NAVRATRA CELEBRATIONS IN DELHI
by Dr. Rakhi
April 2-11
PREPARING FOR THE DEVI WORSHIP
Gurudev, Mahamandaleshwar Swami Nityanand, returned to Delhi at the end of March, 2003 for Sharad Navratra, the traditional nine-day worship of the Devi (Goddess) and was appropriately welcomed with a bhajan of the poet-saint, Sahajobhai, in which she praises the Guru with the words, Guru Pooran dataar harmare - our Guru is a complete benefactor.
The Brahmin priests, led by Lavar Shastri, created a beautiful pooja for the occasion, arranging grains of rice colored in different hues to represent the Bhadra Mandal, the various deities and the nine planets.
A lush, red backdrop framing the images of the Devi in her three forms – Maha Durga, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Saraswati - was decorated with cut banana trees. Large bunches of unripe bananas were hung from it so that they would ripen over the nine days, then be distributed as prasad.
Lavarji explained the significance of Navratra, saying, “The Devi was created by the joint efforts of the Gods and represents their combined divine energies which is alone able to overcome the demons who represent the evil qualities within all of us.”
Quoting from the Sahajobhai bhajan, he said. “Though God differentiates between good and evil, the Guru welcomes everyone alike. This is the magnanimity of the Guru.”
THE FIRST DAY OF NAVRATRA
The first day of the Navratra worship began with recitation of the Shanti Sutras – prayer for peace for all beings and forms in the universe, and was followed by the Sankalp mantras. Everyone closed their eyes prayed for freedom from all fears and for the removal of the obstacles that keep us from the path of spirituality.
Then the pooja began with the invocation of Lord Ganesha, followed by the Punya vaachan, shodas maatrika pooja, navagraha pooja, rudra pooja and the invocation of the Devi.
Lavarji reminded us that this first day of the worship also coincided with the Hindu New Year which marks the great historical occasion many centuries ago when Shalivan Salk created a living army out of clay, using it to establish his empire. Lavarji said that Gurudev wanted to fashion a similar team of people who would work to spread the Baba’s teachings and the values of the Sanatan Dharma.
Lavarji commented, “We often worship God for personal
gain but we should also consider praying for the wisdom and inspiration to perform
noble deeds that not only increase our own well-being but that of others, too.”
The morning worship started each day with a forty-five minute session of meditation
at 6:30 when the gates to the pooja hall were closed, not only encouraging punctuality
and self-discipline, qualities dear to Gurudev, but also minimizing any disturbance
caused by people entering or leaving the hall.
Meditation was followed by pooja to the various deities that had been invoked, including performing abhishek to tiny idols of them, accompanied by the sacred mantras.
Everyone then joined in the recitation of the Chandi Path, or Durga Saptashati as it is also known. Gurudev sat with us throughout each four and a half hour morning sessions which concluded with the singing of the melodious aarti to the Devi and the distribution of prasad.
The afternoons saw individual poojas performed by various
devotees under the guidance of the priests.
Each evening session began with a pooja by the priests and the evening aarti.
Then, everyone chanted the Lalita Sahasranamavali during which an offering (archana)
was made to the fire with each recitation of the thousand names of the Devi.
Different forms of offering were made on different days, including vermillion,
almonds, pistachios, cashews, cloves, green cardamon, rose petals, rock sugar
and coins.
THE FINAL DAYS OF NAVRATRA
On the seventh day of Navratra (Saptami) a group pooja to Lakshmi was held, honoring the Goddess of abundance and prosperity.
On the eighth day (Astami) a group pooja was held in honor of Goddess Saraswati, the bestower of knowledge. A havan was also performed during that morning’s recitation of the Chandi Path, while that evening’s Lalita Sahasranamavali included offerings of rice, ghee, powdered sugar, loban and fruits to the God of fire. A garbha, a traditional folk dance, was also performed.
On the ninth day (Navami) the Goddess was worshipped in her various forms; first with the kanya pooja where three little girls, beautifully adorned, were offered vermillion, bangles and flowers. Then the Batuk pooja was held in which a little boy was worshipped as Bhairav. Finally, an elderly couple (who have been dedicated to Baba for more than four decades) were worshipped as Lakshmi-Narayan.
The worship culminated with the poornahuti yagna during which a large pumpkin decorated as a demon was cut into pieces and carried away for disposal, symbolizing the final destruction of the ego and other impurities.
| TEACHINGS OF GURUDEV |
| During the Navratra celebrations Gurudev gave more guidance about the spiritual path and how to reach the destination. One evening he said: |
|
“With desires filling the mind, our senses are constantly driven outwards towards sensory pleasures.
