Maa Durga is a revered goddess for those who follow Sanatan Dharma. Hindus worship her all over the world in the form of Mother Shakti.

Generally, we have seen Maa Durga with ten hands with some weapons and ride over Lion, who displays his infinite powers. It is also concluded that she fights against demonic power who are trying to cause damages to peace, prosperity, and religion. Durga Puja, also known as Durgotsava or Shardotsava, is an annual Hindu festival celebrated in South Asia in which Goddess Durga is worshipped. 

Who is Maa Durga? 

According to Shastra, Maa Durga is an expansion of Mother Parvati, the wife of Lord Shiva. She takes the form of Navdurga and does all the upbringing of this world. Lord Sri Krishna also tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita, Chapter 9, text 10

mayadhyaksena prakrtih
suyate sa-caracara
hetunanena kaunteya
jagad viparivartate

This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kunti, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. Therefore, by its rule, this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.

Durga Devi is the presiding deity of this material world. It is also believed that the person who is getting diverted from the spiritual world of Lord Krishna and going against the rules, they sent to this material world of Goddess Durga. The comparison of this material world is made with Durg, a type of Fort. This Fort is the correctional home of all the rebellious souls, where they spend their lives protecting Durga Devi, facing the Tritaap (Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika and Adhidaivika).

The trident in the hand of Goddess Durga is a symbol of reminding all the rebels who have come into this material world of Lord through Tritaap (Adhyatmika, Adhibhautika and Adhidaivika). Maa Durga is worshipped to get rid of these tritapas.

When a person comes to this material world, they have to face many sufferings like birth, death, old age, diseases, adhyatmika, adhibhautika and adhidaivika miseries. Goddess Durga takes care of all these things.

Therefore, worshipping Goddess Durga will help them get rid of these sufferings. However, if you want a permanent solution, you have to come out of this material world. 

To get rid of the cycle of birth and death, people worship Goddess Durga. As a result, such living beings get an opportunity to do devotion to the Lord. As a result, they get rid of Mahamaya, the potency of the Lord, and come under the protection of his own Shakti, Yogamaya. 

Srimad Bhagavatam also mentioned that the Gopis worshipped Mother Katyayani to get Lord Krishna as their husband. It is also mentioned in Brahma Samhita, Chapter 5, Text 44-

srishti-sthiti-pralaya- sadhana-shaktir eka
chayeva yasya bhuvanani vibharti durga
icchanurupam api yasya che cheshtate sa
govindam adi-purusham tam aham bhajami

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

The Lord presides over this material world objectively, and those who do not accept it are sent to this world of duality. Therefore, by coming in contact with a pure devotee, if the living entity understands that this material world is not his real home, he becomes free from here and goes to his original home in Vaikuntha or Goloka Vrindavana and attains bliss forever.

So on this Durga Puja, let us pray to Maa Durga to give us enough strength to get us out of this material world and go back home, back to Godhead. 

Narsingha means one who is half lion and half man incarnation of Shri Hari. Lord Narsinghdeva is also known as Vighna- Vinashak, as he protects his devotees from all sorts of obstacles. So, this is the special incarnation of the Lord to protect his devotees and their devotion.

Lord Ganesha, also known as Vighna- Harta, that blessing of being Vighna-Harta was given by Lord Narsinghdeva himself. Well, His form appears to be very fearful. But this form is the most loving, merciful & beautiful for his devotees.

Mother Sarasvati resides in the lotus mouth of Lord Narsinghdeva, and Mother Lakshami rests on his chest. This unique incarnation was to protect his beloved devotee, Prahlad, from his cruel father, Hiranyakashipu. Hiranyakashipu was a demon who won all three worlds and was always jealous of Lord Vishnu. But as his son, Prahlad was the devotee of Lord Vishnu. So because of False Ego & Jealousy, Hiranykashipu always tries to put Prahlad in miserable and dangerous situations to kill him. But in Inspite of all tortures, Prahlad always remains engaged in singing the names and glories of Lord Hari. This constant chanting of the Lord’s name always saved Prahlad from disasters.

By getting frustrated with so many plans to kill Prahlad, One-day Hiranyakashipu asked him, Who is Protecting you all the time? Is Your Lord present everywhere & in everything? Prahlad replied, Yes, He is omnipresent. Hiranyakashipu becomes angry and asks, is he also present in this Pillar? Again Prahlad replied, yes, He is.

Hiranyakashipu, ghastly, hammered that Pillar with his weapon. As a result, Pillar falls in breaks into pieces. Out of this Pillar, The most ferocious form of Lord Narsinghdeva appeared in front of Hiranyakashipu.
 

By considering this opponent as same as others. 

