Spirituality

Navaratri 2024-Colors of the Day

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DISCLAIMER: Though this article provides a manufactured Spiritual significance, sharing the origin of this practice which was a marketing gimmick of Maharashtra Times which became a harmless yet pleasant Tradition and a unifying factor cutting across all religions today.

Each region has its own set of rituals and practices associated with this festival. A compilation of some of them here specifically with respect to the attire here. List of the nine colours of Navratri to be worn by Goddess Durga as well as Devotees, with their significance:

First Day – Paadyami
Shailaputri Maa is the first amongst Navadurgas worshipped during Navaratri. ‘Yellow‘ is the colour of the day. Yellow symbolizes joy and brightness, marking the beginning of Navratri and brings a sense of unparalleled optimism and joy.

Second Day – Dwitiya
Maa Bharmacharini is the form of mother goddess which is worshipped on the second day. ‘Green’ is the color of the day, which represents growth, nature, and fertility. Green also represents new beginnings in life.

Third Day – Tritiya
Chandraghanta is the form of the goddess worshipped on the third day of Navaratri. ‘Grey’ is the color of the day and it represents control and balance emotions and keeps the person down-to-earth. It also represents overcoming darkness in a calm manner.

Fourth Day – Chaturthi
Kushmanda is the fourth form of goddess that is worshipped on the fourth day of Navratri. ‘Orange’ is the color of the day and it symbolizes energy and strength, or courage and determination.

Fifth Day – Panchami
Skandamata is a face of Maa Durga always known for demolishing the demons and worshipped on day 5 of Navaratri. ‘White’ is the color to be worn on this day and it represents purity, peace, and serenity

Sixth Day – Shashti
Katyayani is worshipped on the sixth day of Navratri. She is dressed in ‘Red‘ is the attire to be worn on this day. It is symbolic of passion, love, and strength in invoking the power of the goddess

Seventh day – Sapthami
Kaalratri is the seventh figure of Goddess Durga. Maha Saraswathi Devi is also worshipped on this day. ‘Royal Blue‘ is the color of the day. Royal Blue reflects calmness and divine energy

Eighth day – Ashtami
Maha Durga is worshipped on the eighth day(Durgashtami). On this day, ‘Pink‘ is regarded as the colour for all, which signifies love, compassion, and universal harmony

Ninth day – Maha Navami
Siddhidatri is the form of Maa Durga for the ninth day of Navratri. ‘Purple‘ is the colour of the day for devotees which is the color that symbolizes ambition, power, and spirituality.

Tenth day – Vijaya Dashami

Vijayadashami is the day of Victory of Good over Evil. The Goddess is dressed in Glowing Gold & the color for devotees is also Gold or Peacock Blue.

To summarize: Colors of attire advised on 9 days of Navratri

Day 1: Yellow
Day 2: Green
Day 3: Grey
Day 4: Orange
Day 5: White
Day 6: Red
Day 7: Royal Blue
Day 8: Pink
Day 9: Purple

Happy Navaratri! Enjoy a synchronized & colorful days dedicated to Mother Goddess.

Origins of this practice: (Source: https://www.cntraveller.in/story/from-trend-to-tradition-how-the-9-colours-of-navaratri-became-a-thing-maharashtra-times/)

In 2003, the innovative marketing team at Maharashtra Times conceived a brilliant strategy to engage more female readers. During the occasion of Navaratri, they unveiled a captivating narrative that put forward the significance of the nine distinct colours to be worn each day of the Hindu festival. Each colour was thoughtfully linked to an avatar of the Goddess Durga, thereby bestowing a sense of authenticity upon this “tradition”— orange for Goddess Shailputri, white for Goddess Brahmacharini, red for Goddess Chandraghanta, green for Goddess Katyayani, and so on.

Throughout the nine days of the festival, Maharashtra Times featured captivating images of women elegantly adorned in the colour of the day, presenting a compelling aspirational value and igniting a sense of enthusiasm among their audience and beyond. The newspaper also invited women to share photographs of themselves in their colour-coordinated attire, which were subsequently showcased in the following day’s edition, making the trend all the more viral.

Under the guidance of the then-editor, Bharatkumar Raut, this story enjoyed monumental success according to The Quint, triggering an intentional wave of enthusiasm across the state of Maharashtra—eventually spreading across the nation to cities like Delhi. It swiftly morphed into an accepted tradition and became an indispensable part of the festival for many of its participants; to this day, Maharashtra Times still holds a Navaratri photo contest on their website, where people submit group photos in colour-coordinated clothing corresponding to the given festival day. Dressing up in said colours has even evolved into a contemporary workplace activity championed by HR teams, expanding to the likes of cubicle decorations.

What’s remarkable is that this practice didn’t vanish like a seasonal fad, rather it became an important cultural cornerstone. Created before the age of social media and viral hashtags, the trend stands as proof of the sheer influence of media and the importance of evolving traditions.

Everyone has a right to be Ignorant – Mr. Javed Akhtar

Ensures8 Comments

H.H. Pujya Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar offers a gentle rap on the knuckles to Javed Akhtar ‘s misplaced views on Spirituality

On his B'day Akhtar could not SmileSri Sri Ravi Shankar's smile could not be stolenSri Sri bursts the Secular Bubbles
On his B’day Akhtar could not Smile while Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s smile could not be stolen
Sri Sri bursts the Secular Bubbles

It is funny that in a country like India spirituality is talked about as a hoax. How can something which is so obvious, which is part of millions of people, be taken as a hoax? Spirituality is not a halo of the few, it is the breath of every human being. Have people forgotten that freedom was achieved through spirituality as the prime means by Mahatma Gandhi?It has become a fashion with journalists to blindly continue the colonial tradition of calling Hindu spiritual leaders a hoax. They called Mahatma Gandhi, Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo godmen and hoaxes, and their contemporaries continue to do so. Would they say this to Mother Teresa or the Dalai Lama? No! Only Indian spiritual leaders are singled out.The India Today Conclave offered a basis for a discussion on spirituality, “Halo or Hoax?” Javed Akhtar joked, “In movies we create an illusion and then after three hours we put up a sign, The End, and make people step back into reality, whereas spiritual people also create an illusion but they do not put an end to it.” The audience applauded. I smiled within and thought, yes, what this man says is correct, all that is created comes to an end. If something does not end then it is not created! Perhaps he didn’t even realise the profound truth of what he was saying.So in some way he tacitly accepted that the love and drama he creates in the movies does end, but the love and transformation created by spiritual people never end. Yes, this whole world is an illusion that never ends. I drew Adi Shankara from his sarcasm. What an enigma: the perception and the reality. So Mr Akhtar is actually saying that his reel love songs are false. If only he knew the reality: that his lyrics express the genuine feelings of thousands of youth when they come and sing his marvelous songs before me, with that spark of love in their eyes. Real-life love never ends; it moves from life to lifetimes.Spirituality is intoxicating. Only those who step into it will know. Before criticising we need to do our homework. Has one visited ashrams, like the Ramakrishna Ashram, Ananda Mayi Ma Mutt, Brahma Kumaris’, Gayatri Parivar, Pandurang Shastri, Sri Aurobindo Ashram or Art of Living? Has one spent time with saints? Only then does one’s views carry weight, else they remain simple accusations only, a distorted perception, not reality.Mr Akhtar thundered again: “All modern-day spiritualists are hypocrites”. Many people froze as he dismissed the present-day gurus. Today there are millions of people who follow spirituality: are they all hypocrites? I appreciated that he could express his feelings boldly, without pretension. But the contempt that was exhibited for gurus was alarming. The hatred and frustration were obvious from his body language. It’s not just Mr Akhtar. Many journalists, communists, atheists and naxalites live in that state of mind, of being anti-religious, anti-rich, anti-famous, anti-business.Should I argue and put him down? No! I have never put anyone down. I can’t deviate from my nature. So I simply said, everyone has the right to be ignorant.A flash of Aurangzeb, who butchered thousands of gurus and would not listen to any reason or logic, came to mind. An intelligent man would look into all the avenues before he makes a comment or accusation. It is necessary to stand up for justice and expose the misdeeds of the world. Instead the so-called activists only engage in accusations. Blaming the entire modern-day spiritual guru and sadhu community is as foolish as branding the entire Muslim community as terrorists.It is the medieval brahmanical mindset to always put down business and politics and the colonial mindset to denounce gurus. As a result we never expanded our political influence nor globalised our business until very recently.Then came his next statement that Buddha went from the palace to the forest and today the gurus come from the forest to the palace. I said to myself, ‘Come on! Buddha went to the forest when he was unhappy and miserable, and he came right back when he became a guru’. Any high school student knows this. Besides, every palace had a rajguru. Last year hundreds of sadhus were evicted from the caves and hermitages of the Himalayan region, near Haridwar, by the forest department. People generally think sadhus should live in forests with torn clothes but the forest department wanted to send them to the city!The atheists have always fought with spiritual people. In those situations we should know how to act. It is pointless to argue with them. What do you say to a man who has never stepped into the realm of spirituality yet calls it a hoax? One cannot make a blind man see the light through his nose.Unfortunately atheists are just fearful and good dramatists. A man who equates arms, drugs and spirituality is not going to change his opinion immediately and anyway his opinion is not going to matter for what is and what will be. Come on, I thought, sing a new song. My compassion grew.

Often activists seem to create rage and revenge in the victims; they cannot bring solace and creative action. In the name of justice they fume with hatred. This can lead to acts of violence like the recent killings of 19 sadhus in Uttar Pradesh. It has been an old tradition to glorify the dead, and call the living a hoax. Kabir had to put up with this as did Meera, Buddha, Jesus, Adi Shankara and many more… the wise do not mind the outburst of a few.

Spirituality is not a matter of the head, it is a matter of the heart. I had two choices: to argue and turn the conclave into a conflict or to keep silence. I chose the latter.

The Epilogue

And after all this, lessons were not learnt by this Jealous Lyricist. None other than some Stringers in the Bollywood circuit enjoyed his joke (Not even his wife, as seen in this video)

For once Sri Sri proved Javed Akhtar right that Sri Sri was wrong – Sri Sri had said  “Javed Akhtar is a great man ;)”

And why did I call him jealous? He simply cannot stand anyone else’s success and unfortunately he is not able to make it too. (He rode on Salim’s  ability to success and then Javed Akhtar back stabbed Salim (Don’t miss this story, since this has not been denied, it is a Fact – Click the link) So this slimy guy’s penchant for mischief is his trait

JavedAkhtar-KolaveriSuccessJealous

And this one takes the cake. He feels a strange kind of happiness on Pakistani Soil (Feb 12, 2011 report on The Nation) . But runs down India at slightest pretext

JavedAkhtarOnPakistan

And when I bring to his notice with a link (not mine, a Newspaper piece), he responds kiddishly

JavedAkhtarDenyingStrangeHappinessInPak

There was an exchange some time back. This Astro-Pundit Javed Akhtar predicted something. And you know what happened to this

JavedAkhtaronSriSri

And then goes ahead to clarify with date. Inanity Personified!

JavedAkhtar7thDecemberTweetAndMyResponse

It took just a question on the date for this Pen-Peddler (see a video later in this piece;) to get rattled. Look how he responds in defense 😉

JavedAkhtar7thDecemberDefensiveClarification

Pen-peddling by the great lyricist. LOL

Dr. Subramanian Swamy has The Last Word! 

JavedAkhtar-SubramanyaSwamySlapOnGrowingUp

Keep Smiling :-)

Ensures3 Comments

Administrator(s)! I hope you have just got out of your meditation after Kriya – and highest state of “accept (and approve) the blog as it is…”

I start with an answer to a question a whole lot of my friends (surprised at how I suddenly changed since 1998) – Why so spiritual and amidst a busy schedule “Breathe” spirituality the Art of Living way. Answer is simple – I enjoy it. For those who know me, if it was only hard work (or even work-outs), I would be far away from it. So Sadhana (no, no! not a girl) as in Spiritual practices continues to be fun, despite my slim figure – “O” is a figure too, isn’t it?

As His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar rightly said God loves fun (Oye… me too) and Spirituality is not that quagmire of complicated words that I otherwise heard for most part of my life. Hence I chose to make trips to the Art of Living centres and avoid repeated trips to Medical diagnostic labs with samples in bottles.

Some Personal experiences with Yoga

With years of practice of Yoga today I gradually stretch to conclusions and don’t jump to it.

Oh yes! The best part that I am able to stretch the best is my Jaws. Research says average biting force of the human jaw is 162 PSI! And Boy…with such a workout that I give it, mine is atleast 5 times more

More facts on the biting force of various teeth – maximal biting force values of incisor, bicuspid, and first molar of all the males were 43.3kg, 99.11kg, and 120.66kg. (the last two pretty much matches my weight)

The other exercise that I practice with unfailing regularity was “Taking my Hands from the Plate to Mouth” and again and again… I can do this for hours together. The reason why instead of increasing Weights (during Weight training), I increased my Waist.

Kashiji/Kamleshji – Just a question – if I was supposed to touch my knees with nose, God would have placed knees would be on my palms no? Well! that is the only part that can easily reach the tip of my nose (for now I can reach my nose with my hands – thank God! not too much of a distance between mouth and nose)

After the Yogathon 2012, my body gave me a gentle reminder of every single bone, joint and muscle that exist in me (other than the only two that I always was aware – jaws and hand). Namaste….One…Two. Those counts still ring in my ears.

Finally it would do good to know that it is far more important for a smile to spread over your chin than it is to get your chin closer to your shin.

Remember! Life is hard. It’s breathe, breathe, breathe … all the time. This is what Art of Living and staying “Within” is all about.