Durga Puja festivity is midway through. I wish the seeker’s endeavours prove to be rewarding. This festivity is dedicated to the epitome of ‘Shakti’, Mother Goddess Durga. At the outset, let me make it clear, ‘Shakti’ should not be equated with ‘Energy’ as we ordinarily understand. Energy is just a force, which doesn’t have an expressed intent in its own right.  If not directed a particular way, it may hit upon whatever comes its way. On the contrary, intrinsic to Shakti is consciousness, which makes it self-intelligent. That is how Shakti-s emanating from the ‘Primal-source, involuntarily followed an orderly course of progressive evolution, which eventually culminated in the manifest plural world. Had nature with its huge network of field players (The Shakti-s) been devoid of self-intelligence, they would not have been in harmony and balance. But for which, the world would not have sustained for so long.

Consciousness element is supposedly eternal, all-pervading, incorruptible, and all-knowing. Its versatility is such that it manifests varied ways on different sets of existences as per their individualistic need.  Plants and vegetable world have just the touch sensation. Worms are believed to have touch and taste sensation.  Smelling sense gets added on to an ant.  Bees have sight sensation also. All the five senses — smell, touch, taste, sight, and hearing — are manifest in higher animals and human beings, but with a difference.  All existences live or inert, but for human beings, are bound by their predefined design parameters, with no scope to make any exception. They just go about by their natural flow, and therefore, don’t need to work upon to enhance their indwelling potential. Human beings, on the contrary, could guide their actions by choice and discrimination.

With choice option in hand, sense of duality comes into play, as is evident in the making of human mind. That is what makes us take varying stance over the same issue. We may react and respond to external prompting different ways.  Also self-excite conflicting thoughts and remain stuck to them for long. We are armed with discriminatory ability to filter off the undesirables and pick up the right lead. The paradox, however, is that the faculty of discriminate intelligence doesn’t come into play involuntarily. It needs to be consciously invoked. The irony, however, is that caught up in the usual mills of life, we lose the sense of alert needed to bring into play our discriminatory abilities. Even more so because of our individualistic ego.

Here again, the probability of use and misuse of choice option remains equal.  And there is nothing like free lunch in this world. So, one has to bear with the consequences of good or bad choices made, with carryover effect stretching even to posterity, as we are bound by a cause-effect chain. The impressions thereof, particularly negative emotions, add to a heavy baggage carried over from the past. These thought-imprints keep us too much involved in our inner world.  So, mind is hardly left with the space needed to objectively process our thoughts. Over a period of time one gets fatigued, stressed, and hardly left with the spirit need to carry on the productive aspirations in right earnest.    

The problem gets even more compounded during the current phase of the year, as Sun that nourishes and sustains us with its vital energy remains at its lowest ebb. For, it closes up with western horizon coinciding with southern hemisphere. It, therefore, reaches the farthest point from the part of the globe we live in, which lies in northern hemisphere and towards the east.  

We, therefore, need to periodically rejuvenate ourselves. It is pertinent to note here that all about life is a play of energies.  Even our thoughts are nothing but energies playing within our mind. And, because of our dualistic nature, we could use it either way — productively or unmindfully towards self-defeating ends. All the more, because even the weather cycle is undergoing transition from rainy season to the winders. So, we also need to withstand the impact of seasonal change and be well geared up to face emerging challenges. It is with this end in view that Shardeya Navaratra has been timed during this phase of the year.

During the nine-day prayer regime, we align our individual consciousness with the one inherent in the concept underlying Mother Goddess’s form. In the process, we rekindle our indwelling energies, and raise our sense of alert. Our consciousness level gets considerably raised during the process enabling us to judiciously use the resources in hand — physical prowess, skillsets, and wisdom — towards productive ends.

The writer is an astrologer, vastu consultant and spiritual counsellor. Write to him atG-102, Bharat Nagar, New Friends Colony, New Delhi – 110 025

Tel: 91-11-49848475/9818037273

Email: pioneerqueries@bharatastro.com

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