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The cultural aspect

M N Kundu, Durga Puja Is A Great Cultural Bonanza, Oct 07 2016 : The Times of India

Devi Durga, the cosmic power principle of the Absolute manifested herself in response to the collective prayer of the gods for subduing devilish death-bound demons creating perpetual disharmony in creation. As a part of this cosmic play , where good triumphs over evil, Durga Puja is celebrated.

A society and culture undergoing a critical period is characterised by drastic slide in social, moral and human values.Rule of vice over virtue and shameless evildoing, abandoning all positive teachings tend to cast a shadow over all that ought to have great potential for good. In this context Durga Puja is exceptionally significant with its theology , mythology, scriptures, customs, festivities and rituals with cultural variations that provide deep insights into life and living.

Durga being Shakti or power personified remains neutral till devotees invoke her intervention. Even Rama sought her blessings before fighting with Ravana. In social life she brings prosperity and power of knowledge. In cultural life she endows us with fine arts. In the domain of defence she gives power to combat evil attackers.In spiritual life she annihilates our endless desires multiplying like Raktabij and finally subdues our last enemy , the sense of separateness, the ego, hidden like Mahishasura so that we can progress towards the goal of Self-realisation.

The concept of Durga Puja went through a prolonged process of cultural evolution. In pre-Christian era she used to be pictured alone, riding a lion.Later on she was contemplated as spouse of Shiva as the dyna mic power principle with her offspring and Shiva as passive consciousness. She is also worshipped as Dasamahavidya, the ten-wisdom-embodiment. Durga embodies Shakti, the dynamic aspect of ultimate reality and its role in creation, protection and transformation.Durga also embodies empowerment of women and reverence for them. Durga gives the eternal message of hope and assurance for divine intervention in times of trouble.

Durga Puja intermingles the various parallel legends.Although essentially a spiritual metaphor, the legend of the homecoming of Uma, daughter of the Himalayas inspired innumerable devotional songs called Agamani.Another legend relates to Sati destroying the Shiva-less sacrificial ceremony of Daksha. In Chandi of Markandeya Purana she first represents herself as Mahamaya, the goddess of cosmic delusion. In the second part, as Mahishasuramardini, the vanquisher of the buffalo-demon and then as Kalika, the killer of Chanda and Munda and their masters Shumbha and Nishumbha, she is seen as protector.

Shakti and Shiva symbolise energy and consciousness. Although Ganesh, Saraswati, Kartik and Lakshmi have been associated with her in the battlefield symbolising wisdom, learning, prowess and wealth, the four refer to human pursuits.Ten weapons in her ten hands symbolise subjugation of tenfold sense-attractions before finally overcoming the ego.

Apart from spiritual significance the magnificent socio-religious ceremony as a part of traditional ritual engenders a feeling of oneness among all, despite all differences. It provides a great opportunity for sociocultural bonding of everyone in society via cultural, religious and artistic programmes performed in attractively decorated pandals, with people turning out in their festive clothes. From once being an exclusive celebration by those who could afford it, Durga Puja is now `sarbojanin' or accessible to all.

The spiritual aspect

The Evolution Of Human Spirituality

M N Kundu, Durga Puja And Evolution Of Human Spirituality, September 21, 2017: The Times of India

 The human mind being finite, cannot conceive the abstract idea of infinite Brahmn, the non-dual one without a second. Ancient sages therefore contemplated suitable symbols for progressive realisation of the Divine through various levels of God-consciousness in our march from lesser truth to greater truth towards ultimate realisation. Durga Puja encompasses the entire gamut of spiritual process of realisation.

A fortnight before the pujas we start tarpan or offering to ancestors till mahalaya. It is intended to work out the genetic bondage to enable us to proceed to the Divine and awaken our divine consciousness on the first day of the puja.

The image of the goddess is enigmatic, being a spiritual metaphor synthesising a quantum leap from matter to spirit in and through an evolutionary process. To a man with an empty stomach, food is God and hence the first human worship had always been towards nurturing nature, worship of trees giving fruit as food. On the first day on mahashasti worship is made to wood-apple tree as the abode of the goddess. On mahasaptami, the second day of the puja, nine leaves and a banana tree called navapatrika are placed for worship. The paradoxical presence of the four offsprings of the goddess in the battlefield is symbolic and we need to decipher the meaning. When subtle intelligence represented by Ganesha is applied to nurturing nature, wealth in the form of Lakshmi evolves.Material prosperity begets two associates ­ learning and fine arts represented by goddess Saraswati and military prowess for protection and preservation represented by Kartikeya. All these four offsprings of the goddess are worshipped for worldly achievements. Material prosperity and military prowess invariably beget arrogance and egotism unless these are accepted as gifts of the Divine and used as steppingstones for further progress. But the pernicious ego, under the sway of beastly ignorance (buffalo in the image) and identifying itself to be omnipotent, breaks the natural law of harmony and peace. At this stage of spiritual crisis, primordial nature, in the form of Goddess Durga, intervenes to vanquish the ego and makes it surrender to her. It is victory of the universal life force over individual egoism and upholding of cosmic cause over untoward interests of the indomitable ego.

