Who is Durga Devi?
Durga-devi is the generator and maintainer of the material universe and the universal mother form of the universe. She has many aspects, and her nine major aspects manifest during the 9 day and night navarati period, twice a year.
The September-October Navaratri is known as the ‘maha’ or great navaratri. This Maha Navratri or Sharad Navaratri celebrates Durga devi’s destruction of the Mahishasura buffalo demon.
Devi is also known as Mahishasurmardini after this event–destroyer of the Mahisha asura (demon).
Mahishasura terrorized swarga-loka and prithvi-loka and took over the swarga planets defeating the universal administrators (devas). In her role as ‘protector of the fortress’ (durga-devi, ‘durg’ meaning fortress), she destroyed this demon and his forces in the course of the 9 days of the Maha Navratri.
As beings who live in devi-dham, the land of Durga devi, the nine nights Navratri period is an excellent opportunity to progress ourselves spiritually while living in the material zone.
We get an opportunity at this time to closely approach Durga-devi whose job it is to keep us in material illusion while she helps us to rectify our binding karma–To keep us under anesthesia (ignorance of our real state) if you will! Her blessings and permission help us to leave this zone once we have sufficient Super Karma Credits to our account.
Keeping the living entities in ignorance of their real state is a kindness of sorts. This is because knowledge of our real spiritual state without being able to approach the spiritual zone would be extraordinarily cruel and painful.
Fortunately, there are spiritual methods now available to correct this. (Click here for more information on how to get a spiritual empowerment to become free of binding-karma.)
Related article about Durga devi and the “kleem” mantra: (Opens new window)
“Durga Devi is limited to the material expansion of the universe, while ‘kleem’ generates spiritual energies linking one to the Supreme Divine through the grace of Yogamaya-devi…”
Durga devi or Mayadevi is the shadow form of transcendental Yogamaya who is constantly meditating on Govinda, the Supreme source of all sources.
Without spiritual empowerment however, one cannot reach the transcendental world where Yogamaya helps souls to serve Govinda, and become transformed as devotees of the Lord.
With this knowledge our karma healers can approach the Navratri period for their spiritual and material benefit. Using the healing empowerment measures as taught, the Navratri period will benefit you greatly, and help you to download the energies of red, gold and silver and prosper for now and the year ahead.
During this 9 day period it is recommended to avoid taking meat, fish, eggs, alcohol. Also fasting from onions, garlic, grains, lentils, legumes (beans) is recommended. If this is difficult, fasting from grains may be followed on the first and last navratri–of course following for all or most of the navratiris will benefit one the most and help us to ground negative energy and Karma sufficiently to live well.
NN : Today is a very auspicious day. Who knows what day?
.. : Ram Navami.
NN : What is it about?
So Ram Navami day is actually celebrated because Lord Ram made his preparations to battle evil in the form of Ravana. And He prayed to all the energies of the universe, He invoked them, and particularly Durga Devi. So Durga Devi is very prominent in this, that He invoked the energies of Durga Devi and that is a form of a material, spiritual, spiritual opulence coming down into material nature and this is the day in fact that the spiritual energies come down to the material universe transforming into material nature and creating a kind of a cycle flow of positive energy. Back into the earth, into the planet, into the universe.
And the word Durga means many things Durga means, fortress, keeper of the fortress, durg, prison house. The jailer, the warden, of the prison house. And also means one who is inaccessible, you cannot approach, Durga. And also means one who can give you all benefits.
.. : Durgatinashani.
NN : Yes. And the most interesting thing is that Durga Devi is the deity, the presiding deity of the heart chakra. And her form is very different of what you associate with the heart. Very fierce, very blood thirsty, killing, slashing, has a garland of skulls, rides tiger, destroying evil.
So the greatest evil to our own progress or to our to heart is our self ego. She is also known as Mahishasuri. One who killed Mahishaur. Mahishasur was a bull, a big bull who was terrorizing after he received the blessing from Lord Shiva that he could live forever, practically speaking, he chased the demigods and created lot of upheaval for them and for the whole universe.
So the people went crying to Lord Shiva that what have you given this man a boon, and this fellow is destroying everything. So he got very angry, and from his third eye appeared Durga Devi, Shakti, the energy of Lord Shiva came from his third eye and she destroyed this demon.
So this demon actually represents false ego, lust, ignorance, and that is all sitting in our Hara, preventing our connecting with our heart chakra. So on this day the universal energies comes down to purify us.
She also represents nine different kinds of grains, Nav Durga. That is why you have been fasting for nine days, from these nine different kinds of grains, rice, barley and so on. So these are specified grains. So you have been fasting from them, some of you, for this purpose because you don’t eat Durga during that time, because Durga is eating up all the negative energy.
If you remember many times we have said on Ekadashi day, the work of the food grain is to take up the negative energy and eat it. So this nine days, they are extremely powerful for during that, because Durga Devi herself is manifesting in these. Her own potency is coming out to absorb and to transform.
