The message of Navaratri

Navaratri is a festival that is celebrated around the time of year (in India) where people celebrate the harvest of food that comes from the earth. It is the festival of the Goddess. The nine nights (nava – nine; ratri – night) are dedicated to the honouring and worship of three aspects of the Divine Feminine, namely Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati

When a reference is made to Devi [Goddess], it signifies the unified form of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi. The three together represent Shakthi. Shakthi is the energy that accounts for all the phenomena of Prakrithi (Nature). Nature is energy and the controller of that energy is the Lord. Prakrithi is made up of the three qualities, Sathwa [purity, harmony], Rajas [movement, agitation] and Thamas [inertia]. Saraswathi represents the Sathwa Guna. Lakshmi represents the Rajas Guna and Parvathi [Durga and Parvathi are aspects of the one goddess, the other half of Shiva, with Durga being more fearsome, and Parvathi having a more benevolent aspect] represents the Thamas Guna. As Prakrithi is made up of these three qualities (Sathwa, Rajas and Thamas), to get control over Nature, man has been offering worship to Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi. These are not goddesses but deified symbols of the three qualities. Sathya Sai - 1992

In the month of Navaratri it is worth diving more deeply into the nature of the Divine Feminine. Creation or nature is the active manifestation of consciousness. The Mother is the manifestation, consciousness is the source of that manifestation. It is intriguing that the word matrix means mother, and the Divine Feminine is the underlying matrix of the whole of creation. Creation arose from sound and Saraswati being the feminine aspect of creation uses sound as her vehicle to create. She is often depicted with the veena, one of the oldest Indian musical instruments, with her vehicle being hamsa (the heavenly swan) who represents the pranic or activating force within creation.

Durga is the goddess who fearsomely reduces the demons of ignorance from creation. Creation is the neutral ground wherein the play of ignorance and wisdom is enacted. Whilst wisdom is the domain of Saraswati and is required on the spiritual path, developing ignorance is not enough if we cannot control our desires or negative tendencies. This is where Durga plays a part in reducing or even eliminating such tendencies. She is depicted with a trident and riding a tiger, destroying the buffalo demon Mahishasura who represents the forces of ignorance and chaos. In this way Durga demonstrates her fearsome aspect, essential to spiritual progress.

THE DIVINE FEMININE IN NATURE

Nature is the play of opposites. The light and the shadow dance within and without. Evidence of the Mother in nature is everywhere, from the flow of the waters to the unfolding of the fern leaf - all is the Mother. Yet, the masculine, the Father is also inherent within the womb of the Mother. The forces of nature surround us as they interplay without and within our lives.

Perhaps the place where we can most feel the Mother’s all-embracing power is in the silence of the forest. Here we can go deep into her heart to find that place within that resonates in harmony with the Divine Creative power, manifest in the life that surrounds us.

Deepak Chopra and Alicia Keys have put together a list of exercises we can unon ondertake to enhance the sense of the Divine Feminine within us. Here is a summary of suggestions, based on their advice.

Journal our feelings: useful to do after particularly stressful moments in our lives. Use two to three adjectives to describe how we are feeling. (This can then be contemplated upon, using the wisdom that resides within us. We can look objectively at our feelings (the Divine Masculine) and come to a resolution as to how the feelings have impacted our life, positively or negatively, and come to the point where wisdom (head) meets feeling (heart).
2. Selflessly Serve (a cause or an individual): Giving ourselves to something greater that is, seemingly, outside of us, opens the heart in empathetic connection. The flow of love that can arise from such an activity brings us to a deeper place in our heart where we recognise and experience our unity with others. We are all children of the Divine Mother, and serving something greater than ourselves, be it other people or the planet, allows us to experience Mother’s wisdom in a very real way.
3. Garden: Foster nature through planting and nurturing seeds, plants, or trees. This connects us with the earth in a very real way and we can feel our kinship with all of nature. Many years ago, I had an experience where I was tending my herb garden. I had bought some plants off a wise woman in West Auckland and was busily looking after them. Suddenly, I heard a quiet voice within. I turned around and recognised it was coming from a herb that I had planted a couple of weeks before. The herb ‘said’, “I am Motherwort, I am useful for those who have never been mothered”. I was taken aback. I proceeded to read up on her and found to my amazement that she is both good for aiding birth (as well as generally in the female reproductive system), but also acts on the heart. The lesson stood me in good stead when, years later, I practised herbal medicine in my naturopathic clinic.

4. Be gentle but firm with ourselves: We can be mothers to ourselves. A mother fosters her children with kindness, but also in setting boundaries of behaviour. The Divine Feminine has no judgement on her children, even when they hurt her. Papa Tuanuku, felt the pain of being separated from Ranginui by her children very deeply, but she showed her love by providing a world in which they could dance and play according to their tendencies and wants. A tree shelters all, even those who harm it. It is the Divine Feminine energy that allows such compassion to occur.

5. Practice Chandra Bhedana breathing: The left nostril connects to the ida nadi – the lunar channel that runs up the spine. (Nadis are the subtle energetic channels in the body that carry the pranic life force. The central canal of the spinal cord carries three nadis – ida the lunar channel; pingala the solar channel; and sushumna the central channel). The ida channel carries the Divine Feminine energy that is linked to the moon. This is a cooling energy, which connects us to that which feminine within ourselves.

