The Mother Goddess Durga is perceived with 10 hands. They correspond to the positive and negative implications of man’s sensory organs – 5 of perception and 5 of action. Ordinarily, in our usual flow of life, more often our sensory perceptions get stuck to the illusionary glare and glitter of the seeming world. The preconditioning of mind, coming as it may as Karmic carryover from the past do also limit our scope of vision. Ego, further driving our mind, we are tempted to take things on the face value. We, thus, lose the sense of alert necessary to invoke the indwelling faculty of discriminate intelligence to figure out the underlying truths. True picture thus missing, we often inadvertently respond unintelligently on instinctive judgment. Working on half-truth, thus, something like looking at just one face of the coin, we are often caught unaware. By the time we realise, the damage is already done. It, therefore, becomes incumbent upon us to be on full mental alert to identify and acknowledge our limiting tendencies, address them aggressively, and ensure being in better control of the self.
Now, why a Lion as Mother’s mount? It is known to be a very intelligent animal and supposedly the king of jungles. When it goes for a hunt in search of its feed, moves strategically, carefully, cautiously, without wasting much of its energy, but with its eyes fixed on the prospective kill. It ensures not being noticed by the kill, till it is ready for its final assault. However, once the prey comes within its reach, it extols all its energy and pounces upon it. The lion, however, does not go for its next kill till it has become hungry once again after exhausting its feed. The killing too is therefore, need based and not out of greed. In fact, in nature’s scheme of things, there exists a food chain, whereby what serves as a food for the one, its outgrowth is kept in check by its predator. Nature’s biodiversity thus, remains in equitable balance. The animals, unlike human beings, invariably live in their present moment, and are never tempted to encroach upon other’s share to secure their future concerns. Accordingly, Shakti too, ought to be applied intelligently, strategically, with all the care and caution, and focused promptly towards serving need based productive aspirations.
Having explored true import of the imagery of Durga, it’s time to have a brief run into the 9 days festivity process. During the period, the devout services all the three essential attributes driving a being – Tamasa, Rajasa, and Sata. The balance or imbalance of the three define individual conduct pattern. The first 3 days of prayer are exclusively dedicated in service of Goddess Durga, supposedly expecting grant of boons. It is not that the clay mould we focus upon would grant our wishes. As one chants the mantra-s with focus on imagery of Durga, the shakti-s identified with Her lying dormant thus far within one’s own self gets invoked. We, thus, get geared up with fresh vigour and strength. Following which, we could overcome the sense of inertia driven by Tamasa element, combat challenges coming in the way with ease and comfort and put in quality efforts towards productive aspirations.
Having, thus, regained physical prowess, on the 4th day, worship of Laxmi, the Goddess personified with wealth gets added. Purposely so, as to hone the indwelling productive potential and come out with one’s best towards that end, vital to service our existential needs. We one-pointedly, selflessly, and devotedly worship Laxmi. In a similar vein, should we mindfully - doing justice to the calling of present moment like a lion - put in quality effort in a focused manner towards productive aspirations, the desired results will be achieved. Unnecessarily brooding and contemplating on the fruits of action will consume substantial amount of energy towards unproductive ends. We are then not left with enough to do justice to the callings of our creative aspirations. We, thus, try to get over the limitations exercised by Rajasa (selfish desire) element. Your approach to life will then be need based, not driven by greed.
7th day onwards, worship of Saraswati, Mother Goddess personified with wisdom gets added. In the process, we try to sharpen our intelligence, and seek the living truths of life. We, thus, try to hone the Sata element so that we could intelligently employ all our empowerment tools to successfully pursue the journey of life with relative ease and comfort.
With these words, wish you all a very happy and prosperous Dipawali.
The writer is an astrologer, vastu consultant
and spiritual counsellor. Connect with him at
Tel: 91-11-9818037273/9871037272
Email: bharatbhushanpadmadeo@gmail.com