LS 150

150 Niravadhya – She who can never be accused

Girijam girimadhyastham gheeroopaam jnanadhayineem,

Guhya Thathwa paraam chadhyam,

Baalaam vandhe purathaneem.

I salute Bala , who is the most ancient,Who is the daughter of the mountain,Who sits in the middle of the mountain,Who is the form of music,Who is the one who grants wisdom,And who is the object of the most secret knowledge.

As I utter the prayer of Bala it makes wonder how can devi be accused for the actions of mankind.She is the embodiment of love and compassion and whatever she does is only for our own good. so where does the word accused come in.This reminds me of the story of satakshi devi.This is from devi bhagavatam as said by veda vyasa.

Vyâsa said :-- O King. Hear; I am describing the story of S’atâksî Devî. You are the great devotee of the Devî; so I have nothing that I cannot say to you. In olden times, there was a great Dânava named Durgama: he was very cruel. He, the the son of Ruru, was born in the family of Hiranyâksa. Once be thought within himself thus :-- “The Munis offer oblations by Mantras as ordained in the Vedas. And the Devas, eating the clarified butter (ghee) of these oblations, get nurtured and strengthened. The Vedas is the strength of the Devas; if the Vedas be destroyed, the Devas also would be destroyed. Thus it is advisable to destroy the Vedas. (There is no other easy way.)” Thus thinking, he went to the Himâlayâs to perform tapasyâ. He began to meditate Brahmâ in the space of his heart, and, taking air only, passed away his time. [Mark here that all the Devas reside in space, a magnitude of the Fourth Dimension.] He practised hard tapasyâ for one thousand years and the Devas and the Asuras and all the Lokas were agitated by the power of his Tejas (fiery lustre). Then the Bhagavân, the four-faced Brahmâ, became pleased with him and mounting on his carrier, the Swan came up there to grant him the boon. Brahmâ told clearly the Demon, sitting in Samâdhi with his eyes closed, “Let all be well with you; now ask what you desire? Satisfied with your tapasyâ, I have come to grant you the boon.” Hearing thus, the Demon got up from his Samâdhi and worshipping Him duly, said :-- “O Lord of the Devas! Give me all theVedas. O Mahes’vara! Let all the Vedic Mantrams, that are found in the three worlds, with the Brâhmanas and the Devas, come to me and give me such strength as would enable me to conquer the Devas.” Hearing this, the God Brahmâ, the author of the four Vedas, replied, “Let it be as you wish,” and went away. From that time, the Brâhmanas forgot all about the Vedas. So bathing, Sandhyâ, daily Homas, S’râddha, sacrifice, and Japam and other rites and performances, all became extinct. Then a cry of universal distress arose on the surface of this wide earth; the Brâhmins began to say to each other :-- “How has this happened! How has this come to pass! Now what are we to do? Where the Vedas have disappeared.” Thus when great calamities befell on the earth, the Devas became gradually weaker and weaker, not getting their share of the sacrificial Havis. At this time, that Demon invested the city of Amarâvatî. And the Devas, not being able to fight with the Asura, of a thunder-like body fled to various directions. They took refuge in the caves of the mountain Sumeru and the inaccessible passes of the mountain and began to meditate on the Highest Force, the Great Goddess. O King! When oblations of clarified butter are offered to the Fire, those get transferred to the Sun (Sûryaloka) and get transformed as rains. So when the Homa ceremonies disappeared, there was the scarcity of rain. The earth became quite dry and not a drop of water was found anywhere. The wells, tanks, pools, rivers all were dried up. And this state of “no rains” lasted one hundred years. Countless people, hundreds and thousands of cows, buffaloes and other beasts went to the jaws of death. The dead bodies of persons remained in heaps in every house; persons would not be found to perform their burning ceremonies. When such calamities were seen, the calm and quiet body of the Brâhmans, in their earnestness to worship the Supreme Goddess, went to the Himâlayâs. They with their whole heart and without taking any food began to worship the Devî daily with their Samâdhi, meditation and worship. O Mahes’ânî! Shew mercy on us. O Mother! It’s not praiseworthy to Thee to manifest Thy such anger on us, the low persons and guilty of all sins. So, O Deves’î! Forgive us. If Thou art angry on us for our faults, even then we may be excused, for Thou art the Internal Ruler within us all and we do whatever Thou impellest us to do. (The other Devas become pleased and give fruits when they are worshipped by Japam, and other Homa ceremonies; but that is not even possible due to the disappearance of the Vedic Mantrams from amongst us. But You are kind as mothers are towards their children whenever they remember.) So without Thee, there is no other rescue for these people. O Mahes’varî! Whatever Thou willest, Thou canst do that; so what art Thou seeing again and again? O Mahes’arî! How can we live without Water, what is called the Life. Now rescue us from this great difficulty. O Mother of the Worlds! O Mahes’varî! Be pleased. Oh the Ruler of the endless crores of Brahmândas! Obeisance to Thee! We bow down to Thee, the Unchangeable, of the nature of Intelligence. We again and again make obeisance to Thee, the Lady of the Universe and realisable by the Vedânta words (not this, not this). All the sayings of the Vedânta declare Thee, by negating (not this, not this) other transient objects as the Cause of all this Universe. We with all our hearts bow down to the Devî. When the body of the Brâhmanas thus praised and chanted the hymns of Mahes’varî, She created innumerable eyes within Her body and became visible. Her colour was dark-blue (colour of the fourth dimension, space) like heaps of collyrium (eye-paint); eyes like the blue lotuses and expanded; breasts hard, regularly elevated round and so fleshy that they touched each other; four handed; with Her right hand, holding arrows; on the under hand holding lotus; on the upper-left hand holding a great bow and on the lower hand, carrying vegetables, fruits, flower and roots with abundance of juice, destroying hunger, thirst and fever. She was the Essence of all Beauty, lovely, luminous like the thousand Suns, and the ocean of mercy. That Upholder of the Universe, showed Her form and began to shed waters from Her eyes. For nine nights continuously, the heavy rains poured down out of the waters flowing from Her eyes. Seeing the misery of all the people, out of pity, She showered incessantly tears from Her eyes; and all the people and medicines were satisfied. What more than this, out of those tears, the rivers began to flow. The Devas that remained hidden in the mountain caves, now came out. Then the Brâhmins, united with the Devas, began to praise and sing hymns to the Devî. Thou art known by the Vedânta Mahâvâkyas. We bow down to Thee. Thou ordained everything to all the worlds by Thy Mâyâ; so again and again we bow down to Thee. Our Obeisance to Thee! Who art a Kalpa tree to the Bhaktas yielding all their desires! Thou assumest the body for the Bhaktas! Thou art always satisfied; without any equal; the Lord of the Universe! We bow down to Thee. As Thou, O Devî! hast innumerable eyes only for our welfare and peace, therefore Thou wilt be called henceforth by the name “S’atâksî.” O Mother! We are very much hungry; so we have no power to chant hymns to Thee; therefore, O Mahes’varî?

