"saraswati"
maharishi dayananda saraswati's commentary on the rig veda/rgveda notes:
"As the rivers go to the sea, so to we approach the great and
auspicious female teacher or preacher who is free
from the bondage of ignorance" (Saraswati, Maharishi Dayananda. Rig Veda. Volumes I - IV.
Translated into English by Acharya Dharma Deva Vidya Martanda. New Delhi: Sarvadeshik Arya Pratinidhi
Sabha).
where divine force/power/energy (i.e. shakti) of the
ultimate divine reality (i.e. brahman) is revered and conceptualized
as composed of three aspects (i.e. parvati, lakshmi, saraswati)
of a complete whole (sometimes called durga/adi shakti), saraswati/mahasaraswati represents the wisdom, learning, or knowledge aspect. (traditionally, saraswati is also associated with speech, and music.)
narratives or descriptions of vedic saraswati (also spelt: sarasvati)
can help us understand the relationship between a concept,
attribute or aspect of unmanifest reality/potentiality, and our lives/the world (i.e. what we experience as our manifest reality).
. . . moreover: "the
Sanskrit word sara means "essence"
and swa means "self." Thus Saraswati means "the
essence of the self" (Pandit, Bansi. 2004. The Hindu Mind: Fundamentals of Hindu Religion
and Philosophy for All Ages. New Delhi:
New Age Books). Perhaps better
put, saraswati represents the essence of the Self; that is, she is not a
representation of ego (as the word "self" is used throughout this site),
but instead a symbol of the experience of, or a representation of
the Self or Universal Soul.
to learn about the symbolism of the items saraswati holds
(such as the japa mala or rosary, and its association with liberation)
you might try hinduwisdom/saraswati,
or explore my article on the attributes of
saraswati.
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