The Devi’s Agomon
Kushmanda Despite being the Adi Shakti, She is an approachable goddess who is pleased easily by true devotion and ritual worship
The presence of the Devi saturates the sub-continent, informs the life of the Hindus and binds the myths and legends of the land together from its oral epics and Shaktipeeths to the ritual practices of Tantra, and tinier, more intimate practices of daily life. Durga , the goddess represenattive of that Adi Shakti, worshipped across large parts of India, is said to have nine swaroops or manifestations, with each emphasisng a particular concentration of energy and certain qualities of tapasya or asceticism. Each day of the navratras is dedicated to one of these manifestations. In the cosmogenic myth it is the laughter of the Goddess which creates the void that is to be filled with the energy of creation or the cosmos. She is the symbolic form of the uncontained, undefined and formless divine energy: Adi Shakti. Her iconographic form, the goddess Kushmanda is always portrayed as radiating with an intense inner light. The radiance of a hundred thousand suns is contained in her, her brilliance is incomparable and she resides deep within the heart of the sun where no other god or goddess can withstand the brilliance. She alone illuminates the ten directions and all the worlds. In one of her eight hands she holds the "kalash" or container filled with nectar or "amrit," which was obtained after the legendary churning of the ocean. In another hand she holds a chakra and contained in the rosary beads in yet another of her hands, are all the arts and graces of the material world. Worshipped by the name of the eight handed goddess, she claims the fourth day of the Navratra as hers particularly. Despite being the Adi Shakti, this is an approachable goddess who is pleased easily by true devotion and ritual worship. As a potent force and facet of the female energy, Kushmanda claims as her own the Anahat Chakra. Symbolised by a lotus with twelve petals, this chakra is also known as the heart chakra. The Anahat Chakra emphasis the qualities of the heart - love and compassion but most of all equilibrium.
Scluptors, across the nation, put finishing touches to the idols of the deity prior to her sthapna in the pandals on Shashthi
The Supreme Court today refused to stay the Central government's notification to impose a ban on smoking in public places from October 2.A bench headed by Justice B N Agarwal, while refusing to stay the notification dated May 30, 2008, also transferred the four petitions, including one each filed by the ITC and the Indian Hotels Association, against it in the Delhi High Court."We are of the view that it is not a fit case for grant of interim relief. The prayer staying implementation of prohibition of smoking in public places is rejected...Let transfer cases be heard on November 18," the bench said.
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