Mother Divine Victory is at Hand!

Tomorrow is the concluding day of Navaratri.

The story of Navaratri tells how the best of the best gave their all to endow Mother Divine with weapons and tools for the grand battle. Her Bow and Arrow, Discus, Thunderbolt, and Trident were manifested from the collective and universal good, intelligence, right duty, and vigilance. These weapons were forged in the fire of faith and courage. 

Mother Divine battled for nine days and nights against myriad demons. Every demon she smote sprang back up ten-fold, hundred-fold, thousand-fold! Still, she battled on from deeper and deeper levels of her own inexhaustible force of Everything until there was stillness, calm, and peace. 

Who were those demons? Mother Divine fought against the demons who are our very own weaknesses, greed, egoisms, and ignorances. She won over the legions of our fear, disgrace, and our every ineptitude  and sin. When was this battle waged? It was waged long ago, it is waged now, and forevermore, and whenever it needs to be fought. There will always be victory over ignorance and there will always be Divine Mother's valiant grace and protection. 

Visit ShivaMandir.org to learn about our local Navarati celebration in Denver, CO. USA!

May your heart be filled with the blessings of Mother Divine this Spring!

Navaratri, the Nine Days of Mother Divine, March 21st-28th 2015

   The Spring celebration of Divine Mother is now underway. Navaratri or the Nine Days of Mother Divine is a most auspicious time for devotional practice and meditation. Observing Navaratri increases and material well-being. Nava means nine, ratri means night. Navaratri is nine nights or “lunar days” long.

   Navaratri is celebrated at by many different traditions depending on local customs, but wherever it is celebrated, each night of the festival builds in energy, exuberance and devotion until the grand finale: the Day of Victory (Vijaya Dashami). Victory Day refers to Mother Divine vanquishing the enemy - which is egoism - after nine continuous days of battle.

    Throughout the world, Navaratri is celebrated at the change of seasons. By some traditions it is celebrated one time a year in the Fall. In other traditions it is celebrated twice yearly, during the Fall and Spring. In still other traditions it is celebrated during all four seasons, four times a year. 

    At the change of seasons, the laws of nature are shifting and the climatic and solar influences are in transition. These shifts in the seasons are wonderful opportunities for shifts in consciousness and spiritual growth. By honoring Mother Divine at these junctures in time, we are using the intelligence inherent in nature to optimize our spiritual growth and our connection to the Divine Mother.

    During these days of Navaratri, it is an ideal time to appreciate nature and increase our devotional practices. Take a walk today and notice the new signs of Spring. Then thank your Divine Mother for her beautiful creation.

Shiva Sai Mandir is observing Navaratri with pujas

 every from 6 to 6:30 pm and a 

Victory Day Celebration on 

Saturday, March 28 from 7 to 9 pm. 

You are warmly invited to attend!

Click here for more details 

about our Navaratri observances.

                Happy Navaratri!

                              Shiva Sai Mandir
                         1391 S. Pennsylvania St.
                            Denver, CO 80210

                          ShivaMandir.org

Your Mother is Coming and She is Bringing a Wild Surprise!

   This year, 2015, the Spring observance of the Nine Days of Mother Divine 

(Vasant Navaratri) is marked with rare astronomical occurrences.

  

   This New Moon (which immediately precedes Navaratri) is a Super Moon. A Super Moon is when the Moon is at its closest orbital point to the earth. The gravitational pull of this Super Moon will profoundly affect the Earth and her oceans, possibly causing unusual tidal events and power outages.

   This Super Moon will be coming between the Sun and the earth, blocking the Sun’s direct light to the earth - a solar eclipse. The eclipse will not be visible in the USA; it will be visible in Norway and parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. This happens just as the days and nights of the earth are equal in duration – which is the equinox, the astrological marker of the Spring season. The convergence of all these events happening at one time is extremely rare.

   So what is the spiritual and energetic significance of these events? Navaratri is a sacred time. Spring Navaratri or Vasant Navaratri is a time of rebirth and new growth. Navaratri is nine lunar days (moonrise to moonset) set aside to celebrate nature and renew our relationship with our Divine Mother.

   This Vasant Navaratri commences under the influence of a solar eclipse that is amplified by a Super Moon. The energetic influence of this eclipse will be directly impacting for six months and diminishing gradually after that. It will bring sweeping changes. The old systems, institutions, patterns and perspectives will collapse and fall away -- to be replaced by rebirth and new growth. 

   During the transition, relationships will change and conflicts may potentially increase. The consequences of whatever decisions and actions humans will take in the coming six months will be especially intensified. Avoid beginning any new endeavors or making any contractual agreements from March 18^th through March 22^nd. This is an unstable period of time. Use the next 10 days (through March 28th) for deepened spiritual practices and introspection to make the most of this extremely rare and powerful time. This is an opportunity to set a new trajectory for maximum spiritual evolution.

