Saraswattie literally means the energy that is all pervading. It is the name of the consort of the Creator, Bramha. She is the Shakti or power by which all that Lord Bramha created, functions. She is the Divine energy that keeps everything alive. This Divine energy has been referred to as the Divine Intelligence. The Intelligence is also all pervading - even in the smallest atom and molecule.
When science investigates the human body at the cellular level, investigations have discovered that a human body cell is actually 0.001% energy and the remaining 99.999% is space. If we should add up the components of the several millions of body cells that make up the human body, the answer would be 99.999% space and 0.001% energy. In spite of that scientific revelation we still see ourselves as weighing 70 kilograms etc. We still see ourselves as having high or low I.Q.s. We still see ourselves as being different from others in various ways.
Most of us would be familiar with the line, “Yeh duniya hai Prabhu ke maayaa.” — “This world is the illusion of God.’ An illusion is when you interpret something as being a certain way and in reality it is not. When you “see” something that is actually non existent.
One of the holy seven rivers of India is also called Saraswattie. We have three main ones: Ganga, Jamuna and the Saraswattie. There are several miles of land where the River Saraswattie is flowing before it meets the Ganga and Jamuna, that it cannot be seen as it flows underground and then it re-surfaces as the Mighty, Holy Saraswattie.
Mother Saraswattie is universally invoked as the Goddess of learning or intelligence. She is depicted in white, holding the Veena - the Mother of stringed instruments or of music. She is also referred to as “Pustak Dharinie.”- The one who carries the book. She is invoked when students want to be successful in examinations.
Her “Vaahan” or mode of transport is the elegant swam. The swan has the capability of extracting the milk from water, when they are mixed together. In local parlance it could also mean picking sense out of nonsense. It actually means extracting wisdom from words. Converting information into intelligence.
With the blessings of Mother Saraswattie, man would have the capability to extract whatever he needs from this world to make his life better. Better here is not a constant point but a continuous process. It is a state where man is moving from one point to another constantly improving his position. If we look at this scenario as “man on point A” to “point B” to “point C” etc. There should be differences. At all the different points - man would still constitute the same combination of space and energy. Can you recognize any man better or worse? Can you recognize the wisdom in “We are all equal in the eyes of God?” The spark of Divinity is equal in all of us - Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Indian, White, African - we are all equal in the Eyes of God.
This being so, how come we all exist at different levels in the physical, financial, social, spiritual etc? The Divine Intelligence of Mother Saraswattie has made us all masters of our own destiny. She has made us all infinite choice makers. She has given us all the option to choose whatever we need in order to make our lives into whatever we want. We all have equal amounts of Her Divine energy. We can horde it or we can share it. The more we share it, it multiples.
However, the psychology of the individuals vary. The one who shares would receive the special blessing called ‘Santosh’ - contentment, fulfillment, serenity, blissfulness, etc.
From birth to the point of death we all maintain the same combination of space and energy. So long as there is birth, death must follow. Anything that is created in Time will be sustained in Time and would eventually be destroyed in Time. This is the Divine formula for the entire creation. Death or destruction is inevitable. How we use our time of sustenance between birth and death is most important to the living human beings.
It is important for man to supplicate to Mother Saraswattie for Her Arshirwad - Diving blessings - so that he would be able to enjoy his sustenance between birth and death. When Her husband Bramha created this beautiful world it was for us to enjoy it, not to abuse or destroy it. This earth is our dwelling ground and it is our Dharma to protect and maintain it to the highest standard. If we want to enjoy our lives, we must maintain a safe environment. Our survival depends on it.
We must also understand the great lines from The Holy Ramayan - “Seeya Raam may sab jag jaani, kaaraoo pranaam joori jug paani”- we must recognize the Divinity in this entire universe, and always pay our fullest respect. Can you now identity that all pervading energy in this entire creation? Mother Saraswattie is that Divinity that pervades everything that was created by Her husband Lord Bramha.
With this knowledge then, we need to appreciate that within all animate and inanimate creation, there exists undoubtedly “Saraswattie - the energy that is all pervading’. Encompassed within a King or a pauper is the same percentage of that Divine Intelligence. This world is an illusion, a divine play in which both you and I perform. It is a kaleidoscope of events that constantly entertains our senses, emotions and behaviour. What is real in all this? What is the truth that eludes us?
