LAKSHMAN PRIYA

WOMANHOOD (2)

" Is there anything special about women's lives specifically ?"- Sita asked in an elevated voice.

Gargi- " yes my child. Women's lives are indeed special. On each step we change our roles but the duties remain same. And the perfect example of this is mata Gouri herself. In her 'nav Durga' forms she gives the best lessons of womanhood. "

Urmila questioned- " nav Durga... Means nine forms of Durga. I have seen maa and kaki maa worshipping these nine forms. Please enlighten more about it mata."

Gargi was pleased by Urmila's excitement. So without wasting any time she elaborated- " Mata Gouri was born as Parvat raj himavan's (king of Himalayas) daughter. That's why her another name is parvati. In her childhood she was an obedient daughter. Everybody was happy by her. Because of being an ideal daughter she became 'Shaila putri'... The very 1st form of nav Durga....
So just like this evey woman should be an obedient daughter like her. This is what mata Shaila putri teaches.

When parvati became young she slowly started understanding the purpose behind her birth and what her destination is. She was craving for worshiping Mahadev to become his wife. Because she was the incarnation of Adishakti... the supreme feminine energy of universe and other half of Sadashiv, the supreme masculine energy of Mahadev. Then she Prayed Mahadev for thousands of years without taking any food or water. Finally her difficult prayer got answered and Parvati got her Shiva. This dedication of her made her 'Brahmacharini'... The second form of nav Durga.
In this form she teaches us the power of determination and strength of a woman to become what she wants.

Finally their marriage happened and that bride from of Mata Parvati is known as ' Chandraghanta'.... The third form of nav Durga. In this form she spreads light on the potential of a woman and her tallent of multitasking. Because mata Chandraghanta has various different kind of things in her 10 hands, which depicts her creativity and multitasking capabilities.

The fourth form is 'kushmanda'. This is her ultimate form for creation. And it tells us about the capacity of a woman to create. Only a woman has this power in this universe.

Then Mata Parvati gave birth to Lord Kartikeya, who is also known as Skand. People say that a woman reaches at her utmost happiness when she becomes a mother. So this also known as the happiest form of devi and called as ' skandmata'. In this form she gives the message of a healthy and happy motherhood, which is every woman's pride.

And when a woman becomes a mother, she becomes the best warrior of the universe. To protect her children from any evil she can do anything and cross any limit. And this fierce warrior form of mata parvati is called as 'katyayani'... the sixth form of nav Durga. Here the message is clear. Women are the strongest warriors.

7th and the most dangerous looking form of nav Durga is 'kalratri'. People always fear this from. But mata kalratri gives us the best message. She is the other name of hope. No what matter situations we face, she always stays with us and protects us. No matter how dark the night becomes... the sun has to rise at the end... This is what the meaning behind devi's this form.
Women are that strongest pillar which makes the entire house stand perfectly. And she has to be strong and keep hope in difficulties. Just like Mata kalratri.

On top of being a daughter, wife, sister and mother, a woman has to be herself as well. While performing her duties towards everyone she should never forget her own identity. And this is the lesson mata parvati gave to the world when she transformed from the dangerous looking kalratri to the most elegant looking ' Mahagauri '. This 8th form of devi is known as the most beautiful form of nav Durga.

At last the most important and final duty comes to a woman's life. In which she has to pass down her gained knowledge and wisdom to her next generations. This is how she prepares her children and grandchildren to fight the battle of life by standing on the side of Dharma. And this is the 9th Nav Durga... Mata 'Siddhi datri's ' message.

There are the nine auspicious form of mata parvati and the lessons to womanhood by her."

All the princesses were stunned by the inspiring story of Mata Parvati's life. As always Urmila was listening without even blinking. Anytime she was hearing about the things that excited her, she was forgetting to blink. And this wasn't unnoticeable by vidhushi (wise woman) Gargi.

Sita almost teared up after hearing the greatness of her mata Gouri. With a windshield voice she said- " how amusing this nav Durga story is... How aspiring mata Gouri is..."

Mandvi joined sita- " I'm highly grateful to her, because she gave me life of a woman. "
After Mandvi, Shrutkirti also added- " I will always follow her lessons in evey step of my life and become the best version of myself. "

Gargi patted the shoulder of Sita and proudly and told everyone- " i know.. you will do so my children... "
Then her gaze fell upon Urmila who was still silent. But there was an unique smile on her face, which not much people have seen. In the last 7-8 years, Gargi had studied Urmila enough to understand the meaning behind her this perticular type of smile.
Which was describing what she had learnt and how much inspiration she gathered from it. But the intensity of emotions had became too high in her heart that her mind isn't giving permission to her tongue to move and say anything. Only Gargi and Sita had known about Urmila's this unique way of expressing feelings..... by becoming entirely silent with a mysterious smile on lips and wet glistening eyes.

Then Gargi looked at all four of them together and said- " You are not any ordinary women but princesses. And soon you all will become queens of some kingdom. A queen is like a mother for her people. She is the very first woman of the nation. And just like every woman, a queen has to become strong both mentally and physically to stand like that steadiest pillar which will help the whole nation stand up. So I hope, whatever i have been teaching you till today will help you all to become fantastic queens in future.

Urmila finally spoke- " you are the best teacher mata. What we have been learning in your shadow are more than enough to take us to a whole different level in life. And we will always follow your lessons and stand out on your expectations. What you are trying to make us..., we will exactly become that."

" Since this lesson is about womanhood, I'm gonna talk to you about a very important topic.
In the 'shailaputri' phases of your lives, you all definitely stood out as best daughters. And now you all are in the 'brahmacharini' phase... seeking knowledge and finding your true potentials. But to transform from 'brahmacharini' to 'chandraghanta' you all need someone..."- this statement of vidushi Gargi made the princesses looked cluelessly at her. So she tried to simplify.-

"We always worship Shiv ling. Because it doesn't just depict mahadev but Devi parvati as well. They are incomplete without eachother. Shiv is shav (a lifeless body) without Shakti and Shakti is formless without Shiv. Because they are the perfect halves of eachother... the divine life partners...
So my question to you all is, what do you see when you think of your other halves ? Or simply i would like to ask, What type of man you all want as your life partners ? What qualities and personalities you want to see in them ? " - This unbelievable question of Gargi changed the colour of every princess'es face to a softer shade of red. They just blankly stared at eachother while trying to hide their smile and blushy red cheeks.