Navaratri: Nine Nights of Devotion, a Lifetime of Learning

Navaratri: Nine Nights of Devotion, a Lifetime of Learning

सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके ।

शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणी नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

Salutations to Goddess Narayani, the most auspicious among the auspicious, the fulfiller of all aspirations, the divine mother who offers refuge to all.

Festivals are a part of India's heritage with each one having it's own beauty, traditions and spiritual significance. Among them is Navaratri,  nine nights dedicated to Maa Shakti, the divine  energy, celebrated as Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ambe Mata and in countless other forms. Beginning with Ghatasthapana and ending with Vijaya Dashami, Navaratri is a celebration of faith, culture, community and the eternal triumph of good over evil.

For me, Navaratri, is a journey through childhood memories, family traditions, the joy of learning, the comforting presence of the divine and a promise of a new beginning.

The beauty of India lies in the diversity of its celebrations. Bengal comes alive with magnificent Durga Puja pandals, Gujarat dances to the rhythms of Garba and Dandiya, the South celebrates Bommai Golu and Bathukamma, while the North reverberates with Ram Lila and the festivities of Dussehra.

Different traditions, different expressions, yet one underlying message: the victory of light over darkness, wisdom over ignorance and good over evil.

My earliest memories of Navaratri are of the  Durga Pooja at the railway colony in Bhusawal, organised by the Bengali Association. I eagerly awaited the festivities, the beautiful idols, the cultural programmes and of course, the delicious bhog of Begoon bhaja, payesh and other delicacies.  

At home, Navaratri meant Bommai Golu, the delightful South Indian tradition of arranging dolls and deities on steps. Setting up the Golu was an event in itself. My siblings and I would enthusiastically set up the steps, arrange the dolls, create little scenes, decorate them and admire our handiwork. Evenings brought neighbours and friends, devotional songs, exchanges of haldi-kumkum and the inevitable sundal, prepared differently each day. Those days celebrations were less about grandeur and more about togetherness.

After marriage, I continued the tradition with my mother-in-law. Her passing in 2001 left a deep void and for a few years, the Golu remained absent from our home. Eventually, an inner calling prompted me to revive it. That was twenty-two years ago and since then, Golu has once again become an inseparable part of our lives. Every year, the familiar dolls emerging from their boxes, carry stories of the years gone by. Some have been with us for decades, silent witnesses to changing homes, growing children, cherished relationships and the passage of time.

Perhaps that is the true charm of tradition which connects generations and keeps memories alive while we move forward in life.

Saraswati Pooja is a beautiful part of Navaratri. In the north, Saraswati Puja is celebrated on Vasant Panchami, while in Tamil Nadu and much of southern India, Saraswati Poojai is observed during Navaratri, traditionally alongside Ayudha Poojai and Vidyarambham, the initiation of young children into the world of learning. 

Saraswati Poojai invites us to reflect upon the meaning of knowledge in today's rapidly changing world where information is available at the click of a button. Artificial intelligence, ChatGPT and other technological innovations can answer questions, generate ideas and simplify tasks in seconds. Yet, is access to information the same as acquiring knowledge? And is knowledge necessarily wisdom? Technology can provide answers, but it cannot replace our responsibility to think critically, question intelligently, read deeply and develop independent judgement. Saraswati Poojai offers us a timely opportunity to renew these habits by encouraging every child and also every adult, to read for at least ten minutes and write one page every day.  Ten minutes of reading can open a new world. A page of writing can help organise thoughts, strengthen expression and encourage reflection.

Navaratri is also a celebration of the dignity of work. During Ayudha Poojai, artisans worship their tools, musicians their instruments, students their books, and workers the equipment that sustains their livelihoods acknowledging the dignity of every occupation and respect to every instrument we use for work. 

This message has particular relevance today, when we speak of dignity of labour, women's empowerment, skill development and inclusive growth. Maa Shakti is not confined to temples and beautifully decorated idols. Her strength is reflected in the countless women who nurture families, sustain livelihoods, overcome adversity and contribute silently to society. The woman running a small enterprise, the artisan preserving a traditional craft, the farmer working tirelessly in the fields and the young girl determined to pursue her education are all expressions of Shakti. To truly honour the Goddess, we must also honour and strengthen the women around us.

