Dassera and then Deepavali form the main festive season in India. Dassera assumes great significance, since we welcome Mother Durga into our midst on the earth. It is the ninth day of Navaratri, and tomorrow will be the last day of this great festival.  First three days of Navaratri are dedicated to Maa Saraswati, the goddess of learning, art and music, the next three days to goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity and the last three days to goddess Durga, the deity of power, energy, who destroys evil.

To be fair, these three entities – learning and wisdom, wealth and prosperity, and power (Shakti), are present in each of us. Dassera, therefore, is a reminder to recognize our innate attributes, that should remain ever burning. These should not be allowed to slip into dormancy.

According our ancient seers have chanted:

Ya devi sarvabhuteshu vidya rupen sasthita
namo tasya yee namo tasya yee namo tasya yee namo namo

(The goddess who manifests as wisdom in every existence,
we salute her we salute her we salute her again and again)

Ya devi sarvabhuteshu dhana rupen sasthita
namo tasya yee namo tasya yee namo tasya yee namo namo

(The goddess who manifests as wealth in every existence,
we salute her we salute her we salute her again and again)

Ya devi sarvabhuteshu shakti rupen sasthita
namo tasya yee namo tasya yee namo tasya yee namo namo

(The goddess who manifests as power or energy in every existence,
we salute her we salute her we salute her again and again)

Dassera therefore stands for higher qualities of man, an urge to be noble and achieve good for ourselves and for the society. We need to strive and be wise to treasure human values so that goodness prevails in our day-to-day life.  

Keeping these ideals in mind let us greet each other, and pray mother Durga to bless all of us on the earth.