Gita Introduction

SYMBOLISM OF NAVARATRI, DUSSEHRA, AND DIWALI

This explanation of the symbolism was provided by Shri Gautam Jain, of the Vedanta Institute. Gautamji provides classes and education in the United states for those who are desirous of learning the knowledge of the Scriptures - the Gita, the Vedanta and other books written by the Sages of ancient India. Gautamji is a disciple of Swami Parthasarthy who has spent his entire life in the study of the ancient scriptures. Swamiji has written extensively,  has translated many of the works of our forefathers, and is the Founder of the Vedanta Institute.  

INTRODUCTION: The reason the Sages in the old days had made the Indian way of life full of rituals, ceremonies and festivals is to serve as a constant reminder of your mission and purpose in life.  The mission of a human being, why one is here in this world is to grow oneself,  to develop  right up to the state of perfection, which is called Self-realization or God-realization. Many religions see the soul, the spirit of Life within each living body, as the  Self or God.   This  means  having to shift one's focus to the Self, Athman, God (whatever name we choose) But the problem is that the  human mind is so full of powerful desires for the 'outside' world that it is very difficult  to just do it. Self-realised people like Gautam Buddha spent many years away from society and temptations in order to direct their mind away inwards.  It is impractical for the common man  and thousands of years ago, in their wisdom, the Sages understood that. So instead of asking human beings to shift their focus to God, they planted a God wherever the mind drifted. They planned regular festivals and rituals to remind us of our purpose in life. We are thus  reminded of our mission  in and through everything we do. For example, if we are constantly looking for success, Ganesh; if we are constantly looking for wealth, Lakshmi Goddess of wealth. If a  farmer wishes for rains, he was advised to focus on Indra, God of rain,  and so on. Each one of these 'Gods', as we will see, personified and symbolised Self-realisation. So, in and through your pursuits in the world, you are reminded of your purpose and the same exact thing with the rituals, so one is a constant reminder and one is a periodic celebration, which is in fact meant to remind you of your goal in life. 

Today, in  all  religions people just perform  mechanical rituals, without understanding why, or the symbolism . The  rituals have also become superstitious and  selfish, because everybody believes by doing this rituals, by doing this act or that act, they will gain something. Religion has become a negotiation or bargaining to gain what one does not have, or to not lose what one does have.  These are the two motivations of  every human being. Either they crave for what they do not have or they are fearful of losing what they have. All their actions and prayers seem to be a bargaining for those two motivations.So when you go to God, to pray,  you believe one to these two or both will be satisfied. It is a selfish transaction. 

Our capitalistic society has become even more like that because this attitude is not only condoned, it is encouraged. Bargaining through prayer for  wealth and material objects, for fame, power, love,family and everything else. In  the Satyanarayan pooja that we all perform, again everything is  symbolic. the person who is spoken about is described as "sadhu nam ka ek vani".Why such a statement? It means,symbolically, that we are all truly  a sadhu internally, being the pure soul,  but externally we are a "vani", a merchant, trader, bargainer. Meaning that we  just basically  beg or bargain in our so-called prayers, saying ' if I do pooja, please let my daughter get married', that kind of thing. 

In actuality, we should be devoted to the Powers-that-be, the Universal source energy, or God, who made everything so perfect in this Universe. Instead today’s devotion is with disregard to what we do have, but a request for what we don't have. We have to get past this notion that God is  some wise person that is watching your every move from the sky and that if you do good, He is going to reward you and if you do bad, He is going to punish you. Therefore,  you go and bargain with Him, you bring Him one dozen coconuts or a dozen bananas. 

Your real self is called Atman in Sanskrit and the Soul or God in English.  The Self is what we refer to as the 'I '.   I is the Atman, the Consciousness, or Soul or the Life-force which actually enlivens your material layers (your the body, mind and intellect) to function. Without that Atman, the body, mind and intellect are 'dead'.  The goal in life is to understand that Atman and to reach it, because that is the state of ultimate peace and bliss. What are we all  looking for in life? We are looking for happiness. But we are searching externally, and the ultimate goal is internal. Happiness that is received through external objects is only temporary and transient. After we achieve what it is we have been desiring, we are still unhappy - either because we want more of it, or because we are afraid of now losing it, or soon we become jaded by the very same object that we craved for. Whereas other Self-realized souls from the past have always said that achieving the Atman is permanent happiness and bliss. What prevents us from reaching the inner Self is the desires from the Body, through its  5 senses of perception, and the demands from the body's 5 organs of action ( 10 altogether ), the negative emotions of the mind, namely anger, envy, jealousy, arrogance etc, and the lack of positive deeds such as generosity, selflessness, devotion, etc. All because we are not even aware and do not have the knowledge.

