Durga Puja

What is Durga Puja?

Durga Puja is the worship of Goddess Durga in the days before Vijayadashami, the tenth day, when devotees celebrate Lord Ramacandra's victory over Ravana. The Vaishnava calendar marks it on Saturday, 17 October 2026, four days before Ramacandra Vijayotsava.

Significance

In the Brahma-samhita, Lord Brahma offers his prayers to Lord Govinda, Krishna in His original form, and in one verse he explains who Durga is:

The external potency Māyā who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit potency, is worshiped by all people as Durgā, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world.

Brahma-samhita 5.44

Her power is not her own. She creates, maintains and destroys the material world only as Govinda wills. The word durga means a prison house, and the purport to this verse explains that souls who forget Krishna are kept in her fort, where her work is to purify them. When such a soul turns to the service of Krishna, she herself becomes the way out.

How to observe it

Vaishnavas honour Durga as a servant of Krishna, not as independent of Him. The same purport teaches that her grace comes through selfless service to Krishna, and that any wealth or good health she grants is only her deluding kindness. On this day devotees can read the verse, chant the holy names of Krishna and pray only for the strength to serve Him.