Maa Saraswati - The Goddess of Education
It is said that worship of any God is just incomplete without the recitation of verses, shlokas, aarti or singing of spiritual songs for God. So, by this virtue, we can believe that worship is incomplete without the existence of speech. Speech or oral connection sets the foundation of a spiritual journey that starts with learning verses or shlokas at an early stage of life. The spiritual journey also involves the singing of spiritual songs (bhajans), reading sacred books like Ramayana, Bhagwat Geeta or others, offering prayers and performing other regular rituals like aarti of God. All these forms of worship are related to the important element of speech.
Without the existence of sound, it’s not only hard to imagine other forms of worship but also difficult to attain success in other fields of knowledge, art (dance and music) education and intelligence. This marks the existence of Goddess Saraswati who is the goddess of speech, sound, music, art, knowledge and wisdom.
Also known as Maa Sharda, Ambika or Vidhya Devi, Goddess Saraswati holds an important position when it comes to the worship of Gods. Apart from sacred rituals, Maa Saraswati plays an important role in ‘education’. She is the goddess of intelligence who is praised by students of every age, at schools, colleges and other institutes of art, music, dance or any other creativity. It is believed that by worshipping Goddess Saraswati one can get her blessings and win laurels in competitions, businesses, studies or careers.
A story about Goddess Saraswati's existence
According to a myth, the universe is created by Lord Brahma who is the creator of mankind, plants, animals, and even the smallest of elements. One day Lord Brahma observed that something was missing from his creation that is ‘sound’. It was then he realized the importance of speech without which the existence of life was impossible. Without sound, there was no meaning of any movement, growth or feeling. This led to the creation of Maa Saraswati by Lord Brahma who appeared in a beautiful female form draped in a white saree.
The icon or the statue of Maa Saraswati displays four hands that represent four aspects of human personality like mind, intellect, alertness and ego. The four hands also hold some symbols like a book, a rosary, a water pot and a musical instrument Veena. All these symbols connect to Maa Saraswati and represent her blessings in the form of purity, literacy, intellectual skills, oratory skills, art and craft skills and good fortune.
Goddess of ‘Education’
All the traits of Maa Saraswati relate to speech, music, art, learning, intelligence, wisdom and more. Even the objects she holds in her hands like a book and veena confirm her strong relation with every form of education. She is part of Tridevi along with Goddess Parvati and Lakshmi who is solely responsible for taking care of Vedas, Epics, verses and other Hindu texts. She is known as the mother of Vedas and mantras. These valuable texts are the strong books that help in building the foundation of success, knowledge, information, intelligence, art and many skills.
‘Saraswati Vandana’ is an important part of any educational institute which is conducted regularly in schools, colleges, gurukul and temples. ‘Saraswati Vandana’ begins and ends with Vedic mantras which is a collection of hymns from the Vedas. It has been a vocal tradition since thousands of years back to begin sacred rituals, studies or any form of learning after offering prayers to Maa Saraswati. . Even today, the day begins with ‘Saraswati Vandana’ in schools and colleges which is the essential part of prayer conducted regularly.
Benefits of ‘Saraswati Vandana’ in Education
Maa Saraswati is also known as ‘Vidhya Devi’, which simply identifies goddess as, ‘the Goddess of Education’. ‘Saraswati Vandana’ is popular as the chanting of Saraswati Mantra is also known as the Vidhya Mantra which is believed to remove all hurdles coming in the way of achieving success, knowledge and growth.
The regular recitation of Verses or Vedic chants helps in developing mental strength and getting rid of stress. Regular chanting of Vedic mantras or shlokas also helps people to increase memory and build focus. With improved concentration and good learning power, one can be an achiever. Maa Saraswati blesses its devotees with higher concentration power, improved focus, learning capability and wisdom. In this way, Maa Saraswati plays a crucial role in the arena of education by blessing students and strengthening them.
