Please consider participating in Navaratri and Vijay Dasami with us via livestream! Usually held in October, Mount Madonna honors and brings to life the ancient Indian epic, the Ramayana, by performing daily pujas (ceremonial offerings) to Ram and reading Ram’s story over nine days. The observance culminates with Vijay Dasami, meaning “victory on the tenth day.” All events of the Navaratri and Vijay Dasami programs are livestreamed on the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple YouTube channel.

The Ramayana tells the story of one of the incarnations of the Hindu God Vishnu, who took the form of a human, Lord Ram, to rid the earth of the terrible plague of darkness being spread by the great ten-headed demon king known as Ravana. The story can be interpreted as both the tale of a god incarnated as a human to help alleviate suffering on earth, as well as an allegory of our own inner journey of awakening and confrontation with darkness representing our own ego.

Vijay Dasami (also known as Dushera or Dasara or Dashain) is traditionally celebrated at the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple at Mount Madonna with a yajna (fire ceremony) that includes prayers for purification and blessings for all. Vijay Dasami marks the victory of Lord Ram over Ravana, or the triumph of light over darkness. The ceremony symbolically represents the surrender of the ego through offering all aspects of our mind, body, and senses to the sacred fire.

Join us for nine days and nights as we symbolically live through the mythic struggle depicted in the Ramayana and follow Ram’s journey ever closer to his confrontation with the heart of darkness, the demon king Ravana, on the tenth day.