Om. May Sarvakanthavasini always protect me in the east. Om, aim, hrim, srim—Sarasvati, mother of the wise, may you safeguard me. Om, hrim, srim—the three-syllabled mantra—may it always shield me in the southwest. Om, may Sadambika forever protect me in the northwest. Om, may Sarvashastravasini be my guardian in the northeast. Aim, hrim—may Pustakavāsini always protect me below. Thus, O Brahmin, I have revealed to you the entire collection of these sacred mantras. Long ago, these mantras were heard from the very lips of Dharma on Mount Gandhamadana. After one worships the guru with proper offerings—garments, ornaments, and sandalwood—and recites these mantras five hundred thousand times, the spiritual armor is perfected. The devotee then becomes a great orator, a foremost poet, and victorious in the three worlds. This is the armor as spoken in the Kanva recension, which I have now told you, O sage. Nārāyaṇa continued: In ancient times, the illustrious sage Yājñavalkya worshipped the goddess with fervent praise. Yet, because of a curse from his teacher, Yājñavalkya was deprived of his knowledge. In his distress, he performed austerities and approached the Sun at Koṇārka, coming into the Sun’s very presence. The Sun, Lord of the Vedas and their branches, restored to him the sacred knowledge and instructed him. Having spoken thus, the Lord of the afflicted vanished from sight. Yājñavalkya then lamented, “Cursed by my teacher, I am bereft of memory, without knowledge, and deeply troubled. O goddess of knowledge, grant me wisdom, grant me memory. Bestow upon me the power to compose texts and bless me with a worthy and well-established disciple. Again and again, restore to me all that has been lost by fate. You are the embodiment of Brahman, the supreme, the eternal form of light. Without you, the entire world lives as if dead; without you, all beings are mute and mad, as if senseless. Your form is like snow, sandalwood, jasmine, the moon, the white lotus, and the water-lily. You preside over the sacred syllables visarga and bindu. Without you, even one who knows numbers cannot count them. You are the goddess who is the very form of explanation, the presiding deity of exposition, the embodiment of memory, knowledge, and intellect.” He recalled how, in ages past, Sanatkumāra had asked Brahmā about the nature of knowledge. Then, the blessed Lord—Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Self—appeared. At his command, Brahmā praised the goddess. When the earth itself sought a single, unified knowledge from the infinite one, Kaśyapa, by divine command and out of reverence, also praised the goddess. Vyāsa once questioned Vālmīki about the Purāṇa-sūtra, and by the goddess’s boon, Vālmīki composed the treatise. Having heard the Purāṇa-sūtra, Vyāsa—born in the age of Kṛṣṇa—received a boon from the goddess and became the foremost of poets. He then divided and composed the Vedas and the Purāṇas. It is said that, having meditated upon the goddess even for a moment, the Lord granted her knowledge. For a thousand divine years, he meditated upon her at Puṣkara and then taught the science of words and their meanings to the lord of the gods. Thus, the glory of the goddess of wisdom shines through all ages, bestowing knowledge, eloquence, and poetic power upon those who seek her with devotion.