Significance of Devi Worship (1950)
By Sri Swami Sivananda
Immortal Self!
Peace be to you all! Prostrations to the Mother of the universe! The Navaratri celebrations and the worship of Devi have purified the whole atmosphere. Let me relate to you the importance and the significance of the worship of Devi. Devi, in Her aspects of the creative, the preservative and the destructive powers of the universe, is the Chidrupini Sakti, the eternal energy of God who is Satchidananda. Devi worship or Durga Puja is the adoration of the Divine Mother of all things, who bears the seed of the Universe in Her imperishable womb, the Mahad-Brahma. Devi is the consciousness-power or the Chaitanya Sakti, the glory of the supreme Sovereign of the universe made manifest to the manifested Jivas in the world of creation. As the creator, the preserver and the destroyer of the universe are but one God appearing in three forms, so the power which is inseparable from God appears in its threefold aspect. Even as a person here is known from his characters and powers, God is revealed in his Sakti which is the sum-total of all knowledge, will and action, visible and felt as well as invisible and beyond comprehension. The whole universe is the manifestation of the richness and the glory of its immortal creator who hails beyond the dust of the earth and the luminaries of heaven. He, the Divine Master, works everywhere with his twofold Sakti, Vidya and Avidya.
The Inner War
In the nine days’ Lila of the Supreme Goddess is illustrated the process of the overcoming of the dark and blind powers of the lower nature by the splendid and intelligent powers of the higher nature. This great war marks the life of both the objective and the subjective sides of the created universe. Vidya-Sakti always gains an upper hand and everywhere there is a transcendence of the limitations and imperfections characteristic of Jivahood and Asurahood by the divine Jnanasakti which pierces through every quarter and cranny in its works of vanquishing unconsciousness or ignorance together with its train of effects, desire and selfish action. In the Devi Mahatmya or the Saptasati, Devi is described as the mass of the effulgent energy of the gods, headed by Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. This Sakti is released when the Devas begin to complain to these higher powers. The sense energies presided over by intelligences, which are symbolised by the Devas together with their ruler Indra, the mind, when they are oppressed by the demoniacal forces of passion, anger, greed, malice, etc., of a destructive nature, begin to feel acutely their humiliation in the forms of the pains of life and resort to the highest nature for help. At once, the Divine principle within, reveals itself in its tremendous dignity of the power of consciousness and in its unifying absoluteness of truth and puts an end to the tempestuous life of animalism and all that is undivine or that which belongs to the realm of Avidya. Vijayadasami is the crowning day of the success of Vidyasakti over the negative nature of nescience.
Devi is Inseparable from Deva
Seekers of perfection in Truth! Even as you reach a destination only along a path leading to it and intimately related to it, the realisation of God is possible only through the several degrees of empirical reality which act as steps in the ladder of spiritual experience. The universe of the several planes of consciousness with their different values and grades of truth is the Sakti of God. In the Isavasya Upanishad you read that the worship of Asambhuti and Sambhuti leads to the gradual attainment of ultimate perfection. God cannot be conceived of as divorced from his Supreme power which appears as and governs this universe, even as you cannot have fire and heat distinguished. You know a substance through its quality. You realise God through his Sakti, who is Devi, Maha-Maya, Prakriti, the Progenitress of all.
The Method of Worship
You can worship Devi either through Vaidika or Tantrika methods. She is worshipped even without rituals, through Para Puja or pure meditation alone. Indeed, this is the highest kind of worship, where the Divine Mother is considered as his or her own, by the spiritual child. The grace of the Devi is the experience of the participation of the Higher Nature by the devotee on account of his conformity to the laws of manifestation in its orders of divine Saktis or the forms of the one Divine Sakti. No order of reality can be stepped into unless one fulfils the demands of the one lower to it. The Devi Upasaka, thus knowing that Devi is Parabrahma Sakti itself, not creating a barrier between God and His Sakti, even as one does not consider the sun and his luminosity as separate, reaches the state of Brahman, through the grace of Devi. It means the Sadhana Marga which an aspirant follows where he has to proceed from the earthly consciousness to the higher states step by step through the transcendence of the manifested orders of phenomenal experience, without unwisely thinking that he can jump over the extremely, elevated terrace independent of climbing along steps below.
Sacrifice of Lower Nature
In this way, Durga Puja has a great spiritual meaning. Therefore, worship the Mother of the Universe, the Sakti or Brahman, in Her Supreme Form or in Her manifested form according to your capacity. I need not stress over the obvious fact that you should strictly practise Ahimsa, Satyam and Brahmacharya, if you are to realise Devi, the glorious Divine Power of the Supreme Reality; I stress upon the moral side and the ethical side of Sadhana, because no valuable achievement is possible without it. Without it, high-flying idealisms will bring nothing; they will be a waste like oblations thrown on ashes. Worship of God or Goddess, if it is to result in spiritual illumination, the observance of Yama and Niyama is absolutely necessary. These form the twofold equipment to overcome brute nature and hoist the banner of spiritual victory. Offer to goddess Durga the animal, the Pasu, of your inner evil trait of passion, of anger, of greed. Do not kill animals of the external world in the name of Bali-dana to the Goddess. She wants your animal-man within. No Himsa should be committed on the excuse that it is for the Devi. You have no right or justification to hurt any living creature for whatever reason. Ahimsa should be free from all exemptions whether pertaining to class, place, time or circumstance. Ahimsa is universal vow to be practised absolutely. No worship, no prayer, no act whatsoever in life can justify injury or harm done to living beings. Even self-protection cannot justify murder. You have to stick to the rule of universal love to the best of your ability, to the utmost extent possible. The offering of the self, the surrender of the ego to the Divinity, is the supreme sacrifice. Nothing is superior to it. Nothing can be equal to it. This is the most exalted form of Divine worship. Worship the Almighty with Atma-bhava, with Sarvatmabhava. This is the greatest and most glorious thing that can ever be done by any one at any time. May you all imbibe the knowledge of real worship of the Divine Being. May the Devi Durga shower Her blessings upon you all! OM.
