As we start another new month I am again a week behind getting a mantra out, but technically only 4 weeks since the last one, so right on time? This month we are chanting to Saraswati. She is the goddess of art, learning, mathematics and music and singing and silence. She is dressed all in white symbolizing her purity and rides a swan, but not just any swan... the swan of discernment.
If you google Saraswati and her mantra you get so many to choose from the the reasons are almost always to get good grades, for luck with creative endeavours, help with studying... things like that. Once again though I am going to throw my own spin on things and how she is landing with me right now.
The first thing that struck me is how rare it is for a female deity to be given the power of knowledge and mathematics as well as the arts, I like that. Only the Greek god Artemis comes to mind with similar traits. In most stories she is born out of Brahama's mind and never marries, her gift of spiritual wisdom and knowledge were her progeny.
The part that I loved most though? The swan she rides named hamsa, has the ability to separte milk from water. The power of discernment. In Sanskrit vivweka, to know what nurutres and completes you, and what is not best for you. For example I know using discernment that salmon and salad is a better choise than hamburger and fries. I don't always make the best choice but deep inside I know what nourishes me. So Sararswati brings up in us our own keen discernment for what is best for us, a knowledge that sometimes gets drowned out by other voices. Especially when we compare ourselves to others, or others we admire. To be able to recognize that we are on our own path is important. The swan of discernment will lead you to liberation and enlightenment.
And lately this sometimes has been hard for me. I compare myself to other people my age. To other mothers. To other yoga friends. I forget that they are doing their thing and it is okay for me to do my own thing. I compare myself to how I used to be, how much energy I used to have. I think I am letting other people down. No, I think I am letting my husband down. And then I get some clarity, some discernment and I remember my path.
This is what this mantra is to me. To tap back into the clarity and knowledge of what is true for me and to allow others to pursue their own way. To embrace the part of me that loves learning and truth, and to in the same body is creative. They are not separate entities. That it is both the goddess of music and voice and also silence and that speaking without listening is not communication.
Ohm Sarasvatyai Svaha
I offer all blessings to Sarasvati.
No recording this month, I had a technical issue with memory space on my phone and only discovered after I had chanted 108 times that is shut itself off halfway throught.
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