Lord Ganesh
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Ganesha
Happy Birthday, Ganesha
Baskaran Pillai
The Times of India, Sep 1, 2011
Ganesha is a Universal god. There is not a single village or city in India without Ganesha’s statue sitting somewhere in a street corner or under a tree. Elephant deities are also commonplace in China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil and Mexico. There is a Ganesha rock in Sedona, which indigenous Americans call ‘elephant’ rock.
However,Ganesha is not an ‘exalted’ deity. In most temples in India, he is represented as the doorkeeper. What this means is that he is the guard and hence he is close to human beings.
Ganesha is associated with the root or mooladhara chakra in the subtle body. This is the first energy centre and represents the earth element, providing a solid foundation for material life. That’s why Ganesha is the first god to be worshipped. Praying to Ganesha is believed to bring stability, enabling one to proceed with higher goals in life.
Yogis recommend seeking Ganesha’s blessings before embarking on a venture. Ganesha is known as Vignaraja, the one who rules over obstacles. He represents the energy that controls and removes obstacles. How does he do that? He has special intelligence, siddhi and buddhi, a fine sense of discrimination. These are presented as his consorts.
Ganesha is depicted with an elephant face and prominent ears. Elephants can process infra sound waves (below 20 Hertz). This allows them to sense danger and leave a place before the occurrence of natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes.
Gam’ is the beej or seed mantra for Ganesha. In Tamil, there is a saying “Gammunu iru”, which translates as ‘Be still through Gam’. By chanting the mantra you can connect with inner silence and find solutions. It is common to see people tapping their temples with their knuckles when visiting a Ganesha shrine. This activates the frontal lobes, enhancing rational intelligence.
Ganesha symbolises quick thinking and effortless accomplishment. Once Ganesha entered into a competition with his brother Muruga (Kartik) and both of them decided to go around the universe. While Muruