The story of the Divine Mother represents the triumph of the divine power over the dark forces of negativity In the struggle between the dual factors of good and evil, truth and untruth, virtue and vice, freedom and involution, light and darkness. The occasion of Navaratri, therefore, is a reminder to the aspirant of the great cosmic law that the divine will always prevail ultimately over the undivine.
Navaratri is an annual awakening call to experience and express afresh the divine nature, to make manifest the light of truth and love in order to vanquish and conquer the forces of evil within. For it is through the positive forces of love and brotherhood and selflessness that negative and undivine elements can be effectively eliminated from the heart and the mind. Darkness can never resist light. Truth, light and goodness are synonymous terms; they are the visible expressions of God.
Truth alone triumphs, however long and agonising its twisting duel with untruth may be. The positive must and does overcome the negative. The call of the Mother is to rouse oneself to this truth and to regulate one's life as a dynamic expression of divine positivism. The message of the Mother is: Heroine a practical embodiment and champion of positive idealism, usefulness without attachment to the world, self-perfection, equal vision, balance of mind, service to humanity, unselfishness and humility.
Ritualistic or ceremonial worship is no doubt good, but it is the living worship that truly transforms and spiritualises you more quickly and leads you on to the highest realisation. To consecrate the Divine Mother in the holy altar of your heart, to manifest Her Divine Power within and to live to serve and do good to all is the best and the dynamic way to adore and worship the Divine Mother, Durga.
To invoke the Goddess Lakshmi, you have to try ceaselessly to bring prosperity into the lives of all, to be large hearted and generous, charitable and kind. The sadhaka will have to strive hard to remove the pain and sorrow and bring happiness to all according to his capacity. Those who are monetarily gifted, I would ask to open free dispensaries for poor patients, feeding centres for the destitute, to educate the illiterate and to aid and encourage through every means an increase in the wealth of the country. For where prosperity and happiness prevail, there alone is Goddess Lakshmi more easily propitiated.
To manifest the Goddess Saraswati you have to educate yourself first. You have to become a flood of light, and thereby you should radiate the divine knowledge to everyone. As such you can offer the grandest and worthiest form of worship to Devi Saraswati.
The message of Navaratri is a call to purity, plenty and wisdom. Where wisdom and virtue combine and become manifest in living, there we have the divine life. Therefore, you should strive your best to grow in spirituality and aspire fervently to usher in an era of living purity, of dynamic virtue and of practical wisdom. May all work together to overcome hate by love, evil by goodness, injustice by justice, untruth by truth, selfishness by selflessness. May peace be unto all. May the blessings of the Mother Divine lead all from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from mortality to immortality.