 The culmination of Navaratri in Vijaya Dashami celebrates Goddess Durga's victory over Mahishasura and Lord Rama's triumph over Ravana. But perhaps the greatest battles are not those fought in mythology but those within ourselves.

Anger, jealousy, prejudice, greed, arrogance and resentment are the demons that often disturb our inner peace. Just as Ravana's effigy is consigned to flames on Dussehra, let us resolve to let go of at least one negative habit or lingering grudge. Let us replace criticism with kindness, indifference with compassion and despair with hope. Let us extend our sense of reverence to Mother Earth, our Matrubhumi, by reducing waste, planting trees, protecting nature and embracing more sustainable ways of living. For ultimately, the triumph of good over evil is not merely a story to be remembered. It is a principle to be practised in everyday life.

Navaratri teaches us courage through Durga, prosperity with purpose through Lakshmi, and wisdom through Saraswati. Together, they remind us that a fulfilling life requires strength, compassion, knowledge and the willingness to act. The real celebration of Navaratri lies not only in the nine nights of worship, but in carrying their light into the remaining days of our lives.

ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः ।

सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु मा कश्चिद्दुःखभाग्भवेत् ॥

May all be happy, may all be free from illness, may all experience goodness, and may none suffer or live in sorrow.

R. Vimala, IAS Retired, MH 2009

Subject Matter Expert, CBC & YASHADA

Former Resident Commissioner, Maharashtra Sadan & Secretary, GoM,

Founder AnirvedShakti Foundation,

PhD Scholar at IIT Bombay 

Navaratri Reflections: From Hope to Gratitude

Navaratri Reflections: From Hope to Gratitude

Some dreams take a long time to come true. Some prayers are answered late, but faith keeps us going until they are answered. 

Last Navaratri, I wrote about hope in the middle of a struggle. I was in Delhi then, serving as Resident Commissioner and Secretary, Government of Maharashtra and I kept the festival away from home with a small Bommai Golu. I prayed quietly for a dream that felt very far away.

This Navaratri, I am writing from our new home  and my heart is full of gratitude. To the Devi, the Devatas and the Almighty, who held my hand through every twist and turn of my life. For the strength to keep going, the patience to wait and the faith that told me better days would come. Above all, I am grateful for a home I had dreamed of, where I can once again celebrate Navaratri with my family, my friends and the traditions I grew up with.

Bommai Golu is more than nine days of worship. It brings together devotion, memory, creativity and continuity. Every doll has a story, and every year the familiar faces bring back a flood of memories of people and places that shaped me. The steps hold a whole world of faith and imagination: gods and goddesses in places of honour and around them saints, musicians, dancers, village scenes and ordinary people, reminding us of the beauty and variety of creation.

As a little girl, I looked forward to these nine days: visiting homes, making sundal, singing songs. Arranging the Golu is now a cherished tradition in many Tamilian homes, mine included. The dolls come out of their boxes, each carrying memories of earlier celebrations. I love arranging them, lighting the lamps, offering prayers and welcoming friends and neighbours for haldi-kumkum.

Last year's little Golu in Delhi showed me that devotion does not depend on grandeur. A few dolls arranged with love are enough to make a sacred space.

While I waited for this home, I learnt that patience is not just waiting. It is to keep believing, keep working and keep smiling. We want immediate answers and sometimes without working very hard for them. But the Divine keeps a different calendar.

Looking back, the lessons that mattered most came in the gap between a prayer and its answer. Patience taught me humility that, I cannot control everything, however capable or experienced I feel I am. Perseverance taught me that surrendering to God does not mean giving up my own effort.

We must do our karma with sincerity and courage and leave the fruits to Him, as rightly said in the Gita " Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana". We have the right to our duty, but not to its results. Perhaps that is the whole lesson : work with determination, wait with patience, receive with gratitude.

Navaratri celebrates the nine forms of Maa Durga, each a different aspect of feminine strength and grace. Strength is not always loud. Sometimes it is just the quiet decision to carry on. Courage is not always found in great battles; sometimes it is the simple act of beginning again. And sometimes victory is a peaceful heart, a grateful mind and the ability to look ahead with joy.

