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Connecting With The Goddess The Face Of Durga By: Linda Reichert A majority of the Goddesses are portrayed in folklore or myth. Within each mythological story is a hidden lesson or spiritual truth. It is up to each individual who seeks wisdom and enlightenment to dive into these sacred stories to discover their mysteries. Durga is a Hindu warrior Goddess. Demons ( known as asuras) had taken over the earth. The demons were too powerful for the gods to destroy. Together the gods created Durga from their fire and bestowed upon her their weapons, which she carried one in each of her ten hands. Durga in her radiating splendor came onto the battle field riding a lion and wearing a crescent moon, smiling serenely. Demons were slain by the hundreds. Every time Durga sighed legions of female warriors sprang to her side. Mahisasura, angry from defeat took on the form of a buffalo, each time Durga would kill the buffalo, the demon would spring back to life, until Durga chopped off the head of the buffalo demon. Victory was in Durga�s hands and the gods praised and worshipped her. But the battle was not over yet. This time the lord of demons himself Sumbha and his younger brother, Nisumbla sought Durga out, not for battle, but to seduce her. Durga turned down their proposal. She had taken a vow to only marry the one who could defeat her in battle. Sumbha was infuriated. He and his brother commanded their forces to attack, but Durga reduced their troops to ashes. Durga pierced Sumbha�s heart with her dagger and he fell tumbling out of the heavens. The world was safe at last. Durga won all her battles and she was crowned queen of the universe. She refused to stay and rule the world, but she left with a promise, �Do not worry, if the world is ever in danger of being destroyed again. I will return.� I found it very hard in the beginning to truly connect with Durga. I had not done any study on Hinduism or their Goddesses. I contemplated on her story and did some research on the Hindu�s beliefs and symbolism, which opened new doors of knowledge. Asura�s in Hindu are lesser demons, in Buddhism they are ego, pride, hate, prejudice, greed. All of these things are destroyers of our world. I needed to understand Durga more on a personal level as to what she meant to me. In my meditation she came to me sitting upon her lion and with a smile on her face she said �what are your own demons that you carry within?� The demons we carry within can destroy us and keep us from being the person we want to be: anger, pride, ego, intolerance, addictions, fear, the inability to forgive others and ourselves, self �hatred etc. We must look within ourselves and find our demons and bring them to the light, into awareness so that we can begin to overcome them. Within Durga�s hands she carried the weapons of the gods to defeat these demons. She carried the shield of faith, the sword of truth, the mace of knowledge, the trident of spirit, the lotus of true soul. It takes many different types of weapons to defeat different types of demons. Durga rides on a tamed lion, which is a symbolism of our lion within. Is our lion within untamed and always ready to attack or is it calm and seeking wisdom before it pounces? Maybe our inner lion needs to be found. In order for Durga to kill Sumbha she had to pierce his heart with her sword. For transformation to take place the heart must be touched, cracked open. Through our own hearts we can make a difference in the demons here to destroy our earth, but also self love can make a difference in not destroying ourselves. Durga was asked to marry the great demon. But she was a women unto herself. Who loved herself enough to not be over taken by the demon. She fought to become true to her own-self. It was a women who had to save the earth for women have the gift of healing and nurturing. Time is a created thing. To say, �I don�t have time�, is like saying �I don�t want to� |
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