Today is Sri Ganesh Chaturthi

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GANESH CHATURTHI

By SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA

http://www.dlshq.org/religions/ganesh.htm

 

 

SALUTATIONS to Lord Ganesha who is Brahman Himself, who is the

Supreme Lord, who is the energy of Lord Shiva, who is the source of

all bliss, and who is the bestower of all virtuous qualities and

success in all undertakings.

 

Mushikavaahana modaka hastha,

Chaamara karna vilambitha sutra,

Vaamana rupa maheshwara putra,

Vighna vinaayaka paada namasthe

 

MEANING: "O Lord Vinayaka! the remover of all obstacles, the son of

Lord Shiva, with a form which is very short, with mouse as Thy

vehicle, with sweet pudding in hand, with wide ears and long hanging

trunk, I prostrate at Thy lotus-like Feet!"

 

Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most popular of Hindu festivals. This

is the birthday of Lord Ganesha. It is the day most sacred to Lord

Ganesha. It falls on the 4th day of the bright fortnight of

Bhadrapada (August-September). It is observed throughout India, as

well as by devoted Hindus in all parts of the world.

 

Clay figures of the Deity are made and after being worshipped for

two days, or in some cases ten days, they are thrown into water.

 

Lord Ganesha is the elephant-headed God. He is worshipped first in

any prayers. His Names are repeated first before any auspicious work

is begun, before any kind of worship is begun.

 

He is the Lord of power and wisdom. He is the eldest son of Lord

Shiva and the elder brother of Skanda or Kartikeya. He is the energy

of Lord Shiva and so He is called the son of Shankar and Umadevi. By

worshipping Lord Ganesha mothers hope to earn for their sons the

sterling virtues of Ganesha.

 

The following story is narrated about His birth and how He came to

have the head of an elephant:

 

Once upon a time, the Goddess Gauri (consort of Lord Shiva), while

bathing, created Ganesha as a pure white being out of the mud of Her

Body and placed Him at the entrance of the house. She told Him not

to allow anyone to enter while she went inside for a bath. Lord

Shiva Himself was returning home quite thirsty and was stopped by

Ganesha at the gate. Shiva became angry and cut off Ganesha's head

as He thought Ganesha was an outsider.

 

When Gauri came to know of this she was sorely grieved. To console

her grief, Shiva ordered His servants to cut off and bring to Him

the head of any creature that might be sleeping with its head facing

north. The servants went on their mission and found only an elephant

in that position. The sacrifice was thus made and the elephant's

head was brought before Shiva. The Lord then joined the elephant's

head onto the body of Ganesha.

 

Lord Shiva made His son worthy of worship at the beginning of all

undertakings, marriages, expeditions, studies, etc. He ordained that

the annual worship of Ganesha should take place on the 4th day of

the bright half of Bhadrapada.

 

Without the Grace of Sri Ganesha and His help nothing whatsoever can

be achieved. No action can be undertaken without His support, Grace

or blessing.

 

In his first lesson in the alphabet a Maharashtrian child is

initiated into the Mantra of Lord Ganesha, Om Sri Ganeshaya Namah.

Only then is the alphabet taught.

 

The following are some of the common Names of Lord Ganesha:

Dhoomraketu, Sumukha, Ekadantha, Gajakarnaka, Lambodara, Vignaraja,

Ganadhyaksha, Phalachandra, Gajanana, Vinayaka, Vakratunda,

Siddhivinayaka, Surpakarna, Heramba, Skandapurvaja, Kapila and

Vigneshwara. He is also known by many as Maha-Ganapathi.

 

His Mantra is Om Gung Ganapathaye Namah. Spiritual aspirants who

worship Ganesha as their tutelary Deity repeat this Mantra or Om Sri

Ganeshaya Namah.

 

The devotees of Ganesha also do Japa of the Ganesha Gayatri Mantra.

This is as follows.

 

Tat purushaaya vidmahe

Vakratundaaya dheemahi

Tanno dhanti prachodayaat.

 

Lord Ganesha is an embodiment of wisdom and bliss. He is the Lord of

Brahmacharins. He is foremost amongst the celibates.

