The first 9 days of Aswiyuja Masam, the Devi Navarathris have started. Jai Durga Mata!
In the north they celebrate Rama’s victory over Ravana .
9 days of fighting and the tenth day – the victorious Vijaya Dasimi day. You can start any good new ventures on that day without checking muhurtas and stuff.
People are organizing doll displays – bommala koluvulu.
My Veda Guru is starting major Veda Parayanam and various other pArAyaNams to last all day.
Mysore is all geared up for the famous “Mysore Dasara”.
Lakshmi Prasanna has started translating “Daksha : He named the fixed stars!“. I consider it one of my best stories. She has also signed up for my Gita tele-capsule classes. And is getting set to conduct the Star-Gazing Tele-Classes in November. She will be teaching us how to identify the 27 nakshatrams and nava grahas in the sky.
One batch of students have started Sankhya Yoga studies at Ancient Indians University – e Gurukula! The telugu TV channels are showing Sri Krishna pourAnikAs.
What excitement all around!
Bhagavan Hayagriva stotra of Lalitha Devi :
What wonderful thing shall I do these 9 days? How shall I worship Sarvachaitanyarûpâ Devi?
What better way than in the words in the Devi Bhagavatham?
“I meditate on the beginning-less Brahmâvidyâ who is Sarvachaitanyarûpâ, of the nature of all-consciousness; May She stimulate our buddhi to the realisation of That. (Tat)
“May that Highest Primal S’akti who is known as Vidyâ in the Vedas; who is omniscient, who controls the innermost of all and who is skilled in cutting off the knot of the world (Samsara), who cannot be realised by the wicked and the vicious, but who is visible to the Munis in their meditation, may that Bhagavatî Devî give me always the buddhi fit to describe the Purâna!”
“I call to my mind the Mother of all the worlds who creates this universe, whose nature is both real (sat) and and unreal (asat), preserves and destroys by Her Râjasik, Sâttvik and Tâmasik qualities and in the end resolves all these into Herself and plays alone in the period of Dissolution – at this time, I remember my that Mother of all the worlds.”
“S’ivA is beyond Prâkritic attributes, eternal and ever omnipresent; She is without any change, immutable, unattainable but by yoga; She is the refuge of the universe and Her nature is Turîya Chaitanya. Mahâ Lakshmi is Her Sattvikî S’akti; Sarasvati is Her Râjasik S’akti and Mahâ Kâlî is Her Tâmasik S’akti; these are all of feminine forms.”
…
Source and Reference: Translation by Swami Vijñanananda : [1921-22]
This is how the Vedas worshipped Devi.
Salurations to the Devî! to the Mahâmâyâ! to the Auspicious One! to the Creatrix of the Universe! We bow down to Thee, who is beyond the Gunas, the Ruler of all the Beings! O Mother! Thou givest to S’ankara (Siva) even His desires. Thou art the receptacle of all the things; Thou art the Prâna of all the living beings; Thou art Buddhi, Laksmî (wealth), S’obhâ, Ks’hamâ (forgiveness), S’ânti (peace), Sraddhâ (faith), Medhâ (intellect), Dhriti (fortitude), and Smriti (recollection).
Thou art the bindu (m) over the Prânava (om) and thou art of the nature of semi-moon; Thou art Gâyatri, Thou art Vyârhiti; Thou art Jayâ, Vijayâ, Dhâtri (the supportress), Lajjâ (modesty), Kîrti (fame), Ichchâ (will) and Dayâ (mercy) in all beings.
O Mother! Thou art the merciful Mother of the three worlds; Thou art the adorable auspicious Vidyâ (knowledge) benefitting all the Lokas; Thou destroyest the Universe and Thou skilfully residest (hidden) in the Vîja mantras. Therefore we are praising Thee. O Mother! Brahma, Vishnu, Mahes’vara, Indra, Sûrya, Fire, Sarasvatî and other Regents of the Universe are all Thy creation; so none of them is superior to Thee. Thou art the Mother of all the things, moving and non-moving.
O Mother ! When Thou dost will to create this visible Universe, Thou createst first Brahmâ, Visnu and Mahes’vara and makest them create, preserve and destroy this universe; but Thou remainest quite unattached to the world. Ever Thou remainest constant in Thy one form. No one in this Universe is able to know Thy nature; nor there is any body who can enumerate Thy names. How can he promise to jump across the illimitable ocean, who cannot jump across an ordinary well.
O Bhagavatî! No one amongst the Devas even knows particularly Thy endless power and glory. Thou art alone the Lady of the Universe and the Mother of the world.
The Vedas all bear testimony how thou alone hast created all this unreal and fleeting universe. O Devî! Thou without any effort and having no desires hast become the cause of this visible world, thyself remaining unchanged. This is a great wonder. We cannot conceive this combination of contrary varieties in one. O Mother! How can we understand thy power, unknown to all the Vedas even, when thou thyself dost not know thy nature! We are bewildered at this. O Mother!
Thus, all those who otherwise have no opportunity to learn the Vedas, are taught in one brief summary what the Vedas say about the Devi. Thus does Veda Vyasa, pass on Vedic Knowledge via the Puranas – Satya
I have started studying kUrmAvatAram. I got the sanskrit book from Gita Press on Platform 1, Bangalore SBC railway station. I have also begun studying Siksha Sangraha – a collection of the different treatises on Vedanga Siksha by various RSis (Rishis, Rushis), Scientists and Philosophers.
A set of telugu historical essays authored by my father Prof. Kandula V.N. Sarma and co-authored by me (data, discussions, ideas, arguments.. 
) has started appearing in the telugu monthly print magazine Rachana.
Satya Sarada Kandula
