October 12, 2021

Navratri Day 6 : Goddess Katyayani – Sixth form of Goddess Durga

Embodies: Fearlessness

Goddess Katyayani is the consort of Lord Krishna and symbolizes courage, enlightenment, and valour. Her name indicates fearlessness and abundance. She rides a lion and has four hands, two carrying lotus flowers and two in Abhaya and Varada mudras. Katyayani Devi is worshipped on the sixth day of Navratri, celebrating the triumph of good over evil. She teaches us to be fearless and take advantage of all opportunities—devotees worldwide worship Katyayani Devi for her fierce grace.

 Katyayani Devi is considered to be an incarnation of Goddess Durga. She embodies the most common symbol associated with Maa Durga—the vanquishing of all evil. She is ruthless in the face of danger, but compassionate with the good ones—

 It is believed that she grants boons to her devotees who pray courageously. Women worship during the Navratri festival to ward off evils, obtain good fortunes, and get rid of negative aspects associated with them.

 One negative mindset I see in leaders is to strive for perfection in all they do.(I was one myself ) A business leader should move from the paradigm of perfection to the paradigm of progress. How many of us can relate that till a product or strategy is perfect on paper we are afraid to even try. Are we not handicapped by our mindset of what the market will think, what stakeholders think, those what-if questions go on forever between our two ears?

 Perfectionists tend to be highly critical of themselves and procrastinate till perfectionism is achieved. A leader with progressive mindset is one who enjoys the process more than the goal itself.

The other problem perfectionists face, In the quest of being perfect, they don’t tend to adequately delegate and do all the work by themselves. They micromanage and become control freaks.

 I remember here what swami chinmayananda said.                      

There are three kinds of people – First those who do not start work because of fear of obstacles.

Second, those who start the work but stop when they face obstacles, and

Third, those who work in spite of obstacles and overcome it.

 Business leaders should realize that version one is better than version none and go out fearlessly to try new innovative things.

Let Goddess Katyayani, bless us to be aware of our fears and conquer them while facing risks and challenges.

 Om Devi Katyayani Namaha

 Shubh Navratri

 Srikanth Ram, a life and business coach, is also the author of the No 1 Bestseller “Leadership lessons from 22 Yards”- An interesting comparison of cricket and corporate stories for entrepreneurs and leaders to create high performance teams and a winning culture.