With ten weapons in her ten hands and the wisdom of the third eye, the goddess transcends the ego-bound ten human senses of perception and action represented by Mahishasura. She represents the universal principle of energy or holy vibration of the cosmos.

We witness progressive departure from nature worship to worship of material prosperity , military prowess, learning, fine arts and intellect, leading to the realisation of the ultimate futility of all these being impermanent and delusive. Thereafter, the ego is made to surrender to the omnipotent cosmic energy of goddess Durga.

The journey to Self-realisation ends with awakening cosmic consciousnesss as the destination. Above the image of Durga there is Shiva, representing cosmic consciousness. On the fourth day of the Puja or the day of special victory , Devi is united with Shiva after her worldly play is done for establishing divine realisation through an evolutionary process. Hence all peripherals are immersed into the ocean of consciousness of Shiva, which is the culmination of spiritual progress along with the dissolution of delusive manifestation of the apparent reality .

The significance of Durga Puja

MN Kundu, Many Significant Aspects Of Durga Puja, October 16, 2018: The Times of India

Durga puja covers a lot, including God-consciousness nurturing nature, being mindful of wealth, learning and fine arts, wisdom, military prowess and also the Absolute. It embodies mother worship, gender equity, victory of good over evil and cosmic spiritual power over temporary brute force. Ultimately, one overcomes the ego and the obsession with mundane and material needs, towards achieving unison with cosmic consciousness.

The Absolute, infinite spirit is manifested through Shakti, with divine properties. Power principles like existence and its essence are inseparable like fire, its energy and illumination. Ancient seers contemplated a comprehensive and convenient image of Shakti for invoking the Absolute as primordial energy – the cosmic principle of will-force, wisdom, and dynamism of doing. The concept of Devi Durga encompasses all these as manifestation of the supreme power of the Absolute.

The concept of Divine Mother as the focal point of human worship is found way back in the Harappan civilisation. Literary record of the same is traceable right from the Rig Veda where we find the wonderful hymn, Devishuktam. Here the goddess declares that she is the supreme power behind all creation. The Kenopanishad refers to her as Uma Haimavati. In Tantra cult the goddess acquires different dimension in the form of ten great wisdom forms, as Dasha Mahavidya. In Devi Mahatmyam, in Markandeya Purana, venerating the Mother Goddess acquired even more importance.

Devi Durga, literally meaning the deity protecting devotees as durga, fortress, is invoked as the creating, nurturing, protecting, loving and above all liberating deity of the devotees. Apart from looking after us during our earthly abode she ultimately delivers us from the darkness of delusion by cutting our sense bondage with ten weapons in her ten hands leading to final dissolution of the indomitable ego by making it realise the supremacy of the cosmic life force behind creation as all creatures owe their existence to her.

The image of Durga as Mahishasuramardini is comprehensive. We seek refuge in God predominantly for material prosperity, protection from enemies, intellectual and artistic excellence and finally for ultimate realisation overcoming human bondage. The four offspring of the goddess – Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganapati and Kartikeya – are the givers of all material gifts as the deities of wealth, learning, wisdom and overpowered by the goddess standing over a tame lion, the symbol of subdued animalism.

Apart from the spiritual undercurrent, a series of mythological legends cater to popular taste and poetic feelings. Devi Uma, along with her four offspring, is coming to her parents, Himalaya and Menaka, for a short period of three days. A typical Indian mother’s concern for her married daughter inspires a set of melodious Bengali songs called Agamoni. While the legend of Sati, the destroyer of Daksha’s sacrifice ceremony has a different appeal. Emergence of Chandi on the combined prayer of the gods for their protection by destruction of demons forms an important metaphorical myth for spiritual aspirants.

The grand celebration with multidimensional appeal involves everybody in the community socially, economically, ritually and above all, culturally. The innovative image of the goddess, pandal, release of special issues of literary magazines, musical albums, creatively, socially and culturally involve all concerned making it a celebration for creation, unison, elevation and above all awakening of higher consciousness.