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Namaste children!
Shiva’s consort or partner in action is Parvathi, who is the source of His energy to perform the task of redemption and regeneration. In her mild and pleasant form she is called Parvathi. One of her well known milder forms is ‘Annapoorani’ meaning the ‘bestower of food’. It is in this form that she is worshipped in the sacred Hindu temple at Varanasi. She is the Universal Mother .
She is commonly worshipped in the form of Durga. She represents the power of the Supreme Being that preserves moral order and righteousness in the creation. The Sanskrit word Durga means a fort or a place that is protected and thus difficult to reach. Durga, protects mankind from evil and misery by destroying inner evil forces such as selfishness, jealousy, prejudice, hatred, anger, and ego.
In Her image as Durga, She is shown sitting on a tiger, wearing red clothes. She has eighteen arms, carrying different objects including weapons in Her hands. Her red attire signifies incessant activity. She is always engaged in destroying evil and protecting mankind from pain and suffering caused by evil forces.
- A tiger symbolizes unlimited power. Durga riding a tiger indicates that She possesses unlimited power and uses it to protect virtue and destroy evil. The eighteen arms of Durga signify that She possesses combined power of the nine incarnations of Lord Vishnu that have appeared on the earth at different times in the past. Thus, Durga represents a united front of all Divine forces in constant combat over the negative forces of evil and wickedness.
- She holds a conch in one of Her hands. The sound that emanates from a conch is the sound of the sacred syllable AUM, which is said to be the sound of creation. A conch in one of the Goddess's hands signifies the ultimate victory of virtue over evil.
- Other weapons in the hands of Durga such as a mace, sword, disc, arrow and trident convey the idea that one weapon is not sufficient to destroy all different kinds of enemies. A very structured and disciplined multi-faceted ruthless power is required to destroy the enemies engaged in constant battle within our minds. Each one of these enemies calls for a specific weapon to destroy it and hence the need for many hands with assorted weapons. Durga will bless us with the discriminatory power to make use of the appropriate weapon and eradicate the enemy in question under a given circumstance. For example, selfishness must be destroyed by detachment, jealousy by desirelessness, prejudice by self-knowledge, ego by discrimination and hatred by love.
Durga’s form reinforces that it is mandatory for every human being to strive hard to destroy the evil within us. It is by Her grace and immense strength that we will be able to accomplish this task. We need to seek this power to be on our side at all times so we do not succumb to our own inner evil.
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*Kanayalal Raina is a Brampton based writer who contributes regularly to various Canadian publications. He is working as Executive Director at Canada Hindu Heritage Centre in Canada. An automobile Engineer and MBA (Mktg) by profession he is providing consultancy on Project Management, Financing and Marketing. |
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