INVOKING DIVINITY WITHIN
(Experiences shared by devotees from India & abroad – Oct’20)
Hari Aum!
I offer my humble pranaam at the Lotus Feet of Her Holiness Maa Purnanandaji and the Guru Parampara and seek their blessings.
In this Purushottama Adhik Holy Month, Maa's Talks on "Nurture the Nature" was the real nourishment for my mind and intellect and has woken me up to invoke Devi Maa during Navraatri, to go inward and prepare myself to work upon and evolve from my lower tendencies to the higher with the Divine help of 'Mahaa Maaya'.
Ishwara (the Spirit in its manifested form as Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara) with Maha Maya (Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas forms namely Maa Saraswati, Lakshmi and Durga) help me in enhancing my nature from Rajas and Tamas to Sattva. I worship and pray to Mahaa Maaya in Sree Durga Saptashati especially during Navraatri.
I pray and bow down to Mahaa Maaya to purify my mind, intellect equipments and chant
1. या देवी सर्वभुतेषु विद्यारूपेण संस्थिता।
नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः॥
Maa Saraswati to enhance my Shastraik knowledge (into action) as Vidya.
2. या देवी सर्वभुतेषु शक्तिरूपेण संस्थिता।
नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः॥
Maa Lakshmi who is Devi Shakti who can give strength (in the form of honesty, faith, righteousness and devotion as virtues)
3. Maa Durga
या देवी सर्वभुतेषु मातृरूपेण संस्थिता।
नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः॥
Devi Durga (as Mother) who nourishes and takes our mind, intellect equipment in the right direction, so that I can improve upon myself and I can nurture my children with virtues.
The individualistic ego in the form of vasanas differs from person to person in different proportions of satwa, rajas and tamas.
I meditate on Mahaa Maaya as one who can annihilate my vasanas and nurture my lower nature to transcend my three gunas.
रूपं देहि जयं देहि यशो देहि द्विषो जहि॥
Uma Maheshwari
(Dubai)
Hari Aum!
We were blessed to listen to Mata today, and her words have left the following impressions on my mind,
Mata started the talk with a prayer to Mother Nature from Sree Durga Saptashati, followed by Its explanation.
The Nature already exists, we need to take correct and careful steps for the procreation and its growth. As a layman we understand Nature as oceans, mountains, forests, plant and animal kingdom and so on. In a deeper sense, it is extended beyond these. As per the Vedantic philosophy, the Creation unfolds in the presence of the Spirit in union with the Matter in the form of three gunas. This is the cause for the creation of Nature, and “my” being is due to the same cause, i.e. the three gunas - Sattva, Rajas, Tamas. Generally, external Nature is same for all, but the internal nature of each individual will differ due to the combination of the three gunas. My prism shows me my dominant colour (guna). After understanding this, the individual ego "I" will have to be nurtured, with the help of Scriptural guidance beneficial both to me, as well as the surrounding.
Mata led us to the question in our minds - "How to find my nature?" The Rishis of the yesteryears organised the Scriptures in a way for us to understand these intricacies. Scriptures tell us how to align our gunas in accordance with the three Lords – Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Mahesh of Sattva, Rajas & Tamas respectively. The Trinity will have to be rightly invoked in Its right place. For example, mind being sattvik in nature, if tamas enters my mind, it is called contamination. We need to follow the instructions given by our Gurus and Scriptures.
Durga Saptashati through Its 13 chapters guides us how to inculcate the right nature in a systematic approach. Chanting the mantras for Devi Saraswati, Devi Laxmi and Devi Durga, each representative of Vidya, Shakti and Mother. The 3 Devis together form the Mahamaya.
With the grace of the Guru Parampara, let me pray and progress towards my divinity. Thank you Guru Ma, for this insightful talk. Please forgive me for my mistakes.
Sweta Kandoi
(Aurangabad)
Hari Aum and Prostration at the Holy Feet of the Almighty.
In today’s talk by Maa Purnanandaji, the topic being “Nurture the Nature”, Maa beautifully brought out how we should nurture Nature and bring the best in us. Our nature is basically the congregation of the 3 gunas - Sattva, Rajas and Tamas i.e Purity, Passion and Inertia. The 3 gunas which are different in each individual brings out his/her inherent nature. When we see the Nature outside from the prism of the 3 gunas, the world outside is different for each one according to their ego centric gunas.
