DAY 3: Nine Nights of the Goddess (Navaratri)

Ashwin Kumar, Glendale; Sadhguru, 2022; Dhr. Seven, Ananda (DBM) (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Sound of the universe

Happy Navratri (the Nine Nights of the Divine Mother or power Shakti) according to the ancient Vedic solar-lunar calendar.

Shakti and willpower are within us and may be used for purpose, health, wealth, prosperity, and self-awareness/realization.

Come learn how to invoke and realize each of the nine aspects of energy (Divine Mother's creative aspect) as follows:

Goddess Saraswati

• each night learn about one of the nine aspects of shakti
• how to harness each aspect with a specific mantra and meditation technique
• each aspect's physioanatomy and psychosomatic connection
• how to heal body and mind with each aspect
• astronomical relevance of each night and aspect
• Vedic stories about each aspect

Division of the Nine Aspects

Goddess Ma Durga

The Divine Mother, Ma Durga, as "Shakti" — the energy of Kundalini (serpentine force coiled at the base of the spine) for the first three days.

The next three days, it's Lakshmi — the energy of wealth. The last three days, it's Saraswati — the energy of knowledge and wisdom.

• Monday, Sept. 26 to Oct. 3, 2022
• 6:00-7:00 pm Yoga and Meditation
• 7:00-8:30 pm Navaratri Celebration*
• Ashwin College of Ayurveda Yoga and Vedic Sciences
• 111 S. Kenwood St., Glendale CA 91205 (323) 702-1211

*Includes discussion, healing puja fire 🔥 ceremony, vegetarian food, socializing

Blessings/Namaste 🙏 Questions: call or text

What is the Navaratri festival?

Indian Goddess Lakshmi

(Wiki) Navaratri is an annual festival in India, one of the most revered Hindu celebrations observed in the honor of the Mother Goddess Ma Durga. It is held over nine nights (and ten days), in the early part of the year (Chaitra or March/April) and again in the fall (Sharada). It is observed for different reasons and celebrated differently in various parts of the Hindu Indian cultural sphere [2, 3]. Theoretically, there are four seasonal Navaratri but in practice, it is the post-monsoon autumn festival called Sharada Navaratri. It is celebrated during the bright half of the Hindu calendar month of Ashvin, which typically falls in September and October [2, 4]. It takes place at the same time as the Nine Emperor Gods Festival [5]. More

"SOLD" into sex trafficking (video)

Michael Slate Show (KPFK, April 8, 2016), Brown & Charles (Sold), Kay Buck (CastLA.org)

Host Michael Slate welcomes Director Jeffrey Brown and Producer Jane Charles of "SOLD," a powerful film that dramatizes the human sexual trafficking of girls. It is now playing in Los Angeles. Kay Buck, CEO and Executive Director of CAST, to talk about the scope of modern human slavery -- with 30 million victims worldwide -- the impact on the children and other enslaved, who are overwhelmingly but not exclusively female, as seen in the movie "Sold," and the work to end it.

• LISTEN (see Archive for Friday, April 8th, 10:00 am)

15 Years of Abolishing Slavery and Trafficking

 

CAST (Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking) is a not-for-profit organization that was established in 1998 in the wake of the El Monte (Los Angeles) sweatshop case.

There 72 Thai garment workers were kept chained for eight years in slavery and debt bondage. Upon their release and under the leadership of CAST’s founder, Dr. Kathryn McMahon, a group of concerned community activists realized that something needed to be done to address the re-emergence of slavery in our own backyard.

With this in mind CAST was created, with the Little Tokyo Service Center as its fiscal agent, to provide intensive case management, comprehensive services, and advocacy for survivors healing from the unspeakable violence endured during enslavement.

