Vasant Panchami

प्रथमं भारती नाम, द्वितीयं च सरस्वती,

तृतीयं शारदा देवी, चतुर्थं हंसवाहिनी,

पंचमम् जगतीख्याता, षष्ठम् वागीश्वरी तथा

सप्तमम् कुमुदीप्रोक्ता, अष्ठमम् ब्रह्मचारिणी,

नवम् बुद्धिमाता च दशमम् वरदायिनी,

एकादशम् चंद्रकांति च द्वादशं भुवनेशवरी,

द्वादशेतानि नामानि त्रिसंध्य य: पठेनर:

जिह्वाग्रे वसते नित्यमं ब्रह्मरूपा सरस्वती, सरस्वती महाभागे विद्येकमललोचने,

विद्यारूपा विशालाक्षि विद्या देहि नमोस्तुते”…

वसंत पंचमी की शुभकामनाएं💐🙏

I liked the last two lines of the above stotra, as they convey the importance of Intellect, Knowledge in a Human’s life. It says that Saraswati stays on the tongue of the people who recite the stotra regularly. Also Saraswati has eyes of the shape of lotus and the one with Knowledge has large eyes. This is actually the essence of all Knowledge. These are the qualities of an intellectual.

One would ask me about the world today full of www and wikipedia’s and Google searches available that isn’t everyone an intellectual. Frankly it is not so. What you and me gain through all the sources on Internet is mere information. Information about the world, happenings in the world about the past and about the present and lastly about the future. Whereas Knowledge is different. It comes through experience. The thought put in action, experimented upon and ready to be tested by anyone is knowledge. In the language of the Vedas, it is the answer to the questions, Who am I? Why am I Here? What is the cause of the Universe? Where is God? All other things are just information. In simpler words any thought without experience is information, but put it to test, and it becomes knowledge.

These are the days of bloom. And we worship Saraswati on the first day itself. It has it’s own significance. It signifies that our mind and Brain need to bloom as the flowers and fruits. And only when they bloom will we get the sweet fruits of knowledge. We will be able to fulfill our quest for knowing ourselves. And when we gain knowledge, there should be an iota of doubt that whatever we speak will be out of experience and always for the good of oneself and the society as a whole.

Spring is celebrated across the globe. But the way our Rishi’s have connected it with Sarawati is something we need to think about and pass it on to our next generation. Spring follows Fall. In the world of technology it signals “Upgradation“. We need to keep on upgrading our experiences and our tests and keep a check on our thoughts. This is the time to do that. Keep away the unuseful part of old, and add on to the retained parts. It signifies an upscaling of ideas.

Our Rishi’s have described every God or Goddess of having lotus eyes and broad or large eyes. It tells us to be open to different thoughts and be ever accepting of good ones. At the same time, be lotus like so that the wrong ones slide off and we are unaffected by our surroundings. We all can be so with the help of knowledge. It is always seen that a lotus grows in marshy lands. Similarly, intellectual can come from any place, irrespective of their surroundings.

Today on the occasion of Vasant Panchami let’s pray to God to give us the strength to think, to experiment, to test and also the ability and openness to accept our limitations in all this.

May we gain the right knowledge as envisioned by our Rishi’s.

May Goddess Saraswati reign our hearts and mind, and through them our lives.

Wishing you all and everyone at home a very Happy Vasant Panchami and the coming of Spring.