Symbolism of  Navaratri and Dassera: Navaratri refers to the nine nights ( Nav=nine, ratri=nights) preceding Dassera. (Dussera =tenth day ) On the 10th day, an effigy of Ravana is burnt,symbolising that Ram killed Ravan and we burnt the effigy. , so what does it mean? Burning the demon  means removing the desires and it represents Self realization, that is why after the demon is burnt, there is a celebration, which is Dassera. The way to get to the point where you can remove the desires is symbolically represented in the nine days of Navaratri, the nine nights.  What stands between you and Atman is 'desire'. Desires are the barrier between you and God.  These desires, these barriers, have been personified, not only in Hinduism, but in every religion as the devil standing between man and God. In Christianity, it is Satan, in Islam it is Shaitan,  in Buddhism it is _____, and in Hinduism, it is Rakshasa's and Asura's. These are all the demons, the devil standing between you and God. And those are desires. Again, it is all symbolic. The demon is symbolized by the rakshas, Ravana. Ravana is a 10-headed monster, the demon, the devil. Ravana's 10 heads represents the five organs of  perception and the five organs of action from which stem many of our desires. 

In Navratri, traditionally, the first three nights are for the worship of Durga, the next three nights are for worship of Laxmi, and the third set of three nights are for Saraswati. Then  the 10th day is Dassera. What does this means?  

First three nights: Durga represents the destruction, seated on a tiger she is depicted as the Goddess who destroys  demons and evil. Again, evil means desire.  Too many negative tendencies like anger, greed, jealousy, hatred prevents Self-realization.Through understanding, through education, one has to remove one's negative tendencies. The first three days symbolizes working hard to get rid of those negative tendencies. Praying to Durga does not mean that she will remove it for you.  It means it is a reminder you have to put in the effort to remove the negative emotions. 

Second three nights: The Goddess Laxmi is always associated with prosperity and goodness. This means removing the negative must be accompanied simultaneously  by cultivation of the positive. You have to cultivate positive values of life like unselfish action, learning to serve others, affection, etc. 

Third three nights: Only after you remove the negative drives, and you cultivate the positive drives,  are you qualified to gain this highest  knowledge of the Atman, which is represented by Saraswati. Saraswati knowledge represents the Vedas, which is the highest knowledge known to humanity and with this knowledge, you remove the last pieces of ego and desire and you get to the Self, which is represented by the 10th day of Dusshera. By that time, you have destroyed all you current desires, so this is what the 10th day is supposed to be.

Divali:  Divali is the festival of lights. It is obviously celebrated as the main festival all over India, but  unfortunately nobody understands the meaning. The celebration is to commemorate  the killing of Narakasura ( Naraka means hell, asura means demon) by  Krishna and that is the occasion for the celebration. Diwali is celebrated in the nighttime, and  night represents the life of ignorance and darkness in which we live.  Vedas say to develop our  intellect to control that night of ignorance. In the night of ignorance, the lighting of the diya, the oil lamp, represents the lighting of wisdom. What illumines this darkness of ignorance is the light of wisdom. Only through wisdom and the light of knowledge can this darkness be illumined. Even before self realization, life in this world will be lighted by having  a peaceful and blissful existence. That small little lighting of the lamp can light up your entire life, so that the whole night can be illumined.The  various fire crackers represents the battle and explosions caused by the ridding of ones vasanas, or one;s desires and evil ways.In the morning traditionally is when you wear new clothes, after a shower and  cleansing of the body. You then  wear new clothes. What this means is that after destroying the desires all through that night, after doing your spiritual study, reflection with the knowledge gained,  in the morning you have emerged victorious, you have removed the desires and you put on your new identity  of the Atman.You are no longer just the old  body. mind intellect, but you have become one with the Atman, the Soul, God. Once you put on the clothes, you go and distribute sweets to all your friends and family, which means a person of Self-realization not only has that sweetness and the bliss of the Atman within, but he shares this knowledge with the whole world and they rejoice. 

If you understand the symbolism and ritual behind these festivals, then it serves the purpose,  has an impact on us and  reminds us of our duties and why we are here However, often today, instead of reminding you of your mission and purpose, these festivals have become a reason for indulgence.