Navaratri means nine nights. Darkness is associated with night. What is this darkness? It is the darkness of ignorance. The purpose of the Navaratri celebration is to enable man to get rid of nine types of darkness which have taken hold of him. When a reference is made to Devi, it signifies the unified form of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. The three together represent Shakti. Shakti is the energy that accounts for all the phenomena of Prakruti (Nature). Nature is energy and the controller of that energy is the Lord. Prakruti is made up of the three qualities - Satwa, Rajas and Tamas. Saraswathi represents the Satwa Guna (serenity). Lakshmi represents the Rajo Guna (activity) and Parvati represents the Tamo Guna (destructiveness). As Prakruti is made up of these three qualities, to get control over Nature, man has been offering worship to Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. These are not goddesses but deified symbols of the three qualities. (Divine Discourse, Sep 27, 1992)