2016 Navratri & The Potential Demise of Humankind

Navratri 2016 is well under way already, having started last Saturday – the first of the month. This has usually been a special holiday for me because of my affinity for Durga, whose presence and effect I can intuit at times. I was explaining to a friend that the Navratri holiday we’re in the middle of currently is much like my favorite holiday of the year – Ganesha Chaturthi in that special emphasis and fervor are given to a god idea for a little over a week and then an image of that idea is immersed and dissolved. Such symbolism and meaning! A huge difference between Ganesha Chaturthi and this Navratri is that each day / night of the holiday focuses on a different face of Durga, who is understood to be a version of the Holy Mother of us all. For reference I’ll include a link to information so that you can inform yourself about the differences each day of this Navratri. It’ll also give you a digest version of the holiday in general.

 

Navratri Durga Puja 2016 dates

 

The link above is to a site I don’t ever visit. It’s Baba Rampuri’s site (or one of them) and if I’m not mistaken (I may well be, there are a number of Babas out there) I’m pretty sure he was quoted in an article a year or so ago saying that yoga could “cure” gayness which is the biggest crock I’ve heard. Obviously, there’s nothing to cure where gayness is concerned and if there was, I feel it would still be an abuse of sorts to “sell” yoga as such a cure. But that’s neither here nor there and has nothing to do with the current holiday.

There was also an article on Speaking Tree about the holiday this year that I wanted to share… HERE. To summarize, see below.

1. Durga has five vahanas / vehicles, which she chooses for her arrival and departure very year at Navratri. These include lion, elephant, horse, boat, and palanquin.
2. For 2016, she has chosen the vahan of horse, which is a sign of danger for humanity. This is the case because usually she arrives and departs on different vahanas, but this year is making the arrival and departure on the same vahan, the horse. Thus the meaning of doomsday for humanity, as well as general upheaval, natural disasters, wars, social unrest, .
3. In the link above, pics #7, #8, #9, and #10 all detail briefly what meaning the vahanas carry.
4. Another bad sign for Navratri 2016 is that, while the holiday is – by definition – nine days / nights long, this year the holiday is actually ten days / nights long.
5. Dusshera falls on the 11th day, which is another bad omen.
6. Another level of inauspicious-ness is that she will be arriving and departing on a Saturday / Tuesday and this signifies the occurrence of war or tension among nations.

When I briefly mentioned this to another friend, he asked if her horse is a white horse and I knew immediately that his question is somewhat suggestive of Kalki’s arrival, too. I’d not be surprised if she IS said to arrive on a white horse. But I can tell you, I don’t put much stock in doomsday stuff. too many times humans have thought they knew were able to predict The End and when it would arrive. And – without exception – they were wrong, obviously, else I’d not be writing now and you’d not be reading now.

Still, so much of modernity is playing catch up to Hindu wisdom – especially where science and spirituality bump up against each other. I don’t think The End is near, but I’d not at all be surprised if a series of major disasters (of various types) is headed for planet Earth. And, after all, Trump is running for the highest office in the most powerful nation in the world. What better setup could there be for the entire globe to go up in flames and then to spin off its axis and fly right into our sun?

Aum Shri Mahaganeshaya Namaha | Aum Shanti

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ayigiri

Every year, many Hindus celebrate a holiday dedicated to various forms of The Mother, and every year I love it. Mostly, in my personal practice, I simply focus my worship on my preferred face of the Mother as She currently lives on the earth – which is to say, in the form of Mata Amrtanandamayi Ma, also known as Amma, The Hugging Saint. She’s an avatar of Shri Durga, who goes by another name: Mahishasuramardini. Mahishasura was a “buffalo demon” who was practically invincible and after nearly every other feasible attempt at conquering this monster had proven unsuccessful, everyone besought The Divine Mother for help.

Mata Amrtanandamayi Ma

A quick study of the symbolism employed in Durga’s image will explain why She proved so capable. Superficially, She seems to carry some weapon from nearly all the other major gods, which to some will imply that She combines their powers. However, in truth She is the underlying power that makes any of the others possible. Because of this inherent truth, this holiday is one of my favorite sign posts of the Faith.

Coming from a divorced family, and having both a birth mother and a step-mother, I know the many faces of motherhood and the value that women and mothers hold to society and humanity. Sometimes a mother plays a fierce role – either to protect her offspring or to scare them from foolishness that might place them in harm’s way. Sometimes a mother has to play the role of security, and provide the grounding force in the lives of her offspring, giving them a place of origin to reference and reset their compass when they accidentally steer off course. And other times still, the mother has to provide support in the form of nurturing the offspring and thus help to facilitate much-needed healing.

For each of the days of Navratri, which Hindus are currently celebrating, a different face of the Mother is focused on and honored. Temples everywhere are having their own celebration programs – my own local temple has programs put on each night by people from a different parts of India, all focusing on the particular face of Mother for that evening. At the end of the holiday, we’ll be holding a Durga Visarjan.

In my home, I don’t celebrate the Mother’s different faces each respective day, at least not like I would if I were to adhere to tradition. I simply honor the face of Mother I most closely connect with, which is Shri Mata Amrtanandamayi Ma. As witnessed in the actions and life story of Amma, we are all nourished and protected and loved by our shared Mother. She serves as an inexhaustible source of love, service, courage and sacrifice – a perennial example to all.

Whether during Navratri or at a local home satsangh, the worship and adoration of Amma includes singing Ayigiri or Maheshasuramardini. I have virtually the whole thing memorized. I’ve attached a video of it below for your viewing / education. I usually prefer to share three-part versions of things that include the devanagari, the transliteration, and the translation. This video only includes the transliteration, and I think I found an issue with verse nine, but whatever. It’ll still give you the bulk of what I intend to share. I absolutely encourage anyone and everyone to learn this devotional song to our Mother.

As the 2013 Navratri holiday progresses, I want to wish each of you all the best and to each of you the strongest, most healing, most protective and most protected relationships with each other and with The Mother. Jai Mata Di!

Aum Mahaganeshaya Namaha
Aum Shanti