Vyâsa said:-- O King! Hearing these words of the Devas and the Brâhmins, the Auspicious One gave them the vegetables, delicious fruits and roots to them that were on Her Hand, for their eating. After She was prayed, She gave to men sufficient quantity of various articles of juicy food and to the beasts, grass, etc., until new crops came out. O King, from that day She became famous by the name of S’âkambharî (because She nourished all by vegetables, etc.) Great tumult arose and the Demon Durgama heard all from the emissaries and started out to fight with his weapons and army. He took one thousand Aksauhinî armies with him (one Aksauhinî army equals large army consisting of 21,870 chariots, as many elephants, 65,610 horses, and 109,350 foot) and, shooting arrows, he came quickly before the Devî and invested Her and the Deva army and the Brâhmins. At this, a great tumultuous uproar arose and the Devas and the Brâhmins united exclaimed:-- “O Devî! Save us; save us.” The Auspicious Devî, then, for the safety of the Devas and the Dvîjas created round them a luminous circle and She Herself remained outside. The terrible fight, then, ensued between the Devî and the Dânavas. The Sun was covered with their incessant hurling of arrows; and the shooters could not shoot accurately on account of the darkness that then prevailed. Then by the collision of the arrows of both the parties, the arrows caught fire and the battlefield again became filled with light. The quarters on all aides resounded with harsh bow sounds and nothing could be heard. At this moment, came, out of the body of the Devî, the principal S’aktis (forces incarnate) Kâlikâ, Târinî, Sodas’î, Tripurâ, Bhairabî, Kamalâ, Bagalâ, Mâtangî, Tripurâ Sundarî, Kâmâksî, Tulajâ Devî, Jambhinî, Mohinî, Chchinnamastâ, and ten thousand armed Guhya Kâlîs and others. Thirty-two S’aktis, sixty-four S’aktis, and then innumerable S’aktis, all armed, came out of the Devî successively. When the S’aktis destroyed one hundred Aksauhinî forces, Mridangas, conch-shells, lutes and other musical instruments were sounded in the battle-field. At this time, the enemy of the Devas, Durgama, came in front and first fought with the S’aktis. The fight grew to such a terrible extent that, within ten days, all the Aksauhinî troops were destroyed. So much so as the blood of the dead soldiers began to flow in torrents like rivers. When the fatal eleventh day arrive the Dânava, wearing red clothes on his waist, red garlands on his neck and annointing his body all over with red sandal paste, celebrated a very grand festivity and mounted on his chariot and went out to fight. With the strenuous effort, he defeated all the S’aktis and placed his chariot before the Devî. Then a terrible fight ensued for two Praharas (six hours). The hearts of all shivered with horror. At this time, the Devî shot fifteen very awful arrows at the Dânava. His four horses (Vâhanas) were pierced by Her four arrows; the charioteer was pierced by one arrow; his two eyes were pierced by two arrows; his arms by two arrows, his flag by one arrow and his heart was pierced by five arrows. He then left his body before the Devî, vomitting blood. The vital spirit, the luminous counterpart, emitting from his body, merged in the space-like body of the Devî. The three worlds, then, assumed a peaceful appearance when that greatly powerful Dânava was killed. Then Hari, Hara, Brahmâ and the other Devas began to praise and chant hymns to the World Mother with great devotion and in voices, choked with feelings.

