Saraswati Puja
This time of year we pray to Saraswati Devi and Lord Hayagriva
to bless us with wisdom and knowledge. Aside from the festive aspects of
Navaratri, such as assembling various dolls and figures and constructing
elaborate facades for the Navaratri golu and inviting sumangalis over,
we primarily celebrate the active presence of Lakshmi Thaayaar during this
festival, culminating with the honoring of Her in the form of Saraswati
Devi, the Goddess of all learning and speech.
Sri Sadagopan has written quite elaborately about the
Vedic concept of Saraswati in previous years:
http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/feb96/0033.html
http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/aug98/0078.html
http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/aug98/0154.html
http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/aug98/0169.html
According to the understanding of some acharyas, as the
presiding deity of all speech, Saraswati is appropriately the consort of
Lord Hayagriva, and is not to be confused with the later Puranic notion
of a Saraswati being the wife of Brahma (sarojAsana-dharma-patnI).
Accordingly, She is Lakshmi Herself; if Hayagriva represents the essence
of the Vedas, She is the sound of this essence, related inseparably to
it.
uväca puratas tasmai
tasya divya sarasvaté
käma-kåñëäya
govinda
he gopé-jana ity api
vallabhäya priyä vahner
mantram te däsyati priyam
SYNONYMS
uväca—said; purataù—in
front; tasmai—to him; tasya—of Him (the Supreme Lord); divyä—divine;
sarasvaté—the goddess of learning; käma—the käma-béja
(kléà); kåñëäya—to Kåñëa;
govinda—govindäya, to Govinda; he—O; gopé-jana—of the gopés;
iti—thus; api—also; vallabhäya—to the dear one; priyä vahneù—the
wife of Agni, Svähä (the word svähä is uttered while
offering oblations); mantram—mantra; te—to you; däsyati—will give;
priyam—the heart’s desire.
TRANSLATION
Then the goddess of learning
Sarasvaté, the divine consort of the Supreme Lord, said thus to
Brahmä who saw nothing but gloom in all directions, “O Brahmä,
this mantra, viz., kléà kåñëäya govindäya
gopé-jana-vallabhäya svähä, will assuredly fulfill
your heart’s desire.” (Brahma Samhitaa. 5:24.)
Some take the following paasuram from Tirumazhisai Alvar's
Naanmukan Thiruvantaati to be a reference to this aspect of Lakshmi-Saraswati:
veRpenRu vEngadam paadinEn, vIdaakki
niRkinREn ninRu ninaikkinREn, - kaRkinRa
noolvalaiyil pattirundha noolaatti kELvanaar,
kaalvalaiyil pattirundhEn kaaN. (40)
Here "noolaatti", the lady of the books, is taken to be a
reference to the Goddess. (Alternatively, it also means the lady spoken
of by the books, i.e., Vedas). Since noolaatti kELvanaar is identified
with the Lord of Venkatam, Saraswati is none other than a form of Lakshmi.
On the ninth day of Navaratri, known as Mahanavami, there
is also what is known is "Ayudha pUja". I don't know if it is universally
celebrated -- members are requested to clarify -- but on this day, all
animals, equipment, etc.,used in one's profession are ceremonially prayed
for and blessed.
Vishnu Purana upholds:
tvam siddhis tvam
svadha svaha
sudha tvam loka
pavani
sandhya ratrih prabha
bhutir
medha sraddha saraswati
"You are siddhi, nectar, Svaha and Svadha, O purifier of
the worlds. You are twilight, night, effulgence, opulence, intelligence,
faith, and Saraswati." (Sri Laxmi Stuti Visnu Purana, VII.9.119.)
kåpä-päräväraù
sajala-jalada-çreëi-ruciro
ramä-väëé-rämaù
sphurad-amala-paìkeruha-mukhaù
surendrair ärädhyaù
çruti-gaëa-çikhä-géta-carito
jagannäthaù
svämé nayana-patha-gämé bhavatu me
Lord Jagannätha is an ocean of
mercy and He is beautiful like a row of blackish rain clouds. He is the
storehouse of bliss for Lakñmé and Sarasvaté, and
His face is like a spotless full-blown lotus. He is worshiped by the best
of demigods and sages, and His glories are sung by the Upaniñads.
