The sound that emanates from a
conch is the sound of the sacred syllable AUM, which is said to be the sound of
creation. A conch in one of the Goddess's hands signifies the ultimate victory
of virtue over evil and righteousness over unrighteousness.
Other weapons in the hands of Durga such as a mace, sword, disc, arrow, and trident
convey the idea that one weapon cannot destroy all different kinds of enemies.
Different weapons must be used to fight enemies depending upon the
circumstances. For example, selfishness must be destroyed by detachment,
jealousy by desirelessness, prejudice by self-knowledge, and ego by discrimination.
There are nine forms of
female energy in the universe. Before the birth of the Universe, the first
Energy after Time (Shiva) was Heat (Shakti). Then
after Creation (Bramha) came subsequent to the
Universe (Vishnu), the various energies of Heat or Shakti
was created. Shiva (Time) was persuaded to
get a consort, but to complete the proper propagation of the Universe and its
creations, Shiva (Time) had to consider all NINE LEVELS of the Universe. To
make all these levels work in harmony, Shiva (Time) had to link all these
levels by merging the NINE Forms to achieve the universal Shakti
or Energy, thus Time would be able to create all NINE dimensions of this
Universe. The first form Shiva (Time)
wanted to marry was Devotion (Sati), however, Ego (Daksa)
had a problem with Time and because of their disagreement Devotion did not
listen to Time, and so Devotion was burned in the Yagna
fire. The second form Shiva (Time)
married was Motherhood (Parbatty) who was the mother
of Ganesh, but mother did not reveal all things to
Time, so when a battle took place over the death of their son, Ganesh (Obstacles), Mother placed more importance on
Obstacles (the son Ganesh) rather than Time,
(Husband). The Third form Shiva (Time)
got married to was Knowledge (Gayatree) but knowledge
was always studying, playing, and entertaining, so Knowledge paid very little
attention to Time. The Fourth form Shiva (Time)
married was Work (Rudrani). However Work spent much
time cleaning, cooking and other household duties, that there was hardly any
time for (Shiva) Time. The Fifth form Shiva (Time)
married was Lover ( Narayani)
whose demand for attention and love was so great that Time had to stop and
change many times over for Lover. Because Lover demanded Changes, Lover was
then left alone. The sixth form of Shakti that Shiva (Time) married was Power (Chamunde). Power had a lot of Energy. Power was very
commanding and constantly frustrating Time over following rules and
regulations. Time could not cope with these rules. The Seventh form Shiva (Time)
was married to was Emotion ( The Eight form
Shiva (Time) was married to was Wealth (Laxmi). After
marrying Time, Wealth demanded materiality constantly, had great attachment to
material reality. Since Time could not be attached to materialism Time was not
unable to cope with Laxmi. The Ninth form Shiva (Time)
was married to was Destruction (Kali) who had always
been with time but was never able to exercise Destructive power until Reality
came into being. Since Destruction always trying to step on top of time, and
sometimes Time (Shiva) had to play dead so as to deceive Destruction, it was
difficult for time to get Respect, so Time was unhappy. Since Shiva (Time) was
unhappy with all the individual forms of Female Energy, Time decided to fuse
them together as One, so that Time would have some Devotion, some Knowledge,
some Motherhood, some Work, some Love, some Power, some Wealth and some
Destruction (portions of all the qualities, in one) to have a complete female
called NAV-DURGA. The 9 days of Nav-Raatri is the worshiping of the nine forces or
components necessary for the perfect woman to sustain the Universe. When there
is a failure in any of the components, it creates a breakdown in the system of
the home. As NAV-DURGA - THE COMPLETE WOMAN, who may be the wife, mother,
sister, aunt, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, maid, daughter, cook, all the forms
are needed to have a complete and blessed home. THE DAYS OF NAV-RAATRI ARE
REPRESENTED AS FOLLOWS: Invite the 1st female half of
Lord Shiva - Sati, known as BRAHMA CHARINI.
After raising the 9 flags,
lighted diyas are placed in each of the nine prepared
plates. This brings THE DURGA DAR CONSISTS OF: NOTE: Hindu Rituals are not magic. In fact
they are very SCIENTIFIC in the philosophy used to correct our lives from our
sins or karmas in the Universe. If a knowledgeable person follows the proper
procedure when doing a puja, then the puja is sure to be successful. Please note that Kal Bhairo is not part of any puja
ritual, definitely
not a part of Durga Puja .
Since Bramha
got knowledge (Saraswaty) as his consort, and Vishnu
got Light (Laxmi ) as his consort, they both approached Time (Shiva) and
asked him to get a consort. However Time or Mahakali
hesitated since Time is above everything it would be difficult to be subjected.
In spite of this the
Universe and Creator (Bramha Vishnu) insisted that
Time has a consort or else there will be no Motion (Kali) and thus Reality (Laxmi Narayan ) will not be sustained.
After the priest has performed
his regular puja procedures up to Lord Shiva, he
should begin the Durga Puja
by inviting the following 9 forms of durga by raising
the 9 colored flags.
Invite the 2nd female
half of Lord Shiva - Parbaty, known as SHALPUTRI.
Invite the 3rd female
half of Lord Shiva - Gowrie, known as CHANGRAGANTA.
Invite the 4th female
half of Lord Shiva - Rudrani, known as KUSHMANDI.
Invite the 5th female
half of Lord Shiva - Rati, known as SKANDAMATA.
Invite the 6th female
half of Lord Shiva - Kali, known as KATYANI.
Invite the 7th female
half of Lord Shiva - Rohini, known as
Invite the 8th female
half of Lord Shiva - Shakti, known as MAHAGAURI.
Invite the 9th female
half of Lord Shiva - Indrani, known as SIDDIDATRI.
all the 9 forms to form Nav-Durga, by placing the plates on the 9 yds of yellow cloth. Ritual is performed by mantras to the
procreative energy of the universe called Durga. Then
Durga is married to Lord Shiva by placing a 10th
plate representing Lord Shiva on the Yellow Cloth. Requests are then made
to the Divine couple for the rebirth of the Yagman so
that he or she can have Divine Parents. This is done by the cutting of the
nutmeg which symbolizes the releasing of the egg from Mother Durga then the fertilization of the egg and the
"splitting" of the Zygote (Fertilized egg called Hirany
Garbha) which is represented by the cutting of the
lime in two halves, followed by the breaking of the coconut (dried) which
symbolize the birth from the fertilized egg. This means that the yagman is being born from DURGA a heavenly mother replacing
the earthly mother. The puja procedure is concluded
by the cutting of the banana flower (a symbolism representing creation of
children and the Blessing of the children with worldly prosperity) followed by
the bathing of the CUT NUTMEG, THE SPLIT LIME, THE BROKEN COCONUT AND THE CUT
BANANA FLOWER with the DURGA DAR which is a mixture of 9 ingredients.
1:
MILK............................For the yagman to
receive wealth from parents (from the cow- Laxmi)
2: GANGA
WATER..........Washing away of all previous Karmas and Sins
3: CANE
JUICE................Sweetness and love to be received from divine parents
4:
HONEY.........................To receive proper speech and mantras
5: COCONUT WATER.....To
receive proper consciousness and divine thoughts from parents
6: TUMERIC
(DYE)..........To receive peace of mind from parents
7: NEEM
LEAF.................Protection from spirits and diseases
8:
YOGURT......................Good nourishment and bliss from parents
9: MUSTARD
SEED.........To destroy all obstacles and enemies
