Durga Saptashati --- And its Relevance

Baba ji said ----

"Durga Saptashati is not an event which took place. It continuously unfolds in every human being at all times. Different chapters denote different phases of the individual. All characters in Durga Saptashati are actually traits and qualities within us."

1st chapter (Madhu Kaitabh vadh)

The first chapter of Durga Saptashati, involves the story of a king named ‘Surath’ and a Vaishy named ‘Samadhi’. The king, once prosperous loses all his wealth to invasion by a more powerful ruler. Despite this, his consciousness and attention are constantly drawn to the kingdom, the whereabouts of his ministers and his subjects even as he roams the forests in search of solace. There he meets a Vaishy, deprived of all his wealth, dumped by his sons and wife and evicted from his house.  The Vaishy too is stressed and haunted by the memories of his lost kinship. Both gather together at the ashram of Medha Maharishi.

Both are upset and puzzled by the fact that despite knowing that attachment to grief and sorrow is injurious, are unable to shed the memories of their past. Both seek an answer to this mystery of theirs from the Maharishi. The Maharishi narrates that all this is the grip of “Mahamaya” which is nothing but a form of Shakti.

Mahamaya originated when Lord Vishnu, engaged in his “Cosmic sleep” or “Yog Nidra” was invoked by Lord Brahma because the demons of Madhu and Kaitabh had engulfed the universe and could be alleviated only if Vishnu were to come back from His “sleep”. Madhu and Kaitabh originated from Lord Vishnu's ears when He was in His slumbering wakefulness. Mahamaya became the factor, originated by the prayers of Lord Brahma to awaken Vishnu from His state. Mahamaya, who had fixated Madhu and Kaitabh too, led the two demons to ask Vishnu for any wish He desired. The Lord desired that the two demons be killed at His hands. But the condition from the demons was that they be killed at a place on Earth where there is no water. Thus, Lord Vishnu killed them on His lap.

Relevance to a Shiv Yogi

 Madhu and Kaitabh are not devils outside but the bad qualities and vices within us. They both originated from the ear of Lord Vishnu. The underlying meaning is that the genesis and origin of these two bad qualities is when the sense of hearing is polluted and along with the intention.

