Mystic mantra: The true victory

Even though Hindus celebrate the festival of Navaratri every year, most have no idea about its significance. Recently, an American boy who was attending my talks had gone to see a Navaratri festival in a Gujarati community where they were doing garba throughout the night. He asked some of his Hindu friends what it meant, but they were unable to explain. What colossal ignorance! Here a Westerner wants to know the meaning of Navaratri, but no one can tell him. They could only say, “Oh, it is a nice thing, isn’t it? Just enjoy, sing and dance and eat!” We should, however, know the meaning of this important festival.

Ratri means “night” and nava means “nine”. In Navaratri (“nine nights”), the goddess is worshipped in her various forms as Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. Though the goddess is one, she is represented and worshipped in three different aspects. On the first three nights of the festival, Durga is worshipped. Lakshmi is worshipped on the next three nights, and then Saraswati on the last three nights. The following day, the 10th day of the festival, is called Vijayadasami. Vijaya means “victory”, the victory over our own minds that comes only when we have worshipped these three: Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati.

To gain noble virtues, all evil tendencies in the mind must be destroyed. This destruction is represented by Goddess Durga. This is why she is called Mahishasura Mardini, the destroyer of Mahisa asur — the buffalo demon. The buffalo stands for tamoguna, the quality of laziness, darkness, ignorance and inertia. Durga’s killing of the demon is, symbolically, the destruction of tamoguna within us that is very difficult to destroy. Everyone thinks that Goddess Lakshmi represents money — only material wealth. Real wealth is the inner wealth of calmness of mind, self-control, self-withdrawal, forbearance, faith and single-pointedness that are to be cultivated to attain our goal — victory of the mind. This mental preparation is the symbolism of Lakshmi puja during the next three days of Navaratri. Victory over the mind can only be gained through knowledge, through understanding; this is represented by Saraswati.

Swami Tejomayananda, head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide, is an orator, poet, singer, composer and storyteller. To find out more about Chinmaya Mission and Swamiji, visit www.chinmayamission.com