The festival Navarathri commences from today (which is day after full moon during the month of Puratasi in Tamil calendar month). The word "Navarathri" means nine days which corresponds to worship of three forms of Goddess Devi namely, Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi; three days each for three forms of Devi.
During Navarathri, people display the idols of Gods in their home and invite neighbours and friends to visit. Children used to visit their friend's home and sing songs at their places and get some Prasad (food which is offered to God) usually called "Sundal".
During this auspicious time of worshipping Goddess Devi, let us listen to stories of Her great Bhakthas and Her divine grace.
Kalidasa is a well known poet in Sanskrit literature. He was not born intelligent, but was blessed with poetic prowess by Goddess Kali. There is an interesting story behind Kalidasa being blessed by Goddess Kali.
The King of Tejavathi had a well-learned daughter named Vidhyakumari. When the king wanted to arrange marriage of Vidhyakumari, she told that she will marry the person who defeats her in a debate on Shastras. A minister from the King's court wanted to make Vidhyakumari as his daughter-in-law, but his son was demeaned by her during the debate on Shastras. The minister kept vengence on her and wanted to teach her a lesson. He was set in search of a dumb man and found one near a forest. The man was cutting a tree branch while sitting on the branch edge. Seeing this the minister understood him to be a fool and plot a trick to make him marry Vidhyakumari.
The minister took the dumb man to Princess and introduced that he is one of the brilliant citizen of their country. He added that the dumb man would not speak anything, but could answer her questions. Princess got interested and the debate started. The princess showed him one finger saying `shakti is one'. He thought she will poke his one eye, so he showed her two fingers. She accepted it as valid answer, since `shakti' is manifest in duality (shiv-shakti, nar-naaree etc). She showed her the palm with fingers extended like symbolising a slap. He showed her the fist. She accepted it as answer to her question. She said `five elements' and he said `make the body' (earth, water, fire, air, and void). The mute debate continued and finally the Princess agreed that the dumb man is indeed a scholar and told that she would like to marry him.
Soon after the marriage got over, the Princess could understand that her husband is indeed not a scholar but a naive, dumb person. She felt grief-stricken and realized her mistake. However she did not deserted him, instead she tried to cultivate the knowledge in him. However being dumb he could not understand anything. Being a devotee of Goddess Kali, she asked him to pray to Her to bless with knowledge. The dumb man prayed to Kali everyday, but seeing that Kali did not bless him with knowledge, he decided he could sacrifice himself. Seeing his devout, Goddess Kali appeared before him and wrote Om syllable on his tongue and blessed that he will become a Sanskrit scholar. He is none other than Kalidasa (Devotee of Kali).
Kalidasa gained prowess in Sanskrit literature and became a poet with Kali's blessings.
Let us pray Goddess Kali to bless us with prowess in our field of knowledge and remove our fear.
Alongside, let us listen to this Shyamala Thandakam from movie Mahakavi Kalidasa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kVnRlyhqAk
Source: Movie Mahakavi Kalidasa, Discourse of Sri Muralidhara swamigal
During Navarathri, people display the idols of Gods in their home and invite neighbours and friends to visit. Children used to visit their friend's home and sing songs at their places and get some Prasad (food which is offered to God) usually called "Sundal".
During this auspicious time of worshipping Goddess Devi, let us listen to stories of Her great Bhakthas and Her divine grace.
Kalidasa is a well known poet in Sanskrit literature. He was not born intelligent, but was blessed with poetic prowess by Goddess Kali. There is an interesting story behind Kalidasa being blessed by Goddess Kali.
The King of Tejavathi had a well-learned daughter named Vidhyakumari. When the king wanted to arrange marriage of Vidhyakumari, she told that she will marry the person who defeats her in a debate on Shastras. A minister from the King's court wanted to make Vidhyakumari as his daughter-in-law, but his son was demeaned by her during the debate on Shastras. The minister kept vengence on her and wanted to teach her a lesson. He was set in search of a dumb man and found one near a forest. The man was cutting a tree branch while sitting on the branch edge. Seeing this the minister understood him to be a fool and plot a trick to make him marry Vidhyakumari.
The minister took the dumb man to Princess and introduced that he is one of the brilliant citizen of their country. He added that the dumb man would not speak anything, but could answer her questions. Princess got interested and the debate started. The princess showed him one finger saying `shakti is one'. He thought she will poke his one eye, so he showed her two fingers. She accepted it as valid answer, since `shakti' is manifest in duality (shiv-shakti, nar-naaree etc). She showed her the palm with fingers extended like symbolising a slap. He showed her the fist. She accepted it as answer to her question. She said `five elements' and he said `make the body' (earth, water, fire, air, and void). The mute debate continued and finally the Princess agreed that the dumb man is indeed a scholar and told that she would like to marry him.
Soon after the marriage got over, the Princess could understand that her husband is indeed not a scholar but a naive, dumb person. She felt grief-stricken and realized her mistake. However she did not deserted him, instead she tried to cultivate the knowledge in him. However being dumb he could not understand anything. Being a devotee of Goddess Kali, she asked him to pray to Her to bless with knowledge. The dumb man prayed to Kali everyday, but seeing that Kali did not bless him with knowledge, he decided he could sacrifice himself. Seeing his devout, Goddess Kali appeared before him and wrote Om syllable on his tongue and blessed that he will become a Sanskrit scholar. He is none other than Kalidasa (Devotee of Kali).
Kalidasa gained prowess in Sanskrit literature and became a poet with Kali's blessings.
Let us pray Goddess Kali to bless us with prowess in our field of knowledge and remove our fear.
Alongside, let us listen to this Shyamala Thandakam from movie Mahakavi Kalidasa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kVnRlyhqAk
Source: Movie Mahakavi Kalidasa, Discourse of Sri Muralidhara swamigal
