Happy Navratri! So, the great festival is in full swing and here is my regular post "Kill Bull"
(see Kill Bull-1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6). This is the right time to speculate about what makes our soul to be or pretend to be a bull, and how to summon a Divine Power to take off this asuric spell.
Durga Puja offers us, in dramatic form and by means of religious ceremonial a philosophy of the spiritual life, teaching many things, including the awakening of man upon earth from animalism to a life of purity and honor. Goddess Durga's images is a perfect reflection of the eternal Power that pervades all living beings and all things on Earth. It is beautiful dramatic expression of the belief in the ultimate victory of Good over Evil and the great human aspiration for union with God.
Durga is all about struggle and strength, but how does this apply to us personally? Mystic Sandhi puja is not about the event that once was and passed, but what happens today, in the eternal now. Each individual life goes along the horizontal line from birth to death. Good or evil force shapes it, and, if it is not saint-born, his life can not develop without a struggle. Everyone has his own personal Mahishasura. Because of itself the jivatma would be a mere inert passivity, unbalanced by a positive opposite. Like in Lewis Carroll's tale
we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that. But how much does it depend on our personal efforts? By and large, it does not depend on man's desire or effort, but on Mercy only. But I believe that this is inherent element of human nature. I want to say that the soul always seeks God. It is a fundamental necessity of the soul because its properties are the result of the union of eternal Divine basis with itself, modified by the good or evil tendencies. It is reproduced in the Durga yantra.
This is in deep correspondence with human life itself and the world we live in, which are themselves but allegories and symbols. The struggle, external or internal, is part of everything that surrounds us. But this struggle is not for survival. It's a life-and-death struggle. Literally, for the average person, and figurative for the mystic. Because this is the universal truth that mystical death must precede mystical rebirth. This is the death to one's lower self.
Gilgamesh, legendary King of the city of Uruk fighting against the Bull
Many cultures and religions, both current and past, tell us this story. According the St Paul "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live "(Rom 8:13), or the sufi saying "die before you die."
He who desires to rise to the heights of his own being must first crush his own lower nature and inclinations. Through this blessed battle, older versions of "I" may very well die.
Heracles and Cretan Bull
The message of this battle is that we need to tame the demanding self-centered beast within us and bring the power to good use. This process asks to bring the higher and lower consciousness in perfect balance, knowing that control is always in your hands, and purity in your heart. However, it has nothing to do with the confidence a person has when filled of one's own strength. Rather, it depicts the confidence of those whose blessed individuals strength is founded in God.
During the battle with the Shakti herself, (which is impossible by definition, because everything is shakti) the inertia and negativity of the soul become increasingly transmuted and superseded by the positive energy and activity of the Spirit. Like in the Yantra when the upper triangles gradually assumes preponderance over the triangle with a vertex down, signifying that the seeker becomes a more spiritually conscious being.
This battle is actually about Divine union. Divine Shakti's energy overcomes severity and uses mercy to become strong and enduring. This is called a gentle strength. Strength of having the inner-qualities of love, patience and power. And joy. When our pains of division are made up for by the joys of reunification.
