Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth’s rite of passage?

The father takes the young boy into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone.  He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shines through it.  He can not cry out for help to anyone.  Once he survives the night, he is a man.  He can not tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.  The boy is terrified.  He can hear all kinds of noises.  Wild beasts must surely be all around him.  Maybe even some human might do him harm.  The wind blew the grass, the earth and shook his stump but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold.  It would be the only way he could become a man!  Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold.  It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him.  He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.  We too are never alone.  Even when we don’t know it, there is a Divine force watching over us or sitting on the stump beside us.  When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to it.

Yaa Kundendu Tusharahaaradhaavala
Yaa Subhravastraavritaa
Yaa Veenaa Varadanda Manditakaraa
Yaa Shveta Padmaasanaa
Yaa Brahmaachyuta Shankara Prabhritibhir
Devaih Sadaa Poojitaa
Saa Maam Paatu Sarasvatee Bhagavatee
Nisshesha Jaadyaapahaa

May Goddess Saraswati, dispeller of all nescience and inertia, whose complexion is like jasmine blossoms, moon or snow, who is attired in spotless white sari, whose hands are adorned with enchanting veena, who is always worshipped by Brahma, Vishnu, Siva and other Gods, who is seated in a white lotus, protect you.

Love,
Paula, Andrew and Samuel