Pearls from Navratri 2023

Copyright Sri Sri Publications Trust, 2023

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Sri Sri Publications Trust

The Art of Living International Centre,
21st km, Kanakapura Road, Udayapura,
Bangalore – 560082.
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Like every year, this year too, the Art of Living Ashram,
Bangalore hosted the glorious Navratri celebrations. We
are happy to share with you the text from Devi Gita that
was shared in the evening satsangs. Devi Gita is a part
of Srimad Devi Bhagavatam, in which the Devi Herself
reveals Her Nature.
 DAY 1
During the unending conflict between gods and demons,
the devatas and the asuras, once the devatas engaged
themselves in the worship of the Devi for many years.

One day, suddenly, they observed a Divine Light appear

in front of them. That Light was bright like a million suns,
had the coolness of a million moons and the glow of a
million thunderbolts. That Light did not emanate from any
direction, It was all pervasive.

That Divine Radiance was neither feminine, nor masculine

nor both. Having received this vision of the Compassionate
Divine Mother, the devatas bowed down to Her. With their
hearts full of devotion and eyes full of tears, they began
worshiping the Devi.

To Her, The Great Goddess, the Consort of Shiva, the

Cosmic Nature Herself, the Most Pleasant, we bow down.

To Her, Whose complexion is like fire, Who glitters with

the glow of knowledge, Who bestows the fruit of all action
and Who helps transcend this world, we take refuge in That
Devi Durga.

The language of the spoken word, which has a divine origin,

is used by all the creatures in the world. She is that language
of the spoken word.
She fulfills all wishes, provides food and strength and grants
bliss. We offer our prayers to Her and request Her to come
close.

To Her Whose form is like the dark night, Who is worshiped

universally, the Power present in this creation in various
forms, we bow in reverence.

We know the Great Goddess of Abundance and meditate

on the All-Powerful Devi. May She guide us in knowledge
and meditation.

To Her, Who takes on the vast, infinite form, Who takes on

the subtle form and Who is without form, we bow to Her.

Knowing Her, this world seems like an illusion. She is the

One, All-Inclusive Consciousness, the Unobstructed Bliss,
the Essence of all Knowledge.

She is beyond the Panchakosha, the witness to the states of

waking, sleeping, dreaming, She is one’s own Self. We bow
to That Compassionate Mother Divine.

The devatas thus worshiped the Devi.

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 DAY 2
The devatas shared their troubles with the Devi. She assured
them that She will be born as the daughter of the King of
Mountains, Himalaya. On hearing this, King Himalaya was
overwhelmed and requested the Devi to describe Her Nature.

Devi said, O king of mountains! In the beginning, only I

existed; there was nothing else. At that time, My Nature was
pure consciousness, just the awareness that ‘I am’.

That State of Mine cannot be interpreted, cannot be

explained like ‘This is it’ as other things can be. It cannot
be described with an example; there is nothing similar to It
and It is devoid of any distortion.

It has an inherent power known as Maya, which is neither

real, nor unreal nor a mixture of both; it is entirely something
else.

Heat always accompanies fire, the Sun is always with rays of

light and the moon with moonlight. In the same way, this
Maya is always with Me.

Just like all activity ceases in the state of sleep, at the time
of cosmic dissolution, all creatures, all their karmas along
with time itself merge into the Devi; all their distinctions
vanish.
Being related to Pure Consciousness, I am also known as
the Instrumental Cause of this creation, which arises from
Me and merges into Me.

Consciousness is not visible and what is visible is

unconscious or inert. Consciousness is the Light; It is not
illuminated by anything. It is what illuminates everything.

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 DAY 3
The three states of waking, sleeping and dreaming, take
turns to change. Even in the three states, the scenery keeps
changing but the Presence, the awareness of ‘I am’ never
changes. This is consciousness; this is knowledge.

If this Presence also changes, then the witness to that

change would be called consciousness. Thus, the wise ones
declare this Presence eternal. This Presence is the Source of
the Highest Love and Her Nature is bliss.

It is not that earlier, I was not. I WAS…. in the form of love

in everyone’s soul or self.

Everything else is unreal and thus, I am not related to it.

There is no inertia or unconsciousness found in knowledge
nor is it possible.

Knowledge is not a tendency of consciousness, Knowledge

IS consciousness. Therefore, the nature of consciousness is
knowledge or awareness and happiness always.

It is the Truth, It is complete, It is unattached and free from

the trappings of duality.

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 DAY 4
The Devi continued.

The Supreme Self becomes endowed with an intention,

an impulse to act along with previous impressions due to
Its own Maya and the fruit of those earlier actions - all of
which result in Its will to bring this creation forth. O king
of the mountains! This process of creation is beyond logic.

This State of Existence is known as the Cause of all causes

in all the scriptures. Ego and other subtle elements emanate
from It. Its body is Sat-Chit-Anand, Truth-Consciousness-
Bliss.

It is said to be the witness to all activity, the seat of the

Powers of Intention, Knowledge and Action, the meaning
of the Shakti Mantra; It is the Primordial Element.

The State in which this creation is present in seed form is

the causal body of the Creator. From this State, emanate the
subtle forms of the 5 elements, which is the subtle body of
the Creator.

The elements then turn from their subtle form to their

physical forms, which is the gross body of the Creator. Then,
a subtle faculty develops that becomes the mind, intellect,
memory and ego. Subsequently, the 5 senses of perception
are formed, then 5 senses of action, the 5 subtle airs and so
on.
O king, Prakriti or Nature is said to be of two kinds.

i) In Her form where pure Sattva dominates, She is known

as Maya. As Maya, She protects those dependent on Her.

ii) The form of Nature where the gunas are mixed is known
as Avidya, ignorance.

