Navaratri 2013 begins on 16th October! Navaratri is celebrated every year during the months of September and October to commemorate the victory of good over evil. The festival Navaratri meaning ‘nine nights’ commences from the 1st day of the bright fortnight of the lunar month of Ashwin, and is then celebrated for 9 nights.
The 3 dominant Goddesses worshipped during Navaratri are Goddess Durga, Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati, who share 3 nights each respectively out of the 9 nights.
Navaratri 2013 or the Nine Nights of the Goddess is an important time period this year wherein the Supreme Goddess in the forms of Ma Durga the Warrior Goddess, Ma Lakshmi the Goddess of Wealth and Ma Saraswati the Goddess of Wisdom, jointly destroy the demons.
The 9 nights of Navaratri 2013 are dedicated to the 3 aspects of the Goddess in their fierce forms with multiple hands and multiple psychic weapons. The 9 nights of Fierce fighting produce an accumulative effect as each Goddess takes her turn to fight the battle for different aspects of ultimate perfection inside and out. The battle ends in victory as the demons are killed on the 9th night.
Navaratri 2013 that starts from October 16th is the time to cleanse our own evil characteristics like hatred, jealousy, ignorance, greed, violence, etc inside and outside of us. It is important to understand that each of the negative human qualities exists in the form of demons, externally in the invisible sphere.
Goddess Durga is a form of Parvati and She is depicted riding on a tiger, wielding weapons and killing demons. Ma Durga fighting demons is not relevant in the human realm however in the invisible realm demons are evil forces and energies. There are stories and details of her graphic battles from times immemorial and Goddess Durga fights against it for us. On Navaratri, Goddess Durga:
Lakshmi is the Goddess of Wealth. There are many who consider her to be the most important of all the goddesses as she represents wealth. Ma Lakshmi or Goddess Lakshmi destroys the demon of scarcity and grant never-ending riches.
In Sanskrit ‘Sara’ means essence and ‘Va’ means the self therefore meaning knowledge of the true self which is all knowing and all powerful. Ma Saraswati is most widely known as the Goddess of Education. She is also the Goddess of Wisdom, learning, intelligence, skills, the creative arts and She wants to inspire others to excel and stimulate creativity in the world. On Navaratri, Goddess Saraswati:
The 9 Nights of Goddess, Navaratri generates and accumulates the power required to destroy demons, who are very powerful. The 9th Night is the peak of this energy build up and the demons are destroyed. On the 10 Moon, this victory is consolidated and celebrated as Vijaya Dasami.