Aiya and Āgama
Is Navarātri an Auspicious Time for Sādhanā?
The concepts of pure/impure, auspicious/inauspicious, and a number of other foundational beliefs, and their accompanying prescriptions/restrictions, prove useful to building conviction, establishing concentration, and maintaining sādhanā throughout life. However, to what extent is it true that one time is really more auspicious, or powerful than another?
Recently, Aiya gave a wonderful answer when asked if deeper meditations and higher energy happen during Navarātri because it is a special time in the year. Aiya responded,
"It has nothing to do with that, except that, during Navarātri that's all you're doing. During the day, during the night, you're worshiping the Devī. If you do that on any other time the same thing will result. But we don't take charge, we don't think that...because at the back of our mind we think Navarātri is an auspicious time and therefore these manifestations are there, that's also part of maya. If you have the same focus throughout the year there, there is no way that one time is more auspicious than the other in spite of the fact that they say Dhanurmasam is Brāhmūrtham for the devatās, right? That is so people don't become lazy during the Margazhi pani, that is, during the time of that month. It's kind of cold and the tendency is for you to tighten your blanket and go to sleep. If you can rouse yourself up, it's discipline again. So, no, there is no, it's because [your... ] at the back of your mind you think this is the Devī's festival time, you have to worship her. It's already there, and then you worship her. All the other times are also auspicious as these."[1]
Not that Aiya needs any śāstric justification or correlations to backup what he is saying, but something did jump out at me when I heard Aiya speak; I was immediately reminded of two ancient tantric sources that describe something strikingly similar...
Somānanda (9th-10th C.), the great Kashmiri Śaivācārya, descendent of Durvāsa, and founder of the influential school of non-dual Śaivaism (Pratyabhijñā) wrote in his magnum opus, Śivadṛṣṭi (1.48),
"Thus, it is firmly established that the Śiva-nature is the same for all entities. A differentiation in them in terms of higher, lower, etc. may be maintained only by those who are ready to think anything true."
(translation by Raffaele Torella)
Somānanda's disciple, Utpaladeva, clarified this verse in his own commentary by suggesting,
"This is the meaning, Starting from Paramaśiva down to all objects, such as a jar, etc., the Śiva-nature is the same, in the sense that it is neither more nor less, and it is definitely present in everything with no exception (niyatā), since the nature of full consciousness is never exceeded. Due to such experience of unity with the Śiva-nature, everything possesses a marvellous and indefinable (kāpi) state. Thus, since everything has intimate unity with the Śiva-nature, we can speak of things as differentiated into higher, lower, etc., of their having a pure or impure nature, etc., only on account of our non-awareness of such intimate unity. This may take place in people just owing to mere belief, that is, without sound reasons. In things there is no purity or impurity whatsoever."
(translation by Raffaele Torella)
In a recently discovered kaula śāstra, the Bhairavamaṅgalā, the radically non-dual text describes how someone in the higher states of realization views auspicious times, and even purification, in terms of relation to absolute faith in, and unity with, the mantra,
"There are no rites to be performed on certain lunar dates or vows to be observed under certain constellations, no calendrical fasts, purification, observances, and baths, and there are no inauspicious moments. It is the mantra that is the supreme time, observance and secondary rites; baths and purificatory rites are ... established in mantras. Mantras derive from the Omniscient and are capable of ending this transmigration. They are unfailing, pure and still, devoid of inauspicious times and the like. They are made of time and they give rise to the nāḍīs. They perform initiation, and Sadāśiva is also formed with mantras ... just as something touched by the philosopher's stone turns from copper to gold, someone purified by initiation reaches Śivahood."
(translation by Judit Torzsök)
Following Aiya's deep words of wisdom, and the non-dual kaula śāstras, we can see that auspicious times are really all the time as everything is always and ever fully permeated with the presence of the divine. There is no time like the present to fully immerse ones mind in the guru given mantra and sādhanā.
śrī gurubhyo namaḥ
[1] Abhirami Andadi Session 9 March 22nd, 2021