The Devas said:-- “O Auspicious One! Thou art the only Cause of this Illusion of this world, presenting an unreal appearance (while Brahmâ is the Only Reality). So Thou art the Lady of all the beings (otherwise why it would be that Thou hast nourished all the beings with vegetables, etc). So, Obeisance to Thee, the S’âkambharî! Hundred-eyed! O Auspicious One! Thou art sung in all the Upanisadas; The Destroyer of the Durgama Asura! We bow down to Thee, the Lord of Mâyâ, the Dweller in the five sheaths Anna, Rasa, etc. We meditate upon Thee, the Lady of the universe, as demonstrated by Pranava Aum, whom the chief Munis meditate with their Nirvikalpa hearts (hearts free from any Vikalpa, doubts or ignorance). Thou art the Mother of the endless crores of universe! Thou assumest the Divine Bodies at times for our welfare! Thou art the Mother of Brahmâ, Visnu and others; we bow down to Thee with all our heart.Thou art the Mother of all; so, out of mercy, Thou hast shed tears from the hundred eyes, to remove the miseries of the low humble persons. Thou art the Ruler of all!”

Vyâsa said :-- O King! Thus when Brahmâ, Visnu, Hara and the other Devas praised and chanted various hymns to the Devî and worshipped Her with various excellent articles, She became instantly pleased. Then the Devî, graciously pleased, handed over the Vedas to the Brâhmanas. At last, She, the Cuckoo-voiced, made a special address to them. “These Vedas are the excellent parts of My body. So preserve these with your greatest care. The more so, when you all have seen with your own eyes what a great calamity befell on you when these Vedas went away out of your hands! You should all worship and serve Me (the Controller of the Space) always; there is no other thing higher than this that I can advise you for your welfare. Read always these My excellent glorious deeds. I will be pleased thereby and will destroy all your bad calamities and misfortunes. My name is Durgâ, because I have killed this demon Durgama; so he, who will take My name Durgâ and S’atâksî, he will be able to unveil my Mâyâ and walk freely. No use in telling more than this that I tell you now, O Devas, the Essence of all essences:-- Both the Suras and the Asuras would always serve Me and Me, alone.”

Vyâsa said:-- O King! Thus giving pleasures to the Devas by these words, the Devî of the nature of Existence, Intelligence and Bliss disappeared before them. O King! This Grand Mystery I have described to you in detail; but this is the source of good to all; so keep it secret with every care. The person that hears daily with great devotion this Chapter, gets all that he wants and at last gets the worship in the Devî Loka.

Such is the love and compassion of devi towards her devotees. so how can she be accused?

