ON February 8, 2011 Hindus have another occasion and season to celebrate and observe, but this time, two occasions fall on one day– ‘Vasant Panchmi’ and ‘Sarasvatee Jayanti’. ‘Vasant Panchmi’ marks the commencement of the spring season. It falls on the fifth day of ‘Shukla Paksha’ (waxing moon) in the Hindu month, ‘Maagh’ (February).
Our Indian ancestors have always remained very grateful and most respectful to nature. At the beginning of the spring season, crops are planted and the entire village farmers would come together and start the season with prayers and rituals in appreciation to God for the arrival of the most productive season–the spring season. On this day, a plant is erected and prayers are offered to God for bountiful crops and nutritious foods.
On this day Hindus also celebrate another occasion called ‘Sarasvatee Jayanti’. It is a day on which Hindus would keep fast, engage in prayers and introspection. ‘Sarasvatee’ is another feminine name of God and represents knowledge. She is mostly worshipped by students and those who are in the field of education. However, she does not only represents academic education, but ‘Brahma Vidya’—Supreme Knowledge or Knowledge of God; the knowledge that after received, man merged with the Divine and become one with Him.
God, according to Hinduism is monotheistic and have many names. “God is one and only one; the wise called Him by different names.” (Vedas) So, that Supreme can even be called in female names as well. God is called and recognized as a Universal Mother, because He performs the duties as an earthly mother would do. He (God) creates—an earthly mother would create; He maintains—an earthly mother would maintain her children— He protects–an earthly mother would do likewise, and so on. So for these reasons we referred to God as both Mother and Father—by both masculine and feminine names.
The conception and reference of God as Father was first started by the Aryans (noble people) of ancient Bharat (India), and not by anyone else or at any other place; not by any Semitic tribe or race or religion. This can be proven by medium of simple history, through development of languages.
Starting with the ancient of all ancient languages, Sanskrit, the language of the Aryans (Hindus), father is “Pitaa”, in Greek it is, “Pitar/Pateras”, then to Latin, “Pater”, followed into English, “Father”.
The conception of God as Mother or Father was originated so that man can easily connect with the Supreme through such relationship. It is hardly possible to approach, worship and serve God without a medium of a relationship. By medium of a relationship, the bond of attraction and togetherness, and oneness is visible. When there is a union through a relationship, the servant and master can easily become one. That is the union; that is the bond; that is the state we all aspire for—to become with the master (God). Hence by the medium of such relationship, one gets to God. The Aryans, the Hindus have realized and established this concept of the Supreme long before anyone else. In fact, all other religions, tribes or cults have taken up the grand Hindu idea of the Fatherhood of God and emphasized it very strong in their teachings and practices.
Today, only in Hinduism, there is a very wide spread of the worship of God as a Mother, but history has it that the worship and reference of God as a Mother existed in the religions of most of the ancient world—the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, etc. In fact, the earliest icon of the Divine was a female. Also, there were many civilizations that had Mother Deities and systems of worship. But were swept away by other faiths, while Hinduism, despite suffered much wear and tear (invasions), kept on existing.
Goddess Saraswatee represents learning, knowledge and speech. For this reason, she is called ‘Gyaan Shakti’ – the power of speech and wisdom. Goddess Saraswatee stands out very distinguished as the representation of discrimination. This is demonstrated when She is been portrayed in Hindu mythology sitting on a swan.
The swan can separate water from milk which shows the strong power of discrimination. So the message here is that man must somehow or the other, try to separate ignorance from knowledge. He must use his thinking power to discriminate between what is truth and what is untruth; reality and unreality. He must not let delusion deceive him. Once he sees this portrayal of Goddess Sraswatee, that’s the message he must get. Hence, the representation of Goddess Saraswatee is there to remind us of the innate human power of discrimination.
However, it is sad that some Hindus see these great occasions on the surface and they do not take out the true essence and meaning of them. When this happens, the festivals are not allowed to foster their real impact of transformation and spirituality.
To conclude, Editor I wish that all Hindus remain grateful to nature as they observed Vasant Panchmi and seek spiritual knowledge and discrimination through the celebration of Sarasvatee Jayanti. In this way, the Hindu festivals will have divine messages for man. Therefore, Hindus must observe Vasant Panchmi and Sarasvatee Jayanti for Divine reasons.