Swami Chidanand Saraswati On Dusshera

Pujya Swamiji shares: “The word ‘Dusshera’ refers to the ten heads of Ravana, and the defeat of this ten-headed demon is a symbol of the defeat of: passion, pride, anger, greed, infatuation, lust, hatred, jealousy, selfishness and crookedness.

These 10 heads of our inner demons – the ten vices – are more dangerous than any external enemy may be. They slowly and insidiously carve away at the very core of our beings; they fester within us causing disease and pain, both of the body and of the mind. The enemy standing in front of us with a sword is obvious. He is visible. We can must our strength to fight him off. But the enemies within ourselves, these demonic vices, also hold swords over our heads. However, they are not as obvious and thus we rarely find it worth our while to try to defeat them. Yet, these inner demons are more poisonous and more dangerous than the outer demons, for they tear us apart from our very own divine nature. They blind us in the veil of maya, of greed, of jealousy, of anger and of ego. We must have the courage to stand before these inner enemies and muster the strength of spirit to fight them off. Only then we will truly be free.

At this holy and auspicious time, let us pray to God for the strength to be selfless, pure, humble, accepting and loving every day of our lives. Let us take steps EACH DAY (not only on Dusshera) to become more and more like Lord Rama. Let us build bridges between ourselves and others.