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| Navaratri Celebrations 2014 - countless blessings from Sri Swami Vishwananda |
Navaratri Celebrations at Shree Peetha Nilaya culminated on the tenth day with Dussehra. Dussehra, - also called Vijayadashami - marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasur and also Lord's Rama victory over the ten-headed demon king Ravana.
Every year a Maha Yagna is performed which ends with a special ritual of protection and purification, the dakshdishpal. Sri Swami Vishwananda explained, “This prayer is for your own protection and for the protection of your family. It removes all negativity.
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| Maha Yagna |
"This dakshdishpal will protect you from all directions, from the effect of the planets and so on. You see, Vijayadashami means also the victory over the 10 negative qualities in human beings, which are: Kama vasana (Lust), Krodha (Anger), Moha (Attachment), Lobha (Greed), Mada (Pride), Matsara (Jealousy), Swartha (Selfishness), Anyaaya (Injustice), Amanavata (Cruelty) and Ahankara (Ego). So, the dakshdishpal also represents these qualities and we are asking the devas, we are asking the Supreme Lord Himself to remove all these negative qualities from oneself.”
For the third year in a row, Sri Swami Vishwananda has blessed us with the opportunity to attend a Maha Kalasha Abishekam, where he let himself be bathed with the fragrant water from the 9 Kalashas worshipped during the 9 nights of Navaratri. Each night the water was energised more and more with the devotion of everyone present, with their prayers, their calls and cries, directed at Maa. So, all these calls are delivered to Sri Swami Vishwananda while bathing him with this sacred water.
As with any abishekam, the act of pouring water or the panchamrit elements over a deity in a puja is not for the benefit of the deity, but for the benefit of those praying. Through prayer, the deity is helping to remove great amounts of negativity from the devotees, so that they can come closer to the Divine within everything. For the third year, we got to witness an act of a our Master's pure Love and kindness to all devotees, to the whole humanity.
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| The Love and Surrender of Sri Swami Vishwananda during Maha Kalash Abishekam |
At the end of this day's celebration, Sri Swami Vishwananda blessed everybody by chanting some mantras while people remained bowed down to the ground. He then finalised this ritual by sprinkling water over all. Then He explained, “This water from the kumba carries inside all the vibration of the prayers. It carries all the Shakti, it has the Grace of the Mother into it. When you bow down, you are offering the awareness to open up, so that the flow of energy, the flow of Her Grace can be poured on you.”
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| Every mataji received a sari from Sri Swami Vishwananda as a special gift from Divine Mother |
Afterwards, Sri Swami Vishwananda gave personally to each person a bag with several blessed items from the Navaratri prayers, namely kumkum, ashes, flowers and also tulsi dhal. He explained, “In each bag there is tulsi dhal which is this coloured rice. This rice carries your devotion into it and has a great blessing of Maha Lakshmi. You can keep it in your safe or in your purse, so that it will keep it always full.”
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| The deities were taken in procession back to the temple |
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| Final moments of Navaratri 2014 (in the temple after procession) |