As the day awakens, the skies remain a gainsboro gray, from Cyclone Phailin
spinning its web of karma 600 km southeast of this fortress city on the Ganges.
Gentle rains continue to drizzle on the lush green trees that live for the
winds from the Ganga. The temperature is pleasant for me at 24C/75F. Shankhs and pujas continue to resound
through the cool air, as Durga puja mantras pepper the breezes that come
wafting across my drenched marble verandah.
Today is Vijaya
Dashami, when it is time to give Durga to visharjan and let her melt away.
Since childhood, I have always cried fiercely on this day. I always feel abandoned, as though she has left me here to rot on the earth, as she returns to the magic of the heavens. As a woman, I watch men celebrate her, rejoice in her work, and then throw her into a river. Many women miss her as they miss their mother – indeed she is mother – so they are not permitted to make the courageous ride on the boat out to the middle of the river, where she will be submerged, re-merged with the elements, just as they are not permitted to have their mothers at their weddings, when they are given away to another family.
Since childhood, I have always cried fiercely on this day. I always feel abandoned, as though she has left me here to rot on the earth, as she returns to the magic of the heavens. As a woman, I watch men celebrate her, rejoice in her work, and then throw her into a river. Many women miss her as they miss their mother – indeed she is mother – so they are not permitted to make the courageous ride on the boat out to the middle of the river, where she will be submerged, re-merged with the elements, just as they are not permitted to have their mothers at their weddings, when they are given away to another family.
Mahishasura nirnaashi bhaktaanaam sukhade namah |
to you who caused the destruction of the great Ego, giver of happiness to devotees,
we bow to you.
Rupam dehi jayam dehi yasho dehi dvisho jahi ||
Grant us your form, Grant us victory, Grant us welfare, remove all hostility.
to you who caused the destruction of the great Ego, giver of happiness to devotees,
we bow to you.
Rupam dehi jayam dehi yasho dehi dvisho jahi ||
Grant us your form, Grant us victory, Grant us welfare, remove all hostility.
❧
Durga, in Sanskrit, means fortress, the
inaccessible, or the invincible, the one not easily reached (dur- = "with
difficulty" (compare Greek δυσ- (dys-)) and gā = "come",
"go").
Maa Durga is an embodiment of divine
creative feminine force, Shakti. She exists in a state of svātantrya,
independence from the universe and anything or anyone, i.e., self-sufficiency. She has fierce compassion. Durga manifests
fearlessness and patience, and never loses her sense of humor, even during
spiritual battles of epic proportion. Durga
protects her devotees from the evils of the world, and since the most dangerous
thing working against us is ourselves, she helps us to remove those mental and
emotional seeds that create calamities in our minds, hearts, actions, and
words.
Durga Mother protects her children from
these inner demons, and allows us to fluorish without hindrances on the path of
our dharma in the cradle of (her) love, the ultimate healer and the ultimate
weapon. She is worshipped with the beeja mantra "Dum," and she works from
the Manipura chakra.
Durga has many aspects, one of which is
Kali, the fiercer, demon-fighting form of Shiva's wife, goddess Parvati. She carries weapons given to her by various
other powers/gods: Rudra's trident, Vishnu's discus, Indra's thunderbolt,
Brahma's kamandalu, Kuber's Ratnahar. Mastery of these symbolic weapons is
celebrated on DurgaAsthami, or Veerashtami, where people will perform their
prowess using arms or martial arts.
She rides a ferocious lion. She is crowned
with the moon on her head. She is kantiwali/armed with weapons, yet also carries a
lotus flower in her many arms. She is mesmerizingly beautiful, maintains a
meditative smile, and practices mudras/symbolic hand gestures. Durga carries a
shankh/conch shell to symbolize the power of sound and vibration, the chakra to symbolize time, a bow and arrows,
the trident, a snake, a mace, a full sword, and a thunderbolt
in her many arms. She has three eyes. She wears an armlet, necklaces, bangles,
anklets, and she has earrings with gemstones.
❧
Mahagauri
is very much related to Ayurveda. Her power is unfailing, instantly fruitful,
and full of patience. Gauri is the one
who knows the cow (gau=cow). On the very
active day of DurgaAsthami, the eighth day of Navaratri, she is worshipped through the
Maha Gauri Puja. The substances from the cow have magical powers of healing.
Panchagavya (pancha=five, gavya=of the cow) is used: milk, yogurt/curd, ghee,
goumutra, and cow dung. Pure milk is the
substance that can transform and nourish our tissues in deep ways, that no
other substance can; it builds Ojas, the essence of our strength, resilience,
and immunity. From worship of MahaGauri, our pāpas (sins; in ayurveda, read faults or
doshas) of past, present and future are washed away, as we purify ourselves in
all aspects of life.
