Saraswati
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Saraswati the mother of the Vedas is worshipped and venerated as the Goddess who is rich in wisdom and learned in the arts.
Since earliest times Saraswati has been identified with the Vedic Saraswati river and she is generally portrayed in white sitting on the bank of a river, with a peacock by her side. Saraswati has four hands. In one hand she holds a book representing the Vedas. In another hand she holds a Mala of crystals representing the power of meditation and spirituality. Saraswati holds a Veena ( a musical instrument ) and a pot of sacred water in the other hands. The sacred water represents creative and purification powers and the Veena represents the arts and sciences. Saraswati is adorned with simple jewels and gold,representing her preference of knowledge over worldly material things.
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Saraswati is considered as a consort of Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. Together with the goddesses Lakshmi and Parvati or Durga, she forms the Tridevi ("three goddesses") who are consorts of the male trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, respectively.
Saraswati is generally shown to have four arms, which represent the four aspects of human personality in learning: mind, intellect, alertness, and ego. Alternatively, these four arms also represent the 4 vedas, the primary sacred books for Hindus. The vedas, in turn, represent the 3 forms of literature. Poetry, Prose and Music. The name Saraswati means the essence of one’s self and given her association with rivers and waters, she is known as the one who flows.
Whenever when you lounge by the banks of a graciously flowing river you realise this suitable association for the Goddess of Wisdom, Learning and Arts as a vedic river goddess Saraswati takes oxygen from the ether and blends it with hydrogen and creates water, she is the flowing river as well as the water, they are inseparable.
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The flowers bloom, the crops grow, thirsts are sated, garments are washed, bodies are cleaned. Saraswati lets her essence be carried up into clouds so that her radiance may shower from above and rejoin the river to continue this cycle. This circular dance of water, this cleansing element ever flowing, ever enriching, an ideal of energy and matter, never diminishing, always revolving and deliciously dancing.
On the ninth day of Navaratri, i.e., the Mahanavami day, books and all musical instruments are ceremoniously kept in front of the Goddess Sarasvati early at dawn and worshipped with special prayers. No studies or any performance of arts is carried out, as it is considered that the goddess herself is blessing the books and the instruments. The festival concludes on the tenth day of Navaratri (Vijaya Dashami), and the goddess is worshipped again before the books and the musical instruments are removed. It is customary to start the study afresh on this day. Saraswati represents academic knowledge as well as divine knowledge. Saraswati is one of the Navdurgas forms of the Goddess Durga.
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Saraswasti is the worldwide web and she represents the new tools and technologies of the age, she is the force behind the many amazing gadgets and gizmos of our age. It is through Saraswati that we can read and understand the great thoughts and insights of the world, that we can recite the great works and engage in the great deeds of life. Through her we appreciate and understand language and philosophy and spirituality, without Saraswati the world is bereft of much of its wonderfulness.
Saraswasti is the Hindu Goddess who facilitates the dance in our mind, our heart and our body, whether the dance is actual dance or whether dancing through surfing, writing, painting, and sculpting. Saraswati is the one who dances, the one who learns, the one who creates the one who sings and sways and composes and paints and designs, moving in a smooth flow and showering her grace upon all who are accepting and aware.
Saraswasti is there to inspire us with grace, beauty and wisdom. To engage in any intelligent, learned or artistic passion we need capability and ability, passion and creativity.
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Saraswasti instills and fills us with that ability, that longing and yearning, without which nothing much of any value would be achieved.
Saraswati is well known outside India and there are temples to Saraswati in Japan where she is known as Benzaiten, In Burma where she is called Thurathadi, In Cambodia where she is referred to as Vagisvari, In Thailand her name is spelt Surasawadee and Saraswati is also worshipped in Indonesia. There are similarities to Saraswati in the Greek goddess Athena, and in the Roman goddess Minerva.
The most learned people of the ancient world gathered and settled along her banks. They thought and pondered on many things, the stars in the firmament, the deepness within man, they composed music, they sang and they danced. Saraswati is the one through whom we today praise and devote ourselves to all other divinities. Saraswati is the scriptures which are chanted, the shastras which are studied, the revelations which are followed, Saraswati is the translation and interpretation, Saraswati is the debate and discussion.
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Saraswasti is graceful, glowing flowing, through her, all others are contained, all philosophies and messages, inspiring us to spread…..
The Word !
The Music !
The Devotion !
And of course The Dance !
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