Sarasvati Puja

What is Sarasvati Puja?

Sarasvati Puja is the worship of Sarasvati Devi, the goddess of learning. Devotees offer it on Vasanta Pancami, the fifth day of the moon, which opens the spring season. In 2027 it falls on Thursday, 11 February, the same day on which devotees celebrate the appearance of Srimati Visnupriya Devi and of several other Vaishnava personalities.

Significance

Devotees honour her as mother Sarasvati, who blesses speech and learning, and they invoke her before the Srimad-Bhagavatam is spoken. The Bhagavatam itself sets out this order of respect, given here in Srila Prabhupada's translation:

one should offer respectful obeisances unto the Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, unto Nara-nārāyaṇa Ṛṣi, the supermost human being, unto mother Sarasvatī, the goddess of learning, and unto Śrīla Vyāsadeva, the author.

Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.4

Spring is also the season in which Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared, so the festival joins the gladness of a new season with a reminder to offer all our learning in Krishna's service.

How to observe it

Offer your obeisances to mother Sarasvati and pray that whatever you read, teach or write may be used in Krishna's service. Give the Srimad-Bhagavatam or the Bhagavad-gita a longer reading than usual. Students and teachers in the family can begin their books with the same prayer. Yellow is the colour of the festival, so yellow flowers make a fitting offering.