Symbolism of Durga

This brings us to that ever-present question amongst modern Hindus and non-HIndus - why worship so many gods and goddesses?

Simple, Hinduism makes it easy for its believers to approach the Divine. It allows you to pick and choose which aspect of the Almighty you are attracted to. Ganesha stands for the gentle strength of god, Skanda stands for valour and steadfastness, Hanuman for unwavering devotion, Lakshmi for prosperity, Saraswathy for wisdom etc.

Durga stands for the combined energies of all the aspects of the Divine. For this you will have to read Her origins and the reason for Her being. I will post that later. For this posting, here's an excerpt from Bansi Pandit who explains the symbolism of Goddess Durga, from www.koausa.org

Goddess Durga represents the power of the Supreme Being that preserves moral order and righteousness in the creation. The Sanskrit word Durga means a fort or a place that is protected and thus difficult to reach. Durga, also called Divine Mother, protects mankind from evil and misery by destroying evil forces such as selfishness, jealousy, prejudice, hatred, anger, and ego.

The worship of Goddess Durga is very popular among Hindus. She is also called by many other names, such as Parvati, Ambika, and Kali. In the form of Parvati, She is known as the divine spouse of Lord Shiva and is the mother of Her two sons, Ganesha and Karttikeya, and daughter Jyoti. There are many temples dedicated to Durga's worship in India.

In Her images, Goddess Durga is shown in a female form, wearing red clothes. She has eighteen arms, carrying many objects in Her hands. The red color symbolizes action and the red clothes signify that She is always busy destroying evil and protecting mankind from pain and suffering caused by evil forces. Following is the symbolism associated with Goddess Durga:

A tiger symbolizes unlimited power. Durga riding a tiger indicates that She possesses unlimited power and uses it to protect virtue and destroy evil. The eighteen arms of Durga signify that She possesses combined power of the nine incarnations of Lord Vishnu that have appeared on the earth at different times in the past. The tenth incarnation, the Kalkin (a man on a white horse), is still to come. Thus, Goddess Durga represents a united front of all Divine forces against the negative forces of evil and wickedness.

The sound that emanates from a conch is the sound of the sacred syllable AUM, which is said to be the sound of creation. A conch in one of the Goddess's hands signifies the ultimate victory of virtue over evil and righteousness over unrighteousness.
Other weapons in the hands of Durga such as a mace, sword, disc, arrow, and trident convey the idea that one weapon cannot destroy all different kinds of enemies. Different weapons must be used to fight enemies depending upon the circumstances. For example, selfishness must be destroyed by detachment, jealousy by desirelessness, prejudice by self-knowledge, and ego by discrimination.

Durga

Durga, the unreachable One. That's is what the Supreme Mother's name means. Quite daunting actually if you think about it, as she is said to be the most difficult of goddesses to reach. The Sanskrit word 'durga' is said to mean 'unattainable'. However, as a feminine energy and a mother figure, She isn't the detached energy Her name may stand for. A simple prayer of a child to his Mother is all that is required to reach her.

The Durga sect (a misnomer actually since the proper expression is the Sakta sect or followers of Shakti) has become increasingly popular lately. In the past, in Malaysia at least, one hardly heard of Durga Puja or her worship on Tuesdays. Goddess Mariamman and Goddess Kali were popular but Durga was always a shadowy goddess. Now, She is in the forefront, adored by all and fervently worshipped.

This could mean two things. One, people are tuning themselves to higher manifestations of the goddess or two, Her time to make an appearence has come. The latter possibility is not very promising as the Puaranas (mythological text) say that Durga incarnates when the world falls into total chaos and evil needs to be vanquished.

Hybrid Ganesha

This image shows how easily devotees can adapt Ganesha into their everyday lives. He is all pervasive, even in Hollywood characters where he assumes the form of Spider Ganapathy!

As a Hindu, do you get offended by this depiction? I personally dont think it warrants any anger. We always forget that God is pure love and never wrath - well... there have been instances where God too gets angry but that is to vanquish evil.

Why Ganesha?

Why not? More pertinently, how not to? He is after all the most adorable of Hindu deities. Ganesha is always depicted as a jolly deity who is easy to appeal to and to appease (trust me, He isn't that easy to please. He removes obstacles but can also be instrumental in putting it there in the first place!).

But Ganesha stirs up the warmest of feelings in you; that everything will be all right, that He listens with His big ears, that He scrutinises your problems with His beady eyes, that His pot belly reflects the good-humoured nature of this affable deity. Ganesha is simply put, reassurance.

Someone asked me long, long time ago, why Ganesha was depicted as an elephant-headed god? I couldn't answer and started mouthing the puranas or mythological tales of his coming to being.

Amazingly, a Chinese girl turned around and answered the question: "He represents the gentle strength of God".

Vanakam, Namasthe, Sastrigal, Salam, Greetings to all. Glad you dropped by this little site in the vast world of blogs. May you always find joy in your heart, peace in your mind and a smile on your face.

OK... formalities out of the way, it is nice to say Hi to you all. As you can see frm the heading, this page is about Hinduism; not that I claim to be an expert in it. No one really can. There is a famous saying in the Tamil language which means 'What you know is fistful of sand, what you need to know is an ocean-ful of sand'. That surmises the religion as well. It is so vast, so infinite that trying to understand the entire thing can leave you flummoxed, like I have on many occasions. But with a little curiousity, a lot of acceptance, a little logic and a lot of faith, things tend to present themelves in a clearer fashion. And you start thinking that you have understood but than, a newer dimension appear and sends you back into another quest of trying to understand it all over again. It basically is evolution. Moving on to a higher plane, seeking out spirituality.

Like how God had intended all of us to evolve and become the perfect human being. But what is a perfect human being? God? It is true then, inside everyone lies a perfect, god-like being just waiting to be rid of all the layers of pollution that covers the true soul from emerging.

Salutations to Ganesha

I bow to thee, O Five-handed One, with countenance as bright as the luminous moon. I salute thee Son of Gauri, daughter of the Himalayas, consort of Mahadev. I worship thee, O pot-bellied One, who rides the industrious rat as his vehicle. I rejoice in thee, O Vignaharta, remover of obstacles.