A HUMBLE PRAYER TO GODDESS SARASWATI

A HUMBLE PRAYER TO GODDESS SARASWATI

O Maa! It is my humble, demure admission:
I will only disrespectfully plagiarize,
I will only discourteously publicize,
I will only apparently justify myself unwise,
I will only prove myself mad in the human guise,
To dare to describe You, what is indeed past description!

O Maa! I am really shivering at the thought of praising You,
I am shuddering at the thought of glorifying You,
I am stammering at the thought of extolling You,
I am shaking  at the thought of exalting You,
I am trembling at the thought of applauding Your Miracles,
I am absorbed at Your Heavenly, subtle spectacles!

O Maa! It will be an utter impudence to eulogize You,
It will be a sheer insolence to belaud You,
It will be an outright imprudence to  deify You,
It will be an out –and-out audacity to adore You,
It will be a complete dare-devilry to adulate You,
For, all the earthly epithets are too indecorous to glorify You!

O Maa! Without Your Magnanimous Grace,
I am a reprehensible fool in life's race!
Without Your Generous Grace,
I am a contemptuous figure without a face!
Without Your luminous Enlightenment,
I am a knowledge bulb without a filament!

O Maa! Without Your rapturous and radiant Light:
I am a gloomy gorge of ignorance,
I am a hollow husk without sustenance,
I am a dull, disdainful entity,
I am a void naught without utility,
I am too weak to brace up for life's fight!

O Maa! Without Your unfathomable Blessing:
I am, indeed, an ignoble, unwanted creature,
I am the most unwanted rubbish in Nature,
I am the most senseless cartoon caricature,
I am a mobile mortal minus any significant feature,
I am too brazen and bizarre a metal to be a coveted ring!

O Maa! Without Your bounteous Shower of Knowledge:
I am, undoubtedly, a derisive, unfilled and blank page,
I am the uncalled for swamp and sedimentary dredge,
I am a groping traveller in life’s mysterious maze,
I am a perplexed wayfarer in the confusion haze,
Without Your Elysian Boon I am accursed forever in this birth and death cage!

Saraswati (Sanskrit: सरस्वती, Sarasvatī) is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, arts, wisdom and learning. She is a part of the trinity (Tridevi) of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Parvati. All the three forms help the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to create, maintain and regenerate-recycle the Universe respectively.
The festival is celebrated usually on the day of vasant panchami. Vasant Panchami means the fifth day of spring. The exact date of the festival keeps changing every year as per the Hindu calendar.
This day is celebrated as it initiates the spring festival. The colour that is associated with this festival is yellow. This colour is significant as during this time mustard flowers are blooming everywhere. People prefer to wear yellow clothes on this day as they worship the goddess. Even food items that are prepared on this day are generally yellow in colour. The food items that you will often see on this day are sweet saffron rice and yellow sweets.
The day is celebrated with puja and in some places cultural programs are also arranged. This day is considered as the birth day of goddess Saraswati. She is also considered as the wife of Brahma. In Punjab the Sikh community celebrates this day with a lot of devotion. On this day the musicians in gurudwaras perform the basant raga. In some parts of Punjab fairs are also arranged on this day. This is the day when Guru Govind Singh got married so it makes the day even more special. Even in Tamil Nadu this day is celebrated. It is the ninth day of the Navratri in Ashwin month. In Firozpur this day is celebrated with kite flying.

©Shankar D Mishra    16.02.2021