It has been a while since I am writing.
In the Indian calendar there are 2 navratri – the one we all know about and the other is chaitri. The regular navratri is usually in October and this is usually in March. In the regular Navatri which is more widely publicized people are supposed to pray to Amba Ma (but in general most people celebrate it by dancing in what is known as Garba). In the chaitri (month in Indian calendar), we pray to Durga.
First the story of Durga. I will only present it very briefly. The Demi-Gods were being tormented by an Asura names Mahishasura. Inspite of multiple efforts they were unable to slay him. Finally, all the Demi-Gods got together and prayed to the Gods who poured their own divine powers together and created Durga. Durga then began the battle with Mahishasura. Mahisasura kept changing her forms and appearance and finally he took the appearance of a buffalo and mahisharua slayed him effortlessly.
In another battle, there was a blood demon who engaged in a fierce battle with Durga. Everytime the blood demon was cut or slayed, from every drop of the blood another demon arose. In no time, now Durga / Kali was fighting many demons. Durga then instructed Kali to slay the demons by sucking the blood out from them and thus the blood demon was destroyed.
The second story of Durga with the blood demon is an allegory explaining how to slay the mind. This is very similar to the story told by Gautamkaka about Narayanastra, ashwatthama and the pandavas. It is very difficult to slay or silence the mind. Every effort we make to silence the mind, makes it stronger and more fierce. Even the very effort to silence the mind backfires after a while. Thus, in time one thought and trying to stop or control or rid of it leads to a million thoughts. The only way to slay the mind is by sucking the “blood” out of the mind. The mind can only be active as long as the prana or vital energy is there. Thus, let Shakti or the divine, suck the prana out of the body and thus you can slay the mind and go into Samadhi. This is of course a subtle reference to Pranayama. It also refers to what Yogananda always said, “the direct route to God. Kriya Yoga, where the prana is controlled” or what Yukteshwara said, “Make Pranayama your religion” or what Gurudev said, “Yoga Vah Shrestha, instead of saying Yogavashishtha”. There is no other way to control the mind the fastest. Surrender to shakti completely and let her suck the prana from the ENTIRE body and thus we go into Samadhi.
The first story refers to slaying of Mahaprakriti.. Mahaprakriti then divided into two – Para and apara. Apara prakriti gave rise to this gross world. Para prakriti gave origin to the subtle and causal world. In the vedas the same thing is conveyed as Diti and Aditi. (Aditi is para and Diti is apara prakriti). Thus we have 2 mothers, since we all have the three bodies, gross, causal and subtle. Thus the Demi-Gods were unable to slay the maha prakriti and seeked the help of Durga who destroyed Mahaprakriti.
This sstory of mahisasura I talked about are exepriences between the agna chakra and Sahastrar.
One more thing – the Indian calendar is Vikram Samvat 2066 right now. Meaning the calendar started about 2066 years ago. It is based on the angles between the earth and the moon. However, many of the stories of the birth of Rama, Krishna, and other divine religious holidays existed long before that. Thus the calendar when started in 2066 was created by a divine rishi and was in perfect synchronization at that time. Right now, in my religious experience, I have noticed that the calendar is 3 days lagging. Meaning, that the events actually occur in the subtle world (at least in my perception) 3 days prior to the Vikram Samvat calendar. At least that is when shakti and God blesses me with their appearance.
Bhavin