Navaratri 2013 with Premavatar Swami Vishwananda

Navaratri 2013  5th - 14th  October
From Bhakti Marga Shree Peetha Nilaya

  

Jai Gurudev dear friends, dear family 

The great yearly Navaratri festival for Divine Mother lies just ahead once again!

To honour who the Divine Mother is, is to regard her as the Universal Mother, the one who transcends all religions and traditions. All creation that we see, the Earth and the Universe itself is nothing but Her. She is the one who gives birth to everything, she is the one who nurtures everything, and she is the one that loves us all beyond measure, freeing us each step of the way towards once again becoming our true Self.

On each of the nine nights of Navaratri, that Universal Mother is worshipped in different forms, culminating on the ninth night, in which She bestows on us Her biggest blessings and grace. It signals the end of what is an amazing festival, and if you’ve never experienced it before first hand, you should not miss this opportunity! And while it’s a festival for everyone, it is especially precious for the women, as it celebrates the feminine principle of God more than any other event in the calendar year.

Click HERE to watch a beautiful DVD trailer from last year's festivities with Swamiji!

We hope, you can join us, and in addition we would like to point out a few organisational and practical poi to nts to you, prior to your arrival. 

•  This years Navaratri will be celebrated in the tent. As the weather can be quite cold, it is advisable to wear some warm clothing under your sari or kurtha. And it’s  also  recommended  to  bring  a  blanket  to keep yourself  warm  –  but  please make sure that you take it home with you after leaving the evening festivities We always get a nice collection of blankets left behind every year!

•  The prayer will start each evening after 18:00 hrs in the tent and go on until around midnight, give or take an hour.  

•  Swami asks that when big festivals like Navaratri are celebrated, that the guests 

coming for the event are properly dressed. Men should try to wear a kurtha and 

women should come in a sari or leg length dress. If you do not have a sari, we do 

have some for purchase in the Bhakti Shop in the ashram. 

•  Some time this week we will inform you (via our official blog and Facebook)

which colour saris the Divine Mother will be dressed in each night. It is traditional that

She changes colours each day. If you do not have the same coloured sari

as the Divine Mother is wearing you are welcome to come in any other colour that you have. 

•  Like last year, we will perform the Gharba (Stick Dance) at the end of each evening so

if you still have your sticks from last year's festivities then bring them!

•  Food will be served each evening after the Navaratri nights, therefore for those 

that would like to take a warm soup you are most welcome – but please inform us 

in  advance  by  filling  out  the  registration  form  on  the  Bhakti Marga  website 

calendar. The link is below: 

REGISTRATION

•  Normally, the first night and the last two nights (5th, 13th and 14th of October) take longer than the other nights and the event can finish possibly very early in the following morning as we perform special opening an closing ceremonies as well as the beautiful Kanya puja to the 9 little girls personifying Divine

Mother.

• Last but not least we have an important message below from the flower team at Shree Peetha Nilaya!

Navaratri is approaching and here at Shree Peetha Nilaya, the abode of the Divine Mother Herself, we are already preparing to celebrate and worship Her

During a Navaratri Guruji said,

“There is no time when the Mother is not close to Her children. So be like a child. Sit in Her lap, and let Her do everything for you. She will always carry you. […] That's the Love of the Mother , which is dearer to everybody than any other Love. […] She doesn't  expect anything . She gives, gives, gives.”

And we, Her children, what can we give to Her? As Guruji often says, the Divine doesn't want anything from us, except our Love. Everything is Hers, so what can we give Her that doesn't already belong to Her? But as children, we love to give to our beloved Mother something beautiful; and what is more beautiful that Her creation itself, in the form of flowers? We all know very well that mothers love flowers...

Those who were already with Guruji and the Bhakti Marga family during past Navaratri events know how important it is in the Hindu tradition to offer flowers to the Divine Mother, to adorn Her with garlands, to worship Her with petals. Navaratri is the high tide of offering flowers to our Mother: we will make an average of 15 garlands every day in different size, plus we will use a large quantity of petals and flowers to offer during the ceremonies and the yagnas.

If you like to contribute to this by bringing flowers, you are most welcome. You can bring whatever kind of flowers that you like: just bring it with Love for the Divine Mother and it will be the perfect flower. For any questions you can contact the flowers team:  flowers@bhaktimarga.org

That’s it for now, see you hopefully soon.

Much Love from all of us here at Shree Peetha Nilaya 

Jai Maa!