01/02/2025
Happy Vasant Panchami! In the Vedic lunar calendar, this festival falls on the fifth day of the Moon’s waxing (Shukla) phase, which this year is February 2nd. Vasant Panchami is the puja of Saraswati, Goddess of wisdom and erudition, consort of Brahma the Creator, and the Muse of music and poetry. She is depicted riding a swan or peacock, holding a scroll and playing a stringed Veena. In India, the Shankaracharya Swamis, custodians of Vedic knowledge, are always named for Saraswati, as with Maharishi’s guru Swami Brahmananda Saraswati.
Vasant Panchami is an auspicious date to start studying a new subject, and to enjoy yagyas for gaining knowledge. Beginning to chant a Saraswati mantra is also recommended on this date, and actually memorizing it comes more easily. Regular chanting invokes the blessings of Ma Saraswati, which is fortunate for spiritual learning and aesthetics.
Ya Kundendu Tusharahara Dhavala Ya Shubhra Vastravrita
Ya Veena Varadanda Manditakara Ya Shveta Padmasana
Ya Brahmachyuta Shankara Prabhritibihi Devaih Sada Pujita
Sa Mam Pattu Saravatee Bhagavatee Nihshesha Jadyapaha
The thumb rule of mantra chanting is simple: the more, the better. A short daily practice – little and often – is better than an infrequent binge, but a dilettante approach of a few token repetitions won’t change anyone’s life or outlook. After a bath and wearing clean clothes, chanting a (preferably) guru-given mantra with correct pronunciation for an hour (or two or three) has a noticeable material effect. This is a sound vibration which smooths out dissonant psychic energies and creates harmony in life. So resist the temptation to chase your desires out into the world, for, far from being passive or quietist, mantra meditation (japa) is the subtlest form of activity and fulfils desires in a positive and evolutionary way.
Vasant Panchami is a moveable, lunar feast, though it falls coincidentally this year on the Celtic festival of Imbolc, held annually on February 1st. Imbolc is a rite to consecrate the ground before Spring planting, but it is also the festival of Brigid, the Goddess of Poetry. By a process of ‘inculturation’, the Christian Saint Brigid has come to represent many of the same qualities, while the festival of Candlemas, February 2, is the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary.
