Saraswati

As I begin preparing for college, I say grace to the Feminine Divine,

in Her energy as Goddess Saraswati,

for Her guidance.

She is Mother of Wisdom, Goddess of Knowledge,

She is The Flow of Divine Sound into Words.

Books and Paper are Sacred to Her.

The following video is the mantra version I learned

while studying at Kripalu School of Ayurveda in 2010,

and I trust the resonance will open the space around me

to the intuitively guided learning that is bestowed by

Goddess Saraswati.

The following quote is from an interview of Manorama:

“Our job as the student is to ask what is truly being meant by the imagery.  Invoking mantras to Saraswati calls to your own creative essence asking the energy to move through you and link up with the one vibration of the universe. It is like invoking a river of energy that flows underneath you that is ever connected with all. Saraswati doesn’t determine the creation, she just gives you access to your own storehouse of creative energy that is both satisfying and fulfilling. When you are connected with your source energy your creation has an immortal and eternal quality. The body passes, the mind shifts, but something about you remains eternal. When creativity syncs with your soul, what manifests through you is eternal.”

OM AIM SARASWATI NAMAHA

For more information via a beautiful essay about Saraswati,

go to Sacred Wind’s Sarasvati page.

Gayatri Mantra – Dhiyo

Continuing my journey through the Gayatri / GaiaTree Mantra …

Dhiyo — definitions or understandings of the actual word/sound are:

mind, intellect, link between world and spirit,

to ask how use our minds to manifest a Divine Path in the world

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free photo © Dreamstime Agency | Dreamstime.com

Feeling Her in my heart and soul, I invite the Divine to create with me a world wherein Her essence of joy and light of love are clearly visible. We join hands and dream through heart and act through a mind-image to be in the world a certain way. 

Seeing Her around me, what are the gifts She shows through other forms? How do the animals bring presence and right action? How does the mountain stand firm, while the snow melts and runs down in canyons, and the trees reach high into the sky?

I open to Gaia’s guidance, and ask Her to show me how to use my mind for the benefit of all of us; not to let my mind use me in wasted efforts of excess or poor choices. I invite Her to turn Her bright light upon the clearing in the woods of my mind, bringing all to life, and then the light spreads into the forest through leaves and roots, and is sung into the darkest recesses by birds and crickets and bats, and reflected upon dew-laden webs and icy springs flowing over rocks that change colors depending upon the angle in which they are viewed.

The mind can be a powerful force of nature — ours and the world’s. We can succumb to its egoic determination or we can recover our power and align our minds in uniquely expressed ways in the direction of Divine Light. 

How many times in a day do I let my mind take over? When I have a feeling that leads to an emotional response, do I simply follow my mind along the breadcrumbs down a path of memory laid decades ago to a dead-end where those thoughts in the past control my present? Or do I pause at the beginning — or even mid-way — and say “hold on now, that’s over, what is valid right now?” 

Do I allow my mind to take over, running film after film in my head without pause? If my mind likes to play re-runs, how about setting up the projector myself and playing only cheerful, or educational, or humorous, or soul-enriching films that lift me up? Why not provide images and impressions current and loving?

This is why many spiritual paths encourage some form of meditation, prayer or chanting. They encourage us to use a repetitive focus so that when our mind tries to take over, the first thing it comes to is a Divine pattern. Kind of like food awareness practice (also known as dieting) … it isn’t so much about restriction as it is choosing healthy foods and making lifestyle changes. And once our systems and taste buds have adjusted to those clear flavors and pure foods, we want more of them, and we feel wonderful nourishing ourselves with them. But, in the beginning, isn’t it easier to make sure that there aren’t any junk foods in the house? That when we reach out for something to eat, only healthy options are nearby? 

That’s similar to giving our attention to directing our thoughts consciously, being present, and asking the Divine to help us keep our minds and intellect focused upon a path of joy and love, to act in service to Gaia and all life, all form. To ask … how is this thought, this action, these words, helping somehow? To ask for Divine guidance of our minds and She will show us the way to the Light.

So what is Her Light? I know we, in our elemental forms and visceral, sense-oriented body-minds, see the duality of light and dark. We use these as pointers, but sometimes forget that form is illusion and opposites are for understanding the world and our concepts of creation. And, while She can illuminate our minds when we open to Her (and often even when we don’t), ‘light’ is a limiting thought/concept, for Her Divine clearing of debris is not light-in-contrast-to-dark but rather perhaps a vibratory pattern that resonates pure Love, Bliss, Sattva.

And so, I invite and welcome Her Love and Bliss and Joy to permeate my mind to heal our world, and I ask Her where She resides within me to expand my consciousness, re-mind me into awareness and empowerment and devotion to Divine Life.