(Durga as Mahishasura Mardini)

Goddess of the universe; mother earth; daughter of Himaval and wife of Shiva. (Glossary for the Vahinis)

Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati (Represent Thoughts, Words and Actions)

Dear Students! You should obey the commands of your parents and God meticulously. Cultivate good behaviour. Then, everything will turn out to be good behaviour. Then, everything will turn out to be good for you. Nothing. will deter you. No difficulty will ever bother you. It is only to enable you to put such good thoughts into practice that goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati are worshipped during these Dussehra celebrations. Durga is not to be understood as a ferocious goddess. She is the goddess supreme who protects you.

Lakshmi is the embodiment of all wealth. Then, Saraswati is the goddess of speech. Good thoughts, good words and good actions (behaviour) represent the tattva (nature) of these three goddesses. He who teaches good things to you is verily the embodiment of goddess Saraswati. He who teaches evil is verily a demon. Goddess Durga destroys only such demons. Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati are, in fact, not different from you. They are very much installed in your own heart. They exhort you to lead the life of a human being, since you are a human being. Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati are the three mothers to a human being.

You should treasure these good words in your heart and put them into action. Thereby you should come up in life and set an example to others. You should, by your example, spread the message to the world that Bharatiya Vidya is great. There are several people in the modern world imparting education that leads to evil ways. You should denounce such education. You should not go after it. You must enquire, ‘will it help to purify my heart or not.’ If you feel it is not conducive to your progress, you must give it lip immediately. It is only when you are able to satisfy your conscience that your life will be happy, peaceful and contented. Do Namasmarana incessantly. (SSS Vol.39, pp. 212-213)

(See – Divine Mother, Kali, Navaratri, Saraswati)