Today, CAST is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual human rights organization located in Los Angeles. It has been nationally and internationally recognized for its dedication to the identification of sex trafficking survivors, the mobilization of all sectors of the community to identify and advocate against trafficking, and the provision of direct services for victims. More

• CAST HOTLINE: (888) KEY-2(FRE)EDOM or (888) 539-2373

Democracy Now! nationwide speaking tour with Amy Goodman LIVE in L.A., April 14

Gwan Yin ("Virg Yin") Mantras

WQ and Tinh Tam

(Reuters/Stringer)

The art director of China's Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe, Tai Lihua (center), leads deaf dancers to perform "Thousand-hand Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva" -- or "Guan Yin" a Chinese form of the Goddess, in Suining, Sichuan province June 30, 2009.

Feeling the vibration of the music through speakers and guided by hand gestures, the troupe takes steps to champion the rights of disabled people around the world. Since forming in 1987, the troupe has performed in more than 40 countries and raised money for disabled people's charities.

The prominent imagery and symbolism demonstrates the heavy influence of theistic Hinduism on the development and spread of Mahayana Buddhism. But, of course, Guan Yin (Kwan Yin, Kwannon, Miriam) is not limited to China. Her fame has spread far and wide as the embodiment of the Goddess across cultures. She is, in a very real sense, the Eastern Madonna, who herself is a form of the much older Mother Goddess, known all over the world by different names:

Isis

Gaia

Venus

Radha

Hecate

Hecuba

Lakshmi

Mother Nature

Saraswati

Morgana

Dimeter

Nidaba

Inanna

Shakti

Diana

Mary

Lilith

Pele

Kālī

Perhaps nowhere is she more influential than in Vietnam which, due to French colonialism, has given her adoration (one may go so far as to say, her worship), a double whammy: She is both Gwan Yin, the all-merciful "Bodhisattva of Compassion" and Madonna, the Catholic Virgin Mary. Miracles attributed to her by Buddhists and Catholics alike are a regular occurrence. Islam remembers her as Maryam, mother of Isa.

Hinduism and Mahayana -- two largely analogous paths of devotion -- have promoted the view that one can supplicate devas (a.k.a., godlings, beings of light, or angels), asking for favors and intervention (in Western Wicca/Pagan terms, a "boon").

The Buddha, however, emphasized emulating and modeling oneself after the well-born devas rather than worshipping or seeking their indulgences.

The sway of Mahayana in Vietnam coupled with centuries of French Roman Catholic influence makes the supplication of Gwan Yin (or Virgin Mary) natural and widespread. Vietnamese émigrés swear by the practice. Tinh Tam is one such individual, now living in the U.S. She is so convinced of the efficacy of such practices that she recently approached Wisdom Quarterly at the enormous, multi-ethnic Vesak 2009 celebration on the grounds of Whittier Narrows Park in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is rife with the worship of "Virg Yin" (Gwan Yin) as she appeared in Guadalupe, Mexico. Her representation is meticulous and uncanny: She is carefully depicted over a divine symbol of femininity, the crescent moon, with attendant devas, in flowing gowns, dispensing blessings/holy water reminiscent of Lakshmi and Western Pagan (Greek and Roman) forms of the Goddess. It is a clear manifestation of Yin energy (distinct from the active, masculine, often fatherly Yang).

Tam (whose contact information is printed at the bottom of these cards) is adamant about spreading Kwan Yin's glory and fame with a reassuring message for humankind (perhaps for all beings everywhere): We are not alone when we find ourselves in need. These phonetic, transliterated mantras/prayers are what Kwan Yin's disciples want more widely known.

When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom: Let it be, let it be (John Lennon, the Beatles).

Uppalavana: a historical Lakshmi?

Amol N. Bankar (Sri Lakshmi) and Dharmachari Seven (Ven. Uppalavanna)

India art depicts a female deity (devi) -- generically associated with Lakshmi (the beautiful "goddess of prosperity"). There is reason to believe that the historical character of Lakshmi is based on legends of the Buddha's foremost female disciple, Uppalavanna. The popular deity is worshipped by Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains.

Her appearance on coins (as shown here) is of a female in the popular meditation pose of Buddhists and Jain ascetics atop a lotus. This imagery is widespread in Shramanic ("wandering ascetic") and Brahmanical traditions, which adopted many of the motifs and ambitions of this populist new wave of religious expression away from priests and temples to actually attained individuals. (This echoes what was to happen in Israel centuries later when the vibrant Shramana Jesus (just back from India) took on the staid established Jewish orthodoxy and caused a revolution that continues to influence the West.