Actual times (MDT, GMT -6), Friday, March 20, 2015: 

Eclipse: 1:41 am

New Moon: 3:36 am

Equinox: 8:45 am

Vasant Navaratri (adjusted times for North America):

March 21st - 28th

Visit ShivaMandir.Org for info on our local Navaratri celebrations in Denver, CO!

Today We Honor All the Mamas and Mama Mama

Today we honor all the mamas and mama mama with some poetry and a recording of the Sri Lalita Sahasranama (1000 Names of Divine Mother). May you and all the Mothers in your life be blessed!

We have a beautiful 

mother
Her hills
are buffaloes
Her buffaloes
hills.

We have a beautiful
mother
Her oceans
are wombs
Her wombs
oceans.

We have a beautiful
mother
Her teeth
the white stones
at the edge
of the water
the summer
grasses
her plentiful
hair.

We have a beautiful
mother
Her green lap
immense
Her brown embrace
eternal
Her blue body
everything we know.

--Alice Walker.

 

In Praise of Mother Kali

On this eighth day of Navaratri, we would like to share a poem we found about Ma Kali: 

In Praise of Mother Kali

"Hindu Goddess with Many Arms Statue"
 on the Wall of the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple
Photo Credit Unknown, found @ featurepics.com

Oh mysterious Kali, cremation grounds are Your great delight,

for there you release Souls from mundane existence.
I have transformed my Heart
into a cremation ground
so you will be attracted here to dance
in ceaseless liberating bliss.
Oh Goddess of Wisdom,
my limited desires have been consumed
on the vast pyre of renunciation.
Oh Goddess of Freedom,
I am surrounded by the ashes
that were my conventional world,
waiting for you to come.
Please manifest in the brilliant midnight hour
from this renouncing heart.

- Ramprasad

Divine Mother as Vasundhara

Vasundhara: Rare Burmese Marble Statue

19th Century, Burma, 

Picture by Lopburi Arts and Antiques (Singapore): 

found: http://www.flickr.com/people/13509597@N03/

We often say, “Mother Earth,” as one of the names of Divine Mother. In Vedic Tradition, there is a name for Mother Earth and it is Vasundhara. As Vasundhara, Mother Earth creates all the creatures on Earth and all of their instincts and traits. Then she provides them with everything they need to grow and flourish. She causes all of the plants to Be and to propagate.

She is the essence of the mineral kingdom; every jewel and crystal, every bit of ore and all the soil she has made. She stirs the oceans and causes the winds to blow. She orchestrates every storm, sunbeam and season. She is the animator and the cause of the Five Elements. She creates all desires, all movement of the mind and the will to perform action.

She is the beauty we must capture in a poem, painting or photograph of nature. She is what we love when we must return back home to the forest, mountain, desert, ocean or whatever it is we long to be near. She is the shifting sands, the roll of the tidal wave, the brief glory of a sunrise or sunset. She is who we adore when we say we love Nature.

Take some time to find Mother Earth today. Find the Nature, in the wind, the clouds, the movement of water, and however you might find her. Even if you are in the city, you can find Vasundhara and her workings. She is everywhere!

Where is Divine Mother's throne? (Celebrating the second day of Navaratri)

The Throne of Astarte from the shrine at Ain Ba'al
located at the department of antiquities in Beirut
found in the book: The Levant: History and 
Archaeology in the Eastern Mediterranean (Art & Architecture)

Where is Divine Mother’s throne
Her most glorious place?

Is it on the most majestic mountain?
Or in the cathedral of the tallest forest tree?
Is it in the vastness of a canyon’s grace
Or somewhere in the limitless sea?
Was it built by human hands,
an impeccable marble altar?

If I search this earth,
all domain and lands,
I will never find it.
I need only look inside to see
where She most wants to be.

Her throne is there, was always there
In the heart space inside of me.

- KSJ

Mother Divine is Walking on Earth

"Presence of Gaia" by Josephine Wall

Navaratri is the glorious nine-day celebration of the Divine Mother. It progresses from April 11th through April 19th this year. 

“Nava” means nine, “ratri” means night or “Lunar Day.” From Moonrise to Moonset for nine days at the change of seasons, Mother Divine is honored. The Spring celebration of Navaratri is called “Vasant Navaratri.” 

It is said that when the leaves unfurl, the sprouts break through the earth and the buds open, Mother Divine is walking on earth.  

May you feel Mother’s presence and love as we celebrate the first day of Navaratri. We will host a sunset puja over the next days of Navaratri. Please join us: 
http://www.shivamandir.org/ai1ec_event/day-1-of-navaratri-puja/?instance_id=3834087