Durga
Durga’s qualities are that She is protective of Her children. She is very gentle, very soft with Her children and She is extremely horrifying to the satanic people, to the negative people.... Either She is extremely gentle or She is extremely horrifying. So because She has a double function, it is one to look after Her children and another to protect Her children from the devils. She has to be very quick about it, to fight them and to, in every way, frighten them and to be alert about it.... You have seen how Durga used to protect all the seekers, the sadhakas, and how She killed the people who have been troubling, torturing, killing the seekers of truth. Her whole advent was to protect them from all these evil forces. In those days, that was the most important work. So that is how the sadhakas came up to these modern times and now they are seekers of truth or they have found the truth.... You are worshipping Durga and all these Goddesses to thank them because if they had not saved you at that time, you would have been so frightened. You would have become bad people and you would not have been here. That is why we are thankful to them for saving us and giving us this protection at that when we were very helpless. (Shri Krishna Puja 1990 and Navaratri Pujas 1995 and 1991)
Excerpts
For that, we decided to have this Puja of Durga today that all negativity should be destroyed. So many Deities build up the body of Kali. Every part of Her body was created by a Deity, looked after by a Deity, and is also, later on, is reflected in you all. So they say that God has made human beings in His own image, I would say, I've made you in My own image, all the Deities at your disposal. They're all with you, and they have created you – if you see it minutely – it is the Deities who have brought forth all the beauty that you had. They have made all this beautiful congregation, beautiful transformation, and they have created such angelic people out of you. They are always working it out, but one thing you have to do is to have the drive. You had the pure desire to ascend, but for what? You want to have the light, but for what? You want to become gurus, for what? To save people, for their salvation. Only through your channels, I can work out Sahaja Yoga. If I could work out Myself, I would have. It's not a question of killing one rakshasa. God knows how many there are, rakshasas and rakshasas. And they are everywhere, even within you, they were. Now they've gone out. (1992-07-25)
Today is Ashatmi, wah (wow), and morning is Rath Saptami. Getting a puja on Ashtami is a very big thing and at Rahuri my maternal home is also there. On this day of Ashatmi we celebrate this day, Rama Devi as Ashta Bhuja Devi who made great conquests, prominent conquests being the killing of the big, big bad rakshasas, destroying them killing them. She is called as Nav Chandi, also as Chandika, Ashta Bhuja, Durga etc. many other names are there and She has destroyed all these Chanda, Munda and others, all the nav chandas, that is why She is called Nav Chandi. She has also destroyed mahishasura and after killing mahishasura, the Gods showered praises on Her, but those bhaktas who called Her, they were all very dharmic, sattvik, with very good qualities. Having been very much pleased with their qualities, the Devi took incarnation. So those qualities should be in us. (1982-02-01)
Now as you know that the Heart Chakra has got twelve petals, and the Durga resides on the Heart Chakra. Now the Durga's qualities are that She is protective of Her children, She's very gentle, very soft with Her children, and She's extremely horrifying to the satanic people, to the negative people. So in this raga I think because there are, the notes are spaced out. So either you could play it slow or you could play it fast. Nothing in between. That's why it is on a Durga's style. You see, either She is extremely gentle or She is extremely horrifying. So because She has a double function: is one to look after Her children, and another is protect Her children from the devils. So She has to be very quick about it, to fight them, and to, in every way to frighten them and to be alert about it. (1990-08-19)
Now, this process of kundalini rising upward can be hampered at a level. Another Chakra which is at the heart level, in the center in the spinal chord. It is expressed outside in the sternum and we can say that till the boy or the girl is about twelve years of age, from the sternum the anti-bodies are created, they go in the whole body and spread there and fight the diseases. Now, these anti-bodies, in Sahaja Yoga language, are the armies of the Jagadamba, of Durga, of the Mother of this world. She resides in this center according to Sahaja Yoga language. (1981-02-09)
What I am saying, is it going through your head or your heart? If it goes through your head then there will be arguments. A dogma will be made of it. Let it go through the heart, there will be light. If you want to enjoy love then bring it to the heart. The heart chakra is what the Christians call the Sacred Heart. Within it is the place of Bhavani, Durga which is a very great place. It is not within you to understand Durga. That all the rakshasas are also Her children. The whole world is Hers. A mother's Shakti destroyed them for the sake of Her love for Her children. To pull one's own hands is very difficult. To give an injection to oneself with one's own hands is very difficult. So to kill one's own children to protect other children is even more difficult. But to kill is a very great act of the Shakti; a very great act of Forgiveness. That is Her power of Forgiveness but in Kalyuga there is no need for you people to become Bhavani. Just become peaceful. Very peaceful, very peaceful. Your peacefulness will take forward the work of Sahaja. (1975-01-20)
I would say, with this, today's special celebration of Navaratri. Like yesterday you saw Shri Durga's nine forms, also. In that, one is Kushmanda, is one of the forms, that you absorb all the filth in yourself, in your stomach. But the Devi does that, not you. What the Devi can do, you should not do, that's her job, that She is supposed to do this, not you. What you have to do is to only be in silence so that you absorb whatever will increase that silence, will increase your depth. The Devi will look after all the rest of the things, she'll look after all the filth, all the anger, all the temper, all the everything that's going on in this world. She will absorb all that, but what you have to do is to just enjoy everything that is pure. (1995-10-01)
Now you are worshipping today the Durga, or all the nine forms of the Goddess. She came nine times on this Earth, according to this, that She fought all the people who were destroying the seekers, who were trying to make a mess of their lives. And these tortured saints, when they prayed to the Goddess – because none of the gods could do anything, and Sadashiva is never interfering with what the Goddess is doing – so they worshipped the Bhagawati, and then the incarnation of Hers came nine times, according to the need of the time. So every time you find Her confronting people who are extremely arrogant, self-opinionated, thinking no end of themselves; and the bhaktas are tortured by these self-opinionated horrible rakshasas.
Now, in India when we cast the horoscope of a person, we have three categories of people: one are the devas, they're called dev; the second ones are the ones which are manavas, means human beings; and the third ones are rakshasas. So I think I have got all of you from the dev categories, because you could not have taken to Sahaja Yoga that seriously unless and until you were there. After all, why should you believe Me also that when I say that there was the Durga, and there was this thing, and She did this and did that? It's not that from one faith you have come out and now you are jumping onto another faith; it's not like that. It is actually been proved – you can feel. For example, when you are raising the kundalini on the center Heart, you can feel that on the center Heart if there is a catch, you have to take name of the Jagadamba. Unless and until you take Her name it won't open out. Also when I am clearing out your center Heart, I have to also say, “Now I am in reality Jagadamba,” and then the Jagadamba within you awakens. (1992-09-27)
Wikipedia
Durga (Sanskrit: दुर्गा Durgā "Invincible") is the principal form of the Mother Goddess in Hinduism. She is known by a variety of names - including Amba, Ambika, Jagadamba, Parvathi, Shakti, Adishakti, Parashakti and Devi. Durga is regarded by Hindus as the root cause of creation, sustenance and annihilation. She is pure energy (referred to as "Shakti" in Sanskrit and Hindu religious context). Being innately formless (known as Adi Parashakti), she manifests herself within the gods and demi-gods so that she may fulfill the tasks of the universe via them. At times of distress, such as when Mahishasura terrorized the universe, she manifests herself in divine form to protect the world. Hence, Durga is also known as Mahishasura Mardini. (more)
