Saraswati’s Ultimate Gift Is Inner Peace

There is a certain peace that can be obtained in the mind by reducing the frequency of thoughts. Your true peaceful nature will shine in the gaps between thoughts.

A second kind of peace can be achieved by intellectually recognizing a distance between your true being and your thoughts. The stepping back from the contents of the mind, simply observing it neutrally or witnessing it as if from a distance, creates freedom from the mind’s ups and downs—just like you can watch an intense movie but know that you are a removed spectator, not an actor. This is called exercising witnessing awareness. This method of experiencing peace in the mind is often easier than noticing the gaps between thoughts.

In my experiments with goddess consciousness, there is a third type of instant peace that can be experienced simply by remembering soulfully, heartfully, mindfully (even if merely for an instant) that your true Self is one with Saraswati, the Embodiment of Divine Peace. Therefore, nothing must be “done,” as such. You simply have to relax into your inborn, ever-present authenticity. Even the need to go away from the noisy non-peaceful world and take a secluded retreat to find inner peace becomes optional at this stage. You will have awareness of your own peaceful goddess core and begin remembering it and living by it, all the time.

In interactions with others, you can benefit from continually remembering your inner Saraswati, whose nature is peace, tranquility, truthfulness. There’s no need to project who you are not, nor be apologetic for who you are right now. In a drama, we play a role, don’t we? When we remove the costume demanded by that role, we become what we are underneath, the good old Self. Similarly, a life role presents a temporary reality, but when we remove the role (mother, wife, daughter, daughter-in-law), what remains is our true authentic-goddess Self. And in this authentic living, you shall find Saraswati’s greatest gift: abiding peace.

Naturally, once this understanding is internalized, no matter where the mind goes—to a dance club, a busy office, a crowded shopping mall, a wedding, or a funeral—and no matter who you meet (whether they like you or not), you’ll have the self-awareness that “I AM a goddess, so I don’t have to find peace outside me by becoming someone I am not.” Your authenticity can coexist with whatever activity the mind is engaged in (whatever role it has to play) while awake, dreaming, or sleeping, and whether your external circumstances of life are peaceful or agitated. Through this journey—from hiding or pretending for the sake of others to expressing yourself with dignified authenticity for your sake and everyone’s sake—you will have achieved that necessary self-growth and ego-transcendence to awaken to lasting inner peace.

Excerpted from Roar Like a Goddess: Every Woman's Guide to Becoming Unapologetically Powerful, Prosperous, and Peaceful by Acharya Shunya.