MahaGauri is intelligent, peaceful and
calm. Due to her long austerities in the deep forests of the Himalayas, she had
developed a dark complexion. When Lord Shiva cleaned her with the water of his
beloved Ganges, her body regained its beauty and he saw her skin shining like
gold and reflecting the light. In Aryan times, this was re-interpreted from
reflecting light to white, so some know her as extremely white. When we have healthy tissues, our skin has a
sheen, one of the signs of abundant Ojas.
She wears white clothes, has four arms,
and rides on a bull. Her right lower hand holds the mudra of allaying fear and
the left upper one is in the mudra of granting blessing to her devotees. Her
right upper hand holds a trishul or trident; the left lower hand holds a
‘damaru,’ a small two-headed rattle-drum or power drum. It is believed that the Sanskrit language was
recognized by the drumbeats of the damaru, according to the Shiva Sutra, the
fourteen verses that organize the phonemes of Sanskritam, alongside Shiva’s
performance of the cosmic dance of tandava, the cosmic vigorous dance that was
the source of the cycle of creation, preservation and dissolution. Some
interpret the triangular upward representation of the bottom half of the drum
symbolizes male procreativity as the Lingam, and the downward rounder
representation symbolizes the female procreativity. Where they meet at the midpoint of the damaru
symbolizes, well… creation. Pure milk is
the best food for creating healthy sperm and egg, and the essence beyond, which
is Ojas.
❧
The
water drips from the roof, and squirrels come out to partake in the fruits that
have fallen from the gusts over the past two days. The air is suddenly
quiet. Then, ... drums begin their eerie fierce chant, as shouting
is heard from men, first from afar then nearer and nearer. In turn, men are heard approaching, then
silence. Trumpets and music continue in
waves, getting nearer and nearer then disappearing, as conch shells blow. All
the while drums beat. It is time. Maa
Durga, all over this western bank of the Ganga, is being carried by her sons,
to her dissolution. I suppose I should
walk over toward the Vishwanath Temple, to the spectacular views at the Dashashwamedh Ghat, the main ghat on the
Ganga. But my heart calls me to sit inside a bit longer, until the Maya clears
and the loss is bearable.
❧
These ten days and nine nights are a time of thanksgiving to Mother Nature, who protects and sustains us and is the primeval source of power. On the Ashtami (eighth) day little girls are fed, gifted, and worshipped as the incarnation of Goddess Shakti, because only they have the powers for nuclear fission and fusion that can create new human beings. Their potential and the coming decades of space-time are given due allegiance, as they will beget the future generation.
The practice of Devi worship, in which
we chant the 1000 names of Devi, is actually attention to the powers of our
massive ecosystem, the Earth and its powers. My astrological chart says I was
born into the quadrant of Devi. Our family kuladevata is Devi. My guru, also
born into the Devi quadrant, knows my lifework is to bring awareness about the
healing possible when we are attuned to our ecosystem.
He arranged the fortune last month of doing pujas for Devi. In the mountains above Coimbatore on a deep rural Friday night in the forest, during Krishna Paksha with the moon fading, 108 women, and this year several dozen men, recited the 1000 names of Devi. Last year, when he gave me this same gift, we were asked to make a wish before the puja. I had asked to be given a Fulbright award; the powers of the Earth complied. This year I gave quiet thanks as I made a new wish.
He arranged the fortune last month of doing pujas for Devi. In the mountains above Coimbatore on a deep rural Friday night in the forest, during Krishna Paksha with the moon fading, 108 women, and this year several dozen men, recited the 1000 names of Devi. Last year, when he gave me this same gift, we were asked to make a wish before the puja. I had asked to be given a Fulbright award; the powers of the Earth complied. This year I gave quiet thanks as I made a new wish.
ya devi sarva bhutesu, shanti rupena sansthitha
ya devi sarva bhutesu, shakti rupena sansthitha
ya devi sarva bhutesu, matra rupena sansthitha
namastasyai, namastasyai, namastasyai, namo namaha ||
Translation:
ya devi sarva bhutesu, shakti rupena sansthitha
ya devi sarva bhutesu, matra rupena sansthitha
namastasyai, namastasyai, namastasyai, namo namaha ||
Translation:
To the goddess who is
omnipresent in the universe as the symbol of peace,
To the goddess who is omnipresent in the universe as the embodiment of power,
To the goddess who is omnipresent in the universe as the personification of universal mother,
I lower my head to her, I give allegiance to her, I bow to her.
To the goddess who is omnipresent in the universe as the embodiment of power,
To the goddess who is omnipresent in the universe as the personification of universal mother,
I lower my head to her, I give allegiance to her, I bow to her.