As we settle in, I am reminded that walls and furnishings do not make a home. Love, respect, prayers and values do. A home is where we return when the world has worn us out. Laughter echoes there, ordinary moments become precious, a lamp is lit before the Gods, the family eats together, friends are always welcome and every festival adds to our happiness.

This Navaratri, I pray that every home is blessed with peace, good health, harmony and warm relationships. And let us remember that the bigger blessing is not getting what we asked for, but being thankful for what we have been given.

As I grow older, I feel gratitude is one of the purest prayers. We remember God readily when we need something, and our prayers grow intense when we seek solutions, protection or relief. But how often do we sit quietly and simply say thank you? For the unseen protection, for the people who stood by us, for the strength we found within ourselves, for the doors that opened at the right time. I want to be thankful even for the waiting, because it taught me patience.

With a new chapter beginning after retirement, I think of how kind God has been to me: a fulfilling career in public service, the chance to keep working for women's empowerment, the love of family and friends and now a new home.

This year's Golu will be special to me. Every doll I place will carry a silent prayer of thanks and every lamp will remind me of the grace that lights our lives. Each visitor will add a blessing to our home, along with the familiar pleasure of a tradition that has travelled with me through different cities and phases of life.

Last year I prayed with hope. This year I bow with gratitude. The journey asks for patience, perseverance and courage, but it is divine grace that gives us the strength to walk it. That, to me, is the message of Navaratri : Shakti is not only  the power to conquer but also the strength to endure, the wisdom to accept, the courage to begin again and the grace to stay grateful.

May Maa Durga bless every home with peace, every heart with courage and every life with hope. May we have the strength to persevere, the patience to trust divine timing, and the humility to see the blessings around us. From hope to gratitude, from prayer to thanksgiving, this Navaratri is my humble offering at the feet of the Divine Mother.

Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah, Sarve Santu Niramayah. May all be happy. May all be free from illness.

Shubh Navaratri. Jai Mata Di.

R. Vimala, IAS Retired, MH 2009

Subject Matter Expert, CBC & YASHADA

Former Resident Commissioner, Maharashtra Sadan & Secretary, GoM,

Founder AnirvedShakti Foundation,

PhD Scholar at IIT Bombay 

Dhan Foundation : Building Communities, Nurturing Leaders

Dhan Foundation : Building Communities, Nurturing Leaders 

Some journeys leave us with more than memories. They reaffirm why we chose a particular path in the first place.

Attending the Foundation Day of DHAN Foundation in Madurai was one such experience for me. It was an opportunity to see, once again, what patient, sustained community work can achieve and to reflect on how much more remains to be done, particularly for women.

For nearly three decades, DHAN Foundation has worked with communities across India, building institutions around livelihoods, financial inclusion, agriculture, water, health and grassroots development. It's work through women's collectives and community institutions demonstrates an important truth that development becomes sustainable when people are not merely recipients of programmes but participants in shaping their own future. That distinction matters.

My own years in public service, particularly my work with women's Self-Help Groups in MSRLM and MAVIM, have convinced me that women do not lack ability, courage or willingness to work. They often lack opportunity, access and markets.

Across India, lakhs of women are saving together, borrowing together, farming, processing food, making handicrafts and running tiny enterprises. Government programmes, banks, NGOs and community organisations have helped create an extraordinary institutional base. But we need to explore whether such  participation translates into a continuos flow of income?

A woman may belong to an SHG. She may have received training and credit. She may even be producing something of excellent quality but if her product remains confined to her village, an occasional exhibition or a small local market, her economic potential remains limited. The next stage of women's empowerment must therefore go beyond mobilisation and limited markets. It must connect skills to enterprise, production to markets, and hard work to sustainable income.

As I said during my interaction during the Foundation Day celebrations at Dhan , Women are half the nation so half the power is not enough. They also need full power and economic power is the most essential part of that power. 

DHAN Foundation's journey also reinforces something we sometimes forget in our enthusiasm for schemes and targets, that transformation cannot always be delivered from above. It has to grow from within communities. When women save together, they do more than create a bank balance. They create trust. When farmers organise, they gain a collective voice. When communities manage water, livelihoods or local resources together, ownership replaces dependence. And when a woman begins earning, the impact rarely stops with her. It enters the household, into children's education, nutrition, health and aspirations.

