Twice during the year in autumn and spring, we Indians worship the Universal Mother for nine nights which is popularly known as Navratari. During the months of Ashwin(September-October) and Chaitra(March-April), for nine consequtive nights and ten corresponding days the festival is observed. The Vasant(Spring) Navaratri ends in Rama Navami, while the more popular SHarad Navaratri ends in Dussehra(the tendth day, when Rama killed Ravana). According to legend the Vasant Navartri was the original one, because spring is the daytime of the gods, but the Sharad navaratri gained more prominence when Rama invoked the Mother out of time to gain power to kill Ravana. This out of time worship became known as Akal Bodhan and henceforth the Sharad navaratri became to be known as Maha Navaratri or Great navaratri. Through out the country the Goddess is invoked during the time in her various aspects. Usually she is worshipped in the north and south in her triple-aspect forms of Mahakali/Durga, Mahalakshmi/Lakshmi and Mahasaraswati/Saraswati - the mother in her black, red and white forms. In Bengal, the last four days (7-10) are celebrated with great pomp as Durga Puja. In Gujarat, during this time we have the Garba dance to celeberate the mothers arrival. The Graba is traditionally represented as a lamp inside an earthen pot and Garba menas nothing but the Universal Womb.
Therein lies the significance of the navaratri, which basically represnts the nine dark months of the womb and the light therefater and birth. This is the celebartion of the world mother and her universal womb which cradles the universe. The nine nighst repersents the nine states of existence before the indiviudual soul is born into the physical world. Below is a description about the meanings and significance of these nine nights anad tenth day.
0 - Amavasya - Mahalaya - MahaShunya(The Great Nothingness)
Navartari starts from Mahalaya, the new moon day, which marks the end of Pitr pakshya(the period of the Fathers-ancestors) and the beginning of Devi paksha(The Period of the Goddess). On the new moon day, there is darkness alround with the moon not seen, but it exists still. This repersents existence in its unmanifested state. This is refrred to in the Shastras as the Unmanifested Brahmna or Nirguna Brahman(Brahmna beyond qulities). This is the Ultimate Zero which is the container of all. its the MahaShunya - the great nothingness from which Everything emereges= the dimensionless point from which all dimensions evolve. This is existence in its latent state before the begining of the creative process. This is the time before ovulation where the egg is yet not born This ZERO will manifest itslef as The ONE in the next phase of cretaion.
1 - Prathama - THE ONE
1 repersents the manifested Self , Saguna Brahman, God the Father, Vishnu. It represnts the expressed aspect of divinity, the self as an indentity as an individual. It is also Unity in which everything is combined as one. In the cycle of Pregnacy it is the time when the female starts to ovulate and the seed of new life is born as a new unfertilized egg. As the male counterpart it can also represent the Phallus, the Lingam, the staff of power, the father, the sperm which again contains the seed of new life.
