Durga Saptashati --- And its Relevance Cont....

 

8th chapter (Raktabeej sanghar)

The massive bloodshed inflicted by Devi on his army and the brutal killings of Chanda and Munda riles the Demon king Shumbh no end. He thus orders all his troops and contingents to gear up for avenging such devastation.
As the demon army approaches Ambika Devi, Ma Kali and the Lion, Devi displays Her strength through a loud growl as if sounding the war cry. The roar of the Lion and the sonorous reverberation of the huge bells by Devi add to the resonance.
The demon army, roused by the war cry instigation besiege Devi Ambika, Ma Kali and the Lion.
At this stage the trinity of Brahma Vishnu and Mahesh along with chief Devtas offer the Devi with all their powers. The consorts of Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh and Indra namely Brahmani, Vaishnavi (Varahi), Maheswari, Indrani (also called Aindri) and Narsinghi also appear to assist Ambika Devi who resizes Her to a gargantuan Devi.
Ambika devi then asks Lord Shiva to be Her "doot" or messenger and present the offer of amnesty to Shumbh and his army as a last chance of redemption.  Thus Ambika Devi is also known as "Shiv-dooti" which means the one who made Shiva as Her messenger.
Lord Shiva conveys this last offer of pardon to Shumbh and his army, only to be turned down out rightly.  The army then attacks Devi.  Devi makes short work of the army, killing thousands of troops at will.  Ma Kali too trounces the devil army.  Similarly Brahmani, Vaishnavi, Indrani, Narsinghi too pummel the demon army as if it were a cakewalk.  
In this backdrop enters Raktabeej. He had a blessing if any of his parts were cut; the blood droplets that would ooze out from the slashed part would give rise to as many more of his kind like a sort of asexual reproduction method of growth.
All the devis took turns to kill and disembody Raktabeej but as this happened, more and more blood dripped on the Earth, giving rise to more Raktabeejas. 
Steadily, the whole world is besieged by Raktabeejas. This becomes a major cause of concern for the devtas.  Ambika Devi then asks Ma Kali (Chamunda) to open Her mouth so wide that as She attacks Raktabeeja, the blood that falls and the more asuras that spring up, are swallowed by Ma Kali.
Ma Kali ingesting the blood and the consequent Raktabeej asuras. Thus another noxious devil was overwhelmed by Devi and Her manifestations much to the delight of the devtas and inhabitants of Earth. 

Relevance to a Shiv Yogi

Baba ji sermons in many a shivir that the asura Raktabeej is analogous to our sanchit karmas or accumulated deeds of past and this birth.
There are 2 ways of ending karmas--- first to let them unravel and suffer them out and the second is to burn them through sadhna.
The first method is nothing but the vicious cycle of Raktabeeja. When we do not engage in sadhna and let our karmas unfold on their own, it causes suffering. In that suffering we will be worried and troubled and generate more negative karmas which in turn again will cause more suffering.

We give rise to more negativity if we let the karmas unfold on their own. Sadhna is thus paramount.
When a bad incident unfolds, we feel sorrowful, dejected, mournful, hateful, vengeful, fearful, vulnerable and other such negative emotions. So unfolding of a single karma causes accumulation of thousand more karmas which if not cleared through sadhna are capable of overtaking the individual completely.
But when we do sadhna, the negative karmas are burnt beforehand and one can enjoy life without giving birth to new karmas. 
The Shakti generated after sadhna is potent enough to drink the blood droplets of karmas which fall down when an incident occurs and generate more "Raktabeeja swaroopa" karmas and suffering.

Importance of sadhna thus is supreme. The priority of sadhna must be above all karmas that we do. Forget eating, forget sleeping forget reading the newspaper but never forget doing sadhna.

9th and 10th chapters (Shumbh-Nishumbh vadh)

