Vijayadashami/Dasara/Dashahara/Navaratri/Durgotdsav:
This is one of the very important &
fascinating festivals of Bharat, which is celebrated on shukla-paksh dashami of
Ashwin (usually in September or October).
The basic purpose behind this festival is
to worship feminine principle of the
whole cosmos:
This reminds us our great oldest systems of Indian philosophy – “Sankhya”. It is founded
by Sage Kapila. The Sankhya school of
philosophy recognizes two eternal principles called Purusha and Prakriti.
Ø Purusha is eternal, something that does not
create, uncreated, passive, absolute, infinite, pure, neither the cause nor the
effect, consciousness and indestructible.
Ø Prakriti is eternal, uncreated something that
creates, dynamic absolute, infinite, cause and active.
Sankhya states that a fine
and subtle matter or principle is the basis of our physical existence. It is is
called Prakriti or nature. It is the primal substance behind the universe. It
is the material cause of the world, it is the first and foremost cause of all
the gross and subtle objects. It is non self, incomprehensible and without
consciousness. It gets affected and influenced by the Purusha(self or the
spirit). It can only appear as the various objects of experience of the
Purusha. The basic nature or Prakriti and the individual souls or Purusha coexist with one another so that the
beautiful Sristhi is a reality before us. We
can interpret this Prakriti as the feminine principle.
“ya devi sarvabhutesu (shakti, gyana,
kama, buddhi, shanti, maya etc…) rupena samsthita…namastesai namastesai
namastesai namoh namah...” Whatever we
are perceiving using all our senses, whatever we can complement using our
gyanendriya (Senses of knowledge) is nothing but Durga. Everything gross or
subtle are nothing but the same Devine principle. This is the time to recognize
that. She is the Shakti/power, things
moves only because of her, Earth is rotating only because of her,
in
the form of the divine mother to remind the teachings of the Taitareeya
Upanishad, "Matru Devo Bhava." Essence of the navaratri celebration
at social level is to remind &
respect all the women, who are the guardians of the family, culture, and
national integrity, to take lead in times of crisis to guide the humanity
towards the path of social justice, righteousness, equality, love, and divinity.
Durga is worshipped as the main deity of Navaratri by all the segments of society including tribal communities. Dasara
coincide with the period of rest & leisure of the farmers after their
strenuous hard work in their farms & fields, hence they invoke blessings of
Durga in order to have a rich harvest in the next coming season.
Chatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of the Hindavi (Hindu) Swarajya used to always
worship Lord Shiva & Goddess Durga in the form of goddess Bhawani before
any military expedition. Goddess Bhavani had blessed Shivaji Maharaj with her
own sword called “Bhavani Talwar”. Dasara is the festival of Victory of Good
over Bad, God over Devil.
The
Birth of Mahishaasura Mardini & the unique message:
All
the God fought with the demoin power for years all together without a result.
They came to know that only a feminine divine power can kill this monster. The
requested Maa Lakshmi to come and kill. However Maa Lakshmi asked, “I am
goddess for wealth and auspiciousness”.
That is not my area of work also I do not have required strength, please
go to Maa Kali. Kali told “I am the owner of the absolute power and strength
however I cannot have all the strategy required to kill the monster”. Saraswati
told ,“I am the owner of the absolute knowledge, I know the past, present as
well as the future of the monster, however I am not powerful enough to face the
monster”. There was a big void in the whole cosmos no one is there who is
readily capable and available to kill the monster. They needed a united powers
of Maa Lakshmi, Maha Saraswati, Maha Kali and Maha Maheswari. At one stage the Gods felt powerless against the
onslaughts of the demoniac forces headed by Mahishaasura. In answer to their
prayers for protection, they were ordered to part with a portion of their
divine powers to form into a new Goddess.
It was thus that Mahishaasura Mardini took on a physical form as the combined
might of 33 crores of Gods.
Learning:
1.
Individual skill,
power, talent in their true absolute sense looks nothing before problem
2.
Even the good and the righteous can succeed
against the evil forces only when they come together in an organized endeavor.
3.
Could there be a more telling message to the
present-day disorganized Hindu people - many of them individually good and
pious but who have remained incapable of overcoming the forces inimical to them
and their culture?
4.
Truly has it been said, 'Sanghe shaktih kalau
yuge' - Organization holds the key to strength in Kaliyuga. And this is the one
single, most important lesson which the Hindu people have to learn today.
5.
Every page of our past history bears testimony
to the shocking phenomenon of how the Hindus, though immensely superior in
culture, wealth, armies, territory and sheer numbers to the foreign aggressors,
were defeated and enslaved. And all this tragedy because of their fatal drawback of disorganization.
6.
Now, it is high time the Hindus learnt the
bitter lesson of the past and realize that "Organization is life and disorganization is death".
7.
This strength is termed “nigrahaanugraha
shakti”, i.e., while on the one hand it destroys the wicked, on the other
it protects the good and the holy (as reiterated in Bhagvat Geeta, paritranay
sadhunaam, vinashaay cha duskritaam).
Stories associated
with Vijayadashami day(signifying the victory of the
forces of righteousness over those of wickedness.):
1.
Pandavas came out of agyaat-vaas and took up
astra (weapons) to fight on Vijayadashami day. Even though Pandavas had
literally nothing post vanvaas, even forces from allied kingdoms were much
lesser compared to that of Kauravas. But Pandavas were on the side of dharma
and at the end they were able to defeat the adharmic forces (Kauravas &
their allies).
2.
Shri Ramchandra reached lanka with force of vanaras
(Monkeys) to fight Ravana having the huge army of the ferocious demons and all
sort of divya & mayavi astra (weapons). It was no match between the armies
of Shri Ramachandra & Ravana. Even though Shri Rama looked weak, he
eventually defeated and killed mighty Ravana because dharma was on his side.
3.
Mahisasur
asked for vardaan that, no deva, asura, animal & man can kill him
and assumed he became amar (immortal). He under-estimated the power of women;
and never thought to include in his wish. Drunk on power & immortality, he
started creating havoc everywhere. This is when all Devas came together to
create matru-swarupa & Shakti-swarupa Goddess Durga. Once again, Goddess
Durga seemingly weak compared to Mahsasura, killed him and brought an end to
the adharmic forces.
4.
Doctor ji, started sangh also on Vijayadashami
day of 1925 and successfully we have come a long way in last 94yrs; still a lot
needs to be done.
5.
On Vijayadashami Day, we are symbolically
breaking our Sakha/milan boundaries and going into newer/bigger area as part of
sanchalan. Sanchalan done in Purna Ganavesh and with perfect discipline and
synchronization along with Ghos excites anybody and everybody witnessing it.
The society around us gets to see the presence of sangh as part of it. It also
acts Shakti-pradarshan (Ajey Shakti, not to harm normal people), which instills
sense of confidence & saftey in hindu samaj.
No matter how small,
weak or out-numbered the Dharmic forces seem, once they come together and take
on adharmic forces with the sincere & untiring efforts, they are able to
defeat the adharma.
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