E text source:- www.celextel.org
Vaageswari Stavam
By Adi Sankarachaya
[The prayer to the Goddess of Speech]
Translated by P. R. Ramachander

[Saraswathiis the Goddess of learning and knowledge. Her name is variouslyinterpreted as That which flows, that which has lakes and pools and asessential knowledge personified. She arose out of the mind of LordBrahma, when he was meditating. He later married her. (BrahmandaPurana). She is supposed to have the forms of Gayathri, Savithri ,Saraswathi and Brahmani. She is the goddess of Speech and hence calledVaageswari. The reference I have in Malayalam ascribes this prayer toAdhi Shankara Bhagawat Pada. But this is not listed as one of the worksof Adhi Shankara in the web.]

Amala kamaladhi vaasini, manaso,
Vaimaya dhayini, manogne,
Sundara gathri, susheele,
Thava charanamboruhayo namami sadaa. 1

I always worship your lotus feet,
Oh Goddess, who lives in pure white lotus flower,
Oh Goddess, who grants cleanliness of mind,
And Oh Goddess who is pretty and good natured.

Achalathmaja cha durga,
Kamala tripurethi bheditha jagathi,
Yaa saa thwameva vaachaa,
Meeswari, sarvathmana praseede mama. 2

By all known means, be pleased with me,
Oh Goddess, though you are called differently by the world,
As the daughter of mountain, as fearsome Durga,
As one who, lives on lotus and as the great Tripura,
You are the one and the same - the goddess of speech.

Twacharanamboruhayo,
Pranama heena punardwijathirapi,
Bhooyadanedamukha,
Sthwad bhaktho bhavathi Devi, sarvagna. 3

Hey Goddess, he who does not salute your lotus feet,
Even if he is a Brahmin, would become dumb and deaf,
In the births that he will take later,
And your devotee would become the all knowing one.

Mooladhara mukhorgatha,
Bisa thanthu nibha prabhavathaya,
Visruthalipi pravatha hitha,
Mukha kara charanadhike, Praseede mama. 4

Oh goddess, whose face, hands and legs,
Are the letters of alphabets, which have become enlarged,
Starting from the inside of mooladhara,
By the power of sound shining like a thread of lotus.

[Thesound which emanates from mooladhara is indistinct and micro and iscalled Para. From there, when it reaches the belly button, it slightlybecomes distinct and is called Pasyanthi .When it further travels andreaches the heart, it is called Madhyama: and when it reaches thethroat , it becomes distinct and pronounceable and is called Vaikhari.These are the different alphabets, which have developed from the microsound and are 51 in number. The vowels become the head and neck of thegoddess of learning, the five letters starting from ka become her righthand, the five letters starting with cha become her left hand, the fiveletters starting with ta, become her right leg and the five lettersstarting from tha, become her right leg and the remaining fifteenletters become her other parts of the body.]

Varnathano amrutha varne,
Niyatha nirvarnithepi yogeendrai,
Nirneethikarana dhoothe,
Varnayithum devi, dehi samarthyam. 5

Hey colourful holy goddess,
Hey Goddess who is as white as nectar,
Even sages great, cannot describe you properly,
And so Goddess, who is far-far away from any description,
Please make me capable of describing you.

Sasura asura mouli lasa,
Nmani prabha deepithangri nalina yuge,
Sakalagama swaroope,
Sakaleswari, Sannidhim videhi mayi. 6

Hey Goddess whose tender pretty feet,
Shines due to the gems in the crowns of devas and asuras*,
And who is personification of all Vedas and other holy books,
And who is the goddess of every one,
Please live within my heart
*Who bend and salute you

Pusthaka japa pata hasthe,
Varadabhaya chinha charu bahu lathe,
Karpooramala dehe,
Vageeswari, shodhayasu mama chetha. 7

Hey goddess of speech,
Who has in one hand the prayer beads bag,
Who shows protection and blessing by two hands,
And who is as white as the camphor,
Please clean fast my intellect.

Kshmoumaambara paridhaane,
Muktha mani bhooshane, mudha vase,
Smitha chandrika vikasitha,
Makhendu bimbe ambike praseeda mama. 8

Hey Goddess Ambike,
Who wears white silk,
Who decorates herself with gems,
Whose face shines with the moonlight of her smile,
And in whom the pure happiness of the soul resides,
Kindly become pleased with me.

Vidhyaa roope avidhya,
Nasini, Vidhyotheethe antharathma vidhyam,
Gadyai ssapadhya jatai,
Raadyair munibhi sthuthe, praseeda mama. 9

Hey Goddess, who was praised by primeval sages,
By prose and well written poems,
Who is with the form of knowledge,
Who is the dispeller of ignorance,
And who shines in the lotus mind of,
Sages who are experts in the knowledge of soul,
Kindly become pleased with me.

Trimukhi, trai swaroope,
Tripure, tridashobhi vandithamgri yuge,
Theekshana vilasitha vakthre,
Trimoorthi moolaathmike, praseedaama. 10

Oh Goddess, Who is the soul of the trinity,
Who has three faces,
Who has three forms of Lakshmi, Parvathi and Saraswathi,
Who lives as macro, micro and causal forms,
Whose feet is worshipped by all devas,
And who has a face shining with keen intellect,
Kindly become pleased with me.

Vedathmike, niruktha,
Jyothir vyakarana kalpa shikshabhi,
Sachandobhi sandatha
Knuptha shadangendriye, praseeda mama. 11

Hey Soul of Vedas,
Whose six parts of the body are,
Etymology, Astrology, grammar, rituals
Phonetics and prosody,
Kindly become pleased with me.

[Astrologyis her eyes, rituals are her hands, Etymology are her ears, phoneticsis her nose, grammar is her face and prosody are her legs.]

Bodathmike, budhaanaam,
Hrudayambuja charu ranga natana pare,
Bhagawathi, bhava bhanga kareem,
Bhakthim bhadrathadhe, praseeda mama. 12

Oh goddess who is personification of intelligence,
Who likes to dance in the mind of the intellects,
Who is the goddess with all qualities,
Who grants all wishes,
Grant me devotion to you which would,
Destroy all fears to day today living.

Thwacharana sarasi janma,
Sthitha mahithadhiyaam na lipyathe dosha,
Bhagawathi Bhakthimatha sthwayee,
Paramaam parameshwari, praseeda mama. 13

Oh goddess of the pure hearted,
To those who place their heart in thine lotus like feet,
Bad qualities and dirty thoughts do not happen,
And so please help me to have utmost devotion,
In thine lotus feet and be pleased with me.

Vaageesi stham mithiyo,
Japarchanaaha vana vrutheeshuprajapeth,
Sathu vimala chitha vruthir,
Ddehapadhi nithya shudha methi padam. 14

He who chants this ode to the goddess of words,
During the time of meditation, worship and sacrifice,
He would attain clear pure mindedness,
And reach the perennial pure bliss.

Sri Vageswaryai nama

Salutation to Goddess of Speech.

Srimath paramahamsa parivrajaka sankarabhgwat,
Paadavirachitham Vageesi sthavam sampoornam.

Thus ends the "Ode to the Goddess of Speech" written by
Adhi Shankara Bhagawat Pada.

OM

Dear Vani,

Great name, by the way! :) If you would like to invoke the blessings of Divine Mother Saraswati, there is a very simple but powerful mantra you can use:

Om aim srim hrim saraswati devyai namaha

I have used this extensively and found it very powerful in transforming my consciousness, bringing in divine light, improving intuition and so on. It is taught mainly by my guru, Amma Karunamayi, who teaches this mantra to anyone who wishes to make spiritual progress. You can't get the correct pronunciation by reading the words, so you can listen to the mantra here:

www.amma.fm/index.php

You can repeat this mantra silently or out loud, although silently will be most powerful. Try to do it 108 times every day (you can use a mala to count). If you don't have time for that, try for 54, 27, or 18 times a day. Here's a more powerful version of this mantra:

Om aim srim hrim saraswati devyai namaha
Sarva jnana siddhim kuru kuru swaha

I don't have a source for pronunciation, unfortunately. There's a booklet I created based on Amma Karunamayi's teachings, to help people use Saraswati Mantra and understand the significance; the booklet can be bought from:

www.karunamayi.org/AmmaStore/product.php

Here's a quote from the booklet:

"When we repeat the Saraswati Mantra mentally, without movement of the lips, this will create very gentle vibrations in the delicate subtle nerves in the brain. These vibrations will release the jadatwa, or lethargy, of the nerves and will activate the 108 main centers, or jnana kendras, of the brain. When these kendras are purified and enlivened by the mental japa of Saraswati Mantra, our brains will be prepared for the descent of very subtle and profound spiritual knowledge."

I'll do a follow-up post with other ways of invoking Mother Saraswati's divine grace.

Jai Ma!
Ekta