Hiranyakashipu just started fighting with him. But this time, He was proven wrong. So Lord Narsinghdeva killed him by tearing his stomach with his three highly sharp nails. He killed him so that every word of Lord Brahma’s boon was also fulfilled that either man or Animal would not kill Hiranyakashipu, Neither in the daytime nor at night, Neither inside nor outside the house, Neither on land nor in the sky, e.t.c.

Even after killing Hiranyakashipu, Lord Narsinghdeva was roaring, and everyone was fearful. No one was willing to go near him. But then Prahlad just went near him, withholding a garland for him.
 

After seeing him, Narsinghdeva becomes quiet and loves Prahlad by allowing him to sit on his lap. So, this incarnation is simply the most merciful incarnation of the Lord, which occurred merely to protect his devotee, Prahlad, as He killed Hiranyakashipu. May he similarly kills all demons like Hiranyakashipu, which resides within us, in the form of Lust, anger, greed etc.

Sripad Madhavacharya sings in the glory of Lord Narsinghdeva that our Human Heart is full of Anarthas, which are natural obstacles on the path of Bhakti. Even Vajra of Lord Indra is not capable of removing these anarthas. The only one capable of doing so is Lord Narsinghdeva and his shape nails. Only He can save us from these obstacles of devotional life.

So, Let’s celebrate this auspicious occasion of Narsingha Chaturdashi and Pray unto his Lotus feet always to protect us & our devotion.

Hare Krishna

Fasting Till Dusk

(Only Ekadashi Prasadam tobe taken)

The literal meaning of Sita is a plough. Mithila state was drought-ridden. When King Janaka was ploughing the field, he found one baby girl. He took care of her and raised her as his daughter. Because the mother of the entire world, Janaki, appeared from the earth when Janaka was ploughing the field, he named her ‘Sita’.

Mother Sita has 12 transcendental names –

मैथिली जानकीः सीता वैदेही जनकात्मजा | कृपापियूषजलधिः प्रियार्हा रामवल्लभा ||
सूनायाना सुता विर्यशुल्काअयोनी रसोद्भवा | द्वादशैतानि नमामि वाञ्छितार्थप्रदानि हि ||
(श्री जानकी – चरितामृतम)

1. मैथिली
2. जानकी
3. सीता
4. वैदेही
5. जनकात्मजा
6. कृपापियूषजलधि
7. प्रियार्हा
8. रामवल्लभा
9. सूनयनासुता
10. वीर्यशुल्का
11. अयोनि
12. रसोद्भवा

Mother Sita could effortlessly pick up Shiv Ji’s bow in her childhood, placed on an eight-wheeled cart that could only be picked up by 500 people together. The condition of her marriage was to put a string on the same bow. No one among big-big demigods, Gandharvas, demons, etc., could even move the bow an inch. 

Lord Ramchandra not only put the string on the bow in a moment but also very sportingly broke the bow from the middle. Thus mother Sita was married to Lord Ramchandra.

After marriage, when Lord Ramchandra was exiled to live in the forest for 14 years, mother Sita considered it auspicious to go with the Lord. Sitaji, who had lived in comforts since childhood, accepted the harsh and challenging life of the forest graciously and, without a second thought, accompanied Lord Ramchandra Ji.

Ravana abducted Her from the forest, and several female demons tortured Her in Lanka. Even after that, She forgave them. She also had to undergo agnipariksha. She constantly faced challenges one after another. Mother Sita is the embodiment of sacrifice and dedication. The character of mother Sita portrays us as an ideal wife, a pious, dutiful woman with a forgiving, compassionate, and humble heart.  

Mother Sita has presented an example of a character that is exemplary for all of us. There was no reason for Her to grieve, but She certainly did it to educate us.

And the biggest lesson that Mother Sita Ji teaches us is this, just as the deer of gold attracted Her, She had to turn away from God. In the same way, we are also attracted to the golden deer of material desires. Thus, we leave God’s company and come into this world and struggle. We then have to pay the price for it throughout our lives, just as mother Sita had to pay in Lanka. So, as long as the living entities obey God’s will and His instructions, the living entities would remain happy, but when we separate from God and go against His will, then there would be the same problems as mother Sita had to face Lanka. 

We all have this human form of life, and if we don’t take advantage of this life, If we don’t serve God, then what to say? And for such people, scripture says that they are committing suicide. So that’s why we all should take shelter from the Lord’s internal potency on Sita Navami and make this human form of life victorious. 

Hare Krishna, 

Vasant Panchami is a spring season festival as per the English calendar, celebrated throughout India. Therefore, worshipping mother Saraswati, the goddess of education, creativity, and music, is of great significance. It is also quoted that on the day of Vasant Panchami, Brahma created the goddess Saraswati. That’s why worshipping mother Saraswati on this particular day is unique.  

