Sri Ganeshwara, The first and the final

[Guest guest]

Sri Ganeshwara, The first and the final

- by C.L. Narasinga Rao

 

We begin our spiritual journey from the mundane stage of being 'Jaga Mukha',

worldly in our outlook. We consider ourselves as mere bodies. We don't know that

the 'Jaga' outlook if reversed, takes us to the final stage of self realisation.

 

But a time comes, surely and certainly, when we are by Divine grace forced into

the dazzling aura of a great Preceptor (guru) and we instantly start to realise

that we are not mere bodies. Gradually we progress and graduate ourselves into

knowing and experiencing what we really are, that is Divine. That means we

reverse our outlook from being 'Jaga' to being 'gaja' - The journey's starting

and goal are in these two letters. Thus one must meditate on Gajamukha first to

elevate himself to the level of the spirit realisation.

 

In our pantheon of Gods, Sri Ganesh is given the first and foremost position. He

has to be meditated upon first before worshiping any deity. We should remember

that all the 'Gods' are in our body ruling over a path in the constitution.

 

According to some schools of yoga, Sri Ganesh is at the 'base' point of the

spiritual centre called 'Moolaadhara', The chaturmukha Brahma is worshipped at

the spiritual centre above the mooladhara - This centre is given the name

'swaadhisthana'. After receiving the blessings of these two we reach the centre

'Manipoora' which is presided over by Sri Maha Vishnu. Then we are permitted to

travel up to the centre called 'Anaahata' and the presiding God is Shiva. The

fifth centre is called 'Vissudhi' Presided over by 'Jeeva or soul', Sri Sadguru

Maharaj is the presiding God at the sixth centre that is named 'Aajna' and

finally the centre at the top of the head 'Sahasrara' where all these gods are

present with their nectarian divinity and grace - Thus the starting and the

final deity we worship internally is Ganeshwara.

 

According to numericals that represent Sri Ganesh He happens to be the number

one. His birth or revelation is on the 4th day of the 6th month of the lunar

calendar. That comes to 30x5+4=154=10- representing the Lord and His material

creation. Without '1' the zero has no value. Thus the zero depends on '1' for

its existence.

 

Sri Ganesh is worshipped on the fourth day of Bhadra-Pada month. The month and

the names of the Lord have four letters each. Ganeswara, Vinaayaka, Gajanana,

ganapati, Vigneswara etc. The Puranic letters and the petals of the spiritual

centre are four - va, sa, sha, sa being the letters on each petal.

 

He is given the colour of the Dawn Red denoting the origin of the uncovering on

the manifestation of the divine in the shape of creation. As the dawn is

presided over by the sun the symbol of eternal love, knowledge, creation and

sustenance, Ganesh is the presiding lord of these manifestations of His glory -

According to some yogis the Travel from the sahasraara to the mooladhara

completes a cycle equivalent to the sun's movement through the twelve Raasis

i.e. one solar year. So the spiritual journey starts and ends at Sri Ganesh

either in samayachara or kaulaachara.

 

The word gana means a group (Devaganaas Rishiganas, living and non living

ganaas) He is the Lord of all the ganaas - 'ganaas' refer to the 'chandhas',

that the versifiers use to formulate poems - and chandhas in its turn refers to

surya on the sun whose rays are called chadhas.

 

'Vighna' connotes the complete destruction of the obstacle called ignorance in a

saadhaka - As He is the Lord of the very gate way of the sushumna, he controls

the whole path way to sahasrara where again He is there very prominently. It has

become a custom to pray to Him to remove all the obstacles in our holistic

efforts. It is very difficult to overcome ignorance without His grace.

 

By circumambulating His mother and father in whom the universe is present and

who resides in the universe, He out witted His brother Subrahmanya and was

awarded the first place of worship.

 

Thus we start with His grace and become that grace and bliss - So he is the

first and the final.

 

http://www.mihira.com/mihaug00/sri_ganeshwara.htm