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Spice of life | Nurture nature, reach out to respect God’s creations
Navaratri celebrations are incomplete if they involve only worshipping God. Rather, the nine days remind us of our responsibility towards His creations or Prakriti also. Seek the Lord along with His creations
Today is Maha Navami, the ninth day of Navaratri. Nava means nine, the single highest digit. Nava means renewed energy or ‘shakti’. Na-ava also means no protection for those who don’t resort to God or surrender to Him.
We bank on others to help us sail through life. Our scriptures say everyone is in a boat with a hole; they themselves are sinking and we are trying to board their boat. Life is tough no doubt, and to cross it without sinking, we need a strong boat. That boat is faith. God’s name alone ensures we tide over our difficulties, survive storms and sail through troubled waters.
Navaratri is celebrated twice in the year, one in spring that leads to the birth of Lord Rama in the first Hindu month of Chaitra. It is celebrated to get the grace of the Purusha or the Supreme Lord. The second Navaratri is celebrated in the seventh month of Ashwin that worships Prakriti or nature, the creation of the Supreme Lord.
Prakriti gives a platform for all ‘jivas’ or beings to evolve and move towards Parama Purusha.
Navaratri celebrations are incomplete if they involve only worshipping God. Rather, the nine days remind us of our responsibility towards His creations or Prakriti also. Seek the Lord along with His creations.
Respect the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether besides all living beings and go beyond the place of worship to invoke His grace. We have an obligation to respect the wider world. The concept of worshipping nature is brought out in chapter 7 of the Bhagavad Gita, too.
The Purusha or Supreme Lord uses this Prakriti or nature as a means to create, sustain and destroy this world. It is a tool of the Parama Purusha for his evaluation, so we should respect it.
At the individual level, the Prakriti is the ‘jiva’ or soul. It is like a seed that can’t sprout or evolve by itself. It needs energy in the form of ‘shakti’ to realise its purpose of growing and blossoming. Life has to evolve. Shakti is the dormant energy within us that has to be awakened. In yoga, it is called Kundalini Shakti. A person’s complete blossoming is the purpose of life. Shakti plays the role of a mother and urges us not to give up.
Due to lack of awareness, people get trapped in mundane pursuits and don’t realise their highest nature. The soul needs a place to play. The body is the first field through which a soul expresses itself. Higher than this is the field of this world. Whatever role assigned to us in this world, the aim should be to perform it sincerely to the best of our ability.
Our planet is in crisis and its survival is at stake due to conflicts and exploitation for material gains. Navaratri offers us an opportunity to adopt an attitude of gratitude for we have a platform to evolve. We need to live gently and in surrender to the Creator. Whatever our circumstances, let us pledge to work hard and make our surroundings better by enriching ourselves and the community. We are what we think and we can evolve beyond a limited existence by simply living selflessly for others and realise the full blossoming of our personality. vasudevakriyayoga@gmail.com/ YouTube/fb/twitter: Vasudevakriyayoga
The writer is the Melbourne-based founder of Vasudeva Kriya Yoga
