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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]To bring the goddess' blessings into your home and reap the benefits of Navaratri, I always advise people to recite the Durga Saptashati. This is also called the Devi Mahatyam, depending on which part of India you come from. It is the ultimate religious text of the Goddess worship tradition and reciting it during Navaratri brings enormous blessings into your life.

Just to give an example from my life: I started reciting the Durga Saptashati 4 years ago on Navaratri when I was having a really horrible time. That was just a bad year, after another really shitty year before that. I observed the fast for Navaratri and apart from regular puja, I started reading and reciting the Durga Saptashati. By the 6th day of Navaratri I had received a job offer and my luck kept turning around until all my problems started to slowly fall away. I've observed that whenever I read Durga Saptashati during Navaratri, good things happen for me.[/quote]

But aren't there quite a few rules with regard to the recitation of Maa Durga Saptashati? I have a copy but refrain from using it since I've not learned the proper way.   How do you practice the reading?[/quote]

I'm not 100% about that because I think it must vary depending on the sampradaya, but in general I think that there is really only one rule: bhakti. Maa understands your heart whether you have been given deeksha and instruction by a guru or not. I have never been initiated by a guru and I don't have any training or any instructions...I just genuinely love Mother Durga and I think she responds to pure love and nothing else.

Here's my procedure. If I can do it without negative consequences - actually [i]very[/i] positive consequences, huge benefits! - then I am sure you can too.

There are 13 chapters to the Devi Mahatmyam. Yesterday I read chapters 1 and 2. Today I did chapters 3 and 4. Tomorrow (Monday) I will do chapters 5 and 6. Day after tomorrow (Tuesday), chapters 7 and 8. Wednesday, chapters 9 and 10. Thursday, I read chapters 11 and 12. Friday is chapter 13.

When I read these chapters I really believe that the mythology happened. Maybe it happened in the astral plane. Maybe mythology is fiction to us, but it happened in the spirit world and we know about it through stories. Whatever way you think about it, just read with absolute faith that Durga Devi really was called down from the heavens by the frantic gods to destroy the demon Mahisha and his armies. Imagine yourself in the story. I see myself on the battlefield watching Durga reject the demon's marriage proposal, insult him, laugh at him, and tear him apart.

I totally surrender to Durga Devi during the reading process. I become a small child being protected by my mother. I know she is going to destroy my demons. I know there is no problem in my life that she can't handle. I know I am safe in her arms. I totally give myself over to this feeling during Navaratri - that's why I read 2 chapters a day and take it slow, so I can meditate on what I've read and practice surrendering myself to the goddess.

When I do this, I see my life change. Obstacles that seemed very impossible just sort of disappear on there own. Whatever problem I had, a solution arrives. I didn't do anything. All I did was read Durga Saptashati with total faith and surrender ([b]surrender[/b] is the key) and imagine myself as a small child being defended by the Ferocious Mother. And when I surrender to her, I can see the way she fixes my life. It really happens like magic.

You don't need to follow any rules, the only rule is devotion, surrender and complete faith. You shouldn't even think of her like a goddess. Just think of her like a mother. Even the sages have said that she likes being called "Mother" more than she likes being called "Goddess."[/quote]
You just inspired me to read it. Thanks[/quote]

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