Recently, while working on my doctoral thesis, I’ve had trouble finding flow and creativity as I write. At the end of a particularly challenging week, I began to pray for divine guidance and for help in clearing my mind. For inspiration, I put on a CD of Gurumayi chanting
Om Namah Shivaya, and I turned to the Siddha Yoga path website.
Almost immediately, I was guided to this piece entitled “Invoking Mahadevi Sarasvati.” As I read each slide and recited the
stotram, I felt that Gurumayi was
directly answering my prayer—leading me to invoke Sarasvati, and in this way receive help with clarity, flow, and creativity.
Going forward, I plan to recite the
Sarasvatistotram each morning to center my mind and allow Sarasvati's blessings to guide my efforts.
Thank you, Gurumayi, for always being there for me and guiding my life every step of the way.
Virginia, USA
My husband and I are currently experiencing the end of a chapter in our lives and the beginning of an entirely new one. There are many changes and much is unknown. So it is wonderful to read that the name Sarasvati means “the flowing one.” This makes us feel as if we can be going with the flow, sitting on a lotus leaf made of grace, and moving gently down the river of life, intuitively guided from within on what to do and where to go.
New York, USA
I am a musician, and recently decided to try to memorize the
Sarasvatistotram and include it as part of my daily invocation before my music practice. I was quite astounded and delighted to see this invocation posted on the website! I feel so blessed to have this added support and focus for my practice. I have already learned so much.
Thank you, Gurumayi!
New York, USA
One summer, during a visit to Shree Muktananda Ashram, there was a farewell
satsang for all the young adults going back to school. My son was entering medical school, and I very much wanted to invoke blessings for him.
At the end of the powerful
satsang, the
murti of Mahadevi Sarasvati was placed in the middle of the hall and, as the
Sarasvatistotram was being recited, we queued up with flowers in our hands and offered
pranams at the Devi’s feet. I was filled with love and gratitude as I bowed, feeling that blessings would be with my son as he set out on his career.
Ever since that day, I recite the
Sarasvatistotram each morning. And through this practice, my understanding of how to honor the Self and the knowledge imparted by my Guru has deepened and matured.
Nairobi, Kenya
I am over 70 years old and a new writer. My gift of writing did not start to bloom until I took part in a Siddha Yoga Sadhana Retreat at the Ashram in Boston several years ago. To be immersed in the silence of the Self through participation in chanting, meditation, and contemplation was such a powerful experience!
This morning, as I contemplate this posting, “Invoking Mahadevi Sarasvati,” I realize that the more I engage in the Siddha Yoga practices, the more open I am to receive Goddess Sarasvati's power of grace, which inspires my own creativity. Then the words about my inner and outer life experiences flow more easily.
New York, USA
Today is my first day of preparation for an exam. After meditating in the morning, I visited the website, and there was this perfect teaching for me.
Thank you, Gurumayi ji. Your guidance gives me happiness and the courage to go forward.
Gurudev Siddha Peeth
My young son is beginning pre-school in the coming days. We always take him to Gurudev Siddha Peeth for blessings before initiating anything important. But his school will open before we can go to Ganeshpuri.
I was praying to Gurumayi for her guidance on how to invoke the blessings of the Siddhas for my son’s education. And here it is! Gurumayi is teaching me to invoke Mahadevi Saraswati.
How blessed I am! How powerful the prayer is! How compassionate the Guru is!
Thane, India
I have had a special relationship with the goddess Sarasvati ever since Baba gave me her name in 1979. Shortly after meeting Baba, I began a 30-year teaching career, wherein I invoked Sarasvati's grace as part of my practice each morning before my students arrived at the classroom.
Her grace has always been a source of inspiration and protection. Recently, I felt it was Sarasvati's shower of blessings that motivated me to complete a doctoral degree.
I am eternally grateful for Sarasvati's presence in my life.
Georgia, USA
This morning when I saw the posting, “Invoking Mahadevi Sarasvati,” I was so happy to know that seekers the world over will be able to read these words about her, and practice singing the verse from the
Sarasvatistotram.
As a Siddha Yoga musician, I have sung
bhajans during live events since the early 1980s. When I first began, Gurumayi requested that before singing the
bhajans, the other sevites and I chant this verse to invoke Mahadevi Sarasvati's blessings. I have always felt that in this way, Gurumayi taught us to remember to create music as a sacred offering so that it will serve in the highest possible way.
