Navratri is one of the most auspicious and significant festivals celebrated in India. It is the most known Hindu festival, full of enthusiasm and religious fervor celebrated for a long span of 10 days or nine nights. Furthermore, similar to every other Indian festival, there lies a secret meaning and significance behind the celebration of the festival of Navratri. To unfold the special hidden meaning, we need to understand the scientific theory about the cosmic and divine energy present around and within us.
In a post called “7 Universal Laws”, a famous author and motivational speaker – Bob Proctor, has stated that You, Me, Phone, Laptop, Stars, Planets, and everything, i.e., the entire Universe, is made up of only three things. The post is published on the website of Proctor Gallagher Institute, founded by Bob Proctor. The three things he has stated in the post are energy, frequency, and vibration, which can be understood by the seven universal laws. Let’s see in his own words, the theory he has given :
“Everything in this Universe, including You, boils down to energy, frequencies, and vibrations. And within this Universe, there are seven major Universal Laws or Principles that explain how energy, frequency, and vibration works. These laws are:
- The law of attraction or vibration.
- The law of perpetual transmutation.
- The law of rhythm.
- The law of relativity.
- The law of gender.
- The law of cause and effect.
- The law of Polarity.”
⁃ Bob Proctor, 7 Universal Laws. Proctorgallaher.com
Out of these seven laws, the seventh law, i.e., The law of Polarity, interprets that the entire Universe is made of different kinds of dual-energy such as Male-Female, Day-Night, Positive-Negative energies. A similar kind of law is popular in China as Yin-Yang. And in our Indian Vedic Culture, this same law is known as ‘Dhvait Law’ or ‘Sankhya Darshan.’ In ‘Sankhya Darshan,’ it is stated that the whole world is created by the union of two kinds of energies which are Male & Nature or Shiva & Shakti. And by researching more on this, the Rishi Muni and the ancient connoisseurs have stated that Shiva does not get any creation capabilities without getting united with Shakti. The creation is only possible when Shakti is united with Shiva. Even Adi Shankaracharya Ji has stated the same thing in his written text named ‘Saundarya Lehri.’ The first verse of this text given is :
शिव: शक्त्या युक्तो यदि भवति शक्त: प्रभवितुं,
न चेदेवं देवो खलु कुशल: स्पन्दितुमपि।
– आदि शङ्कराचार्य, सौन्दर्य लहरि
“Shiva has no capability to do anything until Shakti gets united with Shiva.” – Adi Shankaracharya, Saundarya Lehri.
In our Scriptures, this Shakti has been mentioned in three forms :
- Willpower (इच्छाशक्ति)Knowledge Power (ज्ञानशक्ति)
- Action Power (क्रियाशक्ति)
And we know these powers as Mahakali, Maha Laxmi and Maha Saraswati. Mostly we all know that this creation is made of three qualities which are ‘Satva,’ ‘Rajas’ and ‘Tamas.’ If we multiply these three qualities with Satva quality of Mahakali, Rajas quality of Mahakali, and Tamas quality of Mahakali, we will get 3×3 which is equals to 9. And as stated by Rishi-Muni, we all know that the predominance of feminine power gets more powerful at night. That’s why we celebrate the nine nights as ‘Navratri.’ This is the secret of Navratri.
Besides this, there is another principle given as well. A scripture named ‘Jyotish Shastra’ has been given to know what time it is, the calculation of time, how the time is going and what we should do to get success. And the basic foundation used for that scripture was ‘Nakshatra.’ As we all know, there are 27 types of Nakshatras. And also, we know that there are three types of qualities. So, if we divide 27 by 3, we will get 9. That means the day when the Sun and the Moon are together is called the day of No Moon day (Amavasya). And the first nine nights after No Moon (Amavasya) is termed Navratri.
An important fact is in each of our Vedic months, the first nine nights after Amavasya is called Navratri. But through more research, it was found that there are four specific Navratri in a year which is the most powerful. Two Navratri are called ‘Gupt Navratri’ and two Navratri are called ‘Pragat Navratri’. Out of these four powerful Navratri, the first is Posh or Maha Gupt Navratri, the second is Chaitra Navratri or Vasant Navratri, and the third is Aashadh Gupt Navratri, and the fourth one is Sharda Navratri or Maha Navratri. It has been said that the Gupta Navratri gives more benefits to the Hermits (Sanyasi) or Tantrik. And in that also, after more research, it was found that we have four virtues, i.e., Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. All of these four virtues are related to the four powerful Navratri. But from these four Navratri, the Sharda Navratri, which comes in the month of Ashwin, is called Maha Navratri. It is called Maha Navratri because, in this Navratri, the tenth day after the nine nights is known as Vijaya Dashmi – the day capable of making us win over all evils.
