NAVARATRI - The Nine Nights
Goddess Meenakshi
Goddess Gaja Lakshmi
Goddess Raja Rajeswari
Goddess Tapas
Hello Friends,
The following blogs on Navaratri were originally posted in the autumn of 2016 and Pal Pandian guided me to attend the 10 nights of Navaratri at Ramanashramam. Each evening I attended the puja for the unveiling of the day's presiding Goddess.
The most glorious aspect is that the following day, Palji would lovingly explain a little bit about the significance of each night, each Goddess. Some years after when building a new website, my meager computer skills were not up to the task and the blogs disappeared from the site.
Thank goodness for computer backups! I have been able to retrieve and repost the blogs.
I wish to thank both Jutta Hecht and Volker Dischler who both, over the years, noticed the missing content on my website and persisted in pestering me to find them and post them once more. Thank you both so much!
Navaratri 2016
In all my years of traveling to India this year is rather special. Not only am I fortunate enough to stay for six months, I also am here for my first Navaratri (nine nights). Anyone who has read my recently published book, Rivulets of the Absolute, will know the significance this festival plays in my own life’s journey.
Navaratri celebrates the many forms, the countless manifestations of the Goddess which is all of manifestation, the entire cosmos, whether seen or unseen. As Pal Pandian states from chapter 11, (pg. 296): “The nine nights are devoted to invoking, worshiping, and admiring every aspect of the Goddess in all Her forms. By doing so, we allow ourselves to accept, and we involve ourselves in understanding that the Goddess manifests in many, many forms, most of which we normally would not expect to encounter…The childlike, the beautiful yet hidden darkness, the pure darkness, the demonic, the wise, the kind, etc. All are forms of the Divine Mother.”
Each night, beginning October 1, the gold statue of the Mother is elaborately decorated, a lovely ritual performed with lights, bells, chanting, and singing. I have been attending nightly at Ramanashramam and wish to share my experiences with pictures and a short description of each night’s Goddess and what She represents.
My apologies for starting this blog a few days late. As such, today I am including the first four nights and a few words about each one. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do attending and writing about Them All!
Night #1 – Meenakshi - If you have read my book then you will surely be acquainted with the Sri Meenakshi Temple located in Madurai, South India. This absolutely enormous temple and compound has as its presiding deity, Goddess Meenakshi.
NIGHT #2- Gaja Lakshmi - Most know Her as simply ‘Lakshmi’. On this night and in this form Mother bestows prosperity in the form of noble qualities of mind and heart.
NIGHT #3 - Raja Rajeswari - This third night She is known as “Queen of the Universe,” as every living being and every atom in the Universe is under her direct control. Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi was fond of the scripture, “Tripura Rahsya,“ and here She states, “I am the abstract intelligence where from the cosmos originates, whereon it flourishes, and wherein it resolves, like the images in a mirror. The ignorant know me as the gross universe, whereas the wise feel me as their own pure being eternally glowing as ‘I-I’ within.”NIGHT
#4 – Tapas - Night four is Mother decorated as one who performs tapas, or spiritual austerities. The majority of the flowers have been replaced by straw, the bright sari has been replaced with the ochre color that is worn by renunciants. In this form, Mother is the remover of sins. From tonight (Wednesday) onwards I will post the form of the Mother on a daily basis. Jai Ma!!
Stephen Grissom