Experience Your Inner Powers This Navratri

Navratri (October 3rd to October 11th 2024) rituals speak volumes on how we can invoke our divinity. Let’s look at the spiritual meaning of Navratri and experience our inner powers:

(1) Shiv and Shakti means God and Soul. Devi is a kumari (unmarried), but called Ma (mother) and shown with weapons to kill the demons. When I the Soul (Shakti) connects to God (Shiv), I emerge – Purity (kumari), Love (mother) and Power (weapons to kill the demons). 

(2) Shakti is with 8 arms which symbolizes the 8 powers each soul has – power to tolerate, power to accommodate, power to face, power to discriminate, power to judge, power to withdraw, power to pack up and power to cooperate. 

(3) Shakti holds a weapon in the 8 hands and conquers the demons. The weapons represent tools of wisdom to finish the demons of weaknesses and vices.

(4) Upvaas or fasting is up-vaas meaning to stay above, in the remembrance of God. Fasting means to pledge that we will not use vices in any thoughts, words and actions. So it is the fasting of anger, criticism, ego and our other wrong habits.

(5) Satvik Food and Purity – Everything we see, read, listen, speak, eat and drink should be high in energy which increases the purity of the soul and body.

(6) Jagran – Darkness symbolizes absence of the light of values and ignorance of what is right and wrong. Jagran means awakening to a new way of thinking and living.

(7) Raas or Garba dance – A form of dance where each person has to coordinate their steps in harmony with the next person. If any step is missed, it can cause injury. This symbolizes our relationships, where we adjust according to the other’s sanskars, called Sanskaron ki Raas. If we adjust and tolerate, relationships in life will be a happy dance, else they can turn into conflicts.