The reflection of the Creator in Maya is said to be the Divine,

who is all-knowing and benevolent towards all beings.

The reflection of the Creator in Avidya is said to be the jiva,

individual being.

A veil of ignorance covers the bliss in the jiva and, due to

this, it goes through one misery after another.

The nature of the jiva is individuality and the nature of the

Divine is universality.

With My Power, the Divine goes on creating different

worlds endowed with various pleasures to shower His grace
on all beings. O King!

Just as a snake is imagined in a rope, the Divine is imagined

in Me.

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 DAY 5
The sun always illuminates all objects, whether they are
superior or inferior but never gets tainted by them. In the
same way, I am ever untainted.

A pot appears to have created a division between the space

inside and the space outside but this distinction is only in
appearance; in reality, space remains undivided. Likewise,
the distinction between jiva, the individual being and the
Divine is only in appearance due to Maya.

Avidya, ignorance is the only reason that individual beings

appear to have a separate existence from one another,
that objects appear to have different qualities. In reality,
everything is soaked in Me.

I am the Divine. I am the One Soul that runs through the

universe like a thread. I am the Infinite. I am the Creator,
Sustainer and Destroyer along with Their Accompanying
Powers. I am the sun, the moon and the stars. The birds and
animals are My forms.

I am the lowly outcaste, the thief and the hunter. The one
who is cruel and the one who is generous are both Me. I am
the feminine, the masculine and the neutral gender.

Anything anywhere that is seen or heard, whether inside or

outside is pervaded by Me. This entire existence is based on
My Existence.

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 DAY 6
On King Himalaya’s request, the Devi showed the devatas
Her Vast, Infinite Form.
The sky is Her Forehead, the sun and the moon are Her
Eyes, the directions are Her Ears and knowledge is Her
Voice. The air is Her Life Force. This world is Her Heart
and the earth Her Thigh. The netherworld is Her navel and
the zodiac is Her Chest. Fire is Her Mouth.
Death is Her Jaw and Maya is Her Laughter. Dawn and dusk
are Her Clothes. The mountains are Her Bones; the rivers
Her Nerves and the Clouds are Her Hair.
The devatas trembled while beholding Her magnificent
form, with a thousand heads, thousands of eyes and
thousands of feet, radiant like millions of suns and bright
like millions of thunderbolts. They somehow gathered their
composure and began worshiping the Great Goddess.
I bow to the Goddess of the universe, the One Whose soul
is Pranava or Om. You are established where all streams
of knowledge end. You are the embodiment of the Shakti
mantra Hrim.
From Whom fire originates as do the sun and the moon,
the Origin of the celestial beings, birds, animals and human
beings, I bow to the One Who is in all souls. The oceans,
the mountains, the rivers, herbs and tastes flow from You.
I bow down.
The Devi then told them, This Form of Mine cannot be seen
through knowledge, yoga, charity, penance, yagya or any
other means. This vision is bestowed only by My Grace.

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 DAY 7
The Devi continued - O king! Listen to the knowledge of
the Supreme Self now.

It is none other than the Divine who becomes the jiva, the
individual being, and adopts qualities like doership etc. The
jiva then begins doing many righteous and unrighteous
deeds. According to those deeds, it attains different births
and experiences pain and pleasure accordingly.

Like a clock in constant motion, the jiva does not find rest.
Ignorance is the cause of all this and its destruction makes
life successful. What destroys ignorance is knowledge.

Tranquility of the mind, restraint over the senses,

forbearance, dispassion and the onset of sattva - effort is
required until these are attained; after that, effort has no
role.

Then, one should remain centered and take refuge under a

self-realised Guru. With sincere devotion and diligence, one
should then listen to knowledge everyday and contemplate
over the meaning of the great principal sentences like Tat-
tvam-asi, ‘You are That’ because they indicate the oneness
of the jiva and the Divine.

When this oneness is realised, one becomes fearless and

attains to My Nature.

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 DAY 8
The Devi continued -

After having a vision, an experience of the Divine, all the

knots in one’s heart are opened, all doubts vanish and all the
karmas are cleared.

The all-pervasive Supreme Self resides in a golden sheath

of bliss. It is radiant and illuminates the illuminated. It is
known only by the self-realised ones.

It is nectarine and is spread in all directions - in the front

and back, to the right and left, above and below. This whole
world is that Supreme Self.

The one who realises this is the best among human beings
and is completely fulfilled. Such a person remains ever
happy, does not grieve and has no expectations of any kind.

Fear is of the other. When there is no duality, there is no

other and thus, no fear.

The one who has realised the Self is not separate from Me
and I am never separated from him. O king of mountains!
Know for sure, I am he and he is I. Wherever he might be,
he is united with Me.

I do not reside in holy places, neither in Shiva’s nor Vishnu’s

abode. I only reside in the heart of My self-realised devotee.
A worship offered to my devotee gives millions of times the
fruit of worship offered to Me.
One whose mind has merged in the Self, his entire lineage is
purified, his mother is entirely blessed and the whole earth
becomes auspicious due to him.

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Sri Sri Publications Trust
The Art of Living International Centre,
21st km, Kanakapura Road, Udayapura,
Bangalore – 560082.
Email: info@srisripublications.com
Website: www.artofliving.store
Toll Free: 1800-258-8888