ANSWER : Lord takes the form of Aswaththa vruksham. Lakshmi takes the form of Sami: vruksham (jammi chettu) on dasami day.

ANSWER : On the day of navami, a:yudha pu:ja is performed. It is called 'maharnavami'.

ANSWER : Lakshmi protects the ji:vas by ensuring that the Lord considers us benevolently, in spite of his unquestionned independence, by magnifying our good deeds and ignoring our bad deeds. She, being full of compassion, is the reason for maintaining 'Divyatwam' of Lord. "de:vya: ka:runya ru:paya: devaha devatwam asnute:" That is why she is called "De:vi".

Note : During the season of 'sarat', there is abundance of moonlight. Lord's grace is like Sunlight. If we receive it directly from Lord, it might be sometimes severe and cause burns. Instead, if we receive it after reflecting on the divine mother, it will lead us to happiness just as abundant moonlight is so enjoyable. Hence these navara:tris are celebrated as "De:vi: navara:tri"s where lot of importance is given to the divine mother.

ANSWER : The word Sri: can be extracted from its root through two derivations as - sri:yathe: and srayathe:. The first one tells that she is Sri because all of us seek her. The second derivation says that she resorts to Lord Na:ra:yana on behalf of all us and ensures he does not turn away from us.

ANSWER : Sri Ra;ma:yanam is recited during navaratris. Some people have the habit of reciting Sundara Kanda within Sri Ramayanam during these days.

ANSWER : The word 'nava' in navara:tris does not mean the number 9. So also, the term 'ra:tri' does not mean literal darkness. The lifetime, which gives us a chance to explore about how we should lead the life and to know God, is the one which gives a chance to remove the darkness of ignorance in our life. Such a night is called 'nava' or new ra:tri.

Note : Dasara starts on padyami and ends on dasami evening / night with Sami: pu:ja. This has generally ten nights.

Vasantha navaratris start on padyami and ends on navami afternoon with pattabhishekam of Lord Rama. This typically has eight nights.

During the night / ra:tri, we cannot see the objects even if they are all around us and we also have the necessary sense organs. In our life too, we are unable to realize the presence of omnipresent God and that we belong to Him. This lack of knowledge is called darkness of 'agna:na'. We are leading our lives in this darkness. The jigna:sus among us want to use this precious life time to remove this darkness and realize the God that is there everywhere.

ANSWER : Sarannavaratri is celebrated in the month of a:swayuja ma:sam. Famously known as Dasara.It starts on sukla paksha padyami and ends on Dasami.

Vasantha navaratri is celebrated in the month of chaitram - starting on the sukla paksha padyami (ugadi day) and ending on Srirama Navami day.

ANSWER : We celebrate two navara:tris in a year - Vasantha navara:tris and Sarannavara:tris (or De:vi: navara:tris / Dasara).

Note : Please install 'Acharya' app on your smart phone either from Google Playstore or Apple Appstore. You can listen to many pravachanams of Swamiji from there either in Telugu or English. There is one discourse in Telugu about Dasara too. Click on Listen -> Telugu -> Vijaya Dasami.