What is Navratri?

Navratri is a period of nine days celebrating the Divine Feminine and is happening from 3rd Oct to 11th Oct in 2024.

This culture draws its roots on profound observations of the human system and its relationship with the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, and different aspects of the Divine. This is also reflected in when and how we celebrate our festivals. Navratri literally means “nine nights.”

These nine nights are counted from the day after new moon day or Amavasya. These first nine days of the lunar cycle are considered feminine. This is a special time for Devi, who represents the feminine nature of the Divine. The ninth day is called Navami. The one-and-a-half-days around the full moon are a neutral time. The remaining eighteen days are masculine in nature. The feminine phase of the month is about Devi. That is why in the tradition, all worship up to Navami is dedicated to Devi.

There are twelve nine-day periods in a year and each of these is focused on a different aspect of the feminine Divine or Devi. The Navratri that comes around October is considered the most significant one because it is dedicated to Sharada, the goddess of learning. Amongst the many things that a human being can do, this tradition lays greatest emphasis on learning. Other creatures can run faster than us; they are stronger than us; they can do many things that we cannot do – but they cannot learn like we can. The pride of being human is that you can learn just about anything – if you are willing.

Importance of Navratri – a Time of the Feminine

When we say “masculine” and “feminine,” we are not talking about the gender; we are talking about the basic qualities in the existence, the polarities. The physical world can only exist between polarities – day and night, darkness and light, masculine and feminine, and male and female. Male and female is a manifestation of the masculine and feminine qualities, not a quality by itself.

The post autumnal equinox is the time of the feminine. Since this part of the year naturally supports the feminine, certain societies have worked to establish the feminine consciously, because the masculine asserts itself without much encouragement. The feminine needs support to assert itself – otherwise it moves into the background.

In any given society if feminine moves into the background, they will become conquerors. That means they will sit on an empty shell of life. They will conquer the whole world, and find that they have no taste of the world. This is the plight of the masculine that they reach the top of the world and then feel miserable right on the top.

Why Navratri Fasting?

Consciously bringing the feminine into your home, culture, and day-to-day practices is very important. The Indian culture created a whole series of processes, rituals and many other devices so that you go through this properly. You may not be conscious that it is Navaratri, so they told you to fast during these nine days. When there is food in the stomach, you forget what day it is, but if you are fasting you will be very conscious of what day it is. By the time you come to the ninth day, you will be superconscious! So, to make you very conscious and also to bring a certain level of purification in the body, you are supposed to fast.

Navaratri is all about the different Devis. Some of them are very gentle and wonderful. Some of them are fierce, terrible, or horrifying. This is the only culture which worships women who bite your head off. This is because we did not want to surrender one’s intelligence, brilliance, genius, and other competence at the altar of good behaviour alone. Good behaviour will give you social access. If you do not have good behaviour, society will reject you, but life will not reject you. If you are the only person on this planet, no one would be there to tell you what is good behaviour. You behave well as a consideration for the people around you, but as a life it means nothing.