Roses for Durga

Today is Valentine's Day. And I decided to pay the Goddess Durga a visit. To me She embodies love, beauty and divinity. She is multi-layered and multi-faceted. With her 18 arms you can see a face that radiates fearless courage, beauty, peace, erotic love, tender-hearted mother-love, the peaceful warrior and the supreme Goddess. How is that possible? Seeing her you will feel it. Instantly. As a devotee your spiritual attunement and maturity would also dictate how many of these multiple personalities you are able to connect with. It took me a long time to come to Durga. I found her too complex and inaccessible when I was younger. She was filled with contradictions and stories. But now I feel she resonates so strongly with so many parts of me.

There are many Durgas in many temples in Singapore. However, this Durga at the Veerama Kaliamman temple is my favorite Goddess in Singapore. She is super tall and stands on a bull and has a fierce lion behind her. Both these animals also radiate a certain magnetism and realism. If you stand in front of the altar long enough and connect with them - you can almost feel them come alive. And that adds to the vibration of the deity.

Today I took three beautiful red roses from my mother's garden for her. There is something deeply special about growing your own flowers in your house for the Goddess. I feel like a part of me is in that fragile rose. And offering that home grown rose to her is an act of my creation and devotion. The rose is a culmination of many weeks of disciplined watering and tending to the rose bush. Durga was also wearing a beautiful heart -shaped jasmine garland on her chest. HA !!! HA !! I am not sure if the priest knew if this was Saint Valentine's Day too -but it was nice to see Durga with a heart-shaped garland.

Today I also decided to do an archana for a couple - an old friend of my father's - who symbolize deep love and devotion for each other. And who been with each other through thick and thin for over 35 years of marriage. This couple to me represents divine love. Love in action. Not flashy glamor love. Not extreme declarations of love. Not passionate hot steamy love. Not youthful good time love. But love that is grounded in daily service and commitment. Love that has seen them overcome many trials and tribulations. And share much beauty and joy in their journey of life. When I wished the lady Happy Valentine's Day she said with a smile and in a rather matter of fact way that everyday is Valentine's Day for her and her husband.

And when I took Durga's archana to them this morning the husband told me a beautiful story about love and devotion. He said that alot of Western literature urges one to follow your passion and follow your desire. Indulge. Live and be happy. But he said that this kind of thinking is dangerous. This kind of advice is the root of much unhappiness in marriage and why marriages break down. If a man cannot learn to grow and love his wife in new ways as the wife grows and ages, then he is trapped in a cycle of novelty. He will constantly try to recreate the first flush of love that he had during the honeymoon with his wife via extra-marital affairs. However, if a man learns to look within himself and deepen his love for his wife as she goes through motherhood and middle age he has managed to conquer his lower self and open himself up to a deeper and more profound love. And thereby lay a path to greater maturity, depth and nobility in his life. Beautiful. The essence of true love.