Sadhguru Darshan Part 2 - The Science of Navratri

Questioner 1 – Namaskaram, Sadhguru. Sadhguru, my name is Jagruthi and I have a question about Nav… Sadhguru – Oh, are you? Questioner 1 – No, not yet. Sadhguru, I have a question about Navratri. So, there are so many ways to celebrate Navratri in India, like Garbha and all. So, I want to understand which one are just social occasions and which one are relevant spiritually and how can we make use of Navratri for our spiritual growth and realization? Sadhguru – At least Navratri is about fasting. It's not a feasting thing, except on the tenth day. Other days, it's supposed to be fasting. Apart from that, Navratri or the nine nights are dedicated to the nine forms of Devi. Three into three. So, three forms of Devi, each one, three nights. Durga or Parvati and Durga, all that, Saraswati and Lakshmi. These three Devis represent three fundamental qualities – power, knowledge and wealth. These three, power, knowledge and wealth, all of them are great possibilities and they're also great poisons. Most people use them as poison in their life. They get poisoned with power. They get poisoned by knowledge. They get poisoned by wealth. Well, about everything, things have been said. I've repeatedly quoted Allama Mahaprabhu. Kannada people are there? Okay, I thought you're all in Chikkaballapuram. So, Allama said, if a man is drowning in a lake, you can still talk to him. If a cobra has bitten him and he's frothing in his mouth, you can still talk to him. But once a man is full of wealth, you cannot talk to him. Well, Jesus went out to say, you can't serve me and Mohammed at the same time. So, unfortunately, wealth turns into poison, power turns into poison, knowledge turns into poison. These are all great possibilities, but they're also the source of ignorance. There can be great empowerment, but unfortunately, most people get enslaved to these things and they make it the source of ignorance in their life. I've seen, you know, way back when we started teaching, when I started teaching rather, I used to carry the carpets from place to place, I arrange it myself, then I put the name tags, I write the name tags and put everything. Then one or two volunteers come. Then I say, okay, you put the name tags. And suddenly, the guy who puts the name tags starts strutting around. Hey, you sit here, you sit here. I mean, oh man, putting a stupid name tag, somehow you think it's a great power. Unfortunately, you see this all the time. That security guy, not necessarily ours, but that security guard, he thinks because he can stop you, he thinks it's power. It's a stupid thing. I see repeatedly, you give somebody one simple responsibility. So, the same thing goes for knowledge. Little they know something. Today, of course, it's anthropic, but they know something that you don't know, they suddenly act like that. Wealth, of course, you know how they behave. Well, you can carry all these things as a trust. Knowledge is not yours, power is not yours, wealth is not yours. If you hold it in trust for larger well-being, then it's a tremendous empowerment. Here I must say, there are even brahmacharis who have only four pairs of clothes, I believe, maybe five or six max, because they're traveling. Well, many of them signing checks for crores of rupees. They're handling property worth multiple crores of rupees. But in trust, not as some kind of possession. There's a huge difference how you hold wealth. Are you holding it in trust or you think it's yours and it enhances you? What you possess should never enhance you. What you can do in the world and what you have in the world should never enhance you. You understand what I'm saying? You can do something that other people cannot do, this should not enhance you. You have something that other people don't have, this should not enhance you. You must hold it in trust. You can see that what you hold in trust can be of immense use. But a little bit I've seen small things people possess and act so stupid. So all these three things are great possibilities, at the same time, source of great ignorance. So what is the cure? So the stories are all around this. Lot of it has been, you know, recrafted and distorted by many people. But essentially, when it comes to power, it's about killing. Durga is always killing somebody. Yes. You've seen she's a killer. She has sword in her hands and every kind of weapon, blood spilling out everywhere. This is to show that if you want to, I'm constantly reminding you, even when you say somebody dear to you is lost, I won't miss that opportunity and I go at it to remind you of your mortal nature. This is the simplest way of being free from power, wealth and knowledge, whatever you may possess. It means nothing because you know this is mortal. It's not forever. When you have money, you think you live forever or you start making efforts to live forever. There are many idiots in this planet who are dead. And they're preserving their body in some stupid way which costs millions of dollars per year because they think they will come back. Like the pharaohs of Egypt, they kept their body hoping one day they will come and live again. Nobody came back, believe me. Hello? Your grandfather came back, is it? No. Nobody came back. This is the… the most basic ignorance in life is not knowing that I'm mortal. If you're aware of it every moment, doesn't matter how much wealth, how much power, how much knowledge you have, it will remain empowerment. The moment you forget that you're mortal, suddenly it will become enhancement. So if these three devis were worshipping and doing various things, if you look at the Navaratri processes, you will see it is not about attaining to knowledge, it is not about attaining to wealth or power. It's about transcending. That's why the tenth day is Vijayadashami, victory. Victory is not because you got wealth, not because you got knowledge, not because you got power. You are above it. You are victorious, vijaya. So, Navaratri is a discipline and also a celebration because we did not make anything in this culture, in this civilization, which is not celebratory. Every aspect has been made celebratory because the fundamental ethos of this civilization is always reminding ourselves we are mortal. There is no time to waste. There is not a moment that should go without life being in its exuberant best. Celebration does not mean eating, drinking, this one, that one. Celebration means life is at its best, exuberant best. So, Navaratri is about that. And you, when you fast, you're very aware that you're mortal. When stomach is full, you know.