The Invitation

Musings by Veronica Yacco

When the world was being overcome by darkness and the cosmos itself was threatened, all the Devas (the Hindu deitites) prayed to and sang the praises of the Goddess. In answer to their collective prayer, She appeared as Durga to battle the demons and save Creation. Her powers are said to be all the powers of the Devas and that they willingly gave their powers to Durga so that She could slay the demons. But these powers are forms of Shakti, the same energy that is Durga Herself. The powers of the Devas that are gifted to Her are those that She already has within Herself. She needs nothing outside of Her to accomplish Her task, but the weapons that symbolize the power of the Devas are not truly about gifting power, but intention. Durga's presence in the world only happens because of a request, a prayer that the world, and everything in it, be saved from destruction. And in this case, destruction does not mean dissolution (because that is part of the natural cycle of existence), but corruption. The demons never want to destroy the Devas, they want to dominate them, take their place and direct Creation according to their own desires which inevitably cause chaos and disrupt the balance of the universe. This is what Durga is called on to do, address the chaos caused by misaligned desire. The Devas are unable to do so because they too are caught in desires based upon their individual identities and forms. When the Devas gift their powers to Durga it is an act of surrender, an acknowledgment that as they are, they are unable to use those powers to their full extent. By giving them up, the Devas allow for the limitations of themselves to be surrendered to Durga's Will. She is able to use all the powers of the Devas in their most unconditioned forms and therefore shape those powers into whatever form best fits Her purpose. What unlocks this incredible potential is not the weapons, but the surrender. What activates Durga, the energy that destroys illusion and liberates us from our inner darkness is prayer- surrendering to what is beyond our individual will and desire. From that surrender we can experience all of the free-flowing splendor that is shakti in the form of our own Soul and as our own life unfolding.

There are actually two stories of Durga's origin. The first is the one mentioned above. The second story (and I only number them this way because of how popular and well-known they seem to be) involves a demon named Durgama steals the Vedas from the Devas and all spiritual understanding disappears from the world and things start to fall apart. Mankind essentially forgets that there is anything besides the material world and ignores the Devas and acts only from selfish desires. As the power of the Devas diminish, the world begins to die (the Devas ultimately represent all the qualities of Nature). In this story it is the Brahmins, the priests of mankind, that go deep into prayer and beg the Goddess to restore the Vedas to them so they can again do the work that nourishes the Devas (and therefore the world). The Goddess appears as Satakshi, the Mother of the Universe, and in answer to the sorrow of the Brahmins she begins to cry from her hundred eyes until rivers throughout the world are overflowing (for 9 days and nights). After Her tears She showered the Earth with abundant food- grains, vegetables, roots, and fruit so all creatures could eat and the Devas began to regain their strength. The demon Durgama tried to stop the Goddess and in their battle, She creates from Herself countless forms that battle Durgama's army and She eventually slays Durgama himself. Because she slayed Durgama, She gives herself the name Durga.

The second story gives us an awareness of the Goddess Durga that is more than simply a warrior or protector. She appears first without even the name Durga. She is simply a great Mother responding to the sorrow of Her children and instead of battle, She first gives her aid as nourishment. She is returning an aspect of life that was missing, Love as sustenance. It's only when the demon comes to Her that She fights and through vanquishing this demon She is given the name She is later known by. The circumstances of mankind's sorrow is also of a more profound nature in this story. The world is not dying because the demons are destroying it. It is dying because everyone has forgotten how to connect to the Divine. Without the Vedas there are no mantras, no rituals, no Devas to be service to as a pathway back to the Infinite. God, as a Divine Reality, is forgotten and life becomes listless and without purpose. Without God, all the powers of mankind have no focus and the mind creates all kinds of suffering through chasing temporary satisfaction or pleasure. The prayer to Durga is not to save the world from the demons, but to give mankind back a connection to the Divine, to redirect all the powers of mankind's inner Spirit back into harmony with that Divine Reality, to help the mind remember God. In the same way, in the first story the Devas relinquish their individual powers to Durga as a way of aligning their individual ways of Being into Her one unified Being. In both stories, it is the surrender of the individual to the Divine that banishes or overcomes the darkness in the world.

To invoke Durga to help us on our spiritual path or in our life, we cannot simply ask that She appear as we would like Her to. She comes only in response to real recognition and prayer arising from the deep heart. The prayers or hymns or mantras are all forms of surrender, the mind humbling itself and creating an opening, an emptiness for the free-flowing Love of the Goddess to move through. Sometimes our prayers don't even have words. The longing in our hearts is another way we can open to know a connection to the Divine within. The key is that we acknowledge that longing and let it lead us to a place where we can surrender our own will and allow the presence of Divine Shakti to guide us. The Goddess abides in all Creation because She IS Creation. We are never outside of Her, nor can we be separate. All the qualities we have are already within Her, waiting to show their unconditioned Grace. When we call out to Her through prayer, meditation, song, or just in the love and anguish in our hearts, what we receive back is the Universal echo of what we have transmitted, the image of Truth that we have been missing. She is always pouring Her Love out to us, like flowing rivers. Our prayers are what make us a place where that Love can be felt and truly reflected through our Being. The Goddess as Durga arrives to answer our prayer to remember our truest Self, to remove the illusions that cloud our ability to feel the Divine Radiance that shines through us all. May we rediscover this Truth, no matter how many times we have forgotten.

OM dhum Durgayei Namaha!