Notes by Om Shreejay
Review of last week
We reviewed the virtue of Vinoda (one who is cheerful and happy) that we studied in last week’s class. Om vinoda priyaya namaha — which means “I admire the one who loves HUMOR.”
Navaratri/ Vijayadashami
This week we studied the significance of Navaratri and Vijayadashami. Vijayadashami is celebrated to remember when Mother Devi deafeted Mahishasura.
Why do we celebrate Navaratri and Vijayadashmi? To celebrate Mother Devi who takes nine different forms every night for nine nights. Navaratri means nine nights. After Navaratri we celebrate Vijayadashami, which means victory on the tenth day. This victory is to celebrate –
- Lord Rama’s victory over Ravana
- Mother Devi’s victory over Mahishasura
Story:
A long time ago there was a terrible war between the Gods (Devas) and the Demons (Asuras). The king of the Asuras was Mahishasura, a gigantic buffalo demon who was almost as big as the whole world! The war lasted several years with Mahishasura finally defeating the Devas and he drove them away from their kingdom. The Devas went to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to ask for help. Suddenly a bright shining light surrounded them and Mother Devi appeared, who was formed with the power of all the gods. Mother Devi got her face from Shiva, her hair from Yama and 18 blue hands from Vishnu. Mother Devi told the Devas that she would fight Mahishasura. She had an epic battle with the Demons and defeated them, finally coming face to face with Mahishasura. Even though Mahishasura created earthquakes and tsunamis, Mother Devi finally defeated Mahishasura. The Devas were very thankful and asked Mother Devi for a final boon to destroy all negative thoughts in their minds when they think of Mother Devi.
Lesson from the story
Mother Devi symbolizes the power (shakti) of all the gods to overcome all negative thoughts and tendencies in us and the power to be better by overcoming all negativity in us.
The Demons symbolize the negative thoughts in our minds such as laziness, meanness etc.
We should invoke Devi to change and transform ourselves to be better.
Practice and its significance
What is Puja? Puja is offering something (flowers or prasad) to God.
Why do we do Puja?
- Helps us have better thoughts
- Helps us improve our focus and concentration
- Helps us feel closer to god
We did a puja to invoke Mother Devi with the following steps –
- Acharanam — To prepare our heart to welcome Mother Devi into our hearts
- Pranayama (deep breathing) — To prepare our minds to be calm and still
- Dhyana — To offer gratitude to all our teachers for giving us knowledge
- Avahanam — To invite Mother Devi into our picture
- Snanam — To wash Mother Devi’s feet with water
- Prostration — To circle 3 times to the right and prostrate to Mother Devi
- Prayer — To help us find the strength to overcome bad thoughts
RAW for the week
Do Puja with your whole family at least once this week
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Notes by Pranavi Ananthanarayanan
Story:
There was a big war between the asuras and the gods, the powerful king of the asuras was Mahishasura. Then the asuras won the big war. The gods went to Lord Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva to ask help for saving them from the powerful Mahishasura. Lord Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva formed a Divine Devi called Mother Durga with their powers. Then Mother Durga faces the powerful demon Mahishasura for 9 days! On the 10th day Mother Durga destroyed the powerful Mahishasura. The Gods had one more boon to use. They used the boon by asking Mother Durga, whenever we have negative thoughts Mother Durga please remove that from our mind.
What is the Power of Mother Durga?
To cleanse our mind with positive thoughts. The Ausuras represents — Negative thoughts
What are the benefits of doing Pooja?
1. Have better thought
2. Improves our concentration
3. Feel closer to God
Practice/activity:
We performed a pooja in the class.
RAW– Do a Pooja with the whole family at least once this week