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Navratri Puja celebrated at Shri Ram Mandir

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Navratri Puja celebrated at Shri Ram Mandir
Brampton, Canada

After bidding a fond farewell to Lord Ganpati, the devotes at Shri Ram Mandir were all set to welcome the 'adishakti' - the mother goddess, with a rich banquet of cultural and religious programmes, bhajans, and raas dandiya as the Navratri festival commenced on Friday 3rd October.

The Navratri Puja or Durga Puja celebrations mean so much to Hindus. To the cosmopolitan and the agnostic, the Goddess’ homecoming is just an occasion to blend street festivities with gluttony.

For some strange reason Dandiya’s takes me back to a memory especially when I hear those Dandiya beats. My most memorable Navratri happened to be when I was in college in Bombay now known as Mumbai. Navratri festival was quite new in Mumbai and Dandiyas were a new thing then. I remember going out with my friends for Dandiya and before that we had practiced it on our college terrace for a few days. This Dandiya was quite a big event and there was lovely music and I kept dancing for about two to three hours. It was exciting for me since I had learnt how to do Dandiya for the first time. We really had a great time. That Dandiya was organised in a big way by community members of the neighbourhood. I remember that was the first time I went out at night and I was there for a really long time as every song and every moment there was like a sweet memory.

Later we used to have Navratri celebrations where eight or ten buildings used to get together and hold Dandiya. As a college student, we had to be back but for young children they felt so good that they did not go to school for nine or ten days and danced the whole night. I used to feel very proud during that time because my college room mate used to sing at Garbas. I remember later the college used to organise these Dandiya nights every weekend. For some reason, I have lost that enthusiasm now, but I used to love going out with my friends during Navratri. It used to be a fun thing then and it started off the festive season with a lot of fun.

My most memorable Navratri in terms of clothes, songs, dancing styles, performers and even people will probably be last year because for the first time in Canada I was going to follow the rituals for nine days at Shri Ram Mandir. Three late nights were exclusively for Dandiya which was organised by an ever ready and energetic young Madhuben Mistry. She has been doing dandiya shows for many years now. There was this huge crowd of 1000 people, dancing to popular numbers and there was a fabulous response and the crowd were cheering and dancing a lot. I have seen that more people are willing to perform to Gujarati tracks. This was not the case earlier, as Hindi tracks along with the beats used to be the favourites. During dandiya one can see a different vibe not just among Gujaratis, but among all those who are enthusiastic to dance and enjoy.

But to those less inclined to go for Dandiya programs, Shri Ram Mandir had organised a daily Devi Darshan program. Every Day one child Devi was selected and dressed like a Devi in festive colours. Devotees received the child Devi as She entered the temple, with the chanting of bhajans and mantras. The story of Mata Durga, Mata Lakshmi and Mata Saraswati as told in the vedic books was narrated by Pandit Roopnauth Sharma, Spiritual leader of the Mississauga Ram Mandir for nine days. A large crowd of devotees listened with love and affection the connected stories of their Goddesses as Navratri marks the victory of the adishakti over demon Mahishasur after a battle which lasted nine days and nights.

These nine days witnessed long queues of devotees in front of Devi Durga Ma, young, old, children and women in particular at the Ram Mandir. A visit to the temple is a must during Navratri when the goddess is all dressed up and decorated and wafting to receive her devotees. All these days were celebrated as usual with traditional fervour by the devotees, by worshiping a different Devi and by chanting Vedic mantras dedicated to Mata Durga, Mata Lakshmi and Mata Saraswati and some offered flowers and fruit to Goddess. At midday, when Lord Rama is supposed to have been born, a special prayer was performed at Shri Ram Mandir. On the nineth day all the nine Devis were sitting together in the temple and hundreds of devotees waiting to receive them, showered flowers on all Nine Devies who were dressed up in ancient costumes as Mata Durga, Mata Lakshmi and Mata Saraswati. Navratri Puja for Hindus denotes the worship of shakti and the triumph of good over evil.

Unlike the Goddess Kali, another manifestation of shakti, with whom devotees have an intensely personal relationship, the ethos of the nine-day invocation of Durga is congregational. Until the early-20th century, family pujas were the norm; today, community worship has become the norm of the day from the underlying theme of the festival: the bonding of family, community, and society in a common reaffirmation of dharma.

Kanyalal Raina

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