Seeking 108 names in english (Saraswati)

[Agaliha]

For the life of me I cannot find 108 names for Saraswati in English :wah:
I found one site-- http://www.informationcorner.com/saraswathi.asp --
but it's in Sanskrit, which I don't know. Hell my real first name is a Sanskrit word and I don't even know how to say it properly...my own name, lol. Sad. Anyway.

Maybe someone else will have more luck? (Pretty please).
There has to be one somewhere...right?

Here's another one in Sanskrit: http://www.shaktisadhana.org/Namastrotras/Satanamavali.html

::sigh:: Damn it.

[Toby Stimpson]

hehe, the sankrit names ARE her names. Just have to break them down...see the Namaha, that means Bow to...Om is the primordial sound. Hmm, you're either looking for a pronounciation guide or an epithet guide, what do these names mean? Hmm, it really is just playing around...or perhaps contact you're local mandir and have them help...generally though it sounds as its spelled unless it's spelled strangely like Isvara...is pronounced like ISH-fara.

I'll try and look arund for you :D.

Namaste

Tobias

[Cerulean_damselfly]

The names seem to be 'Anglicized' here, I believe:

http://www.mailerindia.com/slokas/mantras/index.php?saraswathiashto

This seems to be a prayer..

http://www.celextel.org/108upanishads/sarasvatirahasya.html

Not certain if this is helpful, hope this assists you.

Regards,

Cerulean_Damselfly

[Agaliha]

I'm looking for the English equalivalents of her Sanskrit names, like this one: http://www.mantraonnet.com/108durganames.htm
Example:
Tribhuvaneshwari=Goddess of The Three Worlds
Yashodagarba Sambhoota= Emerging From Yashoda's Womb

The pronouncation part was about my name, not those. ;)

I can only find sites with the Romanized Sanskrit names, but none with the meanings in english.
I mean I can recite it, but it has no meaning to me if I don't know what it means.

[Paracelsus]

That is not,suprisingly, a major problem. The nature of mantras is that, as they are Sanskrit - technically the language of the Gods themselves, then they are powerful if pronounced correctly - it does help to have a broad understanding, but an accurate understanding of all the nuances is unecessary for initial spiritual advancement (also, one must remember that any given name can be translated in a number of ways...)

Think about this...
The relationship between the word and reality in Sanskrit is considered to be different to normal human languages. Human language, such as English, is thought of as a way of describing the world around us, thus when we say the word “Flower”, we are describing the thing that it is out there – that flower in the pot on the patio. The key idea here is that the word and the thing are different – the word “flower” is not the same as the daffodils outside my window, it is only a way of describing them. (We might think of this as the difference between a Map, and the country itself – we know that one is a description of the other). The idea of a “Powerful Utterance” is a difficult one for us to deal with – the nearest Western equivalent is that of a magic spell, but even this is not strictly accurate. A good illustration is in the film “The Fellowship of the Ring”, when the Wizard Gandalf is trying to open the doors of Moria – which in the end he does by saying the word “Mellon” (meaning “friend” in one of the fictional languages of Tolkien’s Middle Earth). The door opens, not because Gandalf is a powerful wizard, but because he says the word of power – and it is the word that is powerful. A mantra is a similar idea to this – the words themselves are believed to be powerful.
In Sanskrit however, this is not the case, there is a much more intimate relationship between the thing and the word for it – they are not seen as different, but as connected, as tied together. Thus Sanskrit is not seen as a method of describing external reality, but as a way of participating in, or sometimes even controlling, that reality – indeed, the Sanskrit word itself is generally understood as being more “real” than the physical thing that it describes. This is the rather difficult theory behind a very significant idea, both for the performance of the yajna, and also for Hinduism in general – the mantra. In the west we are familiar with this word, but we tend to use it wrongly, thinking of it either as a prayer, or as something that one repeats in order to demonstrate one’s point of view or belief. (It is true that mantras are often repeated in Hindu religious practices, but this is not a key point). Neither of these ideas are accurate: the mantra is in fact a powerful utterance that has the power to change the nature of reality, a phrase in the language of the gods themselves that is not powerful in that it may persuade people, it is just powerful in and of itself – saying a mantra correctly is believed to have the potential to bring about changes in the universe. The phrases from the Vedas that are used in ritual are exactly like this, they are mantras – they have the power to make the sacrifice, and its outcome, work effectively if properly pronounced and performed, without them, the sacrifice is useless. The significance of the idea of Mantra may also be seen in this passage from the Purusa Sukta of the Rig Veda, which describes the sacrifice of the primal man, from whom the Devas created the universe, this specific section relates to the creation of the vitally important nature of Sanskrit as a particularly powerful religious language –

From that sacrifice in which everything was offered the verses and the chants were born, the metres were born, and the formulas were born. (Rig Veda X.xc. 9)


Hope that helps...

[Agaliha]

Interesting, Paracelsus.

I still would love to know what her 108+ names are in English. Oh well.

[Cerulean_damselfly]

I wanted to thank Paracelsus for his explanation, as I was trying to frame a reply--but I understand that Belle Terre is thirsty and hungry for a good translation!

I hope the suggestion below has some ideas that might help?

Over time, I was going to say, if you felt drawn to the sites that gave good pronounciation samples of her 108 names--even if they were in sanskrit, I believe--the meaning of her names might unfold over time for you in a very interesting way. Her manifestations and names and aspects that you would find in continually researching and studying....the names and meaning would unfold over time may start becoming more quickly recognizeable--because you had become familiar not only to the sanskrit references, but to the different images, and your prayer chanting will have built resonances with this deity.

Perhaps over time such recognitions will also have an oracular significance to you. It would be an interesting path of study--unlocking the names and meanings
through searches and compiling your own word tables and corresponences for your own study...

The reason I say this, is a parallel I was thinking about when I heard the sensei/priest speaking in Japanese and also reading the norito (prayers) with Japanese--and his encouragement of learning the Japanese from bilingual translations. Supposedly the sound connotations from it's original language have a ringing and resonance that affects your entire being.

And while an accumulation of Buddhist and Japanese Shinto mixes of prayer for their locations took on differences from the Hindu/Sanskrit origins (Sarasveti was enshrined as Benten around 1147 in paternal family's district)--that idea of prayer sounds and resonating with goddess energy in the original languages being beneficial sounds very Eastern in feeling to me...
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I may be wandering all over the map with my ideas, but I came across this passage, which seemed to explain the feeling:

One worships a Shinto shrine by "attending" it, that is, devoting oneself to the object worshipped, and by giving offerings to it: anything from vegetables to great riches. Shinto prayer (Norito ) is based on koto-dama , the belief that spoken words have a spiritual power; if spoken correctly, the Norito would bring about favorable results.

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ANCJAPAN/SHINTO.HTM

(By the way, I am becoming more aware the tribal mixes of Shintoism and one of the unifying factors: finding Uzume/Benten aspects of Sarasveti, a dancing/lute-playing fertility goddess of happiness and love, in regional celebrations)

My apologies in advance if this long-winded note has no relevance to you. I'm wanting to be helpful, but not finding any relevant English tables/sites...I'll delete these details if they frustrate or are not helpful to you.

Best regards,

Cerulean_Damselfly

[Toby Stimpson]

I agree with Paracelsus and Cerulean...I can only speak from my own experiance but after a while certain words will become familiar to you and you'll begin to know what they are. Like Jagapati, (which isnt an actual name as far as I know) but it would mean Lord of the World...another word like this would be Jaganat. I found this page for you, it was a little difficult but I hope it helps. As Parecelsus said though, the names are really important as they are...and to learn them in their pronounciations is key.

http://krista.rupture.net/sarasvati/names.html

Happy hunting :D

Namaste

Tobias

[Agaliha]

Awesome, Galadraal! Thanks. At least some of her names are there. :)

Cerulean_Damselfly: Interesting thoughts, I didn't think of it that way. I'll see what comes of it all :)