Deepest Adorations to the Divinity in all of you!

Every year for nine days Navaratri is being celebrated in an outstanding way.
It is a Religious Festival, which carries great divine Powers. Devotees worship Maa Shakti and pray to Her for a better Life, Protection, for good Health, long and happy Life.

The beauty in the Indian Culture is, that in spite of so many changes, the colourful religious Festivals remain.

History says, that Lord Ram countered Ravana and Maa Durga killed the powerful demon Mahishasura. There is a great meaning in it if we understand this in the right perspective. We have to be aware, that there is a Rama and a Ravana in ourselves. Good and bad are in us. The big question is to what of both of them we are putting more weight. If goodness is dominating in us we make not only our own life better, but also our surrounding. With goodness we are benefitting ourselves. If we turn ourselves to the bad side, misery, unhappiness, sickness etc. will follow. It is the greatest Gift, that the Lord has given us the Freedom to decide ourselves, in which direction we want to go.

Navaratri is the most wonderful time to renew ourselves and to pray to the Lord to guide us from darkness to the Light.

The first three days of Navaratri help to overcome "Tamas". Tamas means darkness, laziness, unholiness.

The next three days help to eliminate "Rajas", that means, worldliness, desire, greed, agitation, etc.

And during the final third of Navaratri purity, light, spiritualism, radiance, boundless joy and happiness are established.

There is no doubt that the results of such a religious celebration are enormous, but the main thing is to keep these wonderful efforts continuous. It is not advisable to get these great blessings of Navaratri and to enter already the next day into a sinful life.

Every Navaratri I can see more and more progress in respect of Temple Activities, Decoration and so on. The devotion of our Priests is remarkable and is manifesting in their daily routine work, too.

The joyful dances of Kumari Somashekhari and her students marked the final part of Navaratri. There are years of intense hard work to fulfil the criteria of becoming a real Indian Classical Dancer. Indian Classical Dance is a prayer, a worship to the Lotus Feet of the Divinity. It needs devotion, dedication and purity of the highest degree. Soma is born to realise the supreme Truth through Indian Classical Dance. Her devotion to Gurudev Paramahamsa Omkarananda has no parallel.

OM