।। ॐ नमश्चण्डिकायै ।।
UPDATE: The auspicious Navaratri is here!
It’s the time to call upon Adi Shakti, the primordial mother, the One who rests in every fabric of the Universe.
Join the most beautiful and powerful NavDurga Sadhana on the Sadhana app for the first time.
This extremely powerful sadhana can be performed directly through the app by following the in-app procedures with devotion for Devi Ma.
For more details, download the Sadhana app now.
The nine auspicious days of the Divine Mother, 1
Seeing your enthusiasm for the Karthik Surya Sadhana I shared last year, I am mighty pleased to share the extremely beautiful and powerful Nav-Durga Sadhana with you. If you feel in your heart any devotion or reverence for Mother Divine or the feminine aspect of creation then you may enjoy and benefit from this sadhana a great deal.
To understand the mechanics and dynamics of this sadhana, please patiently read the notes below.
There are two parts of this sadhana: morning and evening. You will need to set aside about thirty minutes in the morning and approximately forty-five minutes in the evening (anytime during or after sunset is okay) for nine days. I’ve provided details in the relevant sections below.
How to do Nav Durga Sadhana on your own:
I’ve provided all the required details in this writeup. You are welcome to do this sadhana on your own. You don’t require my initiation, permission or intervention. If you patiently read the notes, you’ll discover that it’s a simple sadhana. Every morning (for nine days) there is a new mantra and every evening you will do a yajna, fire offerings. There are standard ingredients for the yajna, but for each day, there’s an additional ingredient. You will need rudraksha chanting beads for the morning session and yajna ingredients for the evening one.
What will you need for this sadhana?
- Asana, mat; a blanket is best. Plus a piece of red cloth to cover it.
- Desi ghee (approx 100 gms everyday).
- A small lamp (oil can be ghee or sesame oil).
- Havan samagri (approx half a packet everyday). I’ve just found this product on Amazon. You can use any you like.
- A Yajna kunda or you can make your own fire pit. Here’s a sample on Amazon for yajna-kunda. You can buy any you like. (Details on making your own fire-pit can be found in the PDF provided in the How to do Yajna section below).
- Special additional ingredient for yajna (it changes every day and is listed next to the day itself.
- Firewood for your yajna. It can be Mango (aamra), Cedrus Deodara or Deodara Cedar (devdaru), Butea Monosperma (dhak or palasha), Sacred fig (peepal), Prosopis cineraria (shami), Banyan (bargad or vata). Or, if you can afford it, then red sandalwood (rakta chandan) is also a very royal way of offering. (Personally, I’ve never done any yajna with just sandalwood.) If neither of these is available, take any clean firewood.
- Dakshina, a charitable offering. A small amount of material offering you set aside every morning and use for charity wherever you like at the completion of your sadhana.
Morning Ingredients
Ingredients you will require every morning this navaratra sadhana:
- Rudraksha beads for chanting. If you did surya sadhana as well last year, you can use the same rosary. Or if you use rudraksha beads for any other japa, you can use the same chanting beads. You don’t need to buy a separate rosary.
- A ghee lamp. You will need to light a small lamp in the morning. The lamp can be an earthen lamp or made from any metal. The wick should be a cotton wick or made from the sacred red thread (mauli). The oil should either be sesame oil or desi ghee.
- A small pot of water. You will use this for purification. Once you are done with the morning pooja, you can offer this water either facing the sun or at the root of any plant or tree.
- Your asana, a prayer mat. Best to use a blanket. Or, if you don’t have a blanket, use whatever you have available. Place a red cloth on your asana.
- Fresh clothes every morning. Wearing red is ideal. Any other color will also do.
- Money-box. Mother represents opulence and material wealth. So every morning set aside whatever you can, it can be just a dollar or Rs. 10 or whatever you can reasonably afford. Keep a small box and put your money in there. At the end of nine days, you can offer this money at any shrine where Goddess is worshipped. If there’s no temple close by, just keep it with you and you can donate it whenever you have the opportunity to visit such a place over the next year. If neither of these is possible, donate it towards any noble cause for a girl child.
Morning Procedure
1. Get up whenever you conveniently can in the morning. Before sunrise is best. Try to stick to the same time every day for nine days.
2. Take a bath and wear fresh clothes. Ideally, red, but any color will do.
3. Sit on your asana, prayer mat, and take three sips of water to symbolize purification. (You can do the more elaborate steps of purification if you know them, but for now, this will do). Wash your hands with a few drops (once again, this is a symbolic gesture).
4. Follow the three japa steps of the day. These steps have been listed separately for each day as two of the three mantras change every day. Please refer to the notes below.
5. Once done, you can wear the beads around your neck (or simply keep them at your altar, whatever is convenient for you) and pray for the well-being of everyone.
6. After completing the morning procedure, you can eat your breakfast etc. and get on with your day.
Evening Ingredients
Ingredients you will require every evening for this navaratra sadhana:
- A readymade yajna kunda or a self-made firepit. You can buy a standard fire pit from the market or you can make one yourself. In the PDF provided on this page, I’ve shown the diagram.
- A wooden spoon to offer ghee in the fire pit. Traditionally, there are two kinds of yajna spoon, sruka, a ladle, and sruva, a spoon. To keep things simple, just use any wooden spoon (please make sure you buy a new one. Later you can use it in your kitchen).
- Ghee. Approx 50 – 100 gms of ghee every day.
- Firewood. As per the notes above.
- Havan-samagri. Half a packet every day should more than suffice. Empty half a packet in a bowl.
- An additional special ingredient. It’s listed next to each day in the notes below. Mix it with the havan-samagri.
- One ingredient for purna–ahuti. This is the last ahuti you’ll offer at the completion of every yajna. It’s listed next to each day in the notes below.
Evening Procedure
In the evening, you will need to perform a small yajna, fire-offerings. 2
If you are unable to do the yajna, there’s an alternative. Refer to point no. 8 in the Relevant Notes section.
Following is the order of the mantras you have to chant while making fire-offerings:
- Optional preliminary offerings (please refer to the Yajna PDF in the section below.)
- 7 ahutis (offerings) of Om Gam Ganpataye Namah.
- 21 ahutis of the daily mantra (you can do more if you like).
- 1 round of ahutis (108 times or approx 10 min) of the navarna mantra.
- 1 round of ahutis (108 times or approx 10 min) of the tantric mantra (you can do more)
- Purna-ahuti, closing offering with the ingredient mentioned next to each day.
How to do a yajna (fire-offerings) in this Navaratra Sadhana
Download the file: How To Do Fire-Offerings (Yajna)
This PDF contains the Yajna chapter from my Gayatri Sadhana book. You just have to follow the same methodology, the only thing that will change are the three mantras. I’ve listed them next to each day in the following section.
Common name: Shailaputri 
welcome to do it this sadhana even if you have never been initiated, follow some other guru, or don’t follow anyone. The Navdurga event will be telecast live from April 2- April 10, 2022 on os.me/live. All are welcome to join.
Notes
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