Goddess Saraswati Blessing
May She grant us true wisdom, a clear mind, and pure heart. By Her Grace, may we find success in our spiritual, musical, artistic, and academic endeavors.
The Goddess Saraswati represents the manifestation of the sattwa guna in our daily lives through our creative and intellectual endeavors. The sattwa guna is purity, the revealing aspect of Maya. The nature of the Reality is most revealed through the arts, literature, and learning in general. Sri Sarada Devi is said to be an incarnation of Mother Saraswati.
May She grant us true wisdom, a clear mind, and pure heart. By Her Grace, may we find success in our spiritual, musical, artistic, and academic endeavors.
The Goddess Saraswati represents the manifestation of the sattwa guna in our daily lives through our creative and intellectual endeavors. The sattwa guna is purity, the revealing aspect of Maya. The nature of the Reality is most revealed through the arts, literature, and learning in general. Sri Sarada Devi is said to be an incarnation of Mother Saraswati.
On Diwali and Mother Lakshmi
Diwali is the festival of Lights, symbolizing the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance. It is usually associated with a puranic event when a demon is destroyed. The most popular one is probably the return of Ram and Sita to Ayodhya after the defeat of Ravana.
The Goddess Lakshmi is traditionally worshiped at this time. Lakshmi is frequently depicted as one of the daughters of Durga and the goddess of wealth, with Saraswati being her sister and the goddess of arts, learning, and culture. But as with other deities and avatars in Hinduism, they are ultimately aspects of Brahman. Because of this, the devotees of Lakshmi will see all the aspects of the Great Mother archetype in Lakshmi herself. Just as we often see family resemblances in siblings and parents etc., as we worship Lakshmi, all of her facets are revealed. We begin to see her as not just as the goddess of wealth, sustenance, and harvest., but also as Mother Earth, one with Mahakali, the destroyer of evil, the embodiment of beauty, grace, purity, and truth. We see her as the one who moves our inner consciousness toward God realization. Each sect in Hinduism sees the totality of Brahman in its chosen aspect. Brahman is like a multi-faceted diamond. The sparkle from one facet catches our eye. We become fascinated by it. As we focus on it, we realize it is the diamond that is sparkling. Thus one facet becomes associated with the whole.
When the devas and asuras were churning the ocean of milk to obtain the nectar of immortality, Lakshmi sprang forth in full form from the ocean on a pink lotus. What can we understand from this story? I believe it indicates that, like most goddess figures, she represents the divine energy manifested in the world. She is the divinity that was hidden in the ocean, but from the churning, was made evident. The lotus she is on also has that symbolism. It rises from the mud and water to bloom in all its purity and splendor. The divine energy is here, imminent in the world, but we must work to realize this, to be able to see it.
As we pray to Mother Lakshmi for her support in the world, we must remember to be thankful to her for the many blessings she has already bestowed upon us.
On Shiva
In order to understand the significance of a Hindu deity like Shiva, we need a little background. As with most religious traditions, God is often described as omnipresent, omniscient, infinite, changeless and other terms which convey that God is really beyond anything we can imagine or put into words. While many traditions prescribe thinking of God in one way, Hinduism has thought that if God (usually called Brahman in philosophical discussion such as this) is Infinite, then its (Brahman is beyond gender) manifestation could certainly be many, and of both genders. Each manifestation is like one disguise, costume, or aspect of God. But each manifestation has the other aspects in it. If you see an actor in one of his many roles, you are still seeing the whole actor - he didn't leave part of himself at home. So devotees of one aspect or deity of God begin to see, recognize, all aspects within their chosen favorite aspect. But a Hindu might still choose to think of God in many ways depending on the time of year or the circumstances of life.
Shiva is a good example of this. While text books will often describe Shiva as the God of Destruction in the "Trinity" of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, this is a very limited view. This view does give clarity to creation, preservation, and destruction as a simple way to divide up the necessary functions of God. But it is much too restrictive for devotees of Vishnu or Shiva. For example, devotees of Vishnu will say that Brahma is created by Vishnu, thus seeing the primary creative act as coming from Vishnu.
Shiva is worshiped in several forms and the "energy" or character of his aspect is known through various stories.
The Shiva Nataraj, or the dancing Shiva, depicts all three major functions of God in the Lord Shiva himself. He is creating with the sound of the damaru (small drum) The creation is preserved by Shiva holding down evil forces with his foot. But the whole cosmic cycle is consumed in a circle of flames. Thus the unending cycle of creation, preservation, and destruction continues around and around. He dances the rhythm of the cosmic cycles.
Shiva is sometimes depicted as the perfected Yogi, meditating with complete control over body and mind in the Himalayas. Thus he becomes a role model for meditators and renunciates.
Shiva is sometimes depicted as an elongated egg-shaped or pillar like stone sitting in a round holder. This belongs to the very important and common archetypal image of a circle (sometimes a ring, or in three dimensions a sphere) and a rod to represent the creative forces of the universe. When the end of a rod is dipped into a smooth surface of water (or if a small pebble is dropped into the water), it creates concentric circles of ripples. This symbolizes the beginning of creation through vibration - the bringing forth of manifestation from the chaos or the unfathomable primordial oneness. It is interesting to note that mathematically, the zero and one are a circle and a line (rod). They are the basis of our number system and our binary computer code.
He is given the role of preserver when, in one story, he saves the world from destruction from poison by swallowing and holding the poison in his own throat.
Shiva can also be seen as the ideal husband of Uma (Parvati).
If a devotee chooses to see the manifesting aspect of God as feminine, then Shiva is seen as lying motionless, representing the absolute (Brahman) upon which the feminine aspect stands.
Shiva is also known as the one who accepts even the simplest worship and accepts even outcasts as devotees.
Diwali is the festival of Lights, symbolizing the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance. It is usually associated with a puranic event when a demon is destroyed. The most popular one is probably the return of Ram and Sita to Ayodhya after the defeat of Ravana.
The Goddess Lakshmi is traditionally worshiped at this time. Lakshmi is frequently depicted as one of the daughters of Durga and the goddess of wealth, with Saraswati being her sister and the goddess of arts, learning, and culture. But as with other deities and avatars in Hinduism, they are ultimately aspects of Brahman. Because of this, the devotees of Lakshmi will see all the aspects of the Great Mother archetype in Lakshmi herself. Just as we often see family resemblances in siblings and parents etc., as we worship Lakshmi, all of her facets are revealed. We begin to see her as not just as the goddess of wealth, sustenance, and harvest., but also as Mother Earth, one with Mahakali, the destroyer of evil, the embodiment of beauty, grace, purity, and truth. We see her as the one who moves our inner consciousness toward God realization. Each sect in Hinduism sees the totality of Brahman in its chosen aspect. Brahman is like a multi-faceted diamond. The sparkle from one facet catches our eye. We become fascinated by it. As we focus on it, we realize it is the diamond that is sparkling. Thus one facet becomes associated with the whole.
When the devas and asuras were churning the ocean of milk to obtain the nectar of immortality, Lakshmi sprang forth in full form from the ocean on a pink lotus. What can we understand from this story? I believe it indicates that, like most goddess figures, she represents the divine energy manifested in the world. She is the divinity that was hidden in the ocean, but from the churning, was made evident. The lotus she is on also has that symbolism. It rises from the mud and water to bloom in all its purity and splendor. The divine energy is here, imminent in the world, but we must work to realize this, to be able to see it.
As we pray to Mother Lakshmi for her support in the world, we must remember to be thankful to her for the many blessings she has already bestowed upon us.
On Shiva
In order to understand the significance of a Hindu deity like Shiva, we need a little background. As with most religious traditions, God is often described as omnipresent, omniscient, infinite, changeless and other terms which convey that God is really beyond anything we can imagine or put into words. While many traditions prescribe thinking of God in one way, Hinduism has thought that if God (usually called Brahman in philosophical discussion such as this) is Infinite, then its (Brahman is beyond gender) manifestation could certainly be many, and of both genders. Each manifestation is like one disguise, costume, or aspect of God. But each manifestation has the other aspects in it. If you see an actor in one of his many roles, you are still seeing the whole actor - he didn't leave part of himself at home. So devotees of one aspect or deity of God begin to see, recognize, all aspects within their chosen favorite aspect. But a Hindu might still choose to think of God in many ways depending on the time of year or the circumstances of life.
Shiva is a good example of this. While text books will often describe Shiva as the God of Destruction in the "Trinity" of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, this is a very limited view. This view does give clarity to creation, preservation, and destruction as a simple way to divide up the necessary functions of God. But it is much too restrictive for devotees of Vishnu or Shiva. For example, devotees of Vishnu will say that Brahma is created by Vishnu, thus seeing the primary creative act as coming from Vishnu.
Shiva is worshiped in several forms and the "energy" or character of his aspect is known through various stories.
The Shiva Nataraj, or the dancing Shiva, depicts all three major functions of God in the Lord Shiva himself. He is creating with the sound of the damaru (small drum) The creation is preserved by Shiva holding down evil forces with his foot. But the whole cosmic cycle is consumed in a circle of flames. Thus the unending cycle of creation, preservation, and destruction continues around and around. He dances the rhythm of the cosmic cycles.
Shiva is sometimes depicted as the perfected Yogi, meditating with complete control over body and mind in the Himalayas. Thus he becomes a role model for meditators and renunciates.
Shiva is sometimes depicted as an elongated egg-shaped or pillar like stone sitting in a round holder. This belongs to the very important and common archetypal image of a circle (sometimes a ring, or in three dimensions a sphere) and a rod to represent the creative forces of the universe. When the end of a rod is dipped into a smooth surface of water (or if a small pebble is dropped into the water), it creates concentric circles of ripples. This symbolizes the beginning of creation through vibration - the bringing forth of manifestation from the chaos or the unfathomable primordial oneness. It is interesting to note that mathematically, the zero and one are a circle and a line (rod). They are the basis of our number system and our binary computer code.
He is given the role of preserver when, in one story, he saves the world from destruction from poison by swallowing and holding the poison in his own throat.
Shiva can also be seen as the ideal husband of Uma (Parvati).
If a devotee chooses to see the manifesting aspect of God as feminine, then Shiva is seen as lying motionless, representing the absolute (Brahman) upon which the feminine aspect stands.
Shiva is also known as the one who accepts even the simplest worship and accepts even outcasts as devotees.