Subject: [world-vedic] dussehra greetings Date: Sun, 13 Oct 2002 20:01:49 +0530 From: "sanjeev nayyar" Reply-To: vediculture@yahoogroups.com To: Navaratri, Dussehra, Vijayadasami. Navaratri (N) is known as the Festival of Nights honoring the goddesses beginning on the ninth day of the month of Virgo or on the first day of the Hindu month of Ashwin. Total worship lasts for nine days out of which the first three are dedicated to Durga (the Goddess of Valor), the next three to Lakshmi (the Goddess of Wealth) and the last three to Saraswati (the Goddess of Knowledge). The images of God are created, worshiped and immersed in a sea or lake. In Gujarat, Garbha dance is performed. In the South, houses are decorated and toys by the name of Bomma Kolam are displayed. The festival of Navaratri is popularly known as Durga Pooja in Bengal. After these nine days comes the Dashami, the tenth day, which is the day of the famous festival of Dussehra or Vijayadashami (the tenth day of victory). This is the day Lord Rama had killed Ravana, signifying the victory of good over evil. I never knew about the respect that our festivals gave to women. Last month it was Raksha Bandhan for protection of the sister and this month it is the worship of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. In spite of this why is it that Indian women do not enjoy the status that they deserve is a question that continues to baffle me. It is quite possible that foreign invaders who made India their home influenced the way we treat women. Traditions like Sati and Purdah were rarely heard of prior to the eight century a.d. (covering head is an Indian way of showing respect to elders and must not be confused with purdah). Even though the basic mythology which is provided by religious scriptures is same all over the country, still some aspects of it are more prevalent in some parts of the country as compared to another. E.g. in Mysore, Dussehra is the celebration of the victory of Goddess Durga (Kali) over the demon in the form of a buffalo named Mahishasura. It is said that the Goddess took nine days and nine nights to kill the demon hence the name Navaratri. The buffalo represents the animal instincts in man in a aggressive form. The goddess represents the nobler though aggressive tendencies in man. In the North, Dussehra is remembered as a day of victory of Lord Rama over Ravana. Here too it signifies the victory of good over evil. Parvati is also known as Uma. Her other forms are Durga and Kali. The invocation of various goddesses is not without significance. Goddess Durga is known as who killed the demons that terrorised devoted religious seekers. So also in our minds are the monsters of passion, lust, greed, jealousy which have to be annihilated before we can reach spiritual unfoldment. By invoking Durga / Kali we are invoking our own power to destroy negative forces within. It's like a salesman who thinks he has lost the order even before even making a sales call. Think positive and remove negative forces from your mind to achieve success. Durga is a manifestation of an aggressively good person. Her basic nature is good. She uses her intellect (ability to discriminate between right and wrong) continuously. Such a person studies facts, foresees consequences and reasons carefully. I would compare her to a P & G who studies the market very carefully, backed by research before deciding to launch a product. At times, the actions of such a person might appear to be bad but none can doubt the noble intentions. Full of superstition and misunderstood tradition, some people believe that the scriptures ask us to be docile, passive people. India has been ruled for a thousand years due to such misunderstanding. The scriptures ask us to be aggressive if the cause is noble. If protecting our country means we have to be aggressive so be it. Having destroyed the negative forces we should move to the positive aspects. That is done by Shree Lakshmi Pooja. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth. In our country people worshiped wealth with religious fervor, and thus it is not surprising that as long as the tenets of the Vedas were nicely prevalent in our country India was the richest country in the world, attracting traders from all over the world. (Post independence socialism has made profit a dirty word). However, the culture which asks us to respect wealth, also symbolically shows the place of wealth in life. Lakshmi is shown sitting at the feet of Narayana serving him. Wealth should be used for goodness and pursuit of the truth. However, Lakshmi does not represent the external wealth only but the inner wealth too, like the qualities of love, kindness, devotion, patience, charity etc. At the end of the second phase of the festival, these divine qualities should have replaced the negative thoughts. Having developed these divine traits, next is the invocation of Saraswati, the Goddess of Knowledge. It is only those who have eliminated the negatives in their mind and inculcated some positive virtues that realization of truths and facts is possible. The summum of Indian traditions, values, culture and philosophy is to make everyone more awakened and knowledgeable. Knowledge alone is the singularly most potent factor to make the real difference in our lives, for our professional success and our inner contentment. Invocation of the blessings of Goddess Saraswati involves concrete steps to pursue knowledge, like going to the teacher, study of the Sastras, reflection and meditation.