Vijaya Dashami
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Rituals
Celebrating Saraswati
Pranav Khullar, Celebrating Saraswati On Vijaya Dashami, Sep 30 2017: The Times of India
The constant interplay between our inner seeking and the innate state of knowledge within which we are unaware the dialectic between Becoming and Being which is the cornerstone of the Upanishads takes on a mystical and devotional hue in tradition in the personification of Goddess Saraswati as the muse of learning and knowledge.
Whether in her riverine form or svarupa as she is exalted in the Rig Veda nourishing an entire civilisation on her banks or in her shubhra vasana, in white attire, the feminine form inspiring all creative energies, Saraswati represents the ever-flowing stream of consciousness within.
As consciousness, Saraswati is a metaphor for the creative faculty , the trigger for all literature, music and dance, aesthetics and philosophy . She represents the ever-engaged mind, the dhaara pravah, one that makes thoughts flow like a river. But she also flows towards the Absolute, as the name Saraswati suggests, so she is a metaphor for the journey one makes from the known, empirical world of duality to the still point beyond thought, taking the individual soul to the other shore, the crossing over, as it were, to a state of contented Being.
Why is Saraswati depicted wearing white? The colour white is a symbol of the purity of true knowledge which she bestows on the seeker. Similarly, her association with the swan and peacock too stresses the wisdom aspect. The swan is said to have the ability to separate milk from water and drink milk only , which is a metaphor for the way a seeker has to continually discriminate between what is real and permanent and what is transient. The peacock's vanity at its own beautiful plumage is a reminder of how a true seeker of knowledge has to learn to detach himself from the body by understanding the transitory nature of physical appearance. Saraswati is also vak, speech, the essence of sound by which the world of name and form is realised. Through vak, the seeker is led to a state beyond cognition. Her four arms, sometimes seen as representing the four Vedas, also represent the four facets of the human cognitive psyche manas, mind; buddhi, intellect; chitta, consciousness; and ahamkara, ego all of which are interwoven in the fabric of Creation.
She is the muse of all creative endeavour, and creativity implies seeking, delving deep into the Self. Saraswati is also sara, essence of the swa, the Self. It is an initiation into learning, the beginning of a long journey into the mind and beyond, and Vijaya Dashami, a special day when new learnings are intiated, is a day on which Saraswati is specially remembered. Traditionally , children are initiated into the Akshara Abhyasam ceremony , ritually invoking the goddess before they begin their formal school education. The artist and the ascetic, both rededicate themselves to the path of Self-knowledge, one seeking to arouse his creative potential and the other, seeking the bindu which is the source of Creation.
Vedanta says that the path of knowledge has the power to dispel ignorance of what is permanent and what is passing. Celebrating Saraswati is, in fact, a call to the higher mind, the beginning of a deep desire to understand the purpose and meaning of life.