Now, there are few religious stories mentioned in many of our scriptures. Such as stories related to Rama & Ravana or the death of Mahisasur. But if it would have been the only reason behind ‘Vijaya Dashmi,’ then this day should be called Ravana Dahan Day or Mahisasur Mardan Dashmi. But we named this day ‘Vijaya Dashami. It means that this Maha Navratri is a kind of preparation to make ourselves ready and to cognize our latent qualities so that we can surely conquer or win after the end of these nine nights. And thus, you can get anything you wish for, either it’s wealth, relationship, success, or good health.
The nine nights of Navratri are dedicated completely dedicated to the nine avatars of goddess Durga. If we give attention or observe all the nine avatars of goddess Durga, we will find that each name and feature of a goddess is related to nine different qualities. And more importantly, nine different mantras are given, one for each goddess. It doesn’t matter whether you know the meaning of the mantras or not. But by chanting the mantras on the mentioned specific night of its importance, we can awaken our latent qualities from our subconscious mind due to the union of frequency of our sound and the energy present in the sky. And for this particular reason, this Navratri is considered important and is known as ‘Maha Navratri.’
Now let’s go through the name, quality, and mantra of each of the nine goddesses.
- The goddess of the first night is ‘Shaila Putri.’ This goddess represents trust, commitment, faith, etc., qualities. And to make the idea of commitment more powerful and enhance the qualities, it is advisable to chant a mantra of this goddess – शैल पुत्री मन्त्र :
“ह्रीं शिवायै नम:।”
2. The goddess of the second night is ‘Brahmacharini.’ This goddess represents discipline, practice, and good conduct. To enhance these qualities, it is advisable to chant the mantra of this goddess – ब्रह्मचारिणी मन्त्र :
“ह्रीं श्री अम्बिकायै नम:।”
3. The goddess of the third is ‘Chandra Ghanta.’ This goddess represents alertness and readiness. And to attain such qualities, it is advisable to chant the mantra of this goddess – चन्द्र धन्टा मन्त्र :
“एम् श्रीं शक्त्यै नम:।”
4. The goddess of the fourth night is ‘Kushmanda.’ This goddess represents a growth attitude, positive attitude, and openness to possibilities. To gain such attributes, it is advisable to chant the mantra of this goddess – कुष्माण्डा मन्त्र :
“एम् ह्रीं देव्यै नम:।”
5. The goddess of the fifth night is ‘Skandmata.’ This goddess represents courage, compassion, and self-love. To enhance these qualities, one should chant the mantra of this goddess – स्कन्दमाता मन्त्र :
“ह्रीं क्लीं स्वमिन्यै नम:।”
6. The goddess of the sixth night is ‘Katyayani. This goddess represents sharing, nourishment, and relationship. And the mantra of this goddess, given for attaining such positive attributes is कात्यायनि मन्त्र :
“क्लीं श्री त्रिनेत्रायै नम:।”
7. The goddess of the seventh night is ‘Kalratri.’ This goddess represents time, rest, calmness, reflection, and introspection. And the mantra of this goddess is कालरात्रि मन्त्र :
“क्लीं एम् श्री कालिकायै नम:।”
8. The goddess of the eighth night is ‘Mahagauri.’ This goddess represents purity and knowledge. To gain purity, one should chant the given mantra of this goddess – महागौरी मन्त्र :
“श्री क्लीं ह्रीं वरदायै नम:।”
9. The goddess of the ninth night is ‘Siddhidatri.’ This goddess represents perfection, accomplishment, success, and continuous improvement. And the mantra of this goddess is सिद्धिदात्री मन्त्र :
“ह्रीं क्लीं एम् सिद्धये नम:।”
These are the nine qualities one can attain or enhance in their conscious self by awakening these latent qualities from their subconscious mind. May this year, the festival of Navratri, gave incremental growth in your life and blessed you with immense joy and prosperity.
Shubham Bhavatu
शुभम् भवतु।
Comments (3)
Arati Mote
October 6, 2021 at 4:51 amThank You, Very much for sharing always light of Knowledge with the Best coordination of Shashtra and Science.
Gratitude 🙏🙏🙏
Shubh Navratri, Sir
Sangita
October 7, 2021 at 4:39 pmToo good nd informative
Kindly share this type of info 🙏
Thank you so much
Bhimashankar waghmode
October 8, 2021 at 5:43 amSir, thankful too read these detailed information for discipline religious thought.