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The Meaning Of Durga
October 9, 2016 by admin

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This article by Dr David Frawley was first published by Swarajya.

No country in the world demonstrates such enduring reverence for the Great Mother Goddess, as does
India. The Goddess is celebrated in every form, aspect and quality, through music, art, ritual, mantra and
meditation. She is honoured in women, the Earth, nature and the transcendent beyond all expression. Her
worship is full of splendour, delight, mystery and wonder.

The Goddess is Shakti, meaning power, the resort of all transformative energy and cataclysmic force that
mere human logic cannot comprehend. She possesses martial and regal forms that all must bow down
before in awe. During the Navaratri Indias famous autumn festival of the Goddess she is worshipped as
Durga, the supreme Shakti, holding all majesty, wisdom and grace.

Durga is the Mother of the universe from who comes forth the creation, sustenance and dissolution of all
beings and all worlds. She is Chit-Shakti, the power of consciousness, out of which the cosmos coalesces as
matter, life and mind.

India as a sublime culture and profound civilisation is the gift of Ma Durga. Durga is the Goddess who
personifies India as a whole and its incredible vitality, from her presence in village shrines to her
representation of the highest yogic spirituality. Bharat mata is Durga with her imperious lion. She was the
image behind Indias independence movement, which worked through her inspiration, such as Sri
Aurobindo so eloquently lauded.

Durgas protective force

Durga means she who takes us beyond all difficulties. She is the divine energy that protects the soul from
duality, adversity and opposition, known and unknown. As Durga-Tara she delivers us across the turbulent
ocean of ignorance to the radiant other shore beyond all darkness. She carries us over all dangers like a
ship across the sea, as Vedic chants poetically reverberate.

Durga arises from agni, our inner flame of immortal life, awakening our motivation to reach the highest
bliss. She is born from the power of tapas, the wholehearted concentration of our aspiration to immutable
truth. She is the spiritual fire on Earth who removes all impurities for the soul to shine. Her lion indicates
her ruling solar force that illumines all existence.

Durga grants us the transformative knowledge that takes us to a higher level of existence beyond all that
we have previously thought possible. She is the Yoga Shakti dwelling in the heart that opens us up to the
clear light of self-realisation, the revelation of our true divine nature that stands above all time, space and
karma. The Kundalini Shakti arises and works within us through Durgas force.

Durgas sword
Durgas sword is the source of all dharmic ruling power at spiritual and mundane levels. She commands the
celestial army and its earthly counterparts struggling for truth and justice in society. Shivaji Maharaj of the
Marathas and Guru Gobind Singh of the Sikhs, among many other great leaders of India, received her
sword and ruled by its support. Arjuna went to Durga for her blessings prior to consulting Sri Krishna on
the battlefield. Sri Krishna affirmed to him Durgas message of fearless resolve in the face of adharma.

Yet we cannot in our mere human nature wield Durgas sword. We must draw out the Shiva consciousness
within us to do so. We must surrender to her and let her direct us, taking the role of her devotees. All
weapons, whether material or spiritual, should first be consecrated to Ma Durga, so that we use them
wisely, without any pride or pity in their application.

As Mahishasura Mardini, Durga slays Mahishasura, the personification of ignorance, darkness and tamas.
Vijaya Dashami is her glorious tenth day of victory, after displaying her nine magnificent forms, ending with
Siddhidatri, her highest blessing aspect who grants all boons and accomplishments. This nine day dynamic
display of Shakti takes us to a new vision and unlimited horizon on the culminating tenth day.

Ma Durga and the future of humanity

Ma Durga as the divine mother can guide humanity into a new era of peace and happiness. But she does so
by first eliminating the powers of darkness, not by compromising with them, much less by consoling or
appeasing them. Ma Kali arises as her martial aspect, dissolving entrenched old karmas, compulsions and
attachments that bind us to adharma, to unfold a new creation.

Today we must bring back the power of Durga to deal with our mounting global crisis. This requires that
India revive its dharmic and yogic traditions that honour the Goddess as our inner guide. Awakening the
nations deeper yoga shakti can restore India to its ancient throne as Vishvaguru, the guru of nations with
its Rishi vision leading humanity on the path to higher consciousness.

Honouring Durga means empowering women in the social and political world and in the inner realm of
yoga and spirituality. It necessitates protecting the Earth, not just through wise ecological practices but also
through uncovering the spiritual destiny hidden in our magical planet that we have long forgotten.

Awakening Durgas shakti within us requires that we fearlessly and relentlessly challenge the forces of
darkness, including our own weakness of will that allows us to tolerate or excuse negativity and corruption.
It requires that we awaken the Arjuna in each one of us to achieve our highest dharma.

India can develop a new yoga Shakti to help usher in a new yuga, a new world age for all humanity. Its yogic
and meditation teachings are already bringing major changes into the world mind. Yet there remains a
tyrannical Mahishasura of greed, violence, arrogance and fanaticism that must be removed to allow the
higher forces to fully manifest.

Ma Durga as the eternal Shakti and Supreme Mother descends to remove the shadows of falsehood on
our struggling earthly realm, so that our planet can become full of light and bliss for all of its myriad
creatures!

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