So therefore some people fast till the eighth, some people fast till the ninth and there is a ceremony because then they are transforming the negative into positive, then you make a preparation, then you eat it on that day, so you get lot of benefit. So that is the Divine mercy or the Divine blessing in the form of food stuff, that is the significance of many of these things that you have been doing ritualistically, perhaps not knowing why you are doing it?
So the ancient sages that set up this system built is into the culture to progress everybody.
….
NN : Yes, that’s another thing, normally I would have taken up in the Bhagvad Gita class, but we can draw a parallel that when the day before the Mahabharata battle began Lord Krishna asked Arjun, that he should pray to Durga Devi. Because he was doubtful, he was feeling weak. That you know, our side may loose. So to clear his doubts and to help hin\m to progress He said you pray to Durga Devi and see what kind of boon she gives you or blessing, whatever.
So he prayed and Durga Devi was very pleased and she appeared, and she blessed him. And she blessed him by saying that you have Narayana by your side, so there is no way that you can loose. So if you have Narayan by your side you cant loose, so you don’t worry.
So again the same Durga Devi, we are thinking what is the significance of that, that we are worshipping, every thing in material nature, even as a materialist, whether we believe that Durga Devi is there or not there, God is there or not there, his energies are there or not there, but Durga Devi is the representation of the material form so people are chasing, material wealth, worshipping it, so they are also worshipping Durga Devi actually.
…..
NN : Also when the Pandavas were one year in hiding…
NN : One year they were in exile, they could not be find, this was the day, that the one year and a day had passed. They could reveal who they were, they got all their weapons and equipment’s back, they had hidden them some where and they were living with this king Virat. It is interesting that we will discuss in Bhagvad Gita class. Arjun had been cursed, so he became a Eunuch, he chose that time to become a Eunuch. It was quite a crazy scene in one way. That we will take up…
NN : So they get all the energies on that day. That they got the blessings of the material nature. So this kind of a thing happens once a year and today is the day. So this is the day where all the planning or you can say the preparation to destroy evil energy or the negative energy, the energy of ego, false ego, misidentification of self is all finished. The planning is done now and then Ravana is killed on…
Healers : Vijay Dashmi…
NN : And it is so significant that actually Lord Ram killed Ravana by shooting an arrow where? In his Hara.
NN : That is part of the Hara Chakra. The navel is in fact the entry point of the material Divine energies, the spiritual Divine energies comes from the Crown Chakra. So shakti is coming from here. All the, the Bhoo-devi energies are coming from here. Bhoo Devi is Durga Devi also.
So it was interesting few years back we had gone to Rishikesh for a retreat and there we found that all those who had come we had done lot of meditation and healing, while going on the gages, each one got a present and that was a Bhoo Devi chakra at the navel.
So it was interesting and that is how we developed our symbol for the Whole Earth Publishing, we took that symbol and later on we learnt, we didn’t know that, it was Bhoo Devi symbol, that we discovered later, that’s what it was actually. That means all material shakti, to aid the spiritual shakti because the spiritual cant cat in the material sphere alone. It has to be in co-operation with the material.
So material has to co-operate with the spiritual. So that is a different empowerment. People can progress spiritually internally without material energy co-operation, so you can go perhaps to a religious organization or to a religious system and progress there but you are not empowered to do anything in the material universe. In fact you become a beggar, more or less. You have to live a very renounced life. You cant really act in the material world. You don’t have that kind of empowerment.
The empowerment is you go and fix your internal universe only. But when you are actually connected to the Divine, ultimately, the material universe will co-operate. When there is a direct empowered connection. So that is how you can change your destiny, when you have a direct connection of the Divine, like the Pandavas, got and they got extra blessings t that time.
Like they also went through a process of purification, that last one here was a very heavy purification, because they were also full of many of these Mahishasura qualities in fact, they displayed them, we will discuss it, they displayed these. But there saving grace only was that they were directly connected to the Divine, that’s the point.
And today is that day when they received their actual empowerment yes, now you can go and do something, you can change. But even right till the end, they had a difficult time, because anxiety was there, fear was there, so many things. Even though the Divine is standing next to you, you may also feel it sometimes. The Divine is there, you have got the empowerment everything is there, so if the Pandavas and the Arjun felt, then if we feel it, its not a big problem. But…
NN : So if we can invoke these energies for the next one year, you can create a very nice positive future and today is a good day, how many Reiki I here, to send healing to your future, to your activities in the next one year, to the Reiki Box, through the Divine Reiki Light, and Reiki II and others, they use the advance methods.
So you will find that this year will become quite interesting for you. She is laughing because when I say interesting, that means its time to stand up and say, hello, what’s happening? Interesting means lot of action may take place. Some of which you may not like, but it will all be, overall its great fun, because you will able to change your lives.