 

He has as his vehicle a small mouse. He is the presiding Deity of

the Muladhara Chakra, the psychic centre in the body in which the

Kundalini Shakti resides.

 

He is the Lord who removes all obstacles on the path of the

spiritual aspirant, and bestows upon him worldly as well as

spiritual success. Hence He is called Vigna Vinayaka. His Bija

Akshara (root syllable) is Gung, pronounced to rhyme with the

English word "sung". He is the Lord of harmony and peace.

 

Lord Ganesha represents Om or the Pranava, which is the chief Mantra

among the Hindus. Nothing can be done without uttering it. This

explains the practice of invoking Ganesha before beginning any rite

or undertaking any project. His two feet represent the power of

knowledge and the power of action. The elephant head is significant

in that it is the only figure in nature that has the form of the

symbol for Om.

 

The significance of riding on a mouse is the complete conquest over

egoism. The holding of the ankusha represents His rulership of the

world. It is the emblem of divine Royalty.

 

Ganesha is the first God. Riding on a mouse, one of nature's

smallest creatures and having the head of an elephant, the biggest

of all animals, denotes that Ganesha is the creator of all

creatures. Elephants are very wise animals; this indicates that Lord

Ganesha is an embodiment of wisdom. It also denotes the process of

evolution--the mouse gradually evolves into an elephant and finally

becomes a man. This is why Ganesha has a human body, an elephant's

head and a mouse as His vehicle. This is the symbolic philosophy of

His form.

 

He is the Lord of Ganas or groups, for instance groups of elements,

groups of senses, etc. He is the head of the followers of Shiva or

the celestial servants of Lord Shiva.

 

The Vaishnavas also worship Lord Ganesha. They have given Him the

name of Tumbikkai Alwar which means the divinity with the proboscis

(the elephant's trunk).

 

Lord Ganesha's two powers are the Kundalini and the Vallabha or

power of love.

 

He is very fond of sweet pudding or balls of rice flour with a sweet

core. On one of His birthdays He was going around house to house

accepting the offerings of sweet puddings. Having eaten a good

number of these, He set out moving on His mouse at night. Suddenly

the mouse stumbled--it had seen a snake and became frightened--with

the result that Ganesha fell down. His stomach burst open and all

the sweet puddings came out. But Ganesha stuffed them back into His

stomach and, catching hold of the snake, tied it around His belly.

 

Seeing all this, the moon in the sky had a hearty laugh. This

unseemly behaviour of the moon annoyed Him immensely and so he

pulled out one of His tusks and hurled it against the moon, and

cursed that no one should look at the moon on the Ganesh Chaturthi

day. If anyone does, he will surely earn a bad name, censure or ill-

repute. However, if by mistake someone does happen to look at the

moon on this day, then the only way he can be freed from the curse

is by repeating or listening to the story of how Lord Krishna

cleared His character regarding the Syamantaka jewel. This story is

quoted in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Lord Ganesha was pleased to ordain

thus. Glory to Lord Ganesha! How kind and merciful He is unto His

devotees!

 

Ganesha and His brother Lord Subramanya once had a dispute as to who

was the elder of the two. The matter was referred to Lord Shiva for

final decision. Shiva decided that whoever would make a tour of the

whole world and come back first to the starting point had the right

to be the elder. Subramanya flew off at once on his vehicle, the

peacock, to make a circuit of the world. But the wise Ganesha went,

in loving worshipfulness, around His divine parents and asked for

the prize of His victory.

 

Lord Shiva said, "Beloved and wise Ganesha! But how can I give you

the prize; you did not go around the world?"

 

Ganesha replied, "No, but I have gone around my parents. My parents

represent the entire manifested universe!"

 

Thus the dispute was settled in favour of Lord Ganesha, who was

thereafter acknowledged as the elder of the two brothers. Mother

Parvati also gave Him a fruit as a prize for this victory.

 

In the Ganapathi Upanishad, Ganesha is identified with the Supreme

Self. The legends that are connected with Lord Ganesha are recorded

in the Ganesha Khanda of the Brahma Vivartha Purana.

