Navratra has always been the time of homecoming, prayers, fasting and binging for me.
I don’t have a very transactional relationship with God! I don’t think that a benevolent God would fulfil my wish if I gift him/her a litre of oil or a saree.
However, picking up from my parents - I did get into the habit of semi-fasting during Navratra and reciting verses from the Durga Saptsati.
Every year, the meaning of the verses change for me. I vividly remember that when I was in class 3, and I was praying using some verses - my agenda was simple. I wanted the Goddess to be happy and give my parents the ‘sad-budhi’ to buy me a sunridges (SS) cricket bat! And it then happened magically.
I think gifts reinforce the belief in God. Be it the gifts in Diwali, Idi of Eid or Santa’s gift during Christmas - a young and impressionable mind that operates on a very primitive reward-belief system: gets its faith system reinforced by these gifts (from God!).
In medical school, the most dreaded times of my academic life - where mugging was a pre-requisite of success, the verse - ‘ya devi sarvabhutesu vidya rupen sansthita’ had a deep significance.
Since the time marriage was on cards ‘patni manoramam dehi manovrittanusarinim’ has attained huge significance!
This year is the season of surgical strikes by India on its soil captured by enemy.
And while chanting the verse from Durga Saptsati where the acts of war between Goddess Durga and Sumbh-Nisumbh are illustrated with immaculate detail - the particular mention of neutralisation of warheads stood out!
I wonder if the divya-astra (are they nuclear war heads?) possessed by devtas, gods and asuras could be neutralised by counter-weapons-what would their analogy be in today’s world?
Today, if Pakistan threatens to annihilate the oldest civilisation of this planet and tomorrow if the real controllers of Pakistan’s nuclear assets really decide to unleash the power of nucelar integration or disintegration on us - how should we tackle them ?
I wondered today if we could tame black-matter that could become a wonderful antidote to nuclear warheads. What if Pakistan or China decides to nuke us - we could use black-matter shield to neutralise those warheads in the atmosphere itself - without the nuclear fallout. A black-matter bomb would definitely be a much worse threat in the hands of the irrational! But, we must keep inventing against annihilation.
The verses of the Durga Saptsati continue to unfold new meanings for me every year.