In grand style, the magic of Chandi, She Who Tears Apart Thought, has come alive at the Devi Mandir with elaborate celebrations of Navaratri, the nine day festival of Durga worship.

The Goddesses have been busy battling the forces of duality that operate within us so that we may become the shining ones, or the forces of unity for this universe. With Mahakali having put Too Much and Too Little into balance, Mahasaraswati having destroyed Self-Deprecation and Self-Conceit, and Mahalakshmi having slain the Great Ego, Chamunda now stands on center stage on the final day of Navaratri (October 9).

Performing Her powerful dance that began precisely at 3:23 PM for only 48 minutes on the sandhi, (the last 24 minutes of Ashtami and the first 24 minutes of Navami) or the junction between the eighth and ninth day of Navaratri, She easily consumes Anger and Passion.

With their pure love and devotion, Shree Maa and Swamiji invoked the Goddess Chamunda to manifest in the divine fire of the Great 1000 Day Yagya by chanting her mantra, Om Hrim Chum Chamundayai Svaha, which translated by Swamiji means:

Om              Infinite Beyond Conception
Hrim            Maya, Stuff of Consciousness
Chum          She Who Moves in the Present Circumstance
in Perfect Harmony and Balance
Chamunda  Slayer of Anger and Passion, Moves in the Head
or the Paradigm of Reality
Yai               Grantor of Boons
Svaha          I am one with God

“Chamunda moves in the present circumstance in perfect harmony and balance and thus takes away Anger and Passion,” explain Shree Maa and Swamiji.

In the burning, blazing, shining divine fire of the Great Yagya, Chamunda, along with all of the other Divine Mothers, has made the forces of unity victorious and continues to purify us as the divine fire still burns and we move into a new creation of the universe. Jai Maa!

By Seema Datta