 

On the Ganesh Chaturthi day, meditate on the stories connected with

Lord Ganesha early in the morning, during the Brahmamuhurta period.

Then, after taking a bath, go to the temple and do the prayers of

Lord Ganesha. Offer Him some coconut and sweet pudding. Pray with

faith and devotion that He may remove all the obstacles that you

experience on the spiritual path. Worship Him at home, too. You can

get the assistance of a pundit. Have an image of Lord Ganesha in

your house. Feel His Presence in it.

 

Don't forget not to look at the moon on that day; remember that it

behaved unbecomingly towards the Lord. This really means avoid the

company of all those who have no faith in God, and who deride God,

your Guru and religion, from this very day.

 

Take fresh spiritual resolves and pray to Lord Ganesha for inner

spiritual strength to attain success in all your undertakings.

 

May the blessings of Sri Ganesha be upon you all! May He remove all

the obstacles that stand in your spiritual path! May He bestow on

you all material prosperity as well as liberation!

 

This article is a chapter from the book "Hindu Fasts and Festivals".

http://www.dlshq.org/religions/ganesh.htm

 

LORD GANESA--THE REMOVER OF OBSTACLES

By

 

SRI SWAMI KRISHNANANDA

Human life is beset with obstacles. We face oppositions and

encounter difficulties in galore, and the whole of our daily

activity may, in a sense, be considered as a struggle against all

odds which come in different forms as the sorrows of life. The

moment we wake up in the morning, we have to face the obstacle

called hunger which we try to obviate by cooking and eating food,

the obstacle called thirst which we have to get rid of by drinks and

the obstacle called disease, exhaustion, fatigue, sleeplessness and

the like, which we endeavour to remedy by the introduction of

various types of medicines. The very presence of people around us is

an obstacle and the human individual suddenly becomes restless, and

both consciously and unconsciously puts on an attitude of self-

defence, as if one has found oneself suddenly in a terrific warfield.

 

The difficulties of life are, to a large extent, the very substance

of life itself. The whole of life is a bundle of difficulties. It is

a mess of oppositions, which calls for a continuous counteracting

force which is what is called human enterprise. If the whole earth

were filled with milk and honey, and if there is no fatigue, no old

age and death, no hunger and thirst, no opposition and nobody to

utter a word, then there would be no activity, no necessity to do

anything and no incentive in the direction of any movement. The

quantity, the expanse and the magnitude of the opposition which

comes before us in life is such that no single individual will be

able to face it. This whole world is too much for a single man and

considering the incongruous, disproportionate relationship between a

single human individual and the vast world outside, there is very

little hope of man's achieving anything in this world, successfully.

Because, with a spoon you cannot bail out the ocean of waters,

though your effort may be laudable. You are, no doubt, very

sincerely industrious in emptying the ocean of its waters with a

little spoon or a ladle. Notwithstanding the fact that this effort

on your part is praiseworthy, that is not going to lead you to any

success and the expected result will not follow. The ocean cannot be

emptied by any amount of bailing out with a spoon. Such seems to be

the type of world into which we are born and people who are acutely

conscious of this situation become humble enough to accept that even

an inch of success cannot be expected in this world without a

miraculous grace of God. So, even the little success that sometimes

seems to come to us is a kind of undeserved promotion, as it were,

granted to us by the mercy of the Almighty. Our efforts are only a

puny child's whining and weeping with a helpless weakness of body

and mind. The traditional annual worship of God in this role, as the

remover of all obstacles, as Vighna Vinayaka, is known as Vinayaka

Chaturthi or Ganesa Chaturthi. It is the day on which we offer

special adoration to the Remover of obstacles.

 

We are terribly afraid of obstacles. There is no other fear in this

world except obstacle. So, always we cry: "Remove the obstacles,

clear the path, cleanse the road." On the fourth day of the bright

half of the lunar month of Bhadrapada (August-September) every year,

the great Lord called the Lord of Hosts, Ganapati, is worshipped

throughout India, perhaps in many other parts of the world also.

There is no Hindu who does not recognise the pre-eminence of the

worship of this mysteriously conceived deity called Ganapati whose

name occurs right in the beginning of the Rigveda itself, the

earliest of scriptures, where pointedly the name is taken in a

Mantra, "Gananam tva ganapatim havamahe..." The fear of God is

supposed to be the beginning of religion. A person who has no fear

of God has no religion also, because religion is respect for God.

The fear of God goes together with the acceptance of the greatness

of God and His Power. Wherever there is power, we are afraid of it.

An ocean, a lion, an elephant are all powerful things and we dread

the very sight of them.

 

Tradition conceives this great Remover of obstacles, Ganapati, as

the son of Lord Siva with a proboscis of an elephant and a

protuberant belly, with weapons of various types and a benign

gesture of goodwill, grace and blessing with His right hand. The

family of Bhagavan Siva is of a peculiar set up. The Lord of all the

worlds, lives as one possessing nothing! This manner of living in

Mount Kailasa by the great Master of Yogis, Lord Siva, is perhaps a

demonstration of the great definition of the glory of Bhagavan, the

Supreme Being as possessed of all-knowledge, all-power and all-

renunciation. What is Bhagavan and what are His

characteristics? 'Bhagavan' is one who has six

characteristics. "Aisvaryasya samagrasya viryasya yasasah sriyah;

Jnana-Vairagyayoh chaiva shannam bhaga itirana"--these six

characteristics mentioned are all called Bhaga. One who has Bhaga is

called Bhagavan. All prosperity, all wealth, all treasure, all

glory, all magnificence is Aisvarya. Entire Aisvarya is there. Virya

is tremendous energy, force and power. Yasas is fame and renown.

Srih is prosperity. Jnana and Vairagya are the pinnacle of wisdom

and the pinnacle of renunciation, respectively. Knowledge is

supposed to be a benediction from Lord Siva Himself. In the Srimad

Bhagavata Mahapurana, at the commencement of the second Skandha, Sri

Suka delineates the names of various deities who have to be adored

for various purposes. "Jnanam Mahesvaradicchet--All knowledge is to

be expected from the great Siva." They say that the ocean of Siva is

incomprehensible; a part of it was contained in a pot by Brihaspati,

and a spoon of it was taken by Panini who is the promulgator of

Sanskrit grammar.

 

You know the interesting story as to how Panini, the originator of

Sanskrit grammar, received knowledge from Lord Siva. He was supposed

to be the dullest of the students in a group that was studying from

a Guru in Taxila, Taksha Shila. There were other very intelligent

boys. Panini was the most stupid, the least intelligent, very much

belittled and made fun of by the colleagues in the class. He was

deeply hurt that he was being cowed down by other colleagues and

that he could not understand anything that the teacher said. Almost

in a desperate mood of disgust with everything, he went to the

forest and deeply contemplated on Lord Siva. He prayed: "O Lord!

Bless me with Knowledge." It is said that Lord Siva appeared before

him, danced and revolved His Dakka or Damaru fourteen times, and the

following fourteen sounds were made: "1. Aiun, 2. Rlrk, 3. Aowng, 4.

Ai ouch, 5. Ha ya va rat, 6. Lan, 7. Na ma nga na nam, 8. Jha bhanj,

9. Gha dha dhash, 10. Ja ba ga da das, 11. Kha pha chha tha tha cha

ta tav, 12. Ka pay, 13. Sa sha sar, and 14. Hal. All this

constitutes the very essence of Sanskrit grammar. These sounds,

meaningless as they may appear to us, became the foundation of

Sanskrit grammar and Sanskrit literature.

 

So, God can teach us without books and without the usual medium of

instruction, by a thought, a sound, a look, a touch or a benign

gesture.

