Asking the Clergy: How do you celebrate Navaratri?

Navaratri, a nine-day Hindu festival celebrated in India as well as by believers on Long Island, begins on Sunday. This week’s commenters discuss the observance of the festival, which is celebrated with prayer, fasting, scripture readings and dance.

NARINDER KAPOOR

Member, Board of directors, Multi-Faith Forum of Long Island

The festival of Navaratri is associated with a battle that took place between the Goddess Durga and the demon Mahishasura. It celebrates the victory of Good over Evil. The evils are present in us in various forms: lust, anger, hatred, jealousy, gluttony, intolerance, untruth, unfathomable desires and ignorance. Navaratri’s nine days offer an opportunity for all of us to vanquish the evil hidden inside us.

Navaratri, dedicated to Goddess Durga, is the most important festival in Hinduism. It features extremely popular and beloved religious festivities with celebrations including worship of the nine forms of the goddess Durga.

The festivities include a recital of the legend, reenactment of the story and chanting of special mantras from Hindu scriptures. A strict vegetarian dietary discipline is observed, and fasting and prayers are also an important part of Navaratri. People avoid onion, garlic and rice during this sacred time.

Navaratri is also the time when warriors worship their weapons and children worship their books. According to my tradition, Navaratri can occur twice or four times in a year. Of these, the Sharada Navaratri in September or October is the most celebrated.

MAHESH SHASTRI JI

Priest, Hindu Temple of Long Island, Bethpage

Navaratri is celebrated twice a year, in March or April and September or October. This celebration includes various forms of prayer, including reading from ancient scriptures, fasting and offering religious services. Navaratries, or nine days of dedication, are considered auspicious days to please the divine Mother of this entire creation, who in different forms plays a vital role in every individual’s life. She protects good and destroys bad in order to improve and beautify this world.

“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” means “the world is one family” in Sanskrit. We have no other planet to go to. Durga Devi or the Divine Mother of this creation, who herself is Mother Earth, has created us and everything for us. If we become good children, she will bless us with a better future. Mother Earth wants this world to be made a better place to live. Therefore it is the responsibility of every child of this Mother to be humble or down to earth and learn about her. She is known by 1,000 names, such as Maha Saraswati (goddess of wisdom), Maha Laxmi (goddess of preservation) and Maha Kali (goddess of change).

ASHOK VYAS

Founder, Creative Hindu Alliance, Bellerose

Our external appearance owes its form to the internal activity of thoughts, feelings and inspirations. Thus all festivals in the Hindu tradition combine our outward celebrations with our spiritual essence. My guru told me that Navaratri is significant for two reasons: the word, “nava,” representing the numerical number nine, denotes fullness, and it also means new, connoting change. Resonating with newness and remaining attuned to the same core is an art that becomes intensely highlighted for devotees during Navaratri. Navaratri inspires orientation with the omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient aspects of creation. Hindu tradition refers to the acts of creation, sustenance and dissolution as “leela,” or play. This playfulness is expressed during Navaratri by dancers collectively moving in a circle around a pot suggestive of the womb, signifying our relationship with the center of creation. The nine days of Navaratri are also observed by meditating, reading scripture, chanting mantras and fasting. These activities help us to attain purity of mind, which encourages kind and compassionate actions. Devotion and dedication to Mother Goddess on Navaratri rejuvenates life and reveals its fullness.