In search of Saraswati…

In two days (Thursday), I leave for Bangalore (officially, Bengalaru), India. I’ll be using this blog to update family and friends (and whomever else) on my travels through India over the next 2.5 months.

In case you were wondering, who, or what is, Saraswati?

To quote from http://www.koausa.org/Gods/God10.html:

“Saraswati is the Goddess of leaming, knowledge, and wisdom. The Sanskrit word sara means “essence” and swa means “self.” Thus Saraswati means “the essence of the self.” Saraswati is represented in Hindu mythology as the divine consort of Lord Brahma, the Creator of the universe. Since knowledge is necessary for creation, Saraswati symbolizes the creative power of Brahma. Goddess Saraswati is worshipped by all persons interested in knowledge, especially students, teachers, scholars, and scientists.

Two swans are depicted on the left side of the Goddess. A swan is said to have a sensitive beak that enables it to distinguish pure milk from a mixture of milk and water. A swan, therefore, symbolizes the power of discrimination, or the ability to discriminate between right and wrong or good and bad. Saraswati uses the swan as Her carrier. This indicates that one must acquire and apply knowledge with discrimination for the good of mankind. Knowledge that is dominated by ego can destroy the world.”

As a female Swan, who loves learning, and is visiting India in the hope to learn more about life and share my love for education and learning with others, I was quite captured by the Goddess, Saraswati. (Oh, and for those of you that know me well, you know how much I love milk. Esp. a non-fat, tall, “steamer” (yes, that’s what it’s called), with extra foam.)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 5:51 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.