6. Display an image of the Goddess – This can be any form that calls you to the feminine in nature. It need not be a specific form, such as Durga, Artemis, Freya or Hine Titama, but may be a form that represents the Divine Feminine in nature. This will act as a reminder to connect with Her.

7. Mantras – there are many mantras in Sanskrit that convey the Divine Feminine energy. Once you have a name and form that you are attracted to, you may use the mantra associated with that form. For instance, a Durga mantra is Om Dum Durgayei Namaha; a Lakshmi mantra is Om Hring kling MahaLakshmyai Namah and a Saraswati mantra is Om Aim Saraswatyai Namaha. There are many mantras. It is worth learning the correct pronunciation from a knowledgeable teacher.

8. Create something artistic; the Divine feminine is beauty, so when we create beauty, we connect with her.

9. Practice unconditional Love; this is perhaps the most difficult of the exercises, yet the most powerful and rewarding. Generally, we love others because they love us or because we are attached to them in some way. If we can begin to love without expectations, that is a good start. Our Mother Earth loves us unconditionally. She brings forth her bounty and her caring despite our best efforts to abuse her. If we can start by giving without thought of reward, that is a great place to enter the realm of unconditional love. Such acts can lead to a sense of connection with the heart, where the Mother dwells in in the purity of Her Love. When we dwell there, we dwell within the Divine Feminine. - Satyavan

“The symbolism of the Goddess is not a parallel structure to the symbolism of God the Father. The Goddess does not rule the world. She is the world. Manifest in each of us, She can be known internally by every individual, in all Her magnificent diversity.”

– Starhawk

SHAKTI – THE GREAT GODDESS ENERGY

Shakti is the vibratory power of the universe that infinite field of silence that pervades everything. It is subtler than space and time. The dimension where all particles simultaneously vibrate into existence.

Where does that dimension exist? It exists in the Shiva realm, the eternal infinite field of silence, that is at the base of who we are. Within that formless, timeless dimension of consciousness arises the vibrating aspect which is Shakti, the great Goddess energy.

Shiva and Shakti cannot exist without each other. They are in eternal embrace. The yoni holds the lingam and the lingam completes the yoni. (A lingam is an ovoid shape that represents consciousness becoming form and form merging back into consciousness - Shiva; a yoni is the base that supports and holds the lingam – Shakti.) The stillness holds the dynamism, and the dynamism holds the stillness

It is this Shakti vibration of consciousness that brings everything into existence. It is this goddess, this shakti energy that is so powerful. This dimension exists everywhere. It is at the base of who we are and cannot but create. This vibration of consciousness births everything into existence. Everything we see and perceive is this dance of the cosmic mother, the dance of Shakti. Everything is this primordial supreme energy. Every individual that expresses has this energy within them.

On the physical eternal level, we are either a man or a woman. Yet when we study the brain, no person has a fully masculine or feminine brain, everyone has a mixture. From a yogic perspective at a subtle level, we are neither male or female. If we become too identified with the roles of our gender this becomes a cage. When a man goes into his divine masculine nature, he has to embrace his divine feminine, just as when a woman goes into her feminine nature, she has to embrace her masculine aspects. It is important to go far beyond our cultural identities.

When we have a balance we can reach an integrated state where we find supreme empowerment inside. The feminine includes the masculine and vice versa. It is important to realise that we are all Shiva and Shakti. When we experience our own true nature, we feel complete. We can fully respond to the mystery of existence. As we go deep within ourselves, we will experience the radiance of consciousness, become more and more aware, full of vitality, full of compassion and have a greater sense of meaning. We start to become part of a life which is much more worth living. - Savitri

THE DIVINE FEMININE IN TE AO MAORI

There are many similarities between the Indian Vedic traditions and Te Ao Māori (the Māori world), indeed all indigenous wisdom traditions. These connections indicate that there has been contact in the past between peoples across the globe, that are not recorded in our accepted historical records, but are inherent in the unsung story of humanity.

In Te Ao Māori the One (or Brahman in the Vedic tradition) is termed Io. (There are many epithets for Io that describe it as the parentless, the one of the hidden face, the one in the highest heaven, among others). The creation story in Te Ao Maori also talks of the void, the darkness (or night) and Te Ao Marama (the world of light). The story also describes how the unity became the duality (Rangi and Papa). It is here that we first encounter the Divine Feminine in the form of the Mother of the universe, termed Papa Tū ā Nuku (the mother who extends out – embraces all).

Once Tane Mahuta parted his parents and light came into the world, Tane created the first woman out of the red earth. Her name was Hine Ahu One. Tane embraced her, and their child was called Hine Titama. It was she who became the dawn. (In Indian mythology the dawn is called Usha or Ushas and she is a feminine concept). Hine Titama, discovering she was a child of incest turned herself into Hine Nui Te Pō (the Goddess of the underworld and death).

We see in these pūrākau (stories) underlying Māori concepts of the feminine being powerful forces in nature. Nature is respected and honoured in many indigenous traditions, which are instructive as to how we should treat her. The Mother of Fire in Te Ao Maori is called Māhuika. In the Hawaiin tradition she is called Pele. Here we see some aspects of Durga, the fire being a transformative and correcting force in nature, the iccha shakti of the Vedic tradition.