Celebration
twice a year:
This festival is
observed twice a year, once in the beginning of summer and again at the onset
of winter.
Reason:
The two most important junctures of climatic change and
solar influence are the onset of the summer season and of winter. These two junctions
have been chosen as the sacred opportunities for the worship of the divine power
because:
(1) Hindus believe that,
it is the divine power that provides energy for the earth to move around the sun,
causing the changes in the outer nature and that this divine power, called Ma Durga
must be thanked for maintaining the correct balance of the universe.
(2)
Secondly, to acquire enough potent powers to maintain our physical and mental
balance.
Nine Nights & Days of Navratri:
Navratri
is divided into sets of three days to adore different aspects of the supreme goddess.
On the first three days, the Mother is invoked as powerful force called Durga
in order to destroy all our impurities, vices and defects. The next three days,
the Mother is adored as a giver of spiritual wealth, Lakshmi, who is considered
to have the power of bestowing on her devotees the inexhaustible wealth. The final
set of three days is spent in worshipping the mother as the goddess of wisdom,
Saraswati. In order have all-round success in life, we need the blessings of all
three aspects of the divine mother; hence, the worship for nine nights.
We
need the blessings of Ma Durga for wealth, auspiciousness, prosperity and knowledge,
and other potent powers to cross every hurdle of life in some form or the other
the other.
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