Chaitra Navaratri – Chaitra signifies the beginning of a New Year

Update – 29 March 2025 – Significance of Chaitra Navratri

Chaitra signifies the beginning of a New Year.

The nine day festival Chaitra/Vasanta Navaratri also referred as Spring Navaratri takes place from 30th March to 7th April in 2025. On the last day Ram Navami is celebrated which marks the birth of Lord Rama.

Chaitra Navratri is a time when the energy of the universe is in a state of heightened spiritual power and the energy of the Divine Mother is easier to access. The nine forms of Goddess Durga represent different aspects of the divine feminine energy, and each day of the festival offers an opportunity to activate and honour that energy. It is believed that honouring the Mother Goddess during the nine days of Navaratri will purify our soul, mind, and bring at peace to the navagrahas (nine planets).

The Festival of the Divine Mother is a powerful time to release darkness from within that disallows us to experience a steady and unshakable connection to cosmic consciousness.

THE WORD ‘NAVARATRI’ literally means nine nights in Sanskrit, ‘nava’ meaning nine and ‘ratri’ meaning nights. During these nine nights and ten days, nine forms of Shakti / Devi are worshiped.

The seeds of inner renewal are sown by devotees during Navaratri.

Navaratri honors the three essential aspects of the Supreme Mother Goddess.

Goddess Durga removes impurities and bigger obstacles.

Lakshmi bestows us with beauty, inner peace, prosperity and abundance. Lakshmi is the Goddess of goodness and a representation of feminine qualities such as purity, nobility, grace, charm, splendor, integrity and everlasting beauty.

Goddess Saraswati bestows us with highest wisdom, discernment ability, intuition and higher knowledge

The festival is popularly celebrated as “Ashtami” (8th day) and “Maha Navami”(9th day) .

May Goddess Durga give you the immense strength, perseverance and stability to overcome all obstacles in life.

Durga Ashtami is the eighth day of the Navratri festivities, Durga Ashtami is considered to be one of the most significant days. Ashtami, meaning ‘the eighth’, is dedicated to Goddess Mahagauri, one of the nine forms of Goddess Durga. She is the symbol of purity, serenity and tranquillity

The Sanskrit meaning for Durga is a place that is protected and cannot be reached by negative forces. The word Durga also means invincible, unbeatable and undefeated.

The mantra that is commonly used to honor and worship Devi Durga is

“Aum Dum Durgayai Namaha”

This is an extremely powerful mantra to harness the energy of planets and prevent them from afflicting us.

Meaning and Explanation

Aum – The primordial sound of the universe; The essence of everything.

Dum – The seed mantra (sound) of Devi Durga.

Durgayei – To Devi Durga

Namaha – We bow down to you or we surrender to you.

Jay maa Durga

As Navaratri begins we have the opportunity to ask ourselves what is it that is keeping us in the world of Illusion?
It’s usually addiction to comfort, being influenced by deep seated desires and fears without realizing it, or feelings of powerlessness that decreases our inner LIGHT, ENERGY LEVELS, and soul strength and prevents us to reach our higher potential and to realise our true SELF.

NAVARATRI is a potent and auspicious time to connect with the three aspects of the divine mother to ensure that you and your family experience inner peace, inner strengh and prosperity.

Navaratri (literally nine nights) symbolizes the triumph of good over evil and, as the name implies, this festival is celebrated for nine days.

During Navratri, people often gather to perform ‘pujas’ on small shrines representing different aspects of Goddess Durga, including Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati.

The first three nights are dedicated to Maa Durga. Durga is a principle aspect of the Mother Goddess who eliminates suffering and removes evil. She represents the transformative power of Divinity. She is the incarnation as the all-powerful one with the combined power of all the divine beings. She has 8 arms to protect from all directions.

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This is the time for creation and energy. We honour and worship Durga and ask that she uses her destructive power to remove anger, selfish desires, greed, ego and undue attachments; and purify us to become a receptacle of her Divinity.⁣

In Sanskrit, the word ”Durga” literally translates as the one who is ”unbeatable” or “invincible” and cannot be defeated, hence ”unconquerable”.