Devī Māhātmya, a part of ancient Mārkaṇḍeya Pūraṇa, is the great story of the Goddess which is traditionally recited and contemplated upon during Navaratri — the nine nights of Divine Mother. It is also mentioned multiple times in Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra, the bible of Vedic Astrology, as a potent tool for initiating the process of inner and outer transformation — including transforming our karma dictated by the planets.

The story, in short, describes a metaphoric battle between the Goddess, Śakti, representing the Divine spark within us, and various demons which disrupt our inner space. An attentive reader and a spiritual seeker will immediately notice that the whole story illustrates the struggles that we all encounter in our sadhana.

The idea is that when we use our imagination to visualise this inner battle, we do not only become more capable of recognising those inner demons in the future, but also by mentally joining the Goddess in Her battle, we transform something within us in a very profound way. The very idea of going through this battle willingly, in our mind, is to resolve the conflicts within and avoid external battles of life before they even occur.

The 13 Chapters of Devī Māhātmya are traditionally into 9 consecutive days, during which they are supposed to be recited in their prescribed sequence. Needless to say, the most auspicious time to contemplate on this spiritual epic is during the 9 nights of Navaratri - or first 9 lunar days of any bright fortnight.

Read more about the mysteries of Devī Māhātmya here: https://medium.com/@discoveringyouniverse/devi%CC%84-ma%CC%84ha%CC%84tmya-a-metaphor-of-inner-battle-62bc396b5a77

…or take part in your own “Journey with the Goddess” for 9 days of Navaratri: https://academy.discoveringyouniverse.com/courses/journey-with-goddess-navaratri-workshop/