CHAITRA NAVARĀTRI
Artwork: Pinterest
March 30th - April 7th
Chaitra (Vasanta) Navarātri commences on the Pratipadā tithi (1st lunar day) to the Navamī tithi (9th) of the Śukla Pakṣa (waxing moon) in the month of Chaitra (March/April). This nine-day festival marks the arrival of spring, a time of renewal, blossoming life, and spiritual purification.
Dedicated to the worship of Goddess Durgā and her nine forms, this Navarātri is one of the four sacred Navarātris observed throughout the year. It is a time of deep transformation, particularly connected to Mahāvidyā Tripura Sundarī, the embodiment of supreme beauty, clarity, and the power of refined discernment. Through her grace, we learn to see beyond the architecture of illusion, aligning with the deeper intelligence that orchestrates all things.
This sacred passage culminates in Rāma Navamī, celebrating the birth of Bhagavān Śrī Rāma, making it especially significant in the Vedic tradition.
Navarātri invokes an internal quest to locate and establish our seat within the center of the heart of the Goddess. In a world that grasps our attention and seize our mind to look outside of ourselves to seek truth, validation and even to gain a so called glimpse of the goddess - this festival calls us to go deeper within to attune with her rivers that flow within us and to cultivate a direct experience, and personal relationship with Her.
Artwork: Pinterest
Devī is that awakening force, that primordial energy that lives within us and awaits our attention. Yoga teaches us that whatever we put our attention on grows stronger in our lives. Move beyond your ideas of who she is and how she can be reached.
This window is ripe for putting into physical practice the teachings found in the yoga śāstra. In the quieting of our mind (yogaś-citta-vr̥tti-nirodhaḥ) and the investigation of all that lies below the surface — in the observation and embrace of both our shadows and our light, which are ultimately one and the same — we’re being called now to enter into that space, and to transcend.
As we tend to śakti, and begin to establish a firm foundation in Her, we begin to awaken our power to focus, to cultivate our dhāraṇā and draw all our energies inside — this continued focus is the active meditation requesting our attention — calling us to become completely absorbed in Her.
She is the embodiment of all that is and ever will be, She is our very breath and that which gives life to all, yet she cannot be reached by contemplation or intellectual understanding and philosophizing, or even described through words, she can only be touched through direct experience — that which requires digestion and stabilization to be truly lived. Can you answer that call?
ॐ श्री मात्रे नमः | Sri Matre Namaha
Tulsi specializes in Vedic Astrology & Compatibility readings, personalized Vedic Couture and Yoga Sādhana. @turiyacollection | Jyotish Consultations
Artowrk: Pinterest
The nine names of manifestation have been spoken in the Devīmāhātmyam DevĪ Kavacaṃ, by the Lord Brahmā (the creator) Himself:
"First is Goddess Śailaputrī, the Daughter of the Himālayas, and second is Brahmachāriṇī, She who observes the vow of celibacy, the Goddess of sacred study and penance; third is Chandraghaṇṭā, the Goddess of the Delight of Practice, who bears the moon in her necklace, Kūṣmāṇḍa, the Goddess of Purifying Austerity is fourth.”
“Fifth is the Goddess Skanda-Mātā, the mother of Skanda, born out of her powers, sixth is Kātyāyanī, the One Who is Ever Pure; seventh is Kālarātrī, the Goddess of the Dark Night of Overcoming Egotism, Siddhidātrī, Mahāgaurī, the wife of Lord Śiva is eighth.”
“Ninth is the Goddess Siddhidātrīm, the provider of Siddhis, and bestower of mystic powers; the nine Durgas, relievers of difficulties, have been enumerated, and these names have been revealed by the great soul of the Supreme Brahmā himself."
ॐ दुं दुर्गायै नमः
March 30: Pratipadā (Ghatasthāpana & Śailaputrī Pūjā)
March 31: Dvitīyā (Brahmacāriṇī Pūjā)
April 1: Tṛtīyā (Candraghaṇṭā Pūjā)
April 2: Caturthī (Kuṣmāṇḍā Pūjā)
April 3: Pañcamī (Skandamātā Pūjā)
April 4: Ṣaṣṭhī (Kātyāyanī Pūjā)
April 5: Saptamī (Kālratri Pūjā)
April 6: Aṣṭamī (Mahāgaurī Pūjā & Kanyā Pūjan)
April 7: Navamī (Siddhidātrī Pūjā & Rām Navamī)