Empowering a woman steadily widens the circle of change from woman to family, from family to community and from community to society. This is why women's empowerment and community development cannot be separated.

There is another frontier we now need to cross. Our women can produce excellent products. Can we help them sell? Can a packet of millet produced by women in a village in Tamil Nadu find a consumer in Mumbai? Can food products made by a Maharashtra SHG reach Chennai? Can technology, branding, packaging and logistics erase the distance between a rural producer and an urban consumer?

This is where I see possibilities for organisations such as DHAN and our new born Anirvedshakti Foundation to complement each other. DHAN brings decades of experience, strong community institutions and deep grassroots relationships. Anirvedshakti is still taking its first steps, but through Shakti on Wheels, we are experimenting with taking products made by SHG women directly to consumers. Instead of always asking women to search for markets, perhaps we can begin taking markets to women.

Millets could be a wonderful beginning. Ragi, saamai, thinai, jowar and bajra are not merely traditional grains. Behind them can be women farmers, processors, packers and entrepreneurs. Imagine a product whose packet does not merely carry a brand name, but also tells us who made it, where she comes from and the story behind her enterprise.Such purchase  becomes more than a transaction. It becomes a connection between two lives.

There is a beautiful line from Subramania Bharati about women stepping forward to govern and make laws. His vision was of women participating fully and equally in society. That journey continues.

Today, I would add another aspiration: let women not only participate, let them produce, own, brand, market and earn. Let them become entrepreneurs. Let them become employers.

Let them become leaders in their communities. And most importantly, let the income from their labour reach their own hands. Because empowerment cannot forever remain a promise made on behalf of women. Eventually, it must become power exercised by women themselves. 

Another inspiring moment of the Foundation Day was the graduation ceremony of DHAN Academy, where 80 young scholars graduated, ready to take their learning into the larger world. Watching these young minds step forward was a reminder that sustainable development is not only about programmes but also about preparing people who can lead change.

DHAN Foundation’s contribution therefore goes far beyond strengthening women’s collectives, promoting livelihoods, encouraging millets and building resilient communities. Through DHAN Academy, it is also nurturing young professionals with a sensitivity towards rural realities and a commitment to serve society. Institutions become truly transformative when they build communities today while simultaneously preparing leaders for tomorrow.

The eighty graduates represented exactly that hope, the possibility of a new generation that will combine knowledge with empathy, professional skills with social purpose, and ambition with responsibility. In many ways, this investment in young minds may prove to be one of DHAN Foundation’s most enduring contributions.

After conversations about communities, livelihoods, women and the road ahead, the day found its most beautiful conclusion in Madurai,  at the feet of Meenakshi Amman and Sundareswarar Swami. Amidst the magnificent gopurams, the lamps, the ancient stone corridors and generations of faith embedded in those walls, there was a sense of stillness.

Some journeys need both,  purpose and prayer. We can make plans. We can build institutions. We can create markets and partnerships. We can work with all the energy and conviction we possess but there are moments when we also bow our heads and seek the grace to remain on the right path.

Standing before Meenakshi Amman, herself such a powerful embodiment of feminine strength felt especially meaningful after a day devoted to conversations about women's empowerment. And before Sundareswarar Swami, there was gratitude for the journey so far and a quiet prayer for what lies ahead.

May the strength of Meenakshi Amman give us courage.

 May the grace of Sundareswarar Swami give us wisdom.

 And may both bless the path ahead where women stand not at the margins of development, but at its very centre.

Perhaps that is the larger message I carried away from DHAN Foundation Day. Empower a woman, strengthen a community. Prepare a young mind and you prepare a leader. Give people opportunity, knowledge and confidence and they will find their own way forward.

My visit to Madurai could not have ended more meaningfully than at the feet of Meenakshi Amman and Lord Sundareswarar. Standing there in prayer, amidst centuries of faith and devotion, I sought no elaborate blessing only the strength to continue doing whatever little I can for women and communities, and for many more hands and hearts to join this journey. For when purpose becomes collective, change no longer remains a dream. It becomes a movement.

R. Vimala, IAS Retired, MH 2009

Subject Matter Expert, CBC & YASHADA

Former Resident Commissioner, Maharashtra Sadan & Secretary, GoM,

Founder AnirvedShakti Foundation,

PhD Scholar at IIT Bombay