HINDUISM
Meaning and significance of Navratri
Navratri is the sacred and joyous festival of the Hindu community of India. Observed over a period of nine nights, the festival is famous almost throughout the country for its religious and social importance. It is devoted to the worship of the divine Mother in various forms under different names by different people.
Like any other Hindu festival, Navratri has a spiritual message for its observers.
The Meaning of Navratri
This nine-day festival celebrates the triumph of good over evil and exhorts mankind to wake up from the slumber of ignorance, remove all negativities, purify the mind and cultivate positive virtues. This alone can help one gain the necessary spiritual knowledge to transcend all earthly limitations and achieve salvation – the highest goal of human life. This in fact, is the underlying theme of the whole of the Vedas (the ancient Hindu religious texts).
Nava means "nine" and "ratri" means night. During the nine-night long festival of Navratri the supreme female cosmic power or Goddess Shakti is worshipped in her variously manifested forms as Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. All three Goddess are the incarnations of Shakti (the Mother Goddess). The festival signifies power, wealth, prosperity and knowledge.
What happens during the festival
The festival of Navratri begins on the first day of Ashwin of the bright fortnight.
Goddess Durga
On the first three nights Durga is invoked for her strength and ferocity which are required to cut out from the mind it's strong rooted, deep-seated negative tendencies. Noble virtues and the knowledge of self can only be gained when all evil tendencies in the mind are destroyed. The killing of Mahishashura (Mahisha demon) by Durga Devi actually symbolizes the destruction of the evil tendencies of the mind. To destroy our innate evil tendencies is very difficult.
Our worship of Durga during the first three nights of Navratri is actually our invocation to the Divine Power within us to assist us in destroying our animalistic tendencies.
Goddess Lakshmi
On the next three nights, Lakshmi is worshipped. For the knowledge of self-realization to dawn on us, we have to first prepare our minds. Our worship of Lakshmi is actually our attempt to seek the blessings of the divine being to help us in obtaining the purification of mind.
Lakshmi represents wealth that we assume to be only material wealth. But material wealth is needed only in this world and without self discipline, respect, sincerity, kindness and love, wealth can make our life miserable. The real wealth is the spiritual wealth that we can gain by the practice of the right values in our lives, which purifies our minds and takes us closer towards self-realization. Lakshmi is our source of this true wealth. By our worship, we invite her to bring into our homes her wealth of noble values to nourish and purify our minds.
Goddess Saraswati
The final three nights are spent in the invocation of Saraswati. Victory over the mind can be gained only through the proper knowledge and thorough understanding, and Saraswati symbolizes this highest knowledge of the Self.
Lord Krishna himself says in the Bhagavad Gita: "The knowledge of the Self is the Knowledge"; and He adds, "If we do not have the knowledge of the Self, then our knowledge of all other subjects has no real worth”. The knowledge of the Self that is represented by Saraswati.
During Navratri, the Rasa (dance of joy) of Shree Krishna and the Gopis is also enacted. This dance symbolizes the dance of Realisation which represents the joy and happiness of the mind that becomes purer and calmer due to a greater understanding of the nature of the Inner Self.
Conclusion
The festival concludes in Dusshera or Vijayadasami. According to popular belief, Dussehra celebrates the victory of Durga over the wicked demon Mahishasura who, according to legend, belonged to Mysore. It is also believed that the festival actually commemorates the killing of the great demon king of Lanka, Ravan, by Lord Rama. Both Mahishasura and Ravan are demons and their execution is a symbol of the destruction of the evil that resides within our mind. Navaratri represents the triumph of good over evil.