Madhu is false praise. One loves to inflate one's ego by hearing all good. This inflated ego is self destructive.  
Kaitabh is uttering negative words. Talking ill of others, called "chugli" in Hindi is a natural pass time of many people.  On an individual level, hearing even constructive criticism sounds cacophonic since the ego believes the individual to be supreme and perfect.
Madhu (Meetha bhashan or Mridu vachan) implies sweet talk meant to deceive and with an secret motive. Flattery, buttering, sycophancy are all “Asuras” which can be bracketed under the “Madhu”.  Such glib talking is a vice which grows dangerously and secretly one day consumes the individual indulging in it.
Kaitabh (Karwa bol) refers to talking impolitely as if spewing venom. Criticizing, abusing, analyzing, passing judgements or any talk which does not have unconditional love in it on is an overarching devil too. This will over power the individual quicker than Madhu and is sure to lead one to hell and constant cycle of suffering and pain.
Baba ji says that whenever the God in us is in a state of temporary sleep, devils are born. And when is God asleep? It’s when we do not engage in sadhana. The role of Brahma is played by the sadhak, who prays to the Guru and Shiva to awaken the two within himself.
As the Param tatwa and Guru tatwa get activated, the pain and suffering inflicted by ignorance of negativity will be terminated.
 Every individual is gripped by Maya which makes the individual believe that this world is all what is worth thinking of. The Maya does not let attachment fade away. Every second, we are worried about what happened in our past, our family’s past, and our friends’ past. Every second we regret our actions, mourning all the sorrow that has come in our lives. Maya is the illusion, that this physical body is the true identity and all one needs to do during one’s lifetime is work on this body, the relations of this body, accumulate wealth for this body etc. 
The one who prays to Shakti and performs Her Sadhana, gets blessed and extricated from this bondage of Maya.
2nd, 3rd and 4th chapters (Mahishasur sanghar)
The second third and fourth chapters contain the story of Mahishasur and his army of beasts overpowering all devtas by finally winning a war lasting hundred years. Mahishasur supersedes Indra Devta and by this act of dethronement becomes the undisputed tyrannous king of the world.
Aggrieved and dejected the devtas head to Lord Brahma with their plea to salvage the situation for them and help regain their lost territory. Spearheaded by Lord Brahma, the team of devtas approach Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva when both are present at the same place. Hearing of the sorry state of affairs, Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu spawn a divine radiance "TEJ" from their mouths and with contributions from Brahma and all devtas, this divine radiance and glow fuses to form a mass of blinding illumination. This mass gives rise to "Mahadevi". The various parts of Mahadevi are formed by individual contributions of energies of all present. The Devi is characterized by having angelic beauty, gargantuan size, overbearing presence and towering existence. The devtas, Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh offer their specialized weapons to Devi who becomes omnipotent.
The genesis of the Mahadevi creates ripples across the universe. Perturbed a tad bit by this happening, the cohorts of Mahishasur - "Chikshuk and Chaamar", also vicious monsters take turns to defeat the Devi. Mahadevi pounds them however and their army brutally. The notorious might of the demons comes to naught. They are no match for the all powerful Mahadevi. She drubs and pummels these monsters much to the chagrin of Mahishasur.
Smarting from this setback, Mahishasur exercises his ability to manifest into various forms. By first moulding itself into a bull, followed by a Lion, a man with a sword, big elephant and again bull Mahishasur foxes Mahadevi and troubles her for a while. After certain wasted attempts to exterminate Mahishasur, Mahadevi fumes. Her eyes, baying for Mahishasur's blood, her roar warning the demon that his last hurrah was over, sticks her feet at the chest of the demon and slays it with her trident. In a vanguard attempt, Maheshasur tries to originate again from its mouth but Devi sees it and kills it too. She then culls the devil army of Mahishasur.
The devtas rejoice and sing in honor to her. It is then that "Mahishasur Mardini" is recited by one and all, offering gratitude to Mahadevi and extolling her virtues, majesty and might for usurping the reign of the monsters. Praise
Clearing a doubt of the devtas that despite being all powerful, why doesn’t Devi kill the monsters at once and why the need to engage in a fight with them at all, Devi says that when She touches the demons while killing them, it causes their ascension as She wishes the best for all.

Relevance to a Shiv Yogi

There is a constant battle which is relentlessly being fought within us. The battle is between the devils and angels. Devils and angels both are within us. When we indulge in negative karmas, i.e. those which include rejection, hate, resentment, fear, ego, criticism, we give fuel to the "Asuras" within us. When we follow Siddha Marg of Unoncditional love, acceptance and forgiveness shown by the Guru, we give fuel to the Devtas.
Mahishasur stands for the human Ego. In body consciousness we immerse so much that we forget that we are not this body. Ego originating from the belief that we are this body only and are immortal like Mahishasur is very clever. Ego just as Mahishasur takes different forms at different times, in different states and different circumstances. In rulers, ego takes the form of superiority; among the ruled it takes the form of playing the victim card all the time.
Expecting others to salute you, greet you, treat you with respect is Mahishasur.
Ego is like slow poison. It slowly and steadily harms and one day becomes the ruler in the mind to finally lead to pain, suffering, hell like experiences, negative entities like ghosts attaching as revenge etc.
Indra stands for the 5 senses (also called paanch indriyan). The defeat of Indra by Mahishasur implies 5 senses succumbing to the Ego. The ego wishes to see others working for it, others speaking well for it, others serving tasty food, others surrendering to it etc.
The devtas are the good sanskaras and karmas. When they are activated, they lead us to the Guru and Shiva who are the Vishnu and Shiva of the story for us. The radiance or "TEJ" from which Mahadevi is born is nothing but the energy which we create when we do sadhana. It is called Sadhana Shakti. This energy, when fuses with the blessings of the Guru, the Spiritual Masters and all Holy Siddhas is capable of creating Shakti which is all powerful and which will slay the Ego.