Durga Puja, the ritual worship of the mother goddess, is one of the greatest auspicious religious festivals of Hindus which is celebrated as a harbinger of spiritual victory of an unfathomable power of goddess Durga over the ominous mighty power of Mahishasura, the evil existence. Being the embodiment of the totality of the powers of the gods, she is evidently incomprehensible to apprehend.
In Sanskrit, "Durga" means "a fort" or "a place which is difficult to overrun," an appropriate metaphor for symbolizing her protective and militant nature. In other words, 'Durga' means the invincible, one who eliminates all the misfortunes and sufferings of the human beings and so,She is sometimes regarded as Durgatinashini which literally means "the one who eliminates sufferings.
Durga Puja is also called Navaratri festival; it means nine nights event. After the nine days and nine nights long battle, goddess Durga got her victory over the evil sprite, Mahishasura and so, tenth day is known as Vijayadashami which symbolizes triumph of truth over untruth, good over evil, light over darkness and triumph of knowledge over ignorance. Goddess Durga is worshiped in various forms. She is the emblem of magnanimity and fierceness. She is Uma, "light"; Gauri, "yellow or brilliant"; Parvati, "the mountaineer"; and Jagatmata, "the-mother-of-the-world" in her milder guise. The dreadful emanations are Durga, "the inaccessible"; Kali, "the black"; Chandi, "the fierce"; and Bhairavi, "the terrible."
Being the greatest religious festival of the Hindus, people of different age and varied interest passionately wait for the arrival of DurgaPuja celebration and so, it conveys an awesome mingling sensation for many people. To make the day very special,people wear different colorful dresses; remain busy to shopping and women exchange the gifts, sweets, coconuts and many other things as the spirit of goodwill.
While the rituals entail ten days of fast, feast and worship, the last four days- Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami are celebrated with much gaiety and grandeur. In fact, goddess Durga is the personification of endless purity; strength of purpose and every good virtue resides in human being as the essence divinity.
On this occasion, people like to get-together; they like to forget their all obstacles and they desire to utilize every single moment with amusement. Even, some people have a sense of nostalgia; someone indulge in fun making activities such as singing, dancing and visiting different puja pandals. Restaurants and food stalls stay open and cater to visitors throughout the night. In fact, everything wears a festive look with its artistic beauty.
According to the Hindu mythology, Sita was abducted by Ravan, an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva and Brahma who had blessed with special boon that made it difficult for Rama to kill him and so, her husband Ram decided to invoke goddess Durga and offered 108 blue lotuses as a symbol of great devotion to seek Her blessings to defeat the 'evil king'.
It is believed that goddess Durga steals one of the lotuses to authenticate Ram's devotion and then, Ram decided to offer his own eye as a substitute. Durga was then satisfied observing his selfless sacrifice and granted him the power to kill the Ravan. After that, Ram had started his worship on the sixth day of Ashwin's Shukla-paksha that is known as Sashthi when Durga Puja literally begins.
Another mythology suggests that the demon named Mahishasura had captured the heaven and evicting all the gods and thus, he pictured his reign of terror over the Universe. Even he attacked the abode of the gods and conquered the heavens. Being disturbed and harassed by the asurs, the gods approached the supreme trinity of Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma with the plea to defeat the demon.
But, Lord Brahma had granted Mahishasura a boon that no man or deity would be able to kill him which makes him to attain the immortality and so, Mahishasura started wreaking havoc in all the three realms. Hence, a spiritual effort can only mitigate this problem; it is nothing but the creation of a woman who possesses the ultimate power to defeat Mahishasura.
It is also believed that pure energy blazed forth from Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva - the trinity forming the 'Shakti' or energy of Godhood, all concentrating at one point that took the form of goddess Durga. At last, Mahishasura was killed by the goddess Durga who preserves the moral order and righteousness of this earth destroying all evil forces like arrogance, jealousy, prejudice, hatred, anger, greed and selfishness.
Mother Durga is depicted with three eyes that signify sun, moon and fire; besides, the past, present and future which means she is the ruler of the world. She was gifted ten weapons in her ten hands by the gods. Each weapon has its own symbolic meaning such as:
The Conch Shell: It emanates the root sound of the Universe "Om", the mystic word which indicates her holding on to God in the form of sound. Sudarshan Chakra: It symbolizes righteousness or dharma which is used to destroy the evil existence.
The Lotus: It represents eternity, purity, divinity, fertility and ever-renewing youth. The Sword: It symbolizes knowledge which has the sharpness of a sword to eradicate worldly vices. The Bow and Arrow: The bow epitomizes potential energy and the arrow signifies the kinetic energy. The Trident: It has three sharp edges and humans are composed of three qualities namely Tamas (inactivity and lethargic tendency), Rajas (hyperactivity and desires) and Sattva (positivity and purity). Deva uses these to alleviate physical, mental, and spiritual suffering.
Mace: It is the symbol of self-sovereignty, authority of governance and the power to rule. Thunderbolt: It signifies firmness in one's convictions. It inspires the devotees to fight against the all odds and also to snatch the victory defeating all challenges and impediments.
Spear: This weapon helps to destroy the evil forces and grants auspiciousness. Abhaya Mudra: The Goddess' one hand is always in mode of blessing her devotees. It signifies that the Goddess would always keep her devotees free from fear.
Being the essence of salvation and sacrifice, Durga is the mother of bounty and wealth. She is the personification of purity, beauty and knowledge, truth and self-realization.But, do we really assume the true significance of Durga Puja?Truly, we cannot yet perceive its spiritual insight; we cannot still assume its real value in our life philosophy and we are not yet free from lusty and greedy worldly charms.
Someone opines that Durga Puja is nothing but mirth and merriments and waste of time as it is more luxurious and carousel than its religious significance. In fact, the core meaning of Durga puja celebration is beyond of our thinking and attitude.
If we ponder over our society, we have still the existence of some ill-minded corrupted people like Mahishasura, the evil spirit. Injustice and barbarism are on the triumph mood; moral ethics and idealism are beyond our perfection and so, exploitations and dominating attitudes have become the satanic weapons of the era. Here, recent Rohingya genocide in Myanmar is a glaring example of waning humanity.
In fact, we need to be humane in the light of religious ethics and values; we need to kill our lower passion of soul, we have to illuminate our darkest mind , we ought to nourish our spiritual insight and then, the moral approach of Durga Puja celebration in human life will be signified.
Rana Dutta is Assistant Deputy Secretary, BKMEA. He can be reached at: ranaduttabkmea@gmail.com
