In plain words
But there are some other stories about this too. Some have written accounts that when Narakāsura shot the fire weapon, Kṛṣṇa swooned; that Satyabhāmā, who had learnt every art, could not bear His swoon, took up the arrow that was with Him herself and began the battle. But this is not right. Satyabhāmā is the embodiment of Prakṛti. We must not think of her merely as Kṛṣṇa's wife. Man, who in Prakṛti has done every kind of injustice, must be made to suffer at the hands of Prakṛti itself. This is the Dharma of Prakṛti, the Law of Nature: he who torments Prakṛti must be punished by Prakṛti itself. In this way, with many inner meanings, we have been celebrating these holy days. The Navarātris are the same. It is the day on which Durgā, Lakṣmī and Sarasvatī, the three, became one form, and She took form as Cāmuṇḍī and crushed Mahiṣāsura. It is because the battle went on from Pāḍyamī to Navamī that we have kept these nine days as one pūjā. That is, Durgā, Lakṣmī and Sarasvatī are not separate forms of women. Icchā-śakti, Kriyā-śakti, Jñāna-śakti. Icchā-śakti is Durgā. Kriyā-śakti is Lakṣmī. Jñāna-śakti is Sarasvatī. Through the oneness of these three, the form that was blended of them became the Mahā-śakti. By this very Mahā-śakti, Mahiṣāsura was slain. That is why on the Navamī day, saying it is Āyudha Pūjā and that there is no more work for the weapons, they have given the weapons rest. He was the leader of the demons. He conquered Indra and the other gods. But since this is the day on which so cruel a one was slain, we have kept this day as Āyudha Pūjā.
Because each festival has inner meanings in this way, the Bhāratīyas have regarded them as a form of worship, as a form of the Divine; these are not rites kept up out of mere foolishness, or innocence, or plain crudeness. There are those who teach that all these are blind beliefs. It is only because they do not know the inner meanings that they believe in that way. The lack of great souls to teach the inner meaning of each festival day is also a root cause of this. But the Bhāratīyas have never followed a single one of them without meaning. Each one has its inner and outer meanings. It is from ancient times, through the very philosophy of the great sages, that this has gone on growing. So I hope that we will try to recognise the right meanings of our holy days and live by them. What is the slaying of Narakāsura! It is the slaying of the demonic in us. So the inner meaning in our keeping the slaying of Narakāsura today is this: we must cast off these evil qualities in us, the demonic, evil thoughts, evil ideas and evil deeds, and develop good feelings, good thoughts and good ideas; hoping for this and blessing you, I bring My discourse to a close.