Sahaja Yoga Meditation Australia

Shri Durga, the Devi

In Sahaja Yoga, Navaratri is the most important puja [celebration]. Though we can say in modern Sahaja Yoga, Sahasrara Day is, because that’s how you started getting your Realisation. But if you go to the whole historical events of evolution you’ll find Navaratri is the one which has brought you to Sahasrara. Without the help of the Devi [Goddess] at different stages of your ascent, you could not have been in a position to receive your Realisation. So all the steps that you took in the past are today worshipped and are used for thanking the Devi for what She did to bring you down. So it’s like a thanksgiving. Without Her work nothing could have happened.

So when we read about the Devi, about Her incarnations, how She came on this earth to save Her bhaktas [devotees], people who are trying to ascend, to cross this Bhavasagara [Void], how She worked hard, how She fought the devils, how She fought, She killed the demons single-handed, She took upon Herself the responsibility of making the people cross the Bhavasagara. Guru gave you the strength, taught dharma [right conduct], but She’s the one who brought you out. Even those who were dharmic could not do it because of the demonic pressure. She’s the one who fought single-handed with Her powers of destruction. In Her love for you She fought. She brought you to this level. And then She took a milder form of incarnation. Even during the time of all the gurus She took the form of, as you know, Janaki, was the daughter of Janaka. Then Fatima was the daughter of Mohammed Sahib and Nanaki was the sister of Nanaka. In those forms, these Powers sustained and nourished the Guru Tattwa and later on or sometimes simultaneously they incarnated in milder forms to help human beings to rise.

So today is the day of thanksgiving. As Guru Puja is a day of thanksgiving to your Guru, the One who has counselled you, the One who has told you about the truth, the One who has taught you the truth and has given you Realisation. And the Devi Puja is a thanksgiving where single-handed, just like a very loving mother, under Her sari She’s protected you, fought for you, fought with every enemy that is around, every sort of problems that existed and ultimately brought into Sahasrara level and then gave you Realisation. It’s a real thanksgiving to the Mother. So we can say Navaratri’s like a Mother’s Day where you give thanksgiving to Her, which was just relentless, continuous working for Her children.

Shri Mataji, 1985