Lord Rama was an Avatar (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu, one of the three supreme Hindu Deities. It is said that whenever righteousness (Dharma) is challenged and there is an unlikely increase in sin (Adharma), one of Lord Vishnu’s Avatars is born to set the scales right.

There are many stories behind the reason for Lord Rama being born on earth and they all coincide at defeating and ultimately killing the Demon Ravana.

Now, we are all aware of how Lord Rama’s wife Sita was abducted by Ravana and how Lord Rama waged a war on Lanka and had to kill Ravana to get his wife back.

What many of us didn’t know is that Ravana had a protection shield by Goddess Durga herself which protected him from being killed in any battle.

When Lord Rama learned of this, he began praying to Goddess Durga to invoke her. He wanted to ask her to lift her protection from Ravana.

Akal Bodhon or Untimely Invocation is when a deity or a God is called upon in a season or time which isn’t their customary time of worship. Up until then, the customary time to worship and invoke Goddess Durga was during spring, but Lord Rama was trying to invoke her during autumn. It is to be noted here that this is mostly related to invocation and not simply worship. All of us can worship and meditate upon any God and Deity anytime and at any place.

Goddess Durga’s invocation required the offering of 108 blue lotuses. Despite all their efforts, Lord Rama and his army could only get 107 lotuses. Since he was born with lotus-shaped eyes, Lord Rama decided to offer one of his eyes as an offering. This was when Goddess Durga appeared in front of Lord Rama. She stopped Lord Rama from gouging his eye, and pleased with his devotion, lifted her protection from Ravana. D:Spiritual VidyaStoriesRamarama-2-blog.jpg

On the fifth day of worship, Ravana was finally killed and that day is celebrated as Dussehra around the world.

The four days of worship are celebrated as Durga Puja in the northern and eastern parts of India. Across the country, 9 days leading up to Dussehra are celebrated as Navratri.

The intent of sacrifice in this story goes on to show us the importance of our intent and intensity in Sadhana. What Lord Rama essentially did was a Tantra ritual with a pure intent and the willingness to give up anything and everything required to fulfil his intent. Swami Ji always teaches us to keep our intentions pure and to be completely dedicated to our cause. Just like Lord Rama left no stone unturned, let’s all resolve to do everything it takes to fulfil our resolutions. When Maa Bhagwati (Mother Goddess) sees our dedication, She showers us with Her love and blessings and takes away all our troubles. That is how unconditional a Mother’s love is. All we need to do is have pure intentions and a pious heart and Mother Goddess will protect us, bless us and make us win every challenge that we ever come across.