Dassera celebration

Navratri, as everyone knows is a festival of nine nights, the tenth day marks the end of Navratri and it is celebrated as Dassera which is also known as "Vijaya Dashmi". This year, Dassera is on 17th october according to the ancient Hindu Lunar Calendar. On this day variety of sweets are served. However, does anyone knows why is Dassera spiritually important??

Dassera is the anniversary celebration of Lord Rama's victory over the demon king Ravana. The Dassera festival has its roots laid deep in "Dwapara Yuga" and which symbolized victory over evil is celebrated with great pomp and show in all parts of India. During the Navratri and Dassera festival, the whole of India is also immersed in the worship and invocation of Goddess Durga. As typical of any Hindu festival, the Dassera festival commemorates the victory of gods over the demons, of light over darkness and of knowledge over ignorance.

The Hindu scriptures with thier deities (gods) are replete with metaphors, conatining deeper philosophical truths, embedded in symbolisms and forms. The ultimate truth in India is also worshipped as devine feminine energy in the form of Mother Durga, Lakshmi, Sarasvati - the one God as the source of all, the universal priciple of energy, power or creativity but manifesting differently.

While readers may be well-versed with puranic stories associated with Navaratri as described in scriptures like the Devi Mahatmyam, it's not uncommon to miss its deeper philosophical and spiritual meaning. It is auspicious to read the Devi Mahatmya Katha on or before Dassera. "Devi-Mahatmyam" is a part of the Markandeya Purana and describes the march of the human soul to its final destination.

Next, let be tell briefly about the 9 days of Navratri:

• In the first three days of Navratri, Goddess Durga is invoked in order to destroy all our impurities, vices and defects.
• The next three days Goddess Lakshmi is adored as a giver of spiritual wealth.
• The final three days, the goddess of knowledge, Goddess Saraswati is worshipped.

Now let me tell about what does our Hindu Gurus says about the significance of Navratri and Dassera?

Shri Sathya Sai Baba:

"The significance of Goddess Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati has to be rightly understood. The three represent three kinds of potencies in man : will power (ichchaa shakthi), the power of purposeful action (kriya shakthi), and the power of discernment (jnaana shakthi). Saraswati is manifest in man as the power of speech (vaak). Durga is present in the form of dynamism. Lakshmi is manifest in the form of will power. The body indicates purposeful action (kriya shakthi). The mind is repository of will power (ichchaa shakti). The Aathma is power of discernment (jnaana shakthi)."

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The ninth day is a day of honoring everything that we have, no matter how seemingly insignificant, and the tenth day is "Vijaya Dashmi" the 'victory day'. It is only after we have honored something that we can gain victory over it. This day is celebrated as the victory of the Devi over the evil forces - which is also just "Maya".

Swami Chinmayanda

Dassera indicates, as the word suggests, Dasa-Papa-Hara or the end of the ten sins. The ten sins are atrributed to the ten sense organs through which the mind contacts and gains knowledge of the phenomenal world, and also reacts to the stimuli received from the world of objects. Therefore the idea is that on this sacred day of Vijaya Dashami or Dassera the ten sins are ended which signifies the end of the mind and therefore the end of the world of plurality when one becomes rooted in the transcendental experince.

To conclude, Vijaya Dashami or Dassera is a day of Vijaya, when all the gods rejoice and all mankind is in an exuberance of joy; for they have received the Supreme Assurance that so long as they turn to the Mother in thier extremity and distress, there will be no lack of support and of strength. Vijaya-Dshami is a supreme day of confidence, strength and courage for all seekers.

On this day (Dassera) all aspirants and those in quest of God have greatest strength and courage for by the annihilation of all the forces that stand in the way of the fullest manifestation of divinity, Mother has thrown open the gateway as it were to the adobe of Para Brahman. The worship of the Mother upon this supreme day is the worship of Maha-Maya in Her purest and absolute Vidya aspect. Till now, during the Navaratra, we worshipped the Mother in Her different aspects as She is manifest in this phenomenal world of human affairs. But when we come to Vijaya, we transcend the Mother in all Her external and Vidya-Avidya aspects and we gaze into the Infinite and the unfathomable depth of Para Brahman Himself.

Following are few videos on Dassera Celebration held in 2008/2009 in various places in India.

Credit : Ram Lingam, Indian Weekender, NZ.