"Nava-ratri" literally means "nine nights."
is a major Hindu celebration which has been observed for centuries throughout India. It begins on the first new moon in early autumn and culminates on the tenth lunar day with the celebration of Dussera. During Navaratri, we invoke the energy aspect of God in the form of the universal mother, commonly referred to as "Durga," which literally means the remover of miseries of life. She is also referred to as "Devi" (goddess) or "Shakti" (energy or power).
It is this energy, which helps God to proceed with the work of creation, preservation, and destruction. In other words, you can say that God is motionless, absolutely changeless, and the Divine Mother Durga does everything. Truly speaking, our worship of Shakti re-confirms the scientific theory that energy is imperishable. It cannot be created or destroyed. It is always there. Hinduism is the only religion in the world, which gives so much importance to the mother aspect of God because we believe that mother is the creative aspect of the absolute.
Navaratri is divided into sets of three days to adore different aspects of the supreme goddess. On the first three days, the Mother is invoked as a powerful force called Durga in order to destroy all our impurities, vices and defects. The next three days, the Mother is adored as a giver of spiritual wealth, Lakshmi, who is considered to have the power of bestowing on her devotees the inexhaustible wealth. The final set of three days is spent in worshipping the mother as the goddess of wisdom, Saraswati. In order have all-round success in life, we need the blessings of all three aspects of the divine mother; hence, the worship for nine nights.
Navaratri is one of our major events at Sringeri Shardambha Temple which is celebrated with daily alankaras to the diety (see our alankarams to Devis here ) archanas and Maha Abhishekam, music and entertainment every evening and Chandi Homam on the fifth day (September 24th). Our Program Schedule for Navaratri is as follows :
