The Worship of Durga

Interview with a priest's son
Durga Temple, Varanasi

I am the son of the priest. This is one of the most popular temples in the whole world. There are eight or nine pujaris present in this temple. No one else works here. This is the first place for Durga, the oldest temple for Durga. The goddess Durga is siddh pith. This means that she is here all the time.

In a single year there are two nauratris. These are held six months apart. During this time, the goddess Durga is worshipped. The time nauratri is held depends on the moon and sun, and our Hindu calendar. Usually, it is once in September-October, and once in March-April. During this festival, by doing aradhna-puja of Durga, we do something and gain something. Each day has its own importance. So this festival also has its own importance, and during this time people don’t sleep. This is a night festival. According to our religious writings, any religious work or duty performed at night immediately becomes siddh.

This is a good rainy season. It is very auspicious. There are 12 months in the Hindu calendar. In the sixth month, the rainy season comes and we have a month-long Hindu festival. It is going on right now. Those who have been married during the year come to get darshan during savan. Tuesday is a special day of the week for worship. Saturday is not a special day, generally, but for the worship of Hanuman, it has some special significance. Tuesday is for the goddess Durga. On the other days of the week, kriya takes place. For those who especially wish to perform kriya according to niyam, all these are the same. These people come every day, regularly, and so special days don’t matter to them.

There are 33 crore devtas. Each and every one of them has given his complete power in order to create new powers. This new power, which is a composite creation of the powers of all the devtas, is called Durga. The puja system given to use in our scriptures is a nirakar system. The sakar system is an intermediary way of worshipping ultimate reality. For example, when we say, “This form is Durga,” we will worship her right here. In the nirakar system, bhagvan and bhagvati are worshipped, especially bhagvati. Bhaghvati is really yoni, which is the female generative power, her sexual organ. So, it is yoni which is worshipped. Yoni is the creative force for the whole creation. You and I, and everything originate from there. So, we worship yoni as the birthplace of everything.

In the Tantrik scriptures of Durga, sexual intercourse is looked at as a form of entertainment. And over here, it is a thing related to puja. For us, puja is of five types: wine, women, fish, meat and mantras. A naked woman comes willingly to a raji to be “consumed or drunk.” Her yoni is worshipped as the manifestation of bhagoti. It is not done here because it would become a big show in this place. All of this is done in secluded places. Or, people do it on the other side of the Ganga. It also takes place in some temples in Assam. I have performed this ritual myself. The deed is very effective, guaranteed to succeed in achieving one’s religious aspirations. If it is unsuccessful, the man is guaranteed to go insane immediately. If the woman is caused to suffer in any way, that is another indication that the ritual will be unsuccessful. My paternal uncle used to do this ritual on the other side of the Ganga. If you have time, I will show you the whole thing. This is not a day for it, but we can arrange it on the appropriate day. [Another man interjects] No, only puja takes place. [Priest’s son says] Intercourse does take place to please the woman. And the woman is pleased, the goddess. And whatever requests you have made to the goddess will be granted.

My father’s duties as a priest involve doing pujas for four hours. In relation to this place, his responsibilities are not great because so many people come that it takes a lot of time, so one man cannot carry the responsibility. So he is involved in supervising the whole thing. But others do the pujas. In the seventh month, on certain special days, he himself performs the evening worship. In my father’s absence I watch over things, and everything goes well. My work involves making sure that things go smoothly here for the devotees. Every day about 500 to 3,000 devotees come to this temple, less on normal days because the number changes depending on pilgrims. Pilgrims come in buses — five to ten busloads — who come and wash themselves, both inside and outside. They travel in groups from the same places. They come from all over India, like Madras, and places like that. During dashehra four to six thousand pilgrims a day come to the temple. This is the climax of the Durga puja. All kinds of people come to worship here. Those who are in comfort and prosperity, as well as those who are in sorrow and difficulty, come. Those who have lost something, and those who have gained something, both types can be found here. All people have equal access. It is up to our discretion as to whether we give any special concessions to a devoted person who is in need of help in performing some particular kriya.

This temple is special because it was built on 20 bisa yantras. Soon after Durga was created she came to this place. This is her main place. She came here immediately after her war with the demons. When King Sudarshan helped Durga in the war, she gave him the privilege of asking for a favor. And his request was that the goddess should come and live in his kingdom and nowhere else. So that’s why she came to this spot and made it her main abode. The devtas created Durga in svarg. Any place which is dedicated to her, via a mantra and the erection of an idol, becomes one of her dwelling places. But this place has a special guarantee of her presence. When a man begins to perform a worship kriya in this place, then he gains knowledge of what is truly the reality in front of him. In the hot season, sweat can be seen coming from the idol. The idol here is different from other idols. The splendor that emanates from it is different, makes it unique. The influence of the bhagvans is on this idol, so its arti is genuine. That influence actually shines from the face of those who worship. The mantras which are used to reside in the idol are based upon her own doctrine. The mantras have a frequency which is in harmony with Durga and in them the beat, the tone, and the rhythm are very important. Actually, science is very much behind in this whole area of frequency and sound. Mantras are very advanced in this area. Research is going on in America concerning mantras. People are trying to find out why the frequencies in them bring healing to sick people and benefit to people in general.

This temple is associated with the kund [the bathing pool next to the temple]. In early times, every public place of religious significance had a bathing tank built near it, because there were not many natural bathing places available. The goal was not to inconvenience the people when they come, because people desire to take a ritual dip as part of their religious observance. In olden times, these tanks were connected to the Ganga River. There is no special religious benefit to be gained from bathing in this kund.

On the altar in the middle of the outer court, goats are sacrificed. These things have been built for people to sit on. In olden times, this place used to be jungle. The only place people could sit was inside the temple. Here, a Shiv temple used to stand, but later it was torn down. Now, the nandi has been moved here [in a small room in the outer court]. These are the remains of the Shiva temple, and puja to Shiva is still performed here. Normally, Durga and Shiva temples are built next to each other because Durga is the wife of Shiva, but for us, that is not necessary. So we only have a Durga temple — although it is true that wherever Durga is, Shiv definitely will be attracted to that place. Inside these small temples, the three goddesses, Kali, Lakshmi, and Saraswati, are present.

The outer cover [of the inner sanctum] is made of silver. In our place, the worship of idols does not take place, only the charan is worshipped. Puja takes place with closed eyes, not open eyes. Everything that is here is charan. We concentrate on the svarup of the deity.

[Concerning the numerous monkeys running around the temple grounds] The monkeys are around here because there used to be forest here. It was only after 1960 that the forest was cleared. They are fed by people and they also find food for themselves. The monkeys are not worshipped, but when they die, they are given samadhi.