Importance of Shree Shubhankara Navratri Utsav

The day starting from today i.e. Monday, 4th April 2011 has marked the starting of the extremely holy period of Navratri (Shubhankara). The celebrations would finally end with the celebration of Shree Ram Navami (Day of birth of Lord Ram) Tuesday, 12th April 2010.

The Shubhankara Navratra Utsav began at Shree Aniruddha Gurukshetram on the Gudhi Padwaa Day i.e. today, at 10.00 am with the 'Welcoming Procession (Aagaman)' of the 'Todes' - (Ornaments worn at her feet) of our beloved Mahishasurmardini Aai or our Mothi Aai. These will then be kept for darshan throughout the utsav period.

During His Marathi discourse on Thursday 7th October 2010 at Shri Harigurugram Param Poojya Sadguru Aniruddha Bapu had described the importance of this Navratri and also explained everyone the upasanas (worship) that should be performed in this period. Bapu said that during this period maximum sacrosanct and extremely holy waves and vibrations would be transmitted throughout this universe. Hence taking this fact under consideration Bapu described the few points as under.

Bapu initially stressed on the presence of word 'Ratri' in the word Navratri and hence further stressed on the importance attached to all the nights that fall in this period. Bapu urged everyone to  do Jagran i.e. staying up till late night atleast once during the period of nine nights. But while we do jagran we should do recitations of Ashubhanashini Stavanam, Shubhankara Stavanam, Ram Raksha, Shree Gurukshetram Mantra, etc without counting the number  of recitations and / or perform reading of Matruvalsalya Vindanam or Ram Rasayan (both these books are authored by P. P. Bapu Himself). One can even keep reciting just the word 'Aai' from the bottom of his heart and call 'Her (Aadi Mata)'. These recitations or readings should ideally begin from 9:30 pm at night and should end not before 2:30 am in the morning. But it would be best to stay up for the entire night. But while we observe jagran we should take care that the others around us are not disturbed for which we should refrain from creating any noise or being vocal. Bapu completely ridiculed and criticized the practice of playing cards under the name of Jagran and the waste of time that is associated with it. Bapu also criticized the wrong way in which this holy festival is now-a-days celebrated in the society (where people drink alcohol, involve in immoral activities and offer non-vegetarian foodstuffs and alcohol to Goddess by considering it to be a holy offering).

Bapu also said that when a devotee reads Matruvalsalya Vindanam, during that time Aadi Mata Mahishasurmardini Herself sits right next to him. Now its natural for the a child to follow his mother and hence where there is Aadi Mata Mahishasurmardini would be there, there would be Bapu. Bapu promised everyone that He would stand behind every devotee and most importantly promised everyone that He Himself would help them to perform these recitations and readings in every possible way.

To make one successfully stay up and awake for the entire night or even partially and avoid napping and yawning we should include foodstuffs which have a bitter tinge in them and also take care that the last morsel that we swallow should also be of the a bitter foodstuff. Curry leaves (kari patta) which was described by Bapu is His discourse on Ram Rajya as anti-carcinogenic (antidote against cancer) is also bitter to taste and hence can  help in avoiding unnecessary sleep. Hence it should always form part of our diet and especially should be included in the food we have on the night on which we plan to stay up late.

This was followed by a huge gift to everyone by Bapu. He said that this Navratri should be very special in lives of all the Shraddhavans. Generally on each day of Navratri only one form of Aadi Mata is active respectively. But during this Navratri all the 9 forms (Mahakali, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati, Raktadantika, Shatakshi, Shreeram-Vardayini, Garbhadahini, Dattamangala Chandika, Mantramalini) and 3 avatars (Gayatri Mata, Anusaya Mata and Mahishasurmardini Mata) of Aadi Mata would be functional and active on all the 9 days simultaneously and this happens only once in 1000 years. This state was would also be there for Ashubhankarnashini Navratri which was observed last year between 8th October 2010 and 17th October 2010.

Finally before ending His discoursed Bapu again urged all the Shraddhavans to seriously observe the night recitations and reading and also visit Shree Aniruddha Gurukshetram and take darshan of both the forms of Aadi Mata (Anusaya Mata and Mahishasurmardini Mata) and offer our love and worship whole heartedly to the Goddess. Moreover He again stressed on the point that the the statue of Mahishasurmardini Mata at Shree Aniruddha Gurukshetram is actually not just a statue but the Goddess Herself.

(Note: Over the years it has also been observed that many times P. P. Bapu, P. P. Nandai and P. P. Suchitdada Themselves attend the aarti and grace the devotees with their darshan).