Hari Aum.
I thought I would write a bit about Mother Sarasvati today. For years, I worshipped the Mother as Durga. More recently, I took up Her worship in the form of Lakshmi. And now, after all this time, I finally feel drawn to worship Her as Sarasvati, the Goddess of wisdom.
The worship of Mother Sarasvati is regarded by many as being very valuable regardless of one's age or stage in life.
Many children growing up in Indian households are advised by their parents and grandparents to worship Mother Sarasvati. She is the Goddess of education, of learning, of wisdom (both material and spiritual). Worship of the Mother in this form is said to help a child develop their intelligence and do well in their studies.
When I was growing up, my maternal grandfather once came to stay with my family for some time. During his stay, he taught me a popular short prayer to Mother Sarasvati that he advised me to recite every night before sleeping. I was aged 11 at the time and did not really see the point of this prayer but did as instructed out of respect for him.
Years later, I found myself drawn to reciting this prayer silently before every important examination in my life (and I feel that She responded every time). And, in my early 20s, when I discovered Swami Sivananda, I discovered the true value of the worship of Mother Sarasvati.
I realised that She was not merely the Goddess of ordinary education, but She was the One who gives us knowledge of our true nature, the One who illumines us from within, who dispels the darkness of material illusion and delusion, the giver of the wisdom of the Self.
It is no coincidence, therefore, that the great Guru Adi Shankaracharya, created an order of monastics with 'Sarasvati' as a part of their monastic name. Sivanada belonged to this lineage and his full monastic name was Sivananda Sarasvati. (Note: I would like to point out that this name of the Mother is spelled in India as 'Saraswati' though this is not really correct; the correct letter is 'v' which represents the proper sound in Sanskrit. 'W' does not exist in Sanskrit but 'V' does, and Sarasvati contains a 'v' not a 'w'). Being named after Sarasvati, helps remind each monastic initiate of the spiritual goal that they seek in life.
Aside from the One who gives spiritual wisdom and illumination, Sarasvati is also the Goddess of the arts. She presides over music, singing and dance. In the classical traditions of music and dance in India, all Gurus and students revere Her and seek Her blessings for success in mastering the art they have chosen.
On the walls of the group Bharatanatyam classes that I have recently started attending, there is a beautiful painting of Mother Sarasvati along with other Divine forms. Her very appearance is inspiring for all of us as we practice our dance.
Mother Sarasvati is usually depicted as a gentle form of the Divine (though occasionally, She can also assume a fierce form and become involved in the destruction of negativity). She is described as being of a luminous white colour, dressed in dazzling white clothes and wearing beautiful ornaments. In Her hands, She holds a divine veena (musical instrument), a rosary or prayer beads, and a book; these represent music (as a divine art, a means to reach God), recitation of the mantras and names of God (the spiritual practice of japa) and wisdom/learning (jnana).
She is also the Goddess of speech and eloquence; the One who presides over the written and spoken word. It is Sarasvati who gives us the power to speak sweetly, truthfully and powerfully to benefit both ourselves and others. She is the power of divinity that helps to guide our speech in the right direction, who enables us to use this power wisely and well in this world.
Many of us will say that it is not easy to be perfectly controlled in speech all the time and while this may be true, it is Mother Sarasvati who helps us gradually develop our power of speech over time in such a way that it helps us both spiritually and materially.
Every form of the Divine is associated with a divine 'vehicle' which has a symbolic meaning. The vehicle of Sarasvati is the swan or 'hamsa' in Sanskrit.
The swan has a special place in the world of yoga. It is regarded as a sacred bird. In yogic literature, it is described as having a unique capacity-- when presented with a mixture of milk and water, it is said to have the ability to extract the milk and drink this alone, leaving behind the water (regardless of whether or not this may be literally true, there is certainly a symbolic meaning behind this description).
Here, milk is said to represent spiritual wisdom while water is said to represent materialism. The swan or hamsa, being wise, drinks the milk of spiritual wisdom while discarding the lower material aspect of life and thus attains the highest good.
Again, it is no coincidence perhaps, that realised souls in the yogic tradition are known as 'Parama hamsa' (or 'great/supreme swan'). And such Gurus also tell their disciples, spiritual seekers like you and me, to be like a hamsa.
'Be like the swan', they tell us. 'Live wisely, extract spiritual wisdom and peace from the experience of this chaotic world, and transcend the lower material nature'. Not easy to do, but this is the goal of spiritual life.