The difference between our experience of the world and that of the enlightened
beings is that what we experience as real is, for them, merely an illusion.
Instead of constantly allowing the mind to chase after sensory pleasures, causing us to lose so much vital energy, we must wake up, become aware and use our intellect, our power of discrimination, to choose wise actions. As we all know, desires lead to thoughts which are then converted to actions. As the Bhagavad Gita says, those actions are of three types - karma, akarma and vikarma. The first type, karma, is the good deeds we perform. The second type, akarma, is inaction. And the third type, vikarma, is the bad deeds we perform. But to realize the truth, to free ourselves from limitation and bondage, it is not renunciation of action that succeeds; it is renunciation of our attachment to action – to karma, akarma and vikarma. Renunciation does not mean giving up action, it means letting go of the desire for its fruit. Most people perform actions driven by attachment but the learned ones perform actions for the welfare of all. One should perform the necessary actions and offer them to God, accepting whatever is returned as the Lord’s prasad. That is how we let go of the ego of being the doer. In the Gita, Lord Krishna says, Asang shastren driden chitva - we must sever desires with the weapon of solitude. Our focus should not be on monetary economics, it should be on spiritual economics. External pleasures only ever produce temporary happiness. True happiness, unending contentment, lies within, nowhere else.” Gurudev’s teachings touched many areas of the spiritual path, the diversity illustrated by the following extracts from different talks during his visit to Delhi: “If we want to progress on the spiritual path we should change our lifestyle so that it matches the principles laid down in the scriptures. We should make sure our way of living accords with what the sages found to be most helpful, such as going to bed early and rising before dawn.” “It is very important to study the sacred scriptures because they record the truth, the experiences and illuminations of enlightened sages, those beings who made the journey and reached the destination then recorded their wisdom as guidance for us. We should repeatedly read holy texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads. They give us practical knowledge for the right conduct of our daily life.” “It is only because of the mind that we experience both sadness and happiness. Therefore, we should always pause and contemplate before performing any action. We must never ignore our inner voice or conscience which instantly informs us of the difference between what is wise and unwise, right and wrong.” “As we grow spiritually we find ourselves with different feelings and temperaments at different stages of our sadhana. According to our state, we can focus on whichever of the different paths is most suited, whether it is meditation, chanting, study of the scriptures or any of the other universal paths described in the Bhagavad Gita.” “These days, many people give in to laziness which is the opposite of what is needed to become subtle. As we follow the process of turning within we begin to realize the mistakes we are making or the bad habits we are following in our life. With that awareness we can slowly let go of what is unhelpful, changing ourselves for the better, becoming more focused, more subtle, more present.” “The Gita tells us of the need for paraspar bhaav, mutual respect for all the elements of the universe, for all forms of life. Our sages knew the importance of the elements and regarded them as sacred. At the beginning of this pooja we worship these elements – water, earth, air and fire. When we lose respect for the elements we become negligent and pollute our environment. With the continuing discharge of chemical fertilizers and wastes into fresh water, the time will soon come when there will be shortage of drinking water. Lack of respect even brings death to sacred cows, as they choke on disposable plastic bags. Why do we tale plastic bags to the market when it is just as easy to take a cloth bag? (Editor’s note: The following day the plastic bags that devotees often bring with their offerings were nowhere to be seen. There were only cloth bags.) “As seekers we must always watch what is happening in our psyche, constantly aware of the interplay of our thoughts, mind and ego. Just as a good driver keeps track of the various indicators of speed, fuel, oil and water, we must constantly monitor the rise of the rajasic and tamasic tendencies within us and restrain them so that we do not become unbalanced.” “When we want fine-tune our car, or repair its faults, we take it to the garage for the mechanic to fix. Similarly, on the spiritual path we take ourselves to the garage of the ashram to have ourselves fine-tuned at the hands of the Guru.” “According to the scriptures, each letter of the alphabet in the Devanagari script vibrates at a specific point in our body. As we listen to the mantras chanted by the priests these points are stimulated. Even though we may not understand the mantras, and may not even recite them, it is how we imbibe the Shakti.” “During Navratra it is traditional to fast. Of course, there are many different forms of fasting or upavaas. The scriptures tell us that upavaas actually means ‘to stay in close proximity.’ True fasting is the effort to stay in close proximity to the deity in our feeling and thoughts. That is why, to help focus our mind and concentrate the body energy, we eat little during this worship, often only fruits.” |