Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals : 10-7.

Chapter 10: The Esoteric Significance of the Devi Mahatmya -7.
 ( A talk given on the 13th of October, 1972, during the Navaratri worship.)
By Swami Krishnananda

If you cut off one or two desires, the desire is not over.
The root is still there.
The branches are only severed.
Unless the root is dug out, there is no use of merely severing the branches of the tree.

So what did the Devi do?
She asked Kali to spread her tongue throughout the earth, so that there is no ground at all for the Rakshasas to walk over.

They had to walk over the tongue of Kali.
So huge it was.
And now the Goddess started cutting their heads and when the blood fell, it fell not on the ground but on the tongue of Kali.
So she sucked everything.

Chariots and horses and demons and everybody entered her mouth.
She chewed all chariots into powder.
Likewise, we have to adopt a technique of sucking the very root of desires and not merely chop off its branches.

Otherwise, desires will take various forms like Mahishasura.
When we think that Mahishasura has been killed, he comes as a buffalo, and when the buffalo is attacked, he again comes as an elephant, and if Devi attacks the elephant, he comes as a bull and attacks Her.

So, there is no way of overcoming these desires by merely dealing with them from outside by a frontal attack.

Swami Krishnananda
To be continued  ...