Burning from the massive disaster wreaked by Ambika Devi and Her divine aides, Shumbh and Nishumbh vow to strike back with greater force. No sooner do they enter the battlefield than they heap a volley of arrows, maces, sickles, swords on Ambika Devi and Her Lion. Devi strikes back and with ease cutting all the weapons hurled at Her to pieces. The armor of Nishumbh too is blasted into smithereens.
A similar barrage of attacks follows and every time Devi comes out unharmed. Nishumbh is soon pummeled into unconsciousness.  Seeing such a hard blow dealt to his brother Nishumbh, Shumbh wishes to exact revenge on Devi. Devi blows the conch shell and signals the death knell of Shumbh by ringing bells, the sound of which reverberates across the universe. Her Lion too roars; the roar transcending all realms.  Witnessing such a fierce countenance of Devi, all devtas hail the Devi by doing Her "Jai-jai kaar".
Exchange of aggressive assaults follows, resulting in Shumbh falling unconscious this time over.
Meanwhile Nishumbh gains consciousness increasing his upper limbs from two to ten thousand. He begins hurling a multitude of weapons at Devi. Devi weathers this onslaught with ease and is equal to the barrage of attack. Finally, Devi hurls her spiked shovel at Nishumbh, piercing his chest into 2 parts, and concomitantly a new devil rises from the entrails of the dying body of Nishumbh. The devil for warns Devi of her end but with a wry smile, Devi kills this new demon too. Devi's Lion then gorges on the heads of all the demons killed in this battle.
Bearing testimony to such cataclysm, Shumbh calls the Devi a cheater who kills Her opponents through the assists of Her aides like devtas, other devis, Her Lion etc.
To this Devi retorts, "O wicked and daft devil Shumbh! All the devis and devtas are not different entities. They are all my manifestations. It is like I have deconstructed myself and various parts of mine are engaged in war with various Asuras. Despite that if you deem this scenario as unfair, I am ready to square up and debilitate you as One. " 
Thus Ambika Devi assimilates all the demi-gods within Herself and the duel with Shumbh begins. The battle becomes very intriguing as Shumbh puts up a good fight to all of Devi's advances.
Both inflict mutual damage. Weapons cannot separate the two as the battle now moves to fisticuffs. A long drawn contest follows in the sky. Devi lifts Shumbh in the sky and throws him to the Earth with infinite force. The savage Shumbh however stands his ground on Earth. He then barges towards Devi to kill her and even as he does so, Devi flings a supremely powerful trident at him. As the trident cleaves his body, his pran begin to discharge. The death of Shumbh shakes the entire landscape of the universe.
As this happens, elation and ecstasy suffuse the universe. Rivers start to flow in their proper directions, birds start singing, breeze starts blowing, sun radiates in its full glory, cacophonic sounds give way to tranquility and the shroud of darkness is removed.

Relevance to a Shiv Yogi

Shumbh and Nishumbh are the vices of greed and lust. When one is pacified, the other is cropped up just like the asuras who fell unconscious for sometime only to arise sometime later.
The last line of the story reads that the normal functioning of nature is restored as Shumbh is killed. So when through sadhna this bad quality of greed and stealing others' share which is present in us will subside, we will start functioning or start treading faster towards self realization for which we have taken birth.
Desires of an impure consciousness turn into greed and avariciousness. Sense of satiation and satisfaction eludes such a person.
Greed and lust make us so blind that even God seems unfair just as Shumbh calls Devi a cheat. We curse God for our pain, suffering and sorrow. The 99 things that we have are of no use. The 1 thing that we don't is all what matters to us. We complain, crib, pass judgments and prolong our pining.
 If at all through the blessings of Shiva, we get something, we don’t thank Him and reckon that it was due to us.
When we do sadhna and invoke Ma Sanjeevani, She does not come alone. She brings along all devis, devtas and the divine trinity of Brahma Vishnu and Mahesh. It’s important to understand what the devis, devtas and the divine trinity stand for.

In doing Shree Vidya sadhna which is the meditation of all aspects of the universe encompassing every micro particle to every macro structure, we are blessed by: ---

·        Ma Lakshmi (gain of prosperity by way of money, assets and all luxuries)

·        Ma Saraswati (Divine Wisdom oozes out of us naturally and we become the scholar of all worldly sciences too),

·        Ma Kali ( at a subtle level confidence builds in us which gives us the faith and belief that we can achieve anything and everything and tide over all difficulties all by ourselves),

·        Lord Brahma( we become the creators of our own destiny and voluntarily so, deciding for ourselves what will our future be like)

·        Lord Vishnu (we sustain our lives enjoying everything, leading a lifetime full of bliss)

·        Lord Shiva (destroying any negativity which comes our way and becoming forgiving, simple just like "Bhola Bhandari"  or Bholenath)

·        Lion of Ma Durga (the rigidity to stick to resolves, the firm determination, the courage to pounce on hurdles and bravely fight them out)

·        16 Nityas of the Moon (when one does sadhna every day, the presiding devi of the day, also called the Nitya is appeased and all through the day the shower of unconditional love of Devi continues)

·        Blessings of Sun (we become tejoymay, exuding divine energy at all times just like the glow of 10 suns which adorn our beautiful universe)

Thus a sadhak who meditates daily, if at all encounters a difficulty; he does not fight it alone. The whole universe fights with him as Ma Ambika is always around. And when Ma Ambika is around, all divinity is around.

Hail the Shakti who gives us so much. Thank Her every day. Thank the Guru who introduced "ourselves to our real selves"

Meditate on the lessons and pray to Ma Sanjeevani to expunge the asuras within you. The note will be of use only then.