 

Such a Master's son is Sri Ganapati, Sri Ganesa. We have endless

stories about our Gods, all partly humorous and partly highly

illuminating. The usual belief is that Lord Ganapati is a celibate

and He never married, though there is a belief in North India that

He has Siddhi and Buddhi, two consorts behind Him. There is a

humorous story about His marriage. He was about to be married and

the bridegroom's procession was moving in great gusto, from Mount

Kailasa evidently, to the bride's palace. We do not know who that

contemplated bride was. We know only that there was a procession of

the bridegroom. And His pot belly, it seems, burst on the way due to

eating too much, and He took a snake, who is sometimes identified

with Subrahmanya, tied it around His stomach and ate again. It seems

Chandra or moon looked at this scene and laughed, saying: "Look at

this man who is going for his marriage! His stomach is burst and he

is tying up with, a snake? This took place on the fourth day of the

bright half of the lunar month, Bhadrapada (Aug-Sept). Ganapati was

irritated very much. He cursed the moon: "You fellow, you talk about

me like this. You have insulted me. Well, whoever looks at you on

this day will also similarly be insulted." So, people dread to look

at the moon on that day. Chauthi Chandra, the moon on the fourth day

of the bright half of the lunar month, is considered very

inauspicious, resulting in Apavadam or censure and reproach on the

one who sees it. Apavada means undeserved blame and scandal. You

might have done nothing, yet somebody will go on telling some evil

against you. This is the result of looking at the moon on the fourth

day, because it has the curse of Ganapati. But they say, in our

tradition of curses, that there is also what is called Sapamoksha or

a kind of remedy. The moon said: "Please excuse me, why do you curse

me like this?" The moon pleaded for some remedy. Then Ganapati in

reply said: "OK, alright, I pardon you. Whoever looks at you on the

first day after the New moon, will be relieved of this curse." I

have seen people running to terraces and climbing trees and trying

to see the little streak of the moon appearing like a thread on the

first day after the New moon, to be rid of all the evils that might

have grown around them even by an unconscious look on the fourth

day, because on that fourth day especially the moon is just before

our eyes and very clear. He is located very peculiarly in a position

in the sky where you cannot avoid seeing him. So, then, when our

eyes fall on the moon on the fourth day, we rub our eyes and

say, "Oh..very sorry, some mistake has taken place," and we expect

some trouble afterwards. Somebody will say something against us.

Anyhow, the remedy is seeing the moon on the first day after the New

moon.

 

The philosophy behind all these traditional worships and Puranic

allegories is that the path of spiritual Sadhana is a mystery by

itself and it is not a heroic activity of the Sadhaka, as sometimes

he may imagine. No heroism will work there. Even the so-called

heroic attitude, which we sometimes put on, is an entry of divine

force into us. Just as a child's or a little baby's walking is the

strength of the mother who is holding it with her hand, whatever

intelligence we have, whatever satisfaction we enjoy in this life,

whatever strength we possess, whether physical or psychological,

whatever security we have, whatever is worthwhile in our existence

is a modicum of the reflection of God's power. The worship of Maha-

Ganapati, with the Mantra "Om Gam Ganapataye Namah," is a humble

submission of the true circumstance of oneself before the might of

God's glory. Who can open one's eyes before God! Who can utter one

word before Him! Who can boast of one's learning, greatness, etc.,

before Him! We would be ashamed even to present ourselves before

Him. Consider the might of the Creator, the magnitude of His power,

the depth of His Wisdom, His Knowledge and His Omniscience, and your

present condition! Compare it and contrast it. What Sadhana, what

meditation, what Yoga can you do! The moment you begin to take one

step in the direction of this holy movement towards God, the world

pounces upon you with all its army, because the world is

quantitatively larger. We live in a world of quantities. We require

quantitative food, quantitative drink, quantitative physical

appurtenances, and everything we require and ask for in life is only

a quantity rather than a quality. So the quantity of the world being

larger than the quantity of our physical personality, we cannot face

it. So there is this humble acceptance of submission and a prayer to

the great Almighty as manifest in Ganapati.

 

There is another story as to why He is worshipped first on all

occasions. It appears Parvati, the consort of Lord Siva, went for a

bath, may be in the Ganga. She scrubbed her body and out of the dirt

of her body she made a small image of a boy, gave life to it by her

touch and ordained him not to allow entry to any person when she is

taking bath in the river. Accordingly, that boy stood guarding. At

that moment, the great Lord Siva Himself came and the boy prevented

His entry, because he cannot recognise Lord Siva, whom he has not

seen. He has only the order of his Mother that nobody should enter.