The truth, the one reality of the entire universe, is “Saraswattie”- the O.O01% of Divine energy that is no more in me than it is in you. May this Universal Mother shower Her blessings on mankind so that we would be able to recognise the brotherhood of all men.
Pundit Samsundar Ramdeen
Editor - Dharma Karma - RRDS Publications
The saints and sages of India searched for containers in which to transfer knowledge down to succeeding generations. An oral tradition developed. Then they resorted to documentation - writings. Today we use audio, video, multi-media and so on to transfer. However, somewhere during the course of the development of Indian pedagogy the Rishis of India devised what is perhaps the most powerful means of transferring knowledge down to subsequent generations - the use of solid symbolic images called murtis.
One such murti is Saraswati - the goddess of learning and speech. Saraswati may appear very simple and to the untrained eye, strange. But as we shall see, contained in this murti is all the knowledge necessary for spiritual evolution. We will see Saraswati from the symbolic, physical and metaphysical points of view.
Symbolism
Our Rishis realised a very fundamental truth regarding the way we think and learn. All our thinking is symbolic. When we think of a cow for instance we have an image of a cow in our mind and not a real cow. The cow in our head represents a real animal that exists outside our head. In other words all of human thought - and so existence - is a symbolic one since the ideas that we juggle around in our heads (called thinking) are nothing but representations of things outside our heads. It is not surprising therefore that the Rishis utilised signs, symbols, representations and images to teach great lessons to humanity. Saraswati sits on a swan, carries a veena (Indian lute), crystal garland and the Vedas in her hands and wears white clothes. She is called Vani - the goddess of speech. Let us look at what these things symbolise.
She wears white. In Hinduism white has always represented purity. For any true learning or spiritual evolution to take place there must he purity of mind. If the mind is impure and knowledge is introduced hi such a mind it goes bad, hence why much of the evil in the world were perpetrated by persons who were very knowledgeable - Ravan, Hitler, Stalin, Bin Laden to name a few. It is like pouring milk in an unclean jar the milk goes spoil. Saraswati is therefore making a loud statement with her white clothes: “if one wants true and taintless knowledge, make the mind pure.”
She carries the Vedas. The Vedas are the repository of all knowledge. They are with her. If we want the knowledge we must worship her and purify our mind.
What is that knowledge which is contained in the Vedas? It is the knowledge of the oneness of the universe (advaita). This is symbolized by the sphatika (crystal) mala (garland) in her other hand. The beads of this mala are transparent. When we look through them we see the one thread that holds them together. In Gita, Krishna says that he is the one thread that holds the universe together-the thing upon which everything else is strung. (sutre manigana iva - 7.7). This one thing which holds the universe together is called Bralunan. Knowledge of Brahman is the subject matter of the Vedas.
The veena is the instrument from which all sounds are born, Sound forms the basis of the universe. The universe is thus evolved from the veena. She holds the veena in her hand indicating that the origin of the universe is in her hands.
She rides on a swan, the mystical white bird that is credited with the rare ability to separate milk from water. This symbolizes the ability of the individual to discriminate between real and the unreal. This ability to discriminate between the real and unreal is the first prerequisite for knowledge of the Self. Our life should ride on discrimination.
Saraswati in the Physical Universe
The saints also call Saraswati the goddess of speech - Vani - quite literally speech itself. In addition to being a modulation of sound, speech is the medium of communication. What the sages did was take speech in the universe and personifies it as Saraswati.
Remember, when Saraswati is seen as speech, her manifestations become countless. The whole universe seems to be “speaking.” The spring whispers softly into the ear of slumbering shrubs to rise, the dry air cries out for the water to evaporate and quench its invisible thirst, the dawn silently intimates the song birds of her arrival, the distant dogs warn their friends of an approaching intruder, whales speak to each other from north to south pole, the sun beckons the plants to come towards himself, ants bring good tidings to their nest-mates, the flower calls out to bees with the enchanting scent of its nectar. In fact the natural balance of the bio-ecological system occurs because there is an intimate communication between the different elements that comprise the system.
