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kami
USA
921 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 08 2013 : 2:01:37 PM
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Navarathri began 3 days ago (nava = 9, rathri = night; the festival of 9 nights), a celebration of Shakti in all Her forms. Although there are numerous stories associated with Navarathri, the most well-known is from the Devi Mahatmyam, where the divine mother is adored in her three main forms: as Kali or Durga the first 3 days, Lakshmi the next 3 days, and Saraswathi the last 3 days.
There is a deep symbolic significance to this, paralleling one's own spiritual path. A well-known daily prayer from the Brihadarinyaka Upanishad seems to capture the entire significance of Navarathri:
"Asato ma sadgamaya, tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, mrityorma amrintangamaya"
"Lead me from untruth to truth, from ignorance to light, from death to immortality"
Ignorance of our true nature leads us to believe in the separateness of the ego-self, the mother of all untruths. Veiled by the darkness of this ignorance (of our true nature), entrenched in untruth (of identification as the separate self), we become stuck in the cycle of birth and death (of the present moment being colored again and again by past conditioning, in an endless loop).
Kali/Durga is the primordial form of Shakti that slays egoic conditioning so the past can be left behind and the present can be lived (from death to immortality). Lifting of that ego-based, darkness of conditioning by Kali simultaneously lets in Lakshmi, who embodies all goodness and abundance (from ignorance to light). Rigorously prepped thus by Kali and Lakshmi, superior knowledge takes birth in the form of Saraswathi, she who reigns over subtle discrimation between the real and unreal (from untruth to truth).
In our own paths, bhakti and surrender lead us to ever-deepening spiritual practices and openings, ripening us. The seeker's Navarathri begins in earnest with letting go of egoic tendencies. Asking, "Is this true?" in a given circumstance invariably leads to seeing that nothing in the transactional world is ever absolutely true. Digging deeper, we are led to, "If this isn't true, what made me think that?" bringing us face-to-face with our own delusions. As Kali mercilessly slays each delusion as it comes up, Lakshmi blesses us with fortitude and abundance. The pristine Saraswathi finally makes an appearance as we are led to deeply inquiring, "Who is this I..?"
The 10th day of Navarathri is called "Vijayadashmi" (vijaya = victory, dashmi = the 10th day of the new moon), signifying the end of the journey of the individual soul - that which was previously deluded to be the separate ego-self has now come to rest in it's supreme knowledge of itself as That. Shakti, through her own Maya, creates the illusion of duality. And it is through her Grace that her play of duality is seen through.
Happy Navarathri!
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Edited by - kami on Oct 08 2013 2:07:37 PM |
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Govinda
USA
176 Posts |
Posted - Oct 08 2013 : 3:02:32 PM
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bewell
1275 Posts |
Posted - Oct 08 2013 : 5:06:48 PM
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Kami,
This is timely, brilliant, and insightful.
Thank you.
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jonesboy
USA
594 Posts |
Posted - Oct 08 2013 : 6:38:02 PM
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| That was beautiful |
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Oct 08 2013 : 8:47:07 PM
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I love to read of this. Particularly the cycle of birth and death being described in this way: "of the present moment being colored again and again by past conditioning, in an endless loop" So true!  |
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Anima
484 Posts |
Posted - Oct 09 2013 : 09:46:31 AM
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Namaste, Kami
Thank you for wishing us well on Navarathri. I did some chanting at the mission. We also read from the Devi Purana, about Mahishasuramardini. Wonderful.
Jai Mata Di! |
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kami
USA
921 Posts |
Posted - Oct 10 2013 : 08:16:27 AM
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Thanks everyone.
The Devi Mahatmyam describes 3 great (main) wars where the devas, defeated by the asuras (demons), propitiate Shakti; on behalf of the devas, she battles with the asuras in her various forms, destroying them and bringing peace to the cosmos. Mahishasura is one such demon, who had the siddhi of taking any form he wished. In the final battle, he is killed when he is half human-like and half buffalo (as depicted in the most popular pictures of Durga).
On a deeper level, Mahishasura represents the heavier (tamasic) aspect of the ego, that which constantly shifts and changes in its fickleness in the form of excuses, blame, judgement, self-loathing.. Almost like there are multiple personalities within oneself - one moment there is dejection, which shifts to elation by changing direction of thought, back to dejection when the original thought returns.. Like Mahishasura, known for his massive and awkward form, this aspect of the ego overshadows the rest - he is half human, that which represents the parts of the ego that are somewhat reasonable.. Poignantly, it is Durga that slays this asura, for Lakshmi and Saraswathi cannot make an appearance in the presence of such heaviness..
Last night, continuing with the tradition of chanting/reading the Devi Mahatmyam during Navarathri, we came to the story of killing of the demon Raktabija. This ferocious asura had a neat siddhi - every drop of his blood touching the earth resulted in another clone of him (Rakta = blood, bija = seed/drop). Hence, he was invincible. For this particular battle, the Devi creates a whole host of Shaktis, none of whom can vanquish him. So, she finally invokes Kali from within herself - ferocious and thirsty for blood, Kali laps up every drop of the demon's blood before it touches the earth, allowing the other Shakti to finally destroy him.
The deep symbolism of this story hit me as we were reading it. The ego is indeed like Raktabija! One thought/belief "hitting the ground" gives rise to infinite identical thoughts and associated emotional responses.. They are impossible to "slay" unless the original "root" belief is targeted, preventing it from spilling over. This is exactly what Kali does - her compassion is so great that she would gladly lap up the "blood" of wayward egoic beliefs rapidly and cleanly, without a care about our attachment to the offspring of such beliefs.. Hence, it is said that Kali sadhana is difficult - we can experience major shifts as "things" we are attached to are taken away..
The spiritual energy of the last few days has had a major impact here - no sleep, ecstatic bliss even as longing arises and dissipates. The air, water, trees, flowers, even inanimate objects seem charged, ready to burst forth.. Has anyone else felt this?
Love to all. |
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Govinda
USA
176 Posts |
Posted - Oct 10 2013 : 6:59:31 PM
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Yes, I have felt an electric current rushing up my spine, no doubt a gift from the Mother power, in the form of unbridled Shakti. Of course, I have been crying out to her for her Grace and as with all needy infants, she has heard my cries and nursed my mind's heart.
And while it does seem demanding on some levels, it is what little ones are want to do. Her compassion has flooded my thirsting soul with Amrita, aplenty!
Granted, as Kali, she has ripped me to pieces ... I am still basking in the rebirthing!
Om Kali, Om Durga, Om Lakshmi, Om Saraswathi, Om Shakti |
Edited by - Govinda on Oct 10 2013 10:00:57 PM |
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mr_anderson
USA
734 Posts |
Posted - Oct 10 2013 : 10:40:45 PM
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quote:
Has anyone else felt this?
...Yes. |
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mathurs
United Kingdom
197 Posts |
Posted - Oct 11 2013 : 06:04:34 AM
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HI Kami,
Do you take requests  ? I have one that you could maybe address when you find some time to think over and write?
Three days ago during my morning DM session due to the auto movements of my stomach - I was reminded of the churning of oceans and the story of amrita / sagar manthan - of the war between the asuras and the devas and how the pot of amrita was churned out of the ocean. Then I started drawing parallels between that story and the kundalini process. Particulary meru danda - spine and meru parvat being used for the churning of the oceans. Also jewels being churned out of the oceans and the churning of my manipura chakra  and of course the obvious serpent movements and the serpent God Vasuki being used as a rope for the churning...
So I googled it as one does these days - and I saw some writings confirming some of my parallels. Would love what you and all familiar with the story think...
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kami
USA
921 Posts |
Posted - Oct 15 2013 : 2:31:11 PM
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Hi Mathurs,
What a beautiful parallel you draw to my favorite story from the Bhagavatam! Thank you.
Pretty much every circumstance in life can be explained by this story IMHO, and I've written about it many times, including here:
"One of the most beloved stories of the Bhagavatam is that of the churning of the ocean: Krishna agrees to "help" the devas when they approach him after being defeated by the asuras. He asks the two parties to churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality. The party that gets this could then permanently defeat the other. When the day comes, Krishna picks the ocean, gets the mountain ready, gets the great snake king Vasuki to agree to act as the rope, becomes the turtle that stabilizes the mountain, and "grows his arms" sitting atop the mountain, doing the actual churning on both sides. He then takes the form of everything that arises from the churning, including Dhanvantari bearing the nectar and Mohini, the bewitching damsel that tricks the asuras by distributing all of the nectar to the devas (except one asura, but that's another story). He brings about the war between them and has the devas win. He is of course, the essence of the devas, the asuras and everything else..
The whole time, the devas and asuras think they are the ones that did it all.
He is Brahman and the Lila, all of the Lila - the actors, the plot, the outcome.. And even the actors thinking they are in control. All is Him."
But from the standpoint of spirtitual practices and their symbolism, you're right on! Adding a bit to your beautiful description..
It is said that the Atman (soul) hovers around the mother after conception, waiting to enter the fetus. Around month 6 is when it "enters" the fetus, forming the subtle chakras and nadis "top down". The sahasrara is the first chakra to be formed, where there is still only Brahman, with no individual "I". It is when the anahata is formed that the "I-ness" begins (ahamkara), that gets denser and stronger as the manipura and swadishtana are formed. Finally, that soul completes formation of the muladhara (complete individualization), becoming dormant as the latent Kundalini.
[Below is my interpretation of amritha-mathanam (churning the ocean for amrita)].
Thus, the sahasrara = devas ruling over the kingdom of "heaven" (Oneness), muladhara = asuras ruling over "hell" (Separation). And the aspirant realizing that the devas have lost the battle, calls to his/her inner guru (Vishnu/Krishna) to help regain the "kingdom of heaven". And so the churning of the ocean of consciousness begins with the devas (sahasrara) and asuras (muladhara) at the two ends of the great snake (sushumna) as Kundalini rises.
The manipura is the "middle ground", the anchor of consciousness (the navel is where the fetus is joined with its mother through the umbilical cord; it is said that during astral travel, what keeps us in the body is a cord attached to the navel). The manipura (city of gems) is thus churned by the devas and asuras (opposing tendencies that are responsible for all inner conflict).
The ego represents Mount Meru, what is used to churn the ocean. This is held by the tortoise underneath, the inward drawn mind.
All sorts of "gems" (siddhis/latent abilities) and insights are churned up in the process, for example, kalpavriksha, the wish-fulfilling tree (ability to make things happen), ucchaishravas, the celestial horse (ability to bilocate or move at high speeds) and Goddess Lakshmi (abundance, prosperity). Now, in the Bhagavatam story, Vishnu distributes these gems among the devas and asuras - exactly what happens on the spiritual path; we can (and do) get carried away with the gems at times.. Importantly, even deep insights and knowledge must be given away to attain the kingdom of heaven.
Along with the gems comes the vicious poison spewed by the great snake, halahala - all the subconscious stuff that is brought into conscious awareness with spiritual practices. This poison is consumed by Shiva - when we let go of the churned up stuff in samyama, it is Shiva (inner silence) that consumes it.
As the churning continues, Dhanavantari finally makes an appearance with Amrita, the nectar of immortality - not merely the amrita that trickles down from the crown from the nectar cycle, but the nectar that gives back the devas their kingdom of heaven (Oneness).
All through this, it is the inner guru/light (Vishnu) that is responsible for the spiritual aspiration, for planting the idea of churning the great ocean, for "doing" the churning, for stabilizing the ocean as a tortoise (withdrawing the mind within itself like a tortoise, as explained in the Bhagavad Gita, 2:58), bringing up the gems and deluding both parties (as Mohini) and finally coming up with amrita as Dhanavantari.
It was never the individual seeker "doing" anything; he/she was under the illusion of Maya, believing he/she was the doer.
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Edited by - kami on Oct 16 2013 06:23:17 AM |
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pkj
USA
158 Posts |
Posted - Oct 15 2013 : 4:58:02 PM
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Kami, Very very enlightening to read the commentry. It felt really good going through the story.
Thanks very much
PKJ. |
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kami
USA
921 Posts |
Posted - Oct 16 2013 : 06:23:57 AM
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| Thank you pkj. |
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mathurs
United Kingdom
197 Posts |
Posted - Oct 16 2013 : 07:43:24 AM
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For now ! Thank you for making time to write the above post. Will read in detail and comment if I have any or will let it go into silence....
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mathurs
United Kingdom
197 Posts |
Posted - Oct 17 2013 : 08:16:46 AM
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Kami Thank You again! The interpretation is fantastic. All of it but particularly: This poison is consumed by Shiva - when we let go of the churned up stuff in samyama, it is Shiva (inner silence) that consumes it.
and this was like a nice surprise for me:
All through this, it is the inner guru/light (Vishnu) that is responsible for the spiritual aspiration, for planting the idea of churning the great ocean, for "doing" the churning, for stabilizing the ocean as a tortoise (withdrawing the mind within itself like a tortoise, as explained in the Bhagavad Gita, 2:58).