Thank you, Gurumayi, for making this invocation available to all through the Siddha Yoga path website.
New York, USA
I was delighted to see "Invoking Mahadevi Sarasvati" when I visited the website today. For many years I have felt a great affinity with Sarasvati, because she is the source of so many blessings that I value deeply: the joys of learning, language, music, and creativity, as well as that sense of effortless flow that arises when I am in touch with the Self within. As a result, I have often invoked her grace before starting a creative project, and have prayed to her to "dance with me" throughout the creative process.
Thank you, Gurumayi, for this beautiful reminder that I can always turn to the beneficent presence of Mahadevi Sarasvati for inspiration and support.
Illinois, USA
I love this reference to Sarasvati. I feel how it opens me to accessing and acknowledging my own creativity, which I see as a natural outgrowth of meditation. When my breath is easeful and my mind stills, I feel my heart flowing and experience what I do as a natural expression of the Self. These moments bring me fun, joy, sweetness, simplicity, and, often, surprise.
This posting also inspires me to listen once again to Gurumayi’s Message for 2015, to find the reference to Sarasvati in that context, and to contemplate it further.
Thank you for this posting and for bringing all this to the foreground of my awareness.
Ohio, USA
As a teacher and writer, I have often sung the Sanskrit verse shown on the website to invoke the grace of Mahadevi Sarasvati. But I had forgotten that the concluding line means, "Protect us from all forms of ignorance."
When I saw that line again today, this question arose: how does protection from ignorance relate to the blessings of creativity and flow so strongly associated with Sarasvati? In contemplating this question, I saw that when I pray to Sarasvati for protection “from all forms of ignorance,” I am really praying that she remove all my ignorance about the Self. And then the connection became clear: when I am connected to the Self within— and to the Self in all creation—it's only natural that I would be open to the flow of inner creativity that is one manifestation of the Self.
So the concluding line has taught me that Sarasvati's power to inspire and transform is far more comprehensive than I had realized.
Oregon, USA
Today I was inaugurating my new art studio and gallery. I was already thinking about placing a statue of Sarasvati there. When I came home, I found the text about Sarasvati and the hymn on the Siddha Yoga path website. What a coincidence! And what a blessing!
Cologne, Germany
As a writer and translator, I have long had Mahadevi Sarasvati's picture on my desk, and I invoke her grace before starting my work. This year, with my mind focused on Gurumayi's Message for 2015, my awareness has been refined, and I can feel Sarasvati's blessings present throughout all the activities in my daily life. Communication with friends and family flows gracefully, and I ride challenging waves creatively and with ease.
Thank you, Sarasvati, for your blessings.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
I was delighted to see this posting! Just yesterday, before beginning
seva, I sang this verse. I focused on the meaning and invoked the goddess to flow through my actions, and I visualized her as described in the verse. In my heart I prayed to her, inviting her to make her presence felt to me.
Afterward, as I sat in silence for few moments, I experienced the gentle yet tangible presence of the Devi. And, after completing that particular task, I felt a wonderful sense of contentment noticing that the
seva had proceeded so naturally, like a silently flowing river. I could feel a sense of ease within, soft ripples of serenity flowing inside me.
Gurudev Siddha Peeth
At the beginning of this month, the Swamis invited us to focus on the
prana-shakti throughout April as a way to study Gurumayi’s Message for 2015. Since then, I’ve been experiencing the sweetest, deepest meditations by simply focusing on the natural flow of my breathing.
This morning, as I read the introduction to the invocation of Sarasvati, “the flowing one,” it occurred to me that my own breath, as I observe it flowing in and out, brings me into the presence of the goddess who inspires knowledge and insight. And I will continue to imagine that she is with me as I sit quietly and observe the natural flow of my breathing.
Wisconsin, USA
I often begin my workday by singing this verse, turning my attention inside and becoming still for a few moments. I love the image of the veena and the river symbolizing the flow of creativity. The work I do is mainly administrative, not what I usually think of as creative, but after reading this post, I understand that the flow of creativity can enrich all work, allowing me to see people and situations with fresh eyes and to be open to innovative solutions to challenges.
Massachusetts, USA