May that Jagannätha Svämé be the object of my vision."
(Jagannath Ashtakam 4.)
jéyät kaiçora-caitanyo
mürti-matyä gåhäçramät
lakñmyärcito ’tha väg-devyä
diçäà jayi-jaya-cchalät
TRANSLATION
Long live Lord Caitanya Mahäprabhu
in His kaiçora age! Both the goddess of fortune and the goddess
of learning worship Him. The goddess of learning, Sarasvaté, worshiped
Him in His victory over the scholar who had conquered all the world, and
the goddess of fortune, Lakñmédevé, worshiped Him
at home. Since He is therefore the husband or Lord of both goddesses, I
offer my obeisances unto Him. (Sri Chaitanya Charitamrta. Adi lila 16:3.)
kämais tais tair håta
jïänäù
prapadyante ’nya-devatäù
taà taà niyamam ästhäya
prakåtyä niyatäù
svayä
“Those whose minds are distorted by
material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules
and regulations of worship according to their own natures.” (Bg. 7.20)
There are many different types of
men in the world, and they’re functioning under the different modes of
material nature. Generally speaking, most men are not after liberation.
If they take to spirituality, they wish to gain something by spiritual
power. It is not uncommon in India for a person to go to a svämé
and say, “Swäméji, could you give me some medicine? I am suffering
from this disease.” He thinks that because a doctor is too expensive, he
can go to a svämé who can work miracles. In India also there
are svämés who go to people’s houses and preach, “If you give
me one ounce of gold I can make it into one hundred ounces of gold.” The
people think, “I have five ounces of gold. Let me give it to him, and I’ll
get five hundred ounces.” In this way the svämé collects all
the gold in the village, and after collecting it, he vanishes. This is
our disease: when we go to a svämé, or a temple or a church,
our hearts are filled with material desires. Wanting some material profit
out of spiritual life, we practice yoga just to keep our health fit. But,
in order to keep healthy, why take shelter of yoga? We can become healthy
through regular exercises and regulated diet. Why resort to yoga? Because:
kämais tais tair håta-jïänäù. We have
the material desire to keep ourselves fit and to enjoy life by going to
church and making God our order-supplier.
Having material desires, men worship
various demigods. They have no idea how to get out of matter; they want
to utilize the material world to its best capacity. For instance, in Vedic
literature there are so many recommendations: if one wants to cure his
disease, he worships the sun, or if a girl wants a good husband, she worships
Lord Çiva, or if one wants to become beautiful, he worships such
and such god, or if one wants to become educated, he worships goddess Sarasvaté.
In this way Westerners often think that the Hindus are polytheistic, but
actually this worship is not to God, but to demigods. We should not think
that the demigods are God. God is one, but there are demigods who are also
living entities just like us. The difference is that they have a considerable
amount of power. On this earth there may be a king or a president or a
dictator—these are men like us, but they have some extraordinary power,
and in order to get favors from them, to take advantage of their power,
we worship them in one way or another. But Bhagavad-gétä condemns
worship of the demigods. This verse clearly states that people worship
the demigods due to käma, material lust.
This material life is simply based
on lust; we want to enjoy this world, and we love this material world because
we want to gratify our senses. This lust is a perverted reflection of our
love of God. In our original constitution we are made to love God, but
because we have forgotten God, we love matter. Love is there. Either we
love matter, or we love God. But in no case can we get out of this loving
propensity; indeed, we often see that when one doesn’t have children, he
loves a cat or a dog. Why? Because we want and need to love something.
In the absence of reality, we put our faith and love in cats and dogs.
