Dasara (I prefer to stick to my wonderful mother tongue, Kasturi Kannada) celebrates the various forms of divine feminine and one such form is Mother Saraswati. Born as manasaputri of Brahma, she is recognized as the god of learning and knowledge. She became Brahma's consort over a period of time and desceneded on earth as a river to carry the fire that threatened to burn down the world into the depths of ocean. She is also known as "Shonapunya" i.e. one who is purified of blood due to a curse by Sage Viswamitra. In traditional paintings, she is typically represented with a slight smile and in a white saree depicting purity and serenity.
River Saraswati is an integral part of Hindu mythology and as a lost river, has a lot of reverence and myth built around it. River Saraswati was an integral part of Amish's trilogy on Shiva (The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of Nagas and The Oath of Vayuputras).
Human civilization thrived on the banks of Saraswati giving rise to a whole new community called Saraswat Brahmins, an offshoot of which is the Goud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) to which a lot of Konkani and some Marathi Brahmins belong.
In this age, the importance of Saraswati is very crucial and her essence is of primal importance. As the goddess of learning, she is constantly delivering a message that education is the way to attain realization. Note that the education is not about rote learning and being able to perform a written diahorrea of what one has memorized, loosing the very essence and importance of what was read.
Education is about erasing the darkness of the mind and opening up the same to newer possibilities and newer experiences. Education is to provide the humans the ability to transcend the pre-conceived notions an d being able to look through a new window, walk through a new door and be able to provide a newer perspective and newer outlook. For a lower income classes, education provides a ticket to financial freedom. The importance of Indian IT industry and it's ability to provide a relatively better lifestyle to a largese of population is never lost.
True education is about observation, analysis, interpretation and implementation. A subject needs to observe the environment, question the very fundamentals and reasons of why something is happening and what are the driving factors for the same. Observation throws up newer facts which needs to be Analyzed, impartially and unconditionally. Analysis tends to be biased due to human tendency, but the sheer ability of a human to transcend this barrier enables the subject to newer realities and experiences. Analysis provides data points which needs to be interpreted and fit into the model which is the crux for the problem under consideration. Once the perspectives are available, it boils down to implementation and the cycle starts again.
Interestingly, debugging in software parlance follows a similar pattern.
Today's world is in state of constant conflict and I feel the pervalence of Mother Saraswati is far more important than ever. I hope she provides the humans to look inside than outside and attain true knowledge.
I bow down to thee mother who is responsible for being able to uplift us from lower strata of society and providing us with a better quality of life.
I bow down to thee mother who has enabled me to get exposed to a wider spectrum of thoughts, humungous ocean of knowledge and provided me with an opportunity to try and introspect oneself's beliefs and thoughts.
I bow down to thee mother who inspires me to spread her message and whose sheer presence gives me the comfort that her presence in my life ensures that I can face challenges thrown up by life.
Footnotes: Over time, I have visited multiple temples, but Saraswati has an integral role in my life. Some temples of interest are
1. Sringeri Sharadha Peetam
2. Koothanur Saraswati Temple
Happy Saraswati Pooja.
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