Ganesa: Remover of Obstacles

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In Mumbai people celebrated Ganesh Caturthi a few days back. This article

although being posted a little late still can be useful to the devotees.

 

Ganesa: Remover of Obstacles

by Satyaraja Dasa

BTG

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THE JOYOUS ELEPHANT-FACED DEITY known as Ganesa is revered by one billion

Hindus worldwide, and though his worship has little place in the modern-day

Hare Krsna movement, his personality and pastimes are part of ISKCON's

heritage.

 

Ganesa is often seen as the creator and remover of obstacles, as the guardian

at entrances, and as a spiritually potent figure who can avert all evil

influences. In popular Hindu lore he is thus the god to be worshiped first,

before all religious ceremonies, public and private. Things tend to start off

with Ganesa, and this is reflected even in common idiomatic phrases. For

example, in Maharashtra when a dedication or inauguration is to be performed, a

Marathi speaker may refer to the occasion as Sri ganesa karane ("doing the Sri

Ganesa"). Another such expression is ganapatice kele ("to conceive a child").

Similar phrases are found in other Indian languages.

 

Since Ganesa is considered the lord of beginnings, for the first installment in

this series about the demigods we start with him.

 

According to the Vedic literature, behind the workings of the cosmos stand

powerful controllers, known as devas, or demigods. As we people in this world

control our cars or homes, the devas control various aspects of the cosmos.

 

Ganesa is a popular hero whose image adorns the walls of shops, homes, and

temples throughout India. Even for people unfamiliar with Indian culture or the

Vedic literature, Ganesa is perhaps the easiest of all demigods to identify,

with his human body, elephant head, and potbelly. He is usually pictured

standing, sitting, or dancing, with his jolly elephant face looking straight

ahead. Ganesa is at times depicted with quill on palm leaf, for as Vyasa

dictated the Mahabharata, Ganesa served as the scribe to write it down.

 

Ganesa is missing one tusk, a piece of which can sometimes be found in one of

his four hands. In another hand he sometimes holds a hatchet (parasu), which,

according to some texts, is for cutting away illusion and false teachings.

Another of Ganesa's hands often gestures fearlessness and reassurance

(varada-hasta-mudra). He also holds a goad (ankusa) like that used by an

elephant trainer, symbolizing his insistence on proper training or spiritual

discipline. He sometimes holds a noose (pasa) used for restraining wild

animals, here representing the restraint of passion and lustful desires.

Sometimes he is seen holding sweets (modaka), for which he is said to have an

inordinate fondness. Hence the belly.

 

Who is this strange-looking god, and what, if anything, does he have to do with

the worship of Krsna or Visnu?

 

Vedic texts reveal that Ganesa is the son of Siva and Parvati, although his

sonship like that of his half-brother, Skanda-Subrahmanya, is peculiar. Ac

cording to one version, Siva "emits" from his body a handsome son who becomes a

seducer of women. Parvati is offended by her son's exploits and curses him to

have the head of an elephant and a big belly-in other words, to be ugly. Though

with this he would seem fated to celibacy, he gradually settles down with two

wives: Buddhi ("wisdom") and Siddhi ("success"), who can see beyond his

physical ugliness.

 

As time passes, Ganesa becomes the commander of Siva's troops (gana- isa or

gana-pati), and because he be comes famous as one who creates obstacles for the

demons and removes obstacles for the demigods or the devotees, he is known as

Vighnesvara ("lord of obstacles") and Vinayaka ("one who removes [obstacles]").

The "obstacle" theme also tells us why Ganesa uses a rat as his vehicle. As

rodents generally succeed in gnawing their way through any obstruction, the

rat, it is said, symbolizes Ganesa's ability to destroy every obstacle.

 

In another, more popular version of the Ganesa story, Parvati, wanting to

seclude herself from her passionate husband, Siva, especially while bathing,

creates a son from her perspiration and appoints him the guardian of her

quarters. Soon after, when Siva seeks admission into Parvati's inner chambers,

Ganesa, unaware of Siva's identity, refuses him, pushing him away from

Parvati's door; Not one to be slighted, the enraged Siva summons his attendants

(ganas) to do away with this bothersome upstart. But Ganesa defeats them one by

one. Finally Visnu arrives, and drawing upon His maya (mystic potency) He

creates confusion on all sides. This enables Siva to cut off Ganesa's head.

 

Parvati, furious at what has become of her "son," decides to send a multitude

of goddesses to harass the demigods. These celestial women succeed in making it

clear to the noble gods that their queen can be appeased only if her guardian

is revived. Siva then tells the gods to go north and cut off the head of the

first living being they see. The head is to be mystically placed on the body of

the decapitated Ganesa, who will then come back to external consciousness. As

fate would have it, the first living being to cross the path of the gods is an

elephant.

 

The various Ganesa stories described above -- found primarily in the Siva

Purana and the Brahma-vaivarta Purana -- are somewhat divergent, and tradition

accounts for this by placing the variations in different cycles of cosmic time.

"Because of the distinction between kalpas [ages]," the Siva Purana explains,

"the story of Ganesa's birth is told in different ways." The cyclical structure

of Vedic time allows for repeated descents of the Lord and His devotees, so

details of the pastimes may vary.

 

According to popular Indian tradition, Ganesa is a benign and helpful deity who

brings success and assures worldly well-being. Since devotees of Krsna are more

interested in spiritual realization than in worldly security, ISKCON tends to

forgo the worship of Ganesa. Lord Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita (9.23),

"Those who are devotees of other gods and worship them with faith actually

worship only Me, 0 son of Kunti, but they do so in a wrong way." Lord Krsna

uses the word avidhi purvakam: "in an inappropriate way." Why is such worship

of demigods inappropriate? Because it is materially motivated. As Lord Krsna

says, "Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore

they worship the demigods." (Bg. 4.12)

 

Since we are essentially spiritual beings in a material body, material rewards

can never truly satisfy us. Only spiritual rewards are satisfying for a spirit

soul. Therefore Srila Prabhupada concurring with the above two Gita texts, says

"[To worship] Ganapati is not required, but sometimes we do it. Just like the

gopis-they worshiped Goddess Durga, Katyayani. They did not require to worship

her, but that was part of the social system. But they asked, Mother Katyayani,

give us the opportunity to have Krsna as our husband. Their aim was Krsna."

(Morning walk, Los Angeles, January 10, 1974)

 

So the worship of Ganesa, like that of his mother, Durga (Parvati), is not

condemned, but it should be done for the proper reasons: Ganesa is a devotee of

Lord Krsna, and we can pray to him to remove obstacles on the road to Krsna

consciousness. In this regard, Brahma- Samhita (5.50) explains that Ganesa is

Krsna's devotee. The success achieved by worshiping Ganesa depends on Lord

Krsna, and therefore such worship should ultimately be directed to Krsna: "For

the power to destroy all obstacles to progress in the three mundane worlds,

Ganesa holds on his elephant head the lotus feet of Govinda. I worship Govinda,

Krsna, the primeval Lord."

 

Satyaraja Dasa is a disciple of Srila Prabhupada and a regular contributor to

Back to Godhead. He has written several books on Krsna consciousness. He and

his wife live in New York City.