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Anima
484 Posts |
Posted - Oct 27 2013 : 4:32:36 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by kami
Hi Mathurs,
What a beautiful parallel you draw to my favorite story from the Bhagavatam! Thank you.
Pretty much every circumstance in life can be explained by this story IMHO, and I've written about it many times, including here:
"One of the most beloved stories of the Bhagavatam is that of the churning of the ocean: Krishna agrees to "help" the devas when they approach him after being defeated by the asuras. He asks the two parties to churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality. The party that gets this could then permanently defeat the other. When the day comes, Krishna picks the ocean, gets the mountain ready, gets the great snake king Vasuki to agree to act as the rope, becomes the turtle that stabilizes the mountain, and "grows his arms" sitting atop the mountain, doing the actual churning on both sides. He then takes the form of everything that arises from the churning, including Dhanvantari bearing the nectar and Mohini, the bewitching damsel that tricks the asuras by distributing all of the nectar to the devas (except one asura, but that's another story). He brings about the war between them and has the devas win. He is of course, the essence of the devas, the asuras and everything else..
The whole time, the devas and asuras think they are the ones that did it all.
He is Brahman and the Lila, all of the Lila - the actors, the plot, the outcome.. And even the actors thinking they are in control. All is Him."
But from the standpoint of spirtitual practices and their symbolism, you're right on! Adding a bit to your beautiful description..
It is said that the Atman (soul) hovers around the mother after conception, waiting to enter the fetus. Around month 6 is when it "enters" the fetus, forming the subtle chakras and nadis "top down". The sahasrara is the first chakra to be formed, where there is still only Brahman, with no individual "I". It is when the anahata is formed that the "I-ness" begins (ahamkara), that gets denser and stronger as the manipura and swadishtana are formed. Finally, that soul completes formation of the muladhara (complete individualization), becoming dormant as the latent Kundalini.
[Below is my interpretation of amritha-mathanam (churning the ocean for amrita)].
Thus, the sahasrara = devas ruling over the kingdom of "heaven" (Oneness), muladhara = asuras ruling over "hell" (Separation). And the aspirant realizing that the devas have lost the battle, calls to his/her inner guru (Vishnu/Krishna) to help regain the "kingdom of heaven". And so the churning of the ocean of consciousness begins with the devas (sahasrara) and asuras (muladhara) at the two ends of the great snake (sushumna) as Kundalini rises.
The manipura is the "middle ground", the anchor of consciousness (the navel is where the fetus is joined with its mother through the umbilical cord; it is said that during astral travel, what keeps us in the body is a cord attached to the navel). The manipura (city of gems) is thus churned by the devas and asuras (opposing tendencies that are responsible for all inner conflict).
The ego represents Mount Meru, what is used to churn the ocean. This is held by the tortoise underneath, the inward drawn mind.
All sorts of "gems" (siddhis/latent abilities) and insights are churned up in the process, for example, kalpavriksha, the wish-fulfilling tree (ability to make things happen), ucchaishravas, the celestial horse (ability to bilocate or move at high speeds) and Goddess Lakshmi (abundance, prosperity). Now, in the Bhagavatam story, Vishnu distributes these gems among the devas and asuras - exactly what happens on the spiritual path; we can (and do) get carried away with the gems at times.. Importantly, even deep insights and knowledge must be given away to attain the kingdom of heaven.
Along with the gems comes the vicious poison spewed by the great snake, halahala - all the subconscious stuff that is brought into conscious awareness with spiritual practices. This poison is consumed by Shiva - when we let go of the churned up stuff in samyama, it is Shiva (inner silence) that consumes it.
As the churning continues, Dhanavantari finally makes an appearance with Amrita, the nectar of immortality - not merely the amrita that trickles down from the crown from the nectar cycle, but the nectar that gives back the devas their kingdom of heaven (Oneness).
All through this, it is the inner guru/light (Vishnu) that is responsible for the spiritual aspiration, for planting the idea of churning the great ocean, for "doing" the churning, for stabilizing the ocean as a tortoise (withdrawing the mind within itself like a tortoise, as explained in the Bhagavad Gita, 2:58), bringing up the gems and deluding both parties (as Mohini) and finally coming up with amrita as Dhanavantari.
It was never the individual seeker "doing" anything; he/she was under the illusion of Maya, believing he/she was the doer.
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Navarathri - sublime time of inquiry and surrender