Like Krishna, a historical figure elevated to mythic proportions, the move from her origins in history to being associated with Lakshmi are not accidental. It behooves institutions to adopt popular traits and integrate them with established figures for fear of being displaced by them.

Another example is the Indian god (deva-raja) Indra,* who like Zeus or Thor is imagined to hurl lightning bolts in the sky. It is well known that Indra is in fact an amalgamation of the pre-Vedic and Vedic gods. And Buddhists refer to Indra as and Śakra (Pali, Sakka), the "king of the devas" who is at war in the heavens with the Asuras. He therefore has come to be regarded as the "god of war" as if he were more than a deva ("godling") or for war.

The Uppalavana/Lakshmi figure is seen on coins of Saurashtra Janapada, local coins in Buddhist and formerly Buddhist part of the Indian empire: Kausambi, Ujjain, Mathura, Ayodhya, Kashmir, Sri Lanka , Nepal, and coins of Yaudheya, Kuninda , Arjunayana, Agodaka.

The popularity of this goddess transcended the religious beliefs of the issuers like Azilises and Mohd Ghauri.

Who was the Vedic Lakshmi?
Ananda Coomaraswamy believes that Aditi is analogous with Lakshmi. She is Great Mother (Mahi-Mata) the imperishable goddess. She is the mother (or sister) of Adityas (including Mitra and Varuna) and daughter (or mother) of Daksha. The honorific "Sri" (a noun and adjective) is used in Rig Veda and also in Avestan literature to denote "that which is beautiful." The word Lakshmi first appears in Rig Veda in the sense of an auspicious or pleasant quantity. Her origin is traced to fifteen verses known as the Hymn to Sri (Sri-sukta) found appended to the regular collection of hymns of the Fifth Book of the Rig Veda.

The Rig Vedic hymns of Sri Sukta associate her with the lotus. It describes her as Padma Sthite ("stands on lotus"), Padmavasa or Padmagriha (residing in a lotus). Hiranyavarnam (one who shines like gold reminiscent of Uppalavanna's skin tone), Adityavarnam/Pingala ("radiant as the sun"/"yellow in hue"), Hemamalini ("wearing a gold garland"), Chandram ("blossoming like the moon"), Suvarna ("whose luster is that of burnished gold"), Devajushtam ("worshipped by devas"). She is blazing with splendor, and is the embodiment of the fulfillment of all wishes. She is said to drive out all misfortune and poverty. She is unfailing and blesses with wealth and plenty, not only gold but also cattle, servants, horses, and men.

Indra/Sakka

*INDRA: in Hindu mythology, the "king of the gods." He is one of the main gods of the archaic Sanskrit collection of hymns, the Rigveda, and is the Indo-European cousin of the German Wotan, Norse Odin, Greek Zeus, and Roman Jupiter.

The Rig-Veda frequently refers to him as Śakra -- the mighty-one. In the Vedic period, the number of gods was assumed to be thirty-three and Indra was their lord. (The slightly later Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad enumerates the gods as the eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras, the twelve Adityas, Indra, and Prajapati). As lord of the Vasus, Indra was also referred to as Vāsava.

By the age of the Vedanta, Indra became the prototype for all lords and thus a king could be called Mānavendra (Indra or "lord of men") and Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, was referred to as Rāghavendra ("Indra of the clan of Raghu").

Hence the original Indra was also referred to as Devendra ("Indra of the Devas"). However, Sakra and Vasava were used exclusively for the original Indra. Though, modern texts usually adhere to the name Indra, the traditional Hindu texts (the Vedas, epics, and Puranas) use Indra, Sakra, and Vasava interchangeably and with the same frequency. "Of the Vedas I am the Sama Veda; of the demigods I am Indra, the king of heaven; of the senses I am the mind; and in living beings I am the living force [consciousness]" (Bhagavad Gita 10.22).