He immediately objected to the brave entry of Lord Siva into the

vicinity where Parvati was taking bath. You can imagine the feeling

of Lord Siva. "What is this? The little chap is standing and

preventing me from seeing my own consort!" He immediately chopped

off Ganapati's head and he fell down dead. When Parvati came up, she

was aghast and said: "Oh Lord, You have killed my boy, he is my own

child, and I am deeply hurt. What have you done! Oh, my Lord!" She

bet her breast and would not speak. She started weeping. The Lord

Siva said, "Do not weep, I shall give life to him." But ironically

enough, He would not put the same head back. We do not know the

reason why He did this. He told, "Bring the head of someone who is

sleeping with his head towards the north." This is why it is said

that you should not sleep with your head towards the north.

Otherwise, Siva will search for you! And they found nobody except an

elephant lying with its head towards the north. Its head was severed

and brought. The elephant's head was attached to the trunk of this

boy and life was given by the Great Siva. He became alive and was

named as Ganapati, which designation was bestowed upon him by Lord

Siva Himself, may be to pacify Parvati or to bring about a peaceful

atmosphere around. Lord Siva not only gave him life, but also made

him the leader of His hosts. Ganapati, is therefore, the leader of

the hosts of Lord Siva Himself. There is a large audience before

Lord Siva, consisting of varieties of Ganas. Ganas are demigods;

they are neither human nor superhuman, but a peculiar type.

Sometimes they look like astral beings. These Ganas are ruled by

Ganapati under the order of Siva. So Ganapati means the

Generalissimo, as it were, of the hosts who always live in Kailasa.

Apart from making Ganapati the Leader of hosts, Lord Siva bestowed

another blessing on Him, saying: "You shall be the first one to be

worshipped on all occasion." So this is the order or the ordinance

of Lord Siva. The ordinance stands for ever. It is a permanent

ordinance from the Great Master: "No one will be worshipped before

you, not even me. After you are worshipped alone, will anybody else

be worshipped." We won't worship Lord Siva or Lord Narayana without

first worshipping Ganapati. "Om Gam Ganapataye Namah," is a Mantra

to propitiate Ganapati.

 

Human mind is elated and enthused by hearing stories. Image,

painting, music, idols, dance, any kind of picturesque presentation

of religion and spirituality or philosophy is generally more

appealing than cut and dry logic, as you know very well. So the

Puranas and the Epics bring home to us the idea of the necessity to

accept the power of God as the only medium by which obstacles can be

removed. So, He is called Vighnesvara, the God who is not merely the

Ganapati or the ruler of the hosts or Ganas, but also a Remover of

all impediments on alt paths.

 

I have heard a story when I was a small boy told by a neighbour.

There was a person who never believed in Gods and when his

daughter's marriage was to be performed, someone said, "First of all

you must worship Ganesa. Do not be in a hurry." He replied, "Let him

be Ganesa or his grandfather, I do not care for anybody." He took

the Murti of Ganesa and threw it into the tank. And suddenly, they

say, there was a fire and the whole marriage Pandal was aflame.

People bet their breasts, cried, ran to the tank and brought back

the image. And then, it is said, there was rain, after Ganesa was

worshipped. These are all stories and we have to take them for what

they are worth.

 

But there is something mysterious about things. Everything is not

clear to the minds of men. There are great secrets. And as I began

by saying, the spiritual path is itself a great secret. The little

Japa that you do, the scriptures that you read, the audience that

you hold and whatever you appear to be doing, is only an outer crust

of the mystery of life. The mystery is finally in yourself. You

yourself do not know who is goading you to think in this manner.

That goading principle is the mystery. If you recognise this mystery

within you which mystifies even your intelligence and your efforts,

you will be humble, simple and small before God, because spiritual

Sadhana is an art of becoming smaller and smaller. It is not to

become bigger and bigger. A person becomes smaller and smaller as he

approaches God, just as a candle flame becomes dimmer and dimmer as

it goes nearer and nearer to the sun; and just before the sun, it is

not there? You cannot see even its existence. It vanishes. Likewise,

when we approach God, we become smaller and smaller, humbler and

humbler, littler and littler, until we become nothing. In this

nothingness, we will find God Himself filling us. When there is

total emptiness created by an abolition of ourselves, in this

emptiness or vacuum created, God fills Himself. 'Empty thyself and I

shall fill thee'--says Jesus Christ. The Mahaganapati Purana, the

Ganapati Atharvasirsha Upanishad, the Ganesa Gita and several

anecdotes occurring in the Mahabharata and the other Puranas glorify

this aspect of the Supreme Almighty which requires our submission at

His feet, and expects us to recognise Him as the sole power that can

remove all obstacles on the path of the spiritual seeker towards the

attainment of Godhead. This seems to be a part of the meaning hidden

behind the holy worship of Bhagavan Ganapati or Sri Ganesa or

Mahaganapati. A dread enters our minds when we think of His Name on

account of the feeling that any displeasure on His part may be a

doom to us. People are afraid even to forget taking the holy Prasada

of Sri Satyanarayana Puja because of the story behind it. Do you

know what will happen to you if you do not take the Prasada? It is

mentioned in the story that the whole thing will be finished--all

your wealth, property, wife, children, etc., will go to dogs in one

second. The fear of it makes you bow down and wait for the Prasada

even if it is late in the night. These stories are not meaningless

narrations of cock and bull incidents. They instil into our minds a

divine urge and a fear of the Divine Presence. After all we are

human beings who are ruled more by sentiments and feelings than by

our reason or our so-called understanding. This psychology of the

human being is taken advantage of by the writers of the Epics and

the Puranas to instil faith in our hearts through these stories.

Thus is a little tribute to the glory of Maha Ganapati.

 

This Ganesa Chaturthi message was given in September, 1981. A

collection of messages by Swamiji during various spiritual festivals

including this message can be found in Swamiji's book, "Spiritual

Import of Religious Festivals".

http://www.dlshq.org/religions/ganesh_krishna.htm

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

The posts by kvashisht from Swami Sivananda and Swami

Krishnananda are very illuminating.

 

I thought I should contribute my two cents worth for Sri

Ganesha. So here it is - pulled out from my website.

---------------------------

There is no other God or divinity in the entire Hindu pantheon

who has such a variety of interpretations and such a spectrum of

legends as those associated with Lord gaNesha. He is one of the

six major divinities of Hinduism, namely, sUrya, shakti, viShNu,

gaNesha, subrahmaNya and shiva. However gaNesha (or gaNapati or

vinAyaka or vighnezshvara, which are some of the most well known

names of this divinity) is the one Divinity who is considered as

the primal God of all worship and therefore always invoked at

the commencement of any worship. Be it a secular function, a

religious ritual, a marriage ceremony, an auspicious

undertaking, or any individual or collective enterprise, He is

propitiated first in order to have all obstacles removed. For

the same purpose we are also beginning this book with our first

prostrations to Him. There is no greater authority than

gaNapati, the master of all the gaNa’s, namely of all the

associates and disciples of Siva. The word gaNa’s also means

divine soldiers who constitute the dynamics of divine action or

management. Worshippers of other divinities have to worship Him

first. But to worship Him one is not obliged to worship any

other deity. He is the Lord Special. Therefore He is vinAyaka.

(nAyaka means Lord and vi is the prefix denoting vishiShTa which

means distinguished or special). Everything about Him has an

esoteric or philosophical meaning in addition to the mundane

legends associated with Him.

In worshipping gaNapati, the devotee cuffs the head with a

closed fist five times uttering his five names and prays for the

removal of all obstacles. The five names are:

shuklAm-bara-dhara, He who is clad in pure white

vishNu He who pervades everything and everywhere

shasi-varNa, He who is of the cool colour of the moon

catur-bhuja, He who has four hands

prasanna-vadana, He whose face is always beaming with

satisfaction.

The corresponding shloka that is often uttered at the beginning

of every worship or ritual is:

shuklAmbara-dharaM vishNuM shashi-varNaM catur-bhujaM /

prasanna-vadanaM dhyAyet sarva-vighnopashAntaye //

The deity is invoked here for meditation and reverence, through

His five names. The obvious purpose is explicitly stated: ‘in

order to quell every form of an obstacle (for the work to be

started)’. He Himself is the Lord of all obstacles, therefore He

is vighna-Ishvara (=vighneshvara); not just the queller of

obstacles as the above invocation would motivate us to conclude

– for in that case His name would have been vighna-ghna-Ishvara.

So His name signifies He is at the same time the creator of

obstacles and also the remover of them. He creates obstacles in

order that people may shed their egoism (ahaM-kAra) and think of

God with humility. People have to surrender their ego to Him

with humility and he takes this offering of our ego, converts it

into a mouse and neutralises it by sitting over it. When one

thinks of Him thus with humility, He removes the obstacles to

success and gives us siddhi – success or fulfillment, and buddhi

– intelligence. The goddesses siddhi and buddhi are in fact the

names of His two energy-consorts.

The four hands and the one trunk of this elephant-faced deity

have esoteric significance. The upper left hand (with or without

the noose) stands for Creation (or binding power). The binding

power is what binds Matter and Spirit and is therefore the

source of all this universe including all the living. The lower

right hand (with or without the broken tusk) stands for

Sustenance and Protection. He thus gives abhaya, Fearlessness.

The upper right hand (with or without the hatchet) stands for

Dissolution. The lower left hand with modaka or laDDu (the

standard sweet dish which is always associated with Him) stands

for Grace. It gives Liberation (from the cycle of births and

deaths). The trunk of the deity is His organ of smell and touch;

it stands for Obliteration or Deception (mAyA).

The deity vinAyaka is the embodiment of oM, the symbol for the

Absolute. With His right tusk broken, he represents the female

principle by his right half and the male principle by his left

half. So He represents the Transcendental Absolute which is

beyond any sexual principle. By His animal face and human limbs

He signifies that He is beyond Man and Animal. The Absolute is

also the Overlord of all the senses and their activates – as

signified by the fact that He is gaNa-pati . The word gaNa also

means ‘category’. So gaNa-pati is the Lord of comprehension or

consciousness. Though He holds the modaka (sweet dish) in His

hand, his trunk is never shown as putting the modaka in His

mouth. He just holds them. He watches. He is the Witness ( =

sAkshi ) to everything. He does not Himself consume or

experience. He is the Witness of Consciousness in each one of

us. He is the symbol of the Primordial Power of Consciousness.

His elephant-head is adored as the emblem of wisdom. The

elephant-headed God is sitting on a mouse, the smallest of

animals – showing His mastery over everything from the micro to

the macro. He is therefore the wisdom of comprehension of the

relationship between the micro and the macro. The whole figure

of vinAyaka with the sweet dish in His hand and with His

pot-belly infuses an utter contentment typifying wisdom. It is

the spiritual contentment of the fullness of the Absolute. The

pot-belly also signifies that the entire universe is within Him.

It is this contentment that makes Him dance sometimes. There are

innumerable images and artistic representations of dancing

gaNa-pati.

The gaNapati Upanishad, from the atharva-veda has elaborate

discourses on the glories of the divinity that is gaNapati. One

such is :

All this universe springs from you, merges in you and everything

goes back to you. You are Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Space.

You transcend the three guNa’s – satva, rajas and tamas. You are

beyond the three bodies – physical, subtle and causal. You are

beyond the three states of Time – past, present and future. You

are Brahma, viShNu, indra, agni, vAyu, Sun and Moon. You are the

three vyAhRti’s and finally you are brahman itself symbolised by

oM

sarvam jagad-idaM tvatto jAyate, tvattas-tiShTati, tvayi layaM

eShyati, tvayi pratyeti / tvam bhUmi-rApo-nalo’nilo-nabhaH /

tvaM guNa-trayA-tItaH / tvaM deha-trayA-tItaH / tvaM

kAla-trayAtItaH / tvam brahma tvam viShNuH

tvamindras-tvam-agnis-tvam vAyus-tvaM sUryas-tvaM candramAs-tvaM

brahma bhUr-bhuvas-suvar-oM //

 

praNAms to all advaitins

profvk

 

 

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

 

 

 

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