In our own body there is a complex communication system setup. The stomach tells the brain, “I am hungry.” When a toe gets crushed its cells immediately send a message to the brain via the intricate nerve cells set up between the brain and all parts of the body. When a cell is lacking a particular type of nutrient or has too much waste matter it speaks to the rest of the body to do the needful. When there is too much heat the body tells tin sweat pores to open and so on. This communication that is going on in the body is the manifestation of Saraswati. Even when we think we do so in language. Thinking is nothing but soft talking in the mind. It is Saraswati being manifested. We would not have much of a universe if God did not manifest as Saraswati - speech.
Human Communication
Before we continue with some words about human communication or speech, our sages give four stages through which Saraswati manifests in human communication. These are called para, pashyanti, madhyama and vaikhari. Para means beyond. In the next few moments you will be saying something but you do not know what you will be saying. The things you are going to say are already inside of you or else no speech would emanate from you. This speech is at a level of your being where they are undifferentiated or unmanifest. This is called para. When the speech bubble out into manifestation then it is called pashyanti - seen. When the speech is articulated into language it is called madhyama and finally when the speech so articulated is spoken it is called vaikhari. (Incidentally, vaikhari is another name for Saraswati. The other words are not used to describe her perhaps because the steps preceding the vocal expression of speech proceed unnoticed).
Speech becomes more eloquent if we communicate at more subtle levels of manifestation. Let me clarify this with some examples. If I am standing in front of an audience of say five thousand people and I am speaking, only the few in the front of the crowd will hear me - I will be able to communicate my ideas only to a few. If I started doing mime in front of the crowd then I can communicate with all of the whole five thousand people there. The reason for this is that vocal communication is the manifestation of speech at its grossest level - vaikhari, while mime is the manifestation of speech at a subtler level - madhyama. At the level of vaikhari the speech has been articulated into words - language which is restrictive. Only the people who know that language will understand. Body language is more subtle and universal and therefore more pervasive. Hence the saying that action speaks louder than words. Miming therefore reaches more people. Mime has no language.
Whenever people used to approach Sri Ramana Maharshi or our revered Gurudev, Swami Chinmayananda, with questions, these questions used to be answered without it being even asked! This is communication at the level of pashyanti and it needs no language. Through this means the saints sitting in the Himalayan caves can communicate with the whole universe - the communication is speechless but most pervasive. Divine vibrations are communicated by these masters to the rest of the universe keeping the cosmos in balance.
In common parlance this is called heart to heart communication. In the Ramayana of Tulsidasji there is a wonderful episode where the simple boatman - Kewat - takes Sita, Rama, Laksmana and Guha across the Ganga. Rama feels pity at his plight because he had nothing to give the poor boatman in return for his services. At that moment Tulsidasji writes: piya jiya ji siya jananihari - Sita understood the heart of her beloved Rama (2.101.2). She then removed a ring from her hand and gave it to Rama without saying anything and Rama offered it to the boatman. If there is true love in a person’s heart then heart to heart communication becomes easy. Parents, children, spouses should try it.
Saraswati, therefore, is the repository of all speech (para) and she manifests at different levels depending on the type of personality we, have. In the great sage Ramana Maharishi for instance she did not manifest much as vaikhari but more so as pashyanti (silent speech of the heart). In our Gurudev, Swami Chinmayananda, she manifested at all levels.
Saraswati in the Metaphysical Structure of the Universe
Saraswati means the Self in whom (svasyam) all (sarve) stand (tishtati) and revels (ramante ca). She in whom the whole universe exists and revels. When we say that Saraswati is the one who supports the entire universe we do not mean like the legs of a table supporting the table, we mean like the mud supporting the pot. In a mud pot mud supports the pot by being the pot. In the same way Saraswati supports the universe by being the universe. In this metaphysical sense she is indistinguishable from l3rahman. Many say she is the ras, essence, of the universe. The essence of the universe is nothing but pure existence. There is nothing in the universe which we can point to which is not supported by existence. Without existence nothing is. Remove existence from the universe and there is no universe. The universe abounds in pure existence. This existence is Saraswati – Brahman - the essence.