As per Vedic literature, Lord Krishna blessed goddess Saraswati that on Vasant Panchami, she would be worshipped everywhere. Even today, we can see that people offer their obeisance and worship goddess Saraswati on every Vasant Panchami. In Rigveda, mother Saraswati has been glorified as below –

“Prano Devi Saraswathi, Vajhebhir vajinavathi, Dhinam avithri avathu”

It means – Supreme consciousness in the form of goddess Saraswati protects our intelligence, mind, and psychology. Whatever character and intellect we got are because of mother Saraswati who has unique opulence in terms of prosperity and form. Here supreme consciousness means the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Shri Krishna, the original cause of all causes. 

In Bhagavad Gita, Lord says – 

mattah parataram nanyat kincid asti dhananjaya 
mayi sarvam idam protam sutre mani-gana iva

“O conqueror of wealth [Arjuna], there is no Truth superior to Me. Everything rests upon Me, as pearls are strung on a thread.”

The supreme personality of Godhead has given different services to His devotees to govern the material world. For example, Brahma Ji is responsible for the creation, Lord Shiva for annihilation, goddess Laxmi for wealth, and goddess Durga for protecting this material world compared to a prison. Similarly, goddess Saraswati is given a department of knowledge, creativity, and music which she is governing very skillfully. Goddess Saraswati bestows these qualities upon those who worship her and please her with their rituals. However, goddess Saraswati never forgets that the supreme personality of Godhead is her master and all demigods-demigoddess are being engaged in His service. This can be illustrated by the below example – 

As per Ramayana, when Kumbhakaran, brother of Ravana, performed severe austerities to please Brahma, all demigods-demigoddesses became afraid of him. Thus they approached goddess Saraswati and requested her to sit on the tongue of Kumbhakaran when he asked for benedictions from Brahma. Goddess Saraswati assured the demigods and agreed to sit on the tongue of Kumbhakaran. Kumbhakaran wanted Indraasan, the kingdom of Indra, as a benediction, but under the influence of goddess Saraswati, he ended up asking for Nindraasan, oversleeping. In that way, goddess Saraswati assisted demigods to protect the Lord’s creation. 

One more illustration can be seen from Sripad Ramanujacharya’s life. Sripad Ramanujacharya’s spiritual master instructed him to write a Vaishnav-style commentary on Srila Vyasdeva’s Vedanta Sutra. He went to Kashmir-based Sharda peetha to get the original text. When residents of Sharda peetha denied him the original texts, goddess Saraswati personally came and provided him with the original texts. When Sripad Ramanujacharya finished the commentary, mother Saraswati became very much pleased. She presented to Sripad Ramanujacharya her personal deity of `Hayagriva`, a plenary expansion of Lord Shri Hari, and awarded him the title “scholar”.

We can see one more incident where goddess Saraswati showed her allegiance and devotion to the supreme personality of Godhead, Shri Krishna. This particular example is from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s life who Himself is non-different from Krishna. Keshav Kashmiri, a great scholar and a great devotee of mother Saraswati, came to Navdwip for debate based on scriptures. He had already visited all the learning centers of India and was unconquered in all of them. 

Once Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who was popularly known as Nimai pandit at that time was on the bank of river Ganga. There He met Keshav Kashmiri and asked him to create a verse to praise the river Ganga. Keshav Kashmiri, being a learned scholar, created 100 verses in a few minutes. Keshav proudly spoke all 100 verses to Nimai. Nimai not only learned all the 100 verses instantly but also quoted various grammatical errors in the 64th verse. Nimai also quoted errors in a few more verses. Keshav Kashmiri was amazed and stunned at that. 

Keshav Kashmiri was puzzled at how a small boy of Sanskrit grammar school was finding errors in his compositions. At last, goddess Saraswati came in his dreams, as he was a great devotee of goddess Saraswati. She ordered Keshav Kashmiri to take shelter at the lotus feet of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. She also informed him that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is no other than Lord Shri Krishna. In this way, Keshav Kashmiri became a devotee of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. 

All the above incidences show that goddess Saraswati is a unique devotee of Lord Shri Krishna. She is using her post and designation to assist devotees of the Lord. Let us pray to mother Saraswati on this auspicious occasion of Vasant Panchami that we all dedicatedly devote ourselves to the selfless service of the Lord and his devotees; that we should develop a service attitude and make this human form of life worthy.

