Paralyzing Thoughts & A Prayer to Durga

May is Mental Health Awareness Month

After separating from my husband and moving back to the USA, I was going through a very emotional time. I did not sleep well and I would wake up simply plagued by negative thoughts or replaying awful, emotional incidents over and over in my head. My energy was so low and I felt drained before I even got out of bed in the morning.

On impulse one morning, I pulled a prayer for Durga and began a sadhana (spiritual practice) that included sitting up in the bed first thing and praying to Durga. I taped Her prayer to the wall so that it would be the first thing I would see each morning. During the day, if I felt emotionally overwhelmed, I stopped and recited the prayer.

My relief was almost instantaneous. Within days, I was shedding the pattern through praying to Durga. I was able to begin to transform the negative patterns and thoughts - my own demons. I have repeated this practice over the years with Durga, sometimes dedicating entire months to Her mantra and practice. I eventually wrote my own prayer to Her. Please feel free to use it or the original below.

Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I wanted to highlight some Goddess practices that can help you as you weave through a neurodivergent brain or for times of challenge.

May you be blessed by Ma Durga! xo Kimberly

This is the prayer that I wrote for Durga:

O Durga, Lion-Riding Mother,
She Who cuts through illusion with blazing clarity,
stand beside me when my mind becomes a battlefield.

When paralyzing thoughts coil like smoke around my spirit,
when the brain becomes chaotic, restless, and loud,
place Your steady hand upon my brow.
Silence what harms.
Clear what confuses.
Protect what is tender within me.

Durga, wielder of sacred weapons,
cut away spirals of fear, panic, and despair.
Guard the gates of my mind from overwhelm and exhaustion.
Let Your fierce compassion become a shield around my thoughts,
a fire that burns through mental storms,
a lamp that restores clear seeing.

May my breath slow beneath Your gaze.
May my spirit remember its strength.
May peace return, one heartbeat at a time.

Jai Ma Durga!

~ Kimberly Moore

ABOUT THE GODDESS DURGA

Durga is among the most beloved and enduring Goddesses of the Hindu pantheon, Her worship continues in an unbroken current into the modern world. Each year, Her great festival of Navratri, the Nine Nights, rises beneath the lunar veil, usually in the season of October. Often called Durga Puja, this sacred observance is marked by ritual offerings, fasting, prayer, chanting, and acts of devotion that awaken the presence of the Goddess within the home, temple, and soul alike. Navratri is a celebration of the triumph of luminous divine force over chaos and destruction, and also honors Lakshmi and Saraswati as radiant expressions of Shakti, the Great Devi. The dates shift each year according to the rhythms of the lunar calendar. During Navratri and throughout the year, devotees recite the Devi Mahatmya, the Glory of the Goddess, a sacred text that is at once hymn, mantra, mythic revelation, and mystical guide to the rites of Durga Puja.

Durga is the fierce and sovereign embodiment of the independent woman, the unconquered Queen whose power answers only to Herself. She is beautiful, terrible, compassionate, and untamed. In a culture where traditional feminine roles have long been deeply woven into society, Durga stands apart as a blazing and holy paradox - refusing marriage, rejecting the confines of domestic expectation, and reigning instead as the Battle Queen of the Cosmos. Part of Her immense power is Maya, the sacred veil of illusion and enchantment through which She beguiles Her enemies, causing them to mistake Her serenity for weakness. Though She bears no children, upon the battlefield She births the Matrkas, the Mothers, fierce emanations and warrior spirits who arise from Her wrath and protection. Among the Goddesses of Shakti, Durga is unique: She does not merely lend Her force to a male deity, but instead draws the powers of the gods into Herself, becoming the vessel and wielder of their combined radiance.

Over time, Durga also became known as the living spirit within vegetation itself - the pulse of vitality that greens the earth and feeds the world. During Navratri, She is honored as the Life-Giver, She who nourishes the hungry and pours fertility into the fields, forests, rivers, and all living creatures. Her ancient form is linked to VAK or VAC, the primordial Goddess of Sacred Speech whose voice is creation itself and whose words shape destiny.

Durga is often depicted clothed in red, the color of blood, birth, power, and sacred flame. Born from Agni, the holy fire, She contains within Herself every shade of leaping ember and blazing sunfire. Because of Her intimate relationship with Maya and the hidden worlds, Durga may reveal Herself through dreams, visions, omens, and states of altered awareness. Ancient worship of the Goddess once included blood and animal sacrifice, rites born from the understanding that She is both creator and destroyer, the devouring night and the womb of rebirth. Durga is the balance of the Terrifying Mother and the Mother of Endless Love — the sword and the shelter, the roar and the embrace.

She always answers Her children.

A Prayer to Durga from Swami Amritageetananda Puri

Chamakam to Durgadevi

Give me the heart to love, my Mother
Give me the grace to smile,
Give me the patience not to hurt another
Even those who my name defile.

Give me the courage to walk with cheer
The slippery path of the good,
Give me the faith to live without fear
And act the way I should.

Give me the determination to rise again
Each time I slip and fall,
Give me the strength to bear the pain
It’s Thy prasad after all!

Give me the will power to fight and trounce
Anger, lust, jealousy and greed,
Give me the wisdom the finite to renounce
And steadily to Thy lotus feet speed.

Give me the knowledge that alone
Frees one from bondage and sin
Give me the light by which can be known
The pure, eternal Self within.

Durga’s Mantra is used for general protective purposes. You can chant this every single day and it is a wonderful mantra to memorize (and easy) for times when you feel like you are in danger or in need of protection.

Om Dum Durgayei Namaha

(Om Doom Door-gah-yea Nahm-ah-hah)

Om and Salutations to She who is beautiful to the seeker of truth and terrible in appearance to those who would injure devotees of truth.