Saraswati

The Goddess of music, art, creativity, wisdom and knowledge, Saraswati means pooling water, or speech, so she is revered in both the art of communication (written and spoken word) and in free flowing inspiration, train of thought, movement and new life. Either way she is a symbol of light, joy and ease and as such is perfect to celebrate and call on while we work with this particular set of mantras.

So- Hum

Lumen de Lumine

I Bring light. I Give Light

Saraswati is recognized as a metaphor for fertility as she creates and produces many things, like Brahma who is both her consort, and for who she sprang to life for- on a river- from his mouth- when he was busy creating. Stories mention that she was what inspired his creations, put them in order, and then breathed common sense into their mayhem. Before her, trees grew upside down and waterfalls rose instead of fell.

She is usually depicted wearing all white and riding a swan. Swans are a representation that with great elegance comes hard paddling under the surface. Reminding us that while others look like they have their feathers all in a row, it is likely they are struggling to stay afloat just the same as you and I. Homage to how modern day social media can distract us from recognizing how bright our own lives are while we are so busy comparing to those around us.

Saraswati is also the name given to several rivers some of which might be mythological, but all of which derive the meaning from the Deity herself to embody openness and a smooth free flowing vibe.

The Story Of Saraswati

Brahma floated happily along, a speck of dust gliding in a mass of black nothing.

“It sure would be nice to be able to see what’s around me.”

So Brahma began to imagine what that would be like, and how it would work. Eyes began to appear on all sides of his head giving him the ability to see in every direction- because he would hate to miss out on something marvelous simply because he was looking the other way!

It was still pretty black so he thought it would be great to get a little light- even a tiny speck. 

A pinprick of light appeared above him and he started at it for days. But it didn’t really luminate anything much at all. He imagined being able to bring himself closer on a body with limbs that could walk him there.  Low and behold a body appeared.

“This is Great” he thought as he hiked up close to the pinprick of light until it was a big shining ball of yellow that beamed warmth all around him. He could see a considerable distance now. 

But there wasn’t much to see. So he sat and basked in the glory and heat of the light he had created with his imagination. 

After a few hours he found himself patched, dry and feeling little loopy from the heat “if only I had something wet and cold to put on my skin and in my mouth” as he craved, imagined and wished for it so it appeared underneath him in the form of a shiny silver pool. 

“Everything I imagine is coming to life!” He realized.

Happily Brahma lapped it up and bathed, but the wet stuff wouldn’t stop coming at him and eventually he wondered if it would ever stop. Imagining this procured more wet cold stuff and it started coming at him from all directions. panicking he imagined the water caving in on him and swallowing him whole. This led the water to come at him with even more vengeance. 

He realized everything he was imagining was coming to fruition- even the bad stuff! 

rampantly he thought about how to get away from the water. He imagined a lily pad coming to lift him up to safety. He imagined being happy again. 

And the lily pad appeared. Lifted him up to safety and contentment swept over his body. 

He was content with this for thousands of years - practicing creating his imaginings until one day he had filled the entire space. 

He looked around for a little bit of room for a few more creations. But there was none. 

He realized that most of this mess was because nothing he has created had an place, order or connection. 

The trees grew upside down, the goats walked backwards, the ducks gathered feathers instead of shedding them and waterfalls started at the ground and flew upwards. 

It was nonsense and completely disorganized. Nothing was communicating with anything else about which direction to flow and grow in. 

“Well this is no good,” he thought I need these things to understand their connection to one another. I need the soul to understand that it should be on the ground so that trees can root and be nourished it. The trees need to understand they should grow upwards so birds can nest in their tops near their home in the sky. And the rain needs to fall downwards so that their water can collect in streams to provide sustenance for the soil. 

How can I connect all these beings? 

He sat and he thought and imagined and dreamed for centuries. 

One day his eyes opened wide - he took and inspired breath in as the idea took hold in his eye covered head and his big dream filled belly. 

He exhaled his imaginings in one long river...literally a river flowed smoothly from his mouth and touched everything in the space. It connected all the items and allowed a silent communication to take form - a wisdom like none other- an instinct- an intuition - a basic truth on how life can be sustained and how all things are connected and thus thrive best when they stop resisting and simply work together in harmony.

His eyes widened as something else caught his attention. A beam of light radiated from a lady elegantly riding on a white swan. 

Mesmerized, he fell deeply in love with her, Saraswati, his vision of beauty and vowed to give her all his creations so she could sweep her gift of this important life-knowledge over all of them, making them each whole and perfect.