Yoga of Divine Mother, a Navaratri Offering: Day 1.

Amma Sri Karunamayi explains how to worship Divine Mother during Navaratri. She gives step-by-step instructions for puja that devotees can do at home, and Amma shares Her loving presence and blessings in this beautiful video.

More Videos:
Amma's Introduction to Navaratri

Navaratri Day: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Swamiji's Explanation of Homas

Text of Amma's Message

Om Sarva Rupa Mayam Devi
Sarva Sakti Mayam Jagat
Ato Ham Visva Rupam
Twam Namami Sri Lalitambikam
Namami Sri Durgambikam.

Embodiment of Divine Souls, My Most Beloved Sweet Children, My babies, I love you my babies. 

Navaratri is a very auspicious festival. There are innumerable festivals but especially this festival is an energy festival--very special energy. This energy is not a common energy but it is the cosmic energy. So, totally all the people who worship Divine Mother, they give up all the physical works at this time. So many disciples dedicate their entire time especially at this auspicious Navaratri festival time to the worship of Divine Mother, or to pray to Divine Mother. They do very special mantra japas especially on these ten days.

Worship Divine Mother all these ten days with total shraddha, with intense love and with intense interest focused on Divine Mother. Suppose you love to do meditation, try to do meditation in front of the Sri Chakra, because the Navaratri festival time is a very auspicious and a very, very powerful time. My dear sweet children, suppose you want to do meditation all the ten days, O.K. you can do that.  But you must sit in front of the Sri Chakra while you do your meditation—it is so auspicious. This is because the cosmic energy which emanates from the Sri Chakra bindu is 493 million just for one fraction of a second. That much energy comes from Sri Chakra. So try to sit in front of the Sri Chakra, observe silence, do meditation. It is going to be very, very auspicious for you.

Suppose you want to do pujas, it is so good. You will get the same benefit from the pujas also.  Bhakti is elixir. Any kind of karma load will be eradicated by the power of true devotion, pure devotion, a hundred percent devotion. So devotion is elixir, ambrosia; it is so special. My dear sweet children, worship Divine Mother all the ten days without any interruption. Especially at the Navaratri festival time, chanting of stotras is very sacred—Khadgamala chanting, Lalita Sahasranama chanting, Lalitambika Ashtakam chanting, “Ambe Sri Lalite Siva Dalite Mayi  Krupane Kuru Karunam” —this is very sacred for Lalitambika, Sapta Sloki Durga, Samputita Sri Suktam—these kind of stotrams. You know all these stotrams. Try to chant in the morning and also in the evening. Suppose you don’t have time in the mornings, you can chant in the evening. Do a little puja to Sri Chakra and also to Ganesha.

And each and every second during the time of the Navaratri festival is very, very auspicious and very, very powerful. So, in India we are doing a lot of Chandi parayanas, Chandi homas, different, different homas. During this time all the homas are very sacred and very powerful because at the time of Navaratri the cosmic energy is abundant in the temples, in the Sri Chakras.

Generally at Navaratri people do nine days’ vrata. That is called Navahnika Navaratri Vrata. That means for nine days they are observing silence and doing puja. They wear the kankana on their hand. They tie the sacred thread on their right hand and they do puja with one-pointed intensity, just focusing on Divine Mother without any second thought. That is the Navahnika Navaratri Vratam, nine days Navaratri vow. Suppose they are very busy and it’s not possible, some people do the Navaratri vrata for just only seven days. It is also very auspicious to do this Navaratri vrata for Divine Mother. Any kind of sins, any kind of the karma load, diseases—all the karma load—will burn with the power which comes from thinking of Divine Mother, especially during this very, very powerful Navaratri festival time.
Suppose it is not possible for them to do this Navaratri vrata for seven days, they can do vrata for five days also. That is called the Panchanika Navaratri diksha. You can do five days’ Navaratri diksha also.  These five days are so sacred and very auspicious. The fifth day is Sri Lalita Panchami Day. That night people worship Divine Mother. They get abundance of blessings from Divine Mother. All the rishis are worshipping Divine Mother. The devatas and the rishis look for these days to worship Divine Mother. So especially it is so sacred to do the Panchanika Navaratri Diksha. They start on Lalita Panchami and continue till Maha Navami day.

Suppose in any circumstances it is not possible for them, some people are doing Navaratri vrata for three days only. That is Triratri Vratram. Triratri Vratam means three days of Navaratri vratam—Saptami or Maha Saptami when we do Saraswati puja, Durgashtami and Maha Navami.  Only the three days. And the fourth day, Vijayadasami, is Lalita Bhavani Day. In any circumstances do not miss the three days’ festival of Navaratri vratam. Each and every second is a golden moment—very auspicious, very powerful. If you worship Divine Mother, all the karmic bondages, all kinds of pains, problems, tribulations, all kinds of health problems, everything will be solved with the grace of Divine Mother. So Triratri Vratam is for Maha Saraswati puja, and Durga Lakshmi puja. Third day is Maha Navami, Adi Parashakti Jagan Mata puja. And the fourth day, that is the day of the Vijayadasami festival—Maha Lakshmi, Maha Saraswati, Maha Kali, and Maha Tripura Sundari Lalita Bhavani puja.

On all these auspicious days some people are chanting Lalita Sahasranama three times a day—morning, afternoon and also at night. If possible you can try to chant Lalita Sahasranama once in a day. If you have time and opportunity to chant you can do three times also, or twice a day or once a day. If you want to do the Khadgamala Stotram in the morning and also evening, you can do that also. It is so sacred and v. auspicious. And try to do the Ashtotara puja in the morning. Ashtotara puja is chanting the 108 sacred names of Divine Mother Lalitambika to the Sri Chakra. 

If you do the Sri Chakra puja with your own hands, it is so auspicious, children. When we accumulate all the good merits from innumerable births, this allows us to do a puja with our own hands to Divine Mother. Sri Chakra is nothing but the Divine Mother only. It is so gracious towards you. So that’s why you got the opportunity to do puja – very special puja to Divine Mother in these auspicious moments of the Navaratri festival directly with your own hands. Then your hands are charged with the divine cosmic energy.

During this Navaratri festival time people are generally doing annadana, godana—different, different charities in India. My dear sweet children, this 2007 Sarvajita Nama Samvajara, Aswija masa, the month of October is the special Navaratri festival time to experience the beautiful homas, and very special abhishekas and pujas, meditations and the bhajans. All these sacred pujas are going on very specially here in the Manidwipam at Penusila in a very great traditional way, especially for these brahmotsavas. I welcome all of you.

My sweet children. I love you so much, babies! I love you always, countless gazillions of times.