Durga Puja
Holy Mother (Sri Sri Sarada Devi) graced the Durga Puja celebrations held at the Belur Math by her presence. To attend the Puja at Belur in 1912, she camped there for about a week.
When she arrived at the gate of the Math at the close of the Bodhan ceremony (awakening of the Deity), the monks and devotees, headed by the great Swami Premananda, unhorsed the carriage and drew it through the Math grounds. On successive days hundreds of devotees made flower offerings at her feet.
Swami Brahmananda worshipped her with one hundred and eight full-blown lotuses, and her devotee and disciple, Dr. Kanjilal, danced before the image of the Deity with gestures and postures like a mischievous imp, to entertain the Divine Mother, as it were.
She was again present at the worship of Durga held in 1916. We get an impression of the exaltation she created by her presence, in the following extract from a letter of Swami Shivananda: 'Owing to the presence of the blessed Holy Mother amongst us, this year's Puja has been a direct worship of the Divine Mother, unlike the usual one through the consecrated image. Although there was continuous rain and wind on all the three days, no part of the celebration suffered, thanks to the Mother's grace. We were astonished to note how even the rains stopped whenever it was time for devotees to take Prasad (consecrated food), sitting in the unprotected courtyard. Afterwards we learnt from Yogin-Ma that whenever rain seemed imminent at about the meal time, the Holy Mother would sit down to make Japa of Durga's holy name, praying,
When she arrived at the gate of the Math at the close of the Bodhan ceremony (awakening of the Deity), the monks and devotees, headed by the great Swami Premananda, unhorsed the carriage and drew it through the Math grounds. On successive days hundreds of devotees made flower offerings at her feet.
Swami Brahmananda worshipped her with one hundred and eight full-blown lotuses, and her devotee and disciple, Dr. Kanjilal, danced before the image of the Deity with gestures and postures like a mischievous imp, to entertain the Divine Mother, as it were.
She was again present at the worship of Durga held in 1916. We get an impression of the exaltation she created by her presence, in the following extract from a letter of Swami Shivananda: 'Owing to the presence of the blessed Holy Mother amongst us, this year's Puja has been a direct worship of the Divine Mother, unlike the usual one through the consecrated image. Although there was continuous rain and wind on all the three days, no part of the celebration suffered, thanks to the Mother's grace. We were astonished to note how even the rains stopped whenever it was time for devotees to take Prasad (consecrated food), sitting in the unprotected courtyard. Afterwards we learnt from Yogin-Ma that whenever rain seemed imminent at about the meal time, the Holy Mother would sit down to make Japa of Durga's holy name, praying,
"Mother, save us. How can these devotees take Thy holy Prasad in this pouring rain?"
And Mother Durga did, indeed, save us.'
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