THE members of Sanatan Vaidic Dharma Pandits’ Sabha of Region Three wishes the entire Hindu public a prosperous and joyous Nava-Raatri and may all the celebrations within this period promote goodwill and friendship amongst all people putting aside colour and creed.

Nava-Raatri tells us that man is enveloped in ‘darkness’ and is in need of saving light.
In Nava-Raatri, worship is done to the Goddess who is the conceiving Force of God in the universe.

By this Force or Energy the whole universe is born.  For this reason we call Her ‘Ambika’ or ‘Mataji’. The power of God as the Universal Mother is of three kinds – the first represents the Power of Destruction of vices in the form of Durgaa. The second is Light and Wealth in the form of ‘Lakshmee’. The third represents Learning or Knowledge in the form of ‘Saraswatee’.

In its literal sense, Nava-Raatri means night nights. It is considered by Hindus to be nine sacred and highly religious oriented nights.  It is nine nights of spiritual power; devotion; faith; sincerity.

It is a time for spiritual transformation. It is a time for introspection, when we as Hindus should try to identify and destroy the negative and evil thoughts and  tendencies from our lives and seek spiritual enlightenment that will not only make us better Hindus, but better human beings.