I once had the darshan of Mahasarasvati in a dream, and soon afterward, I got a teaching job in a college. I felt it was her blessing that I got this job and that I could carry out my duties as a teacher for the last two decades.
In the meantime, the Siddha Yoga path website has introduced me to various prayers to Devi Sarasvati. I regularly sing the
Sarasvati Stotram and
Sarasvati Chalisa. I thank Shri Gurumayi from the bottom of my heart for making me aware of the greatness of Mahasarasvati.
Mumbai, India
After I met Baba in my late twenties, Baba gave me the spiritual name “Sharada.” I soon found out one aspect of my name had to do with learning, since Sharada is considered a name for Goddess Sarasvati. Soon after receiving my spiritual name, I got a job offer from the school district I was hoping to work for. I knew my new job was an enormously meaningful gift that carried the grace of the Guru. By doing the Siddha Yoga practices, I had the stamina to keep this teaching job for almost thirty years.
Over time, I began to learn about the goddess Sarasvati. Now in my seventies, as I continue to study about Sarasvati, look at images of her, and participate in singing the Siddha Yoga hymns in honor of the Devi, I experience joy and peace.
California, United States
When I met Swami Muktananda in 1979, I had no idea about the trajectory of my career path. When I asked Baba for a spiritual name, he handed me a card with the name “Sarasvati” written in English and Sanskrit. Shortly thereafter, to my great surprise, I became a high school classroom educator.
I would arrive at my classroom extra early each day. I had a private closet there, dedicated to my morning worship of Gurumayi, Baba, Bade Baba, and Goddess Sarasvati. It was a beautiful way to begin the often challenging job of teaching high school. I identified with Sarasvati as my very own Self. With time, her poise and calm became powerful tools for my teaching practice. Performing this worship gave me the stamina, knowledge, creativity, and clarity I needed to evoke joy and inspiration within the students I served.
I feel as if Baba, by giving me the name Sarasvati, offered me a very successful and gratifying career of service. Whatever merit I have achieved as a teacher is the foundation upon which my
sadhana continues.
Georgia, United States
I love this reminder of the qualities of Goddess Sarasvati, which my parents taught me about when I was growing up and which I passed on to my daughter when she was away in college. I gave her a murti of the goddess for her puja, which she now has in her prayer room at home. When I see how she lives her life and her eloquence in her profession as a college professor, I feel she has imbibed the qualities of the goddess and received her blessings.
Florida, United States
I have sung this invocation from the
Sarasvati Stotram almost every day for many years. I treasure it and keep it close to my heart. Through repetition, it has become part of me.
Jaya Mahasarasvati!
Nairobi, Kenya
I am very grateful to be reminded of this mantra, which I chanted during my teenage years and throughout high school to help me do well at school. I am now in my senior years and am seeking spiritual knowledge. I am overjoyed to chant the goddess Sarasvati’s name again, and this time I am asking for her blessings to remove my ignorance and bestow the wisdom to know my true Self.
Florida, United States
I relish the Sanskrit verses of the
Sarasvati Stotram, the
Sarasvati Gayatri mantra, and the many mantras,
bhajans, and
kirtans of the Siddha Yoga path. Their essence enlivens and sustains me. I have come to realize that Sanskrit is the language of my soul.
When Sanskrit mantras and verses arise spontaneously, I know how blessed I am that they live within me!
Washington, United States
I received shaktipat diksha from Gurumayi in May of 1987, three months before I entered law school. I learned about the goddess Sarasvati at that time and bought a card with her picture and verse 4 of the Sarasvati Stotram on it. I began the practice of singing these lines every day.
I feel that the grace of the goddess supported me during law school, through the bar exam, while looking for work, and throughout the twenty-five years that I have worked as a civil litigator in California. I have a picture of Sarasvati at my office, and I sing the Sarasvati Stotram verse to her every morning before I begin work.
I recently gave Sarasvati’s photo and the same verse to two of my nieces who are in college. They were delighted to learn of this great goddess who can support them in their endeavors and reveal their very own divinity.
I am deeply grateful to this goddess of learning, speech, and creativity. By her divine grace, I perceive my world as a paradise.
California, United States
The more often I listened to the
Sarasvati Stotram, the more it reminded me of standing outside a temple before the doors open. You hear the hum of a beautiful chant, calling to your heart. Once inside, you are fully enveloped by the mystery of the vibration, until finally you become aware that you
are the vibration.
I repeated the
stotram over and over, first to refresh fond memories and then because of a growing desire to perfect my pronunciation. As I alternated listening to the singers’ pronunciation with practicing it, I noticed that the more focused my attention became, the softer, fuller, and more nectarean my experience of the
stotram became. I was no longer only chanting in worship of a great deity, but glimpsing qualities of discipline and sweetness inside myself that I feel emanate from Sarasvati.
I am grateful to Gurumayi for making these precious gifts available for us. And I am grateful I gave myself the time to fully receive this gift. There is so much more here than meets the eye!
California, United States
I am a writer and a writing mentor. For years, on most days I began my daily work in my home office by lighting a candle in front of a picture of Gurumayi, with a picture of Sarasvati beside her, and chanting this verse. Pausing in this way before beginning my work, I remembered the source of the words, and I felt what an honor it is to have words with which to create beauty and express love. Over time, I came to feel the presence of Shri Sarasvati within me as my very own Self. Then, somehow, after being away from my work for a while, I neglected this uplifting practice.
Listening to the
Sarasvati Stotram on the Siddha Yoga path website today is a gift and a sweet reminder. Tomorrow morning, I shall resume my practice!
Massachusetts, United States