LS 149

149 Nithya bhuddha – She who is for ever knowledge
"Sarasvathi Namastubhyam, Varade KaamaroopiniVidyaarambham Karishyaami, Siddhir Bhavatu Mey Sada"
Meaning: Saraswati is the provider of boons and the one, who grants all our desires. As I begin my studies, I bow to the Goddess to help me in making it fruitful and make me successful in all my efforts.
The Birth of Saraswati
In the beginning there was chaos. Everything existed in a formless, fluid state. “How do I bring order to this disorder?” wondered Brahma, the creator. “With Knowledge”, said Devi. Heralded by a peacock, sacred books in one hand and a veena in the other dressed in white Devi emerged from Brahma’s mouth riding a swan as the goddess saraswati.
“Knowledge helps man find possibilities where once he saw problems.” Said the goddess. Under her tutelage Brahma acquired the ability to sense, think, comprehend and communicate. He began looking upon chaos with eyes of wisdom and thus saw the beautiful potential that lay therein.
Brahma discovered the melody of mantras in the cacophony of chaos. In his joy he named Saraswati, Vagdevi, goddess of speech and sound.The sound of mantras filled the universe with vital energy, or prana. Things began to take shape and the cosmos acquired a structure: the sky dotted with stars rose to form the heavens; the sea sank into the abyss below, the earth stood in between.Gods became lords of the celestial spheres; demons ruled the nether regions, humans walked on earth. The sun rose and set, the moon waxed and waned, the tide flowed and ebbed. Seasons changed, seeds germinated, plants bloomed and withered, animals migrated and reproduced as randomness gave way to the rhythm of life.
Brahma thus became the creator of the world with Saraswati as his wisdom.Saraswati was the first being to come into Brahma’s world. Brahma began to look upon her with eyes of desire. She turned away saying, “All I offer must be used to elevate the spirit, not indulge the senses.”
Brahma could not control his amorous thoughts and his infatuation for the lovely goddess grew. He continued to stare at Saraswati. He gave himself four heads facing every direction so that he could always be able to feast his eyes on Saraswati's beauty. Saraswati moved away from Brahma, first taking the form of a cow. Brahma then followed her as a bull. Saraswati then changed into a mare; Brahma gave chase as a horse. Every time Saraswathi turned into a bird or a beast he followed her as the corresponding male equivalent. No matter how hard Brahma tried he could not catch Saraswati in any of her forms.
The goddess with multiple forms came to be known as Shatarupa. She personified material reality, alluring yet fleeting. Saraswati Curses Brahma
Angered by his display of unbridled passion Saraswati cursed Brahma, “You have filled the world with longing that is the seed of unhappiness. You have fettered the soul in the flesh. You are not worthy of reverence. May there be hardly any temple or festival in your name.”
So it came to pass that there are only two temples of Brahma in India; one at Pushkar, Rajistan and the other in Kumbhakonam, Tamil Nadu.
Undaunted by the curse, Brahma continued to cast his lustful looks uponSaraswati. He gave himself a fifth head to enhance his gaze.
Bhairava, Shiva, Confronts Brahma
Brahma’s action motivated by desire confined consciousness and excited the ego. It disturbed the serenity of the cosmos and roused Shiva, the supreme ascetic from his meditation. Shiva opened his eyes, and saw Saraswati’s discomfort and in a fit of rage turned into Bhairava,lord of terror. His eyes were red, his growl menacing. He lunged towards Brahma and with his sharp claws, wretched off Brahma’s fifth head. The violence subdued Brahma’s passion.
Brahma’s cut head seared through Bhairava's flesh and clung to his hand sapping him of all his strength and driving him mad. The lord of terror ranted and raved losing control of his senses.
Saraswati, pleased with bhairav's timely action, rushed to his rescue. With her gentle touch she nursed him like a child, restoring his sanity.
Brahma, sobered by his encounter with the Lord of terror sought an escape from the maze of his own desire. Saraswati revealed to him the doctrine for his own liberation. Brahma sought to conduct a yagna, fire sacrifice, to cleanse himself and start anew. In order to conduct a yagna ritual the assistance of a wife is needed. Brahma chose Saraswati to be his wife and thus they were reconciled.
Saraswati, her Veena and the song of the Gandharva
The Gandharvas were demigods who sprang from the fragrance of flowers. Once they stole the Soma plant whose inebriating and invigorating sap was much sought after by the devas. The theft of the Soma infuriated all the gods.
Saraswati promised to recover the soma plant. She went to the garden of the gandharvas and with her veena created enchanting tunes: the ragas and the raginis.
“Give us this music,” begged the gandharvas.
“Only if you give back the Soma plant to the devas,” said the goddess.
The gandharvas returned the Soma plant and learned how to play music from Saraswati. In time they became celestial musicians whose melodies had more power to rouse the mind than any intoxicant.
Saraswati Outwits a Demon
A demon practiced many austerities to appease Brahma. The demon sought to conquer the three worlds and the gods feared that he may ask a boon that would make him invincible; the gods sought the help of the godess Saraswati. The goddess sat on the tongue of the demon so that when it was time to ask for a boon all he could say was, “I would like to never stay awake.”
“So be it,” said Brahma.
As a result, the demon wanted to conquer the three worlds ended up going to sleep forever.
Saraswati, Lakshmi and BrahmaBrahma created the universe with the help of Saraswati. Brahma was the guardian of the cosmos. He too needed Saraswati's support to sustain the cosmos. Using her knowledge he instituted and maintained dharma, sacred laws that ensure stability and growth in society.
Brahma also needed the help oflakshmi, goddess of wealth, who gave him the wherewithal to ensure cosmic order.
The question arose: who did Brahma need more? lakshmi or saraswati? Wealth or knowledge? The goddesses argued, “Knowledge does not fill an empty stomach.” Said lakshmi. “Wealth keeps man alive but gives no meaning to life.” Saidsaraswati.
“I need both knowledge and wealth to sustain the cosmos. Without knowledge I cannot plan. Without wealth I cannot implement a plan. Wealth sustains life; the arts give value to life. Thus both lakshmi and saraswati are needed to live a full life.
Saraswati Saves the World from Shiva’s Third Eye and the Beast of Doom
SHiva was woken from his meditations and looked around to discover a world on the brink of corruption and being unsalvageable.shiva decided it was time to wipe the slate clean. shiva, the destroyer, opened his world destroying third eye attempting to destroy the three worlds.. Out came a terrible fire that threatened all existence.
There was panic everywhere. Only saraswati remained calm. "shiva's fire burns only that which is impure and corrupt.”
She took the form of a river and with her pure waters picked up the dreaded fire from shiva's third eye. Within the folds of her water she carried the fire far away from the earth to the bottom of the sea where it transformed into a fire breathing mare called Badavagni – the beast of doom.
“So long as the world is pure and man wise, this terrible creature will remain on the bottom of the sea. When wisdom is abandoned and man corrupts the world, Badavagni will emerge and destroy the universe,” foretold the wise goddess.
In Her popular images and pictures, Goddess Saraswati is generally depicted with four arms (some pictures may show only two arms), wearing a white sari and seated on a white lotus. She holds a book and a rosary in Her rear two hands, while the front two hands are engaged in the playing of a lute (veena). Her right leg is shown slightly pushing against Her left leg. She uses a swan as Her vehicle. There is a peacock by Her side gazing at Her. This symbolism illustrates the following spiritual ideas:
The lotus is a symbol of the Supreme Reality, and a white lotus also denotes supreme knowledge. By sitting on a lotus, Saraswati signifies that She is Herself rooted in the Supreme Reality, and symbolizes supreme knowledge. The white color symbolizes purity and knowledge. The white sari that the Goddess is wearing denotes that She is the embodiment of pure knowledge.
The four amms denote Her omnipresence and omnipotence. The two front amms indicate Her activity in the physical world and the two back arms signify Her presence in the spiritual world. The four hands represent the four elements of the inner personality. The mind (manas) is represented by the front right hand, the intellect (buddhi) by the front left hand, the conditioned consciousness (chitta) by the rear left hand, and the ego (ahankara) by the rear right hand.
The left side of the body symbolizes the qualities of the heart and the right side symbolizes activities of the mind and intellect. A book in the rear left hand signifies that knowledge acquired must be used with love and kindness to promote prosperity of mankind.
The rosary signifies concentration, meditation, and contemplation, leading to samadhi, or union with God. A rosary in the rear right hand representing ego conveys that true knowledge acquired with love and devotion melts the ego and results in liberation (moksha) of the seeker from the bondage to the physical world.
The Goddess is shown playing a musical instrument that is held in Her front hands, which denote mind and intellect. This symbol conveys that the seeker must tune his mind and intellect in order to live in perfect harmony with the world. Such harmonious living enables the individual to utilize acquired knowledge for the welfare of all mankind.
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.
A peacock is sitting next to Saraswati and is anxiously waiting to serve as Her vehicle. A peacock depicts unpredictable behavior as its moods can be influenced by the changes in the weather. Saraswati is using a swan as a vehicle and not the peacock. This signifies that one should overcome fear, indecision, and fickleness in order to acquire true knowledge.
In the Rig-Veda (6,61,7), Saraswati is credited, in association with Indra, with killing the serpentine being Vritraasura, a demon which hoarded all of the earth's water and so represents drought, darkness, and chaos. She is often seen as equivalent to other Vedic goddesses such as Vak, Savitri, and Gayatri. Saraswati represents intelligence, consciousness, cosmic knowledge, creativity, education, enlightenment, music, the arts, and power. She is not only worshipped for secular knowledge, but for the true divine knowledge essential to achieve moksha. She is also referred to as Shonapunya, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘one purified of blood’. In some Puranas (like Skanda Purana) she is associated with Shiva and in some Tantras with Ganesha. According to Brahma Vaivarta Purana 2.6.13-95 Vishnu has three wives, who constantly quarrel with each other, so that eventually, he keeps only Lakshmi, giving Ganga to Shiva and Saraswati to Brahma. Brahma created the universe with the help of Saraswati. Brahma was the guardian of the cosmos. He too needed Saraswati’s support to sustain the cosmos. Using her knowledge he instituted and maintained dharma, sacred laws that ensure stability and growth in society. Brahma also needed the help of Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, who gave him the wherewithal to ensure cosmic order. The question arose: who did Brahma need more? Lakshmi or Saraswati? Wealth or knowledge? The goddesses argued, “Knowledge does not fill an empty stomach.” Said Saraswati. “Wealth keeps man alive but gives no meaning to life.” Said Saraswati. “I need both knowledge and wealth to sustain the cosmos. Without knowledge I cannot plan. Without wealth I cannot implement a plan. Wealth sustains life; the arts give value to life. Thus both Lakshmi and Saraswati are needed to live a full life.
Goddess Saraswati and Yoga : Saraswati gives the essence of one’s self. She provides us with the mundane and spiritual knowledge of our lives. She is a representation of the science of life, or the Vedanta, which attempts to unravel the essentials of human existence and the universe concealed within. She points to the ultimate aim of human life which is to realize the true nature of the self even if it requires an enormous amount of determination, perseverance and patience. The knowledge that Saraswati renders through continual worship, devotion and discipline is one of an integral vision in which both temporal and spiritual levels of study are meditated upon, practiced and developed. She is the impeller of true, sweet speech, she is the creative process with the syllable, ‘OM.’ She is the potent quality of sound. There is a Triveni-Sangam (confluence of three) within our subtle-body ( Sukshma- Sharira ). There is a Triveni at the spot between our eyebrows, the ajna-chakra, which is the actual prayaga. He whose mind passes through this Chakra, becomes one with the Absolute. The three vital Nadis concur at this point - Ida, Pingala and Sushumna . Normally people breathe through Ida or Pingala , the left or the right nostril but the perfect yogins breath through the Sushumna which cannot be perceived by others. Sushumna is Saraswati,who is antah-Salila whereas the other two are Yamuna and Ganga respectively.
Goddess Saraswati in other Religions Jainism: In Jainism, Sarawati has been given many titles, a Dispeller of Darkness and Ignorance, The Remover of Infatuations, The Destroyer of Miseries and The Bestower of Knowledge. In Janism, she also stands as a symbol of purity. Buddhism: In early Buddhist mandalas, various divinities were depicted of Mahayana Buddhism. In those early Buddhist mandalas, Saraswati is located in the south-west of the innermost circle, between Brahma and Vishnu, symbolizing her close connection with these two deities. In Buddhism, Sarasvati is the Bestower of Knowledge, Intelligence & Memory; and she confers wisdom and learning upon her worshippers. She possesses many forms within Buddhism, including Vajra-Saraswati, Vajrana-Saraswati, Vajra-Sarada and Mahasaraswati. During a period of Tantric dominance within Buddhism, many of the Mahayana Buddhist texts were transmitted through the Himalayan passes to Nepal, Tibet, Java, China and eventually Japan.
Saraswati's different forms :
MahaSaraswati :MahaSaraswati is the presiding Goddess of the Final episode of Devi Mahatmya. Here she is a part of the trinity of MahaKali, MahaLakshmi and MahaSaraswati. She is depicted as eight armed. MahaSaraswati destroyed Sumbha and other asuras.
MahaNeel Saraswati: (Mahavidya Neel Saraswati) Mahaneel Saraswati, or NeelSaraswati, is another form of Mahavidya Tara or UgraTara, or Ugrajataa. This form is mainly associated and has a mixture of the Mahaayana and the Vajraayana sects of Buddhism.
Goddess Tara :is said to be Vaak-siddhi-pradayini (bestower of the different mystic powers of speech).
Matangi (Mahavidya) Matangi or Mahavidya has a dark emerald complexion and has three eyes, holding the veena, and is the another (Tantric) form of the Goddess Saraswati. The Goddess Meenakshi at Madurai is worshipped as Matangi.