We should nurture our nature and enhance the Sattva guna in our own selves and also do good for others too. The 3 gunas are each assigned to the 3 Lords – Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Mahesh. Sattva guna gives rise to the mind-intellect equipment and our perceiving faculty. Our thoughts should be clear and not be tainted by the Rajas and Tamas gunas in us. As the Rajas and Tamas guna in the intellectual equipment can be harmful.
We should invoke the Devi, worship Her and seek Her blessings, to turn our Knowledge into practice and in-turn transform ourselves into better humans. We should seek Her guidance, so that our virtues form the expressions in us and enhance the Sattva guna.
To improve our gunas we should do puja, japa, and reading of the scriptures and correctly understand and implement Them. We should nurture the creation with love and compassion and invoke the inner beauty of Knowledge. This will help us in removing our negativity, direct us towards progress and be blessed.
My humble pranaam,
Sunita Attal
(Aurangabad)
Analyzing your true nature
Prostrations to Guru Parampara and my humble Pranaam at Maa’s Lotus feet.
These days we, especially the younger generation, keep talking about bettering the environment and nurturing Mother Nature. One thing we forget in the midst of it all, is to look within. Before making changes outside, it is important we become aware of our own nature and learn to nurture ourselves internally.
Here is my attempt in condensing what I have understood from the talk “Nurture the Nature”:
As individuals, one should always keep a check on what Gunas are predominant in oneself. We tend to see or create our own situations as per our predominant nature. But as we know, we do not have control on the outside nature. Still, we can always observe and rectify the Gunas within us. One needs to constantly be aware of and adhere to the fundamental ideas given in our Vedantic philosophy. Our predominant tendency, be it Sattva , Rajas or Tamas, is the cause of our own creation.
The individualistic ego is comprised of the three Gunas, compelling oneself to identify them externally. In the process, one fails to look at the nature within.
The prevalent tendency varies in each individual, which makes them different from others. By understanding this, we will be able to work on controlling these qualities, without letting them control us. In this way, we can nurture our own nature and improve ourself.
To understand our nature, we have a lot of religious practices that we can follow consciously, rather than performing them mechanically.
With Navratri fast approaching, we have an opportunity to acting on this knowledge while chanting Sree Durga Saptashati. For instance, Devi Saraswati is the personification of Vidya. Therefore, during worship, we must remember the virtues she stands for, and converting knowledge into Vidya by practiced action. This will help purify the mind intellect. Devi Mahalakshmi represents Shakti (inner strength) to help instill faith, devotion and righteousness. Devi Durga epitomizes the concept of mother, nurturing and directing us in the path of righteousness.
-May we all be blessed with the inner beauty of knowledge and understanding.
-May we be blessed with victory of the virtues against vices within us.
-May we be blessed with the glory of Mother Goddess.
Hari Aum
Divya
Dubai (UAE)
Hari Aum!
Maa ji through her invaluable words encouraged us to look inside ourselves to see more than just the Nature that we see externally. Maaji told us to nurture the guna which is THE NATURE. We are worshipping God without understanding the Nature. All three gunas have a purpose. The dominance of a particular guna in us determines our priority in life. So, is it not critical for us to nurture our gunas to attain purity of mind and intellect? We can attain the purity by performing prayer. We need to utilize the auspicious Navaratri days to pray and purify our mind and intellect. We should follow this meticulously.
Pranaam to you Maaji.
Suresh VP
(Chennai)
Hari Aum!
Pranaam at the Lotus Feet of Maaji.
“Nurture The Nature”: What a beautiful metaphor! It actually shook me totally to know that nurturing Nature means nurturing our own inner individual nature. Maa's explanation was so simple and lucid. Nature is nothing but the the play of the Trigunas - Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.
Lord Brahma represents Sattva and is associated with our mind, intellect and organs of perception.
Lord Vishnu represents Rajas and is associated with our praanas and organs of action.
Lord Shiva represents Tamas and is associated with transformation.
Invocation of Lords at all levels is a must to ensure we remain in harmony with Nature, that helps us to perform our ordained duties as per Scriptural injunctions for our own evolution. For eg: Mind and intellect, equipment arising out of Sattva Guna, is predominatly Sattvik, but if Rajas and Tamas contaminate it, then problems occur within and outside.
Maa also elucidated how we should pray to Devi Saraswati, Devi Lakshmi and Devi Durga so as to gain Knowledge, abilities and skills to destroy the asuric tendencies in us and live a Righteous life.
Ever Grateful for this wonderful knowledge session.
Lakshmy Vijay
(Bengaluru)