|| Goddess Saraswathi - Goddess of Wisdom ||

Goddess Saraswathi is the consort of Lord Brahma (Lord of Creation) and is the Goddess of wisdom and learning. Saraswati is the one who gives the essence (sara) of our own self (swa). She is considered as the personification of all knowledge - arts, sciences, crafts and other skills. She has a beautiful and elegant presence, is pure white in colour, clad in a white sari, seated on a white lotus, representing purity and brilliance. She has four hands representing four aspects of human personality in learning; mind, intellect, alertness and ego. She has the sacred scriptures in one hand and a lotus (a symbol of true knowledge) in the second. With her other two hands she plays the music of love and life on the veena. 

She is dressed in white (sign of purity) and rides on a white goose (swan). The swan is known for its peculiar characteristic of being capable of separating water from milk, indicating that we should possess discrimination in separating the bad from the good. The seat being a lotus or peacock implies that the teacher is well-established in the subjective experience of truth. When sitting on a peacock she reminds us that wisdom suppresses ego.

Every year Saraswathi Pooja (Navarathiri ) is celebrated by people all over the world, be it students, workers, craftsmen, businessmen offering their prayers for a successful and fruitful year. There is a temple for Saraswathi in Koothanur in Tanjavur district (Tamil Nadu).

SLOKA:

Saraswati Namasthuvyam
Varadhe Kamaroopini
Vidyarambham Karishyami
Siddhahi Bavathumeh Sadah