Ganesha

[Guest guest]

Where does Ganesha come into vaisnavism? Is he mentioned in any of the puranas? Where role does he actually play and is there any authoratative scriptual reference for it?

 

From my point of view he just seems to pop into weddings and TV shows...

[Guest guest]

Valmika wanted to tell the story of Lord Rama, but needed an expert to do the editing., He called on Lord Ganesha, the scribe of the demigods, and Sri Ganesha agreed.

 

Lord Ganesha never makes mistakes. He learned his lesson by making his first act a grave error in which he did not recognize his father, Lord Siva. He lost his head, but immediately learned, and never erred. Ever.

 

Ramayana is a vaisnava literature, the author is Sri Valmika, the scribe is lord Ganesha. Vaisnavas appeal to Lord Ganesha to remove all the impediments from the path of devotional service, which he can do.

 

Haribol, ys, mahaksadasa

[Avinash]

 

Valmika wanted to tell the story of Lord Rama, but needed an expert to do the editing., He called on Lord Ganesha, the scribe of the demigods, and Sri Ganesha agreed.

 

Ved Vyasa wanted somebody to write Mahabharat. Lord Ganesha did the job of writing down whatever verses Ved Vyasa spoke.

[mahak]

Please accept my obiesancies and thanx for correcting my error. I studied (and was entranced by) both epics simultaneously. MY memory is prone to getting jumbled, it was all that occupational and recreational exposures of my youth.

 

 

Hare Krsna, ys, mahaksadasa

[Guest guest]

5.50 I adore the primeval Lord Govinda, whose lotus feet are always held by Ganesa upon the pair of tumuli protruding from his elephant head in order to obtain power for his function of destroying all the obstacles on the path of progress of the three worlds.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => Sri Brahma-samhita

 

PURPORT

The power of destroying all obstacles to mundane prosperity has been delegated to Ganesa who is the object of worship to those who are eligible to worship him. He has obtained a rank among the five gods as Brahmä possessing mundane quality. The self-same Ganesa is a god in possession of delegated power by infusion of the divine power. All his glory rests entirely on the grace of Govinda.

[Guest guest]

 

Where does Ganesha come into vaisnavism? Is he mentioned in any of the puranas? Where role does he actually play and is there any authoratative scriptual reference for it?

 

From my point of view he just seems to pop into weddings and TV shows...

 

He isn't mentioned in vaishnava scripture.

[Guest guest]

Ganesha appears in Puranas and Agamas which are important to the followers of Shiva and Devi such as Linga Purana, Devi Bhagavatam etc. As the son of Shiva and Parvati Ganesh is features as a very important aspect of the devotional service and beliefs of Shaivam (Siva's sect) and Shaktaism (Devi's sect).

 

As far as Vaishnavism goes, the sect generaly accepts that Krishna/Vishnu is the supreme personality of Godhead and he alone is one object of worship. the deities such as Siva, parvati, Ganesh, Surya etc.. and either seen as lesser manifestations of Vishnu or highly elevated or empowered living entities in the material world, who have been given important jobs to do in this material relm by vishnu. They cannot grant Moksha or enligtenment and thus only Vishnu and his internal energy Lakshmi/Radha is worthy of devotion. And this doctrine is seen in the Main vaishnav scriptures such as the Bhagavatam where all the Demigods such as Ganesh are described as subserviant to Krishna/Vishnu.

 

As far as a role in Vaishnav practice the different Vaishnava schools ahev a different attituden to worshiping demigods like ganesh. The Tattvavadis, Madhva Vaishnvas consider Vishnu supreme but do at times worship Shiva, Ganesh etc as representatives of Vishnu (but not Vishnu himself).

 

The Gaudiya Vaishnavas generaly only worship the Krishna/Vishnu deities, but very very rarely in some temples there are Shiva and sometimes ganesh deities (such as Gopishvara Mahadeva) and here they are regarded as exaled Vaishnvas and are worshiped with the attitude of increasing Krishna Bhakti.

 

The Sankadi (nimbarka) Vaishnavas have a similiar atitude.

 

The Swaminarayans install and worship ganesh in their temples to remove obstacles from devotional service

 

The Vallabha Vaishnavas (Pushtimarg), never worship Genesh, infact they generally only stick to worshiping BalaKrishna.

 

The SriVaishnavas again are strict and only worship Vishnu/Krishna, his internal potency (Lakshmi/Bhu/sita etc..) and his enternal associates who are regarded as acharayas/gurus such as Garuda, Hanuman etc... In some ancient temples where you find a demigod Shrine it is because that particular demigod was part of the pastime of the temple deity. As far as Ganesha goes Srivaishnavs worship Vishvaksena instead, Vishvaksena is the Vaishnava equivalent of Genesha (ie. remover of obstacles etc...) Vishvakesna like Garuda, Sesha etc... is a eternal devotee of Vishnu who directly serves Vishnu and who unlike demigods such as Genesh and Siva do not have any association with material nature. His HH Sri Chinna jeeyar Swamiji on his website explains Vishvaksena more nicely. So see 'Vishwaksena puja' page on the Chinnajeeyar .org website