Love is always there, but it is distorted into the form of lust. When this
lust is baffled, we become angry; when we become angry, we become illusioned;
and when we are illusioned, we are doomed. This is the process that is
going on, but we have to reverse this process and turn lust into love.
If we love God, we love everything. But if we do not love God, it is not
possible to love anything. We may think that it is love, but it is simply
a glamorized form of lust. Those who have become the dogs of lust are said
to have lost all good sense: kämais tais tair håta-jïänäù.
There are many rules and regulations
for the worship of demigods in the scriptures, and one may question why
the Vedic literatures recommended their worship. There is necessity. Those
who are motivated by lust want the opportunity to love something, and the
demigods are acknowledged as the officers of the Supreme Lord. The idea
is that as one worships these demigods, he will gradually develop Kåñëa
consciousness. But if one is completely atheistic and disobedient and rebellious
against any authority, what hope is there? So one’s obedience to a higher
personality can start with the demigods.
If, however, we take directly to
the worship of the Supreme Lord, worship of the demigods is not necessary.
Those who worship the Supreme Lord directly show all respect to the demigods,
but they do not need to worship them because they know that the supreme
authority behind the demigods is the Supreme personality of Godhead, and
they are engaged in worshiping Him. In any case, respect is still there.
A devotee of the Lord shows respect even to an ant, what to speak of the
demigods? The devotee is aware that all living entities are parts and parcels
of the Supreme Lord and that they are playing different roles only.
In relation to the Supreme Lord,
all beings are to be respected. Therefore a devotee refers to others as
“prabhu,” meaning “My dear sir, my dear lord.” Submissiveness is a qualification
for a devotee of the Lord. Devotees are kind and obedient, and they have
all good qualifications. In conclusion, if one becomes a devotee of the
Lord, all good qualifications will automatically develop. By nature, the
living entity is perfect, but due to the contamination of lust, he becomes
vicious. That which is part and parcel of gold is also gold, and whatever
is part and parcel of the Complete perfect is also perfect.
oà pürëam adaù pürëam idaà
pürëät pürëam udacyate
pürëasya pürëam ädäya
pürëam evävaçiñyate
“The personality of Godhead is perfect
and complete. Because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him,
such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as a complete whole.
Whatever is produced of the complete whole is also complete in itself.
Because He is the complete whole, even though so many complete units emanate
from Him, He remains the complete balance.” (Çré Éçopaniñad,
Invocation)
Due to the contamination
of matter, the perfect living entity falls down, but this process of Kåñëa
consciousness will again make him perfect. Through it, he can become truly
happy, and after leaving the material body, enter into the kingdom where
there is eternal life, bliss and full knowledge. (A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada. Book - On the way to Krishna. Chapter 5.)
"Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta
Sarasvaté Gosvämé Mahäräja has remarked that
there is a class of common men who claim that anyone and everyone can worship
the Supreme Lord according to his own invented mode of worship and still
attain the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They claim that one can approach
the Supreme Lord either through fruitive activities, speculative knowledge,
meditation or austerity and that any one of the methods will succeed. They
claim that one can accept many different paths and still reach the same
place, and they maintain that the Supreme Absolute Truth may be worshiped
either as the Goddess Kälé, or Goddess Durgä, or Lord
Çiva, Gaëeça, Räma, Hari, or Brahmä. In short,
they maintain that it does not matter how the Absolute Truth is addressed,
for ali names are one and the same. They give the example of a man with
many names; if he is called by any of those names, he will answer.
Such views may be very pleasing
to an ordinary person, but they are full of misconceptions. One who worships
the demigods, motivated by material lust, cannot attain the Supreme Personality
of Godhead. If one worships the demigods, the external energy of the Lord
can award some results, but this is not to say that one can attain the
Supreme Lord by such worship. Indeed, their worship is discouraged in Bhagavad-gétä:
7:23." (A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. TLC. Chapter 29.)