गीता जयंती (Gita Jayanti) वैदिक संस्कृति के पवित्र ग्रंथ श्रीमद भगवद-गीता की उत्पत्ति का प्रतीक है। वैदिक शास्त्रों के अनुसार, श्रीमद भगवद-गीता की उत्पत्ति हरियाणा के कुरुक्षेत्र में मार्गशीर्ष माह में शुक्ल पक्ष की एकादशी को हुई थी। महाभारत के युद्ध के दौरान, भगवान श्रीकृष्ण ने भगवद गीता का वर्णन करके अर्जुन को सही दिशा में निर्देशित किया जो कि अपार ज्ञान का स्रोत है। कुरुक्षेत्र के युद्ध में भगवान श्रीकृष्ण ने अर्जुन को कर्म और धर्म का महत्व समझाया। भगवद गीता में अठारह अध्याय और 700 श्लोक हैं। जो भी भक्त इस दिन व्रत का पालन करते है एवं भगवद गीता का पाठ करते हैं, उन्हें सर्वोच्च भगवान श्रीकृष्ण के चरणों की प्राप्ति होती है। 

गीता कथा

श्रीमद भगवद-गीता का आरम्भ महाभारत में कुरुक्षेत्र में युद्ध से पहले होता है। सुलह के कई प्रयास विफल होने के बाद, युद्ध अवश्यंभावी था। अपने भक्त एवं घनिष्ठ मित्र अर्जुन के लिए शुद्ध करुणा एवं सच्चे प्रेम से, भगवान श्रीकृष्ण ने युद्ध के दौरान उनका सारथी बनने का निर्णय लिया। अंततः युद्ध का दिन आ ही गया, और सेनाएं युद्ध के मैदान में आमने-सामने आ गईं। जैसे ही युद्ध शुरू होने वाला था, अर्जुन ने भगवान श्रीकृष्ण से रथ को युद्ध के मैदान के बीच में, सेनाओं के बीच, विरोधी ताकतों को और अधिक निकट से देखने के लिए चलाने के लिए कहा।

अपने पितामह, भीष्म, जिन्होंने उन्हें बचपन से ही बड़े प्यार से पाला था, और उनके शिक्षक, द्रोणाचार्य, जिन्होंने उन्हें सबसे बड़ा धनुर्धर बनने के लिए प्रशिक्षित किया था, को देखकर अर्जुन का हृदय पिघल गया। उनका शरीर कांपने लगा एवं मन भ्रमित हो गया। वह क्षत्रिय (योद्धा) के रूप में अपना कर्तव्य पालन करने में असमर्थ हो गए। वह इस विचार से कमजोर और बीमार अनुभव कर रहे थे कि उन्हें इस युद्ध में अपने परिजनों, मित्रों एवं सम्मानित व्यक्तियों का वध करना होगा। निराश होकर उन्होंने श्रीकृष्ण को अपनी दुविधा के बारे में अवगत कराया और उनसे परामर्श माँगा। तब भगवान श्रीकृष्ण ने अर्जुन को भगवद गीता के रूप में वैदिक ज्ञान का सार प्रदान किया और उन्हें जीवन के अंतिम लक्ष्य के बारे में बताया। 

श्रीमद भगवद-गीता माहात्म्य

भगवद-गीता का शाब्दिक अर्थ है “सर्वोच्च भगवान का गीत”। यह संसार में सबसे व्यापक रूप से ज्ञात वैदिक साहित्य है।  

निम्नलिखित श्लोकों से हम श्रीमद भगवद गीता का महत्व जान सकते हैं:

गीता शास्त्रं इदं पुण्यम्, यह पथे प्रयातः पूमण
विश्नोह पदम अवपनोती, भय–शोकदि–वर्जितः।

 जो एक नियमित मन के साथ, भक्ति के साथ इस भगवद-गीता शास्त्र का पाठ करता है, जो सभी गुणों का दाता है, वह वैकुंठ जैसे पवित्र निवास को प्राप्त करेगा, भगवान विष्णु का निवास, जो भय एवं विलाप पर आधारित सांसारिक गुणों से सदैव मुक्त होता है। (गीता माहात्म्य श्लोक 1)

गीता माहात्म्य में आगे वर्णित है,

सर्वोपनिषदो गावो, दोग्धा गोपाल–नंदना:
पार्थो वत्स सु–धीर भोक्ता, दुग्धाम गीतामृतं महतो

सभी उपनिषद गाय की तरह हैं, और गाय का दूध देने वाले भगवान श्रीकृष्ण हैं, जो नंद के पुत्र हैं। अर्जुन बछड़ा है, गीता का सुंदर अमृत दूध है, और उत्तम आस्तिक बुद्धि के भाग्यशाली भक्त उस दूध को पीने वाले और भोक्ता हैं। (गीता माहात्म्य श्लोक 6)

गीता जयंती (Gita Jayanti) के अवसर पर प्रति वर्ष, भगवान श्रीकृष्ण के भक्त इकट्ठा होते हैं और भगवद गीता के 700 श्लोकों का पाठ करते हैं। इस अवसर पर इस्कॉन के संस्थापक आचार्य परम पूज्य श्रील प्रभुपाद द्वारा संकलित भगवद गीता- यथारूप की प्रतियों का वितरण किया जाता हैं। गीता पुस्तक मैराथन का आयोजन होता है और भक्तजन समाज में  भगवद गीता वितरित करने में भाग लेते हैं।