- Festival of Nights

Date: 2013-10-09 Author: Parameshwaran

Hare Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

We see that Navratri festival is being celebrated across various parts of and also all over the world in glorification of Mother . verse 5.44 explains who Durga is and what she does

sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni vibharti durgā icchānurūpam api yasya ca ceṣṭate sā govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

The external potency who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit potency, is worshiped by all people as Durga, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in accordance with whose will Durga conducts herself.

To accomplish the task of sṛṣṭi-creation, sthithi-maintenance and pralaya-destruction, Krishna engages eka śakti - one potency. That is called Durga and she is the agency for creation, maintenance and destruction of universe. And she is chāya-iva – shadow potency. But does Durga do the mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ, sthithi and pralaya independently? No. sa ceṣṭate – she conducts herself as per icchānurūpam of govindam ādi puruṣaṁ ie:- She conducts herself in accordance with the will of the primeval Lord Govinda - Krishna. If Krishna wishes the universe should be destroyed, then she will destroy. If Krishna says "No", then she will wait for His instructions. So Krishna is the boss. Again and again Brahmaji is reiterating that throughout Brahma Samhita.

Actually Krishna owns the spiritual potency which is classified as different energies. Spiritual potency is Krishna's kāya ie:- Radharani, whereas material energy is that spiritual potency's chāya, Durga . Everyone understands that kāya (substance) is important than chāya (shadow). Reason being shadow cannot exist independently. It is only extension or reflection of the substance. But the whole world is after chāya's . In fact before coming to Krishna consciousness most of us didn't even knew that there is a festival called as Radhastami. We knew (Bhadrakali or Durga). So knowing very well that substance is more important than shadow, and that worshiping substance automatically includes worship of shadow, devotees of Krishna give more importance to worshiping Radharani. This is also supported by verse 9.13 where Krishna says - mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ - the mahātmas take shelter of daivim prakrti – divine nature. Such mahatmas are engaged in - bhajanty ananya manaso - undeviated devotional service because - jnātva bhutādim avyayam - they know Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is the original and inexhaustible.

Even though one is convinced of Krishna's authority, he may still be inclined to worship Durga, fearing that he is committing some sin or some problem may come if one does not do this . One need not fear because Krishna clearly says in the famous Bhagavad Gita verse 18.66 (sarva dharmān parityajya) mā śucaḥ – 'Do not fear.' " Surrender only to me. Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear." So one need not fear of not worshiping Durga. In fact we have the famous episode of Jada Bharat Maharaj who was an exalted devotee of Lord Krishna but was taken by a gang of robbers to be offered to Bhadra . Even though the robbers were Kali devotees and were about to behead Jada Bharat Maharaj to please Kali, still Kali Mata was not pleased. On the contrary she became so angry at the robbers for attempting to kill a devotee of the Supreme Lord, that along with her assistants, she killed the robbers, thus saving Jada Bharat Maharaj.

Hence we can use this Navaratri function as an opportunity to spread the glories of the Holy name, Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam and enlighten the public about the glories of devotional service through such beautiful episodes from the scriptures. There are always sincere souls in all these pujas, so we can invite them to our satsangas in order to understand the real spiritual knowledge.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Parameshwaran Kuala Lumpur.