So as Navaratri, the nine nights of worship of the Mother, approaches next month, I thought it would be good to take up some regular worship of Mother Sarasvati. I am worshipping Her for spiritual progress of course and also for Her blessings for my learning of Bharatanatyam. While this skill does not seem as impossible as it did a year ago, it is not easy and this applies at any age (I note the younger students in my class have their own difficulties; it is not only the mature students like myself who find this tricky!).
However, I am pleased to have found that my previous yoga training is proving to be surprisingly helpful in learning this form of dance; I would therefore say to any mature students of dance, a little yoga goes a very long way in developing flexibility of the spine and body.
I was telling my mother recently that just a little forward and backward bending of the spine (and may be a little side-to-side too) for as little as 3-4 minutes in the morning can produce very good results over time. Sivananda used to do a few yoga asanas in bed upon waking up; there is no need to always perform a lengthy session on a yoga mat to experience the benefits of this practice (of course, if one has the time to do this, that would be great; but if not, even a little done regularly can be very good for both mind and body).
We need to be realistic about yoga asanas as with everything else in spiritual life. In all honesty, I have not used my yoga mat in months but I've been doing a mini-session every morning (in bed under the warmth of my duvet!) for less than five minutes. And this very small practice done daily has helped me to ensure that I can still touch my toes and have a decent amount of flexibility which my dance teachers are fairly happy with (I can improve further of course and am working upon this).
The asanas that I personally find useful are the sitting forward bend, the camel (a type of backward bend), the spinal twist (side-to-side spinal movements) and the butterfly. You might like to experiment and discover your own set of helpful asanas to do regularly.
If you have any health issues, you must check with your doctor regarding the safety of performing asanas; it is always better to start off gently with a new practice to avoid injury-- one should not force the body to do what it is not yet ready for, but allow it to develop the ability over time.
Learning from a yoga teacher can also be helpful if you have access to one; there are also a lot of very good online courses these days if you cannot attend a class in-person. These are the twelve basic asanas taught in the Sivananda tradition (the inverted postures especially must be learned from a teacher):
Coming back to Mother Sarasvati, who is Goddess of yogis amongst everything else, let us now explore a few simple and effective mantras and prayers addressed to Her:
1. Sarasvati mantras:
- Om Sri Sarasvatyai Namah
-Om Aim Sarasvatyai Svaha or Om Aim Sarasvatyai Namah
('Aim' is the 'bija' or 'seed' mantra of Mother Sarasvati; this is pronounced as the word 'I'm' in English)
Daily recitation of one of these mantras 108 times a day (takes around five minutes) can be very helpful and soothing to the mind and good for obtaining the blessings of Mother Sarasvati.
2. Sarasvati gayatri mantra:
Om Vagdevyai cha vidmahe, Kamarajaya dhimahi, Tanno devi prachodayat.
3. Sarasvati prayers:
i)
Om
Sarasvati namastubhyam,
Varade kamarupini,
Vidyarambham karishyami
Siddhir bhavatu me sada
Meaning:
Sarasvati I bow to/worship You,
One who grants boons and fulfils wishes,
I am going to start my learning/education,
Please bless me always with success.
(This is the sloka I learned as a child)
ii)
Om
Ya kundendu tushara hara dhavala,
Ya shubra vastra vrita,
Ya veena vara danda mandita kara,
Ya shveta padmasana.
Ya Brahma-Achyuta-Shankara prabhritibhir,
Devai sada pujita,
Sa mam patu Sarasvati Bhagavati,
Nishesha jadya paha.
Meaning:
She who is radiant like the moon and wears a garland of snow-white jasmine flowers,
She who is dressed in shining white clothes,
She whose hands adorn the divine veena,
She who is seated upon a pure white lotus.
She who is the origin of Brahma, Vishnu (Achyuta) and Shiva (Shankara),
and always worshipped by divinities (demi-gods/devas),
May that Goddess Sarasvati ever protect me,
and completely remove all ignorance.
(This prayer is chanted at the beginning of every Sivananda yoga class).
4. The Vedic prayer to Mother Sarasvati by rishi Agastya (the two slokas mentioned above are from this longer prayer):
The slokas in Sanskrit with English translation:
Om Aim Sarasvatyai Namah. This is currently my favourite mantra for Mother Sarasvati and I plan to recite this fairly regularly in the coming weeks and months.
May Mother Sarasvati bless us all.
Om Namo Narayanaya.
Hari Aum Tat Sat.
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