By Brahmachari Prem Chaitanya,
Chinmaya Mission
I feel truly honoured to be asked to make this little contribution for the Dharma Karma Divali 2002publication. Since I cannot speak in general terms about religion, I have chosen instead to relate to you my own experience.
Being raised in a Hindu home, not traditional by any means, but where the fundamental principles of Sanatan Dharma were inculcated in me at a tender age. Another major influence in the establishment of Sanatanist elements in my moral fibre was my involvement in the Mandirs. I was blessed to be a part the Monroe Road Shiv Mandir and the Amarjyoth Mandir. The community of Munroe Road and environs is predominantly Hindu so it was easy for me to fall into the social pattern of living Hinduism.
I can now say this in retrospect that it was the principle of truth which allowed me to realize my dream. Early in life we are taught that we should always speak the truth and that we should never tell a lie to our elders and teachers. Upon closer examination however, this principle extends far beyond. My A’level experience was a very enlightening one when I was able to learn a lot about human nature. I was able to look at myself and all those around. I realized that it was extremely important to be truthful to myself first. Then and only then I would be able to be truthful to others and to lead a contented life.
How does this relate to one’s studies? Well if a student is to listen to his conscience when it is time to sit down and do his schoolwork then he would able to perform well in exams. It takes a great deal of commitment and dedication to prepare for an examination and this can only happen with persistence and dedication. It is all about making the right decision.
Another important ingredient for my success is prayer. We must always seek the blessings of God in order to be successful in our endeavours. I believe that God helps those who help themselves. It is this belief that gave the courage to stay focused with my studies. I know that God would provide me with my just rewards no matter what that reward might be.
In this instance it was the President’s Gold Medal. I am extremely grateful to be honoured with this award. I also know that whatever happens always by the Will and Grace of the Almighty GOD.
Last year I won an additional National Scholarship but this was not my dream. I was confident that God had a better plan for me so I persisted and persevered. I now feel a sense of achievement and satisfaction, Thank you and may you all have a happy Divali 2002.
Ravindra Ramrattan
2002 President’s Gold Medal Winner
Saraswati is worshipped as the World’s Mother Jagadamba as well as the Goddess of Knowledge. The word Saraswati means one who bestows sweethess to the “Self’. Devotees pray, worship and invoke her blessings before examinations and other educational and scholastic pursuits. She is regarded as the symbol of knowledge and many universities and institutions have her image on their Dave Rum persad buildings. Saraswati is also named “Padma” and “Kamla” which means lotus and is the symbol of detachment and purity. Saraswati had attained and realised spiritual knowledge and was considered so powerful and proficient that she was able to remove any obstacle in the way of spiritual seekers. It is important to note the similarity of Saraswati with Lord Ganesh, the remover of all obstacles and difficulties. Saraswati was the divine daughter of Brahma, who assisted Lord Shiva in the re-establishment of a new world order, known as jeevanmukti or Satyug.
Saraswati’s purity is characterised and depicted by various symbols. The “Veena” represents mastery over the physical organs and over one’s actions. The veena is considered the symbol of life and its strings are symbolic of “feelings”. The “Book” represents the repository or the bandhara of knowledge as well as the dissemination of spiritual discipline and divine knowledge. The “Rosary” is concentration of the mind on God. This rosary is also called the “Spatik Mala” which signifies transparency and the power to see reality. This rosary in her hands has fifty beads, the same as the number of letters in the Sanskrit alphabet. She has complete knowledge on the art of meditation. She is complete with “Gyan and Yoga” and used them as her “bow and arrow”. The “Swan” reflects the power of discrimination and judgement, unattached and unaffected. The white swan or lotus portrays a tower of purity. The “Peacock” is symbolic of worldly knowledge and its colourful feathers represent gains in name and fame and success in general.
The “White Lotus” with a tinge of light red signifies purity dignified with graceful activity. Her “White Clothes and White Ornaments” arc symbolic of her chastity and her absolute and ultimate purity. It is said you pray to Lakshmi for wealth, whereas you receive the kingdom of the world from this “World Mother”. Such was the power, purity and wisdom of this Brahmin and World Mother, Saraswati Ji. She fulfills the desires of everyone and earns the name Kamdhenu.
Pt. Dave Rampersad
President/Spiritual Leader of the Upper Mc Bean Hindu Temple