Right or Left Trunk

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Here's more detailed information about Ganesh's right trunk and left trunk

(highlighted in blue) from: http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/1415/gan.html

Lord Ganesha

Ganesha or Ganapati is an extremely popular God in India. He is called

Vighneshvara or Vighnaharta, the Lord of and destroyer of obstacles. People

mostly worship Him asking for siddhi, success in undertakings, and buddhi,

intelligence. He is worshipped before any venture is started. He is also the

God of education, knowledge and wisdom, literature, and the fine arts. In

reality, He is Brahman. Ganesha is also one of the five Gods the worship of

whom was popularized by Adi Shankaracharya; the other four being Vishnu, Shiva,

Shakti and Surya. The worship of these five deities is called the panchaayatana

puja. In some cases, Skanda is also worshipped. It is said that Ganesha was

born when the eternal couple contemplated on AUM. If you view Lord Ganesha

sideways, then you will see the symbol AUM in sanskrit. That's why Ganesha is

called AUMkara and worshipped first. AUM is praNava. What is meant by praNava.

pra is short for prakriti and navam means excellent boat. That is, AUM is the

way to cross the ocean of worldly existence.

Ganesha Legends and names

The following stotra is from the narada purana, and is recited to remove all

troubles and get liberation. praNamya shirasaa devaM gaurii putraM

vinaayakaM |

salutation head god gaurii son vinaayakaM

 

bhaktaa vaasaM smaren.h nityaM aayuH kaama artha siddhaye ||1 ||

devotee stays remember always longlife desired wealth powers

 

One should bow the head and offer obeisance before the

son of Gauri, Vinayaka, whose abode is the devotees, and

remember Him always for the purpose of obtaining longevity,

desired powers and prosperity.

Vinakaya is like all of us, never born and eternal. But it is our nature to

associate a naama-ruupa to everyone including Gods. The divine, pleased with

this, bestows forms on themselves (Shankara). All devotees start with the

purpose of obtaining desired powers or with a wish to live long. Eventually,

all of the true devotees see the futility of such a venture. Why live long ? As

long as one earns money and is fit, everyone fawns on him but when one gets old,

everyone forgets him. When life leaves the body, even the spouse who enjoyed the

body runs away from it fearing that death will touch that person too (Shankara).

Why live long in a body when one can realize that the person is immortal by

letting go of the notion there is a body-mind. As long as the body lives, the

mind should be fixed on Divinity. The life lived catering to the senses should

not counted as living. prathamaM vakratuNDaM cha eka dantaM dvitIyakaM |

first curved trunk and one tusked secondly

 

tR^itIyaM kR^ishhNa pi.ngAkshhaM gaja vaktraM chaturthakaM || 2 ||

thirdly black red-eyed elephant faced fourth

 

(Now the twelve names of Ganesha are mentioned. One must

utter) first the name Vakratunda, One with a curved trunk,

second ekadanta, the single-tusked One, third Krishnapingaksha,

the black and red-eyed One, fourth gajavaktra, the God with the

face of an elephant.

 

The trunk should be curved to the left for normal idols. If it is curved to the

right, it is called siddhi vinakya and needs special worship. One should be

very careful in worshipping such idols.

The trunk of Ganesha reaches the sweet, modaka. Ganesha is known as modaka

priiya. When Ganesha was "born", the Gods were very happy and presented Parvati

Devi with modaka. They said anyone who smells it realizes he/she is immortal. He

who eats it will become great in both spiritual and worldly knowledge. This is

said in the padma purana.

Trunk is also an unique instrument. It can pick up a needle and also a huge

tree. No man made instrument can do both. Similarly, Ganesha will give you

wealth, health etc. or liberation (we will see that in the later verses). He

will give you what you sincerely ask unless there is a reason (see under large

ears). If you ask Him, he will grace you with the touch of his trunk, and smash

all the obstacles with the same trunk. The trunk hangs between the two tusks

signifying discrimination between the worldly and spirituality. Ganesha, beyong

all dualities, is attached to neither.

But why is the trunk curved to right so special and so strict ? The iDa naaDii

is on the left side, while the pingalaa naaDii is on the right. The

left-turning trunk has easy rules and one can do puja however one wants with

respect since the ida naadii is the moon. but the right turning nadi is the sun

and will burn one if rules are violated. When the trunk is facing straight

forward, then it signifies the sushumna is entirely open. Idols such as these

are very rare and special. Even more special is the trunk where the trunk is

swung up right in the air. It means the kundalini shakti has reached the

sahasra permanently. The single tusk is because the tusk was broken when

Ganesha killed Gana, the demon. Another incident is related to the breaking of

the tusk to write the Mahabharata. The following are other incidents. The name

ekadanta is from the incarnation to subdue mada-asura (pride). The asura after

surrendering to ekadanta describes that eka is the embodiment (maayaa) and

danta stands for truth (satya). Thus, ekadanta stands for the supreme truth

that weilds maya. Who weilds the maya ? Mahamaya. Who is Mahamaya ? Ekadanta.

Ganesha ate all the modhakas and became very fat. When he could not move, the

moon laughed at Him. Ganesha broke his tusk and threw it at the moon. Thus he

became ekadanta. Later, the moon apologized. The inner meaning is that the

light was covered by the maya. How does eka stand for maya ? Mudgala purana

says so. the interpretation is that eka means one. Everything is one. But maya

is the bija of the brahman. Only the maya makes it seem it is many. Mudgala

purana says that the tusk stands for both creation and the one who supports

creation. the creator and the created are not different.

********** Snipped****** Lengthy text, please read the rest at:

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LAUNCH - Your Music Experience

[Guest guest]

Thanks a lot Sy for all the effort you and Dragon made for making all this =

question more clear!

 

I really appreciate it,

 

All my love...

 

 

So now you have four Ganesha´s with the trunks pointing to the right? )=

)

 

Barbara¿