Sapta Ganga

In India, the river is considered as a deity. Our saints had written many verses in praise of rivers and discovered that they are capable of giving salvation. The principal 7 rivers are called as “Sapta Ganga”. The list includes the most sacred 7 rivers-
1)      Ganga
2)      Yamuna
3)      Godavri
4)      Saraswati
5)      Kaveri
6)      Narmada
7)      Sindhu.

Ganga- River Ganga represented as a goddess residing on her vehicle ‘crocodile’. Originates from Hiamlayas and join Bay of Bengal. Sage Bhagirath brought river Ganga from heaven.it is also called "Moksha Dayani", the one who gives salvation.

Yamuna- daughter of Sun God having blue colour. It originates from Himalayas and  joins Ganaga at Allahabad called as “Prayaag”. Their confluence is considered so auspicious that this place is often called as “Teerth Raj” means “king of all the pilgrimage”. This river witnessed the glorious childhood time of Lord Krishna.

Saraswati- The invisible and most mystic river represented by the goddess in white dress having swan as her vehichle.It originates at Mana village in Uttrakhand region and joins Arabian sea at Somnath(Gujrat). This river is a knowledge giver because goddess saraswati is a deity of knowledge. This invisible river is also present at Allahabad. The confluence of 3 rivers here is called “Triveni Sangam”

Kaveri-
According to belief the river Ganges also joins Kaveri underground once a year,  in order to wash herself free of the pollution caused by the crowds of sinners who bathe in her waters all the year round. Kaveri is considered to be as sacred as the Ganges throughout its course, with the same power to wash off all one’s sins.

Narmada-it originates from Amarkantak,the central India . The auspiciousness of the river can be judged from the fact that according to mythology every stone lying at its bed is replica of Lord Shiva. This river is also called as “River of detachment”

Godavri- often called as “Dakshin Ganga” means  “Ganga of south India”. It raises from hill in Triambak town near Nasik city at Maharashtra. Its mention has been made in the epic Ramayana because lord Rama spent crucial time of his exile along the banks of this river.

Sindhu-
Originating in the Tibetan plateau in the vicinity of Lake Mansarovar, the river runs a course through the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, and flows through Pakistan in a southerly direction along the entire length of Pakistan to merge into the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi in Sindh.

Bathing in above rivers is considered as auspicious.

Power of Devi Anusuya

Anusuya was the wife of Sage Atri. She was famous in all the three world for his devotion and chastity. Sage Narad visited goddess Saraswati,Lakshmi ji and Parvati ji and praised Anusuya. The three goddess disliked it and decided to test Anusuya. They send their consorts to earth. Lord Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva in the guise of sage visited the hermitage of Anusuya when sage Atri was not present and asked for the alms on a condition that she had to give them alms without wearing clothes. This caused dilemma for Anusuya because if did not give the alms to sages then it would be a sin. She used her divine powers and sprinkled water on the three sages as a purification act and turned them into three infants. Now infants were crying as they were hungry. Anusuya came forward and gave breastfeed to three infants as a mother. On the other hand, Goddess Saraswati,Lakshmi and Parvati were worried about her husbands as they had not return to their abode. The three goddess visited Anusuya and she found the three infants were playing in the lap of mother Anusuya. They asked about their husband to Anusuya. She replied that they  are there in her lap as her children. the three goddess accepted their mistake and asked for forgiveness and to release their consorts. In the mean time Sage Atri returned to hermitage and witnessed the whole episode. Both Atri and Anusuya turned the three infants back to their original form. The three gods woke up  and asked Atri and Anusuya to demand any boon from them. Anusuya demanded that the trinity,Lord Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva , to be born as her son. Later Anusuya gave birth to Lord Dattatrey who was composite incarnation of Lord Brahma,Vishnu and Shiva.

Boon to Saraswati

It was the most awaited moment for the universe when the marriage between Lord Shiva and Goddess Sati was performed. It was the ritual that after the marriage couple had to perform   ‘Nadi Pooja’ in which pooja of river was to be done.  Lord Shiva and Goddess Sati went to the bank of river Saraswati  As per ritual the couple had to look into the river and the outcome of the marriage could be seen from the image form on the river water. The moment both looked into the river, violent waves started to come to the bank. Mother of Goddess Sati was very worried to see this supernatural phenomenon as it was ill omen as no image could be seen due to turbulent water. Lord Shiva guessed the anxiety of Goddess Sati too. HE put his foot in the river water. The moment the river water touched the foot of Lord Shiva, all the waves disappeared. River Goddess Saraswati   appeared and greeted Lord Shiva. Pleased with the devotion of river Saraswati, Lord Shiva blessed her that one day she would meet river Ganaga and that place would be called as “TeerthRaj”(the king of all Pilgrimage) and bathing at that place would free a persons from sins and it would be the gateway to heaven

Birth of Atharva Veda

The four sages Sanak,Sanandan,Sanatan,Sanat were learned brahmins. They were the sons of Lord Brahma. They were very proud of their father, Brahma because he was the creator of the holy books , Vedas. They were aware of three Vedas,- Rigved,Yajurved, and Samveda and considered that the whole knowledge is complete in three books.On the other hand Sage Atharva approached Lord Shiva to get approval of his knowledge which he gathered from the universe using his divine powers. Lord Shiva, impressed by his creation and blessed Sage Atharva that his book of knowledge would constitute the list of Vedas and will be called as ‘Atharvaveda’. When this news reached the sons of Lord Brahma, they protested as according to them the other three Vedas was a complete set of knowledge and there was no need of fourth Veda. They argued Lord Shiva and challenged his authority to certify fourth veda.  . Finally it was decided that whether to certify fourth Veda or not depends upon the result of debate. Goddess Saraswati was appointed as judge. The four Sages fired too much and too complicated questions to Lord Shiva and there were very confident of their victory as they underestimated Lord Shiva. But Shiva, who is the Lord of all the supreme knowledge, answered each and every question . The Sages accept their defeat gracefully and asked for forgiveness. Since then Artharva Ved was added to the list of Vedas , making the total four.  The Sages went to their brother Prajapati Daksha who was bitter rival of Lord Shiva. On listening about the defeat of his four brothers, he cursed them to be small child. After that the four sages turned into small children. Since the sages were very learned , so they thanked their brother for the curse because after becoming kids their urge for learning more would be greater.

Basant Panchmi

Basant Panchami is celebrated on 5th day of lunar calendar in the month of Magh shukal Paksh. “Basant “ means spring season. It marks the beginning of spring season. This day is dedicated to worship of goddess Saraswati. She is the shakti of Lord Brahma , the creator of universe. She is the deity of knowledge. It rules the speech. It is believe that in day consisting of 8 prahar(division of time), she resides on everyone’s speech at least one of the prahar. The word spoken during that period becomes truth. The vehicle of goddess Saraswati is swan. The swan has ability to distinguish water and milk in a mixture. It denotes the wisdom power. The four hands of goddess represent the 4 vedas. She is holding “veena”(a king of instrument) having 7 strings representing 7 chakras of consciousness. People wear yellow color on this day. This color is a symbol of spirituality. Its a ritual to  prepare yellow sweet rice.This day is auspicious for learning. For the students the following mantra works as tonic-
Saraswati Mahabhage Vidye Kamalalochane !
Vishwaroope Vishaalaakshi Vidyam dehi namostute!!

Hope Goddess bless us with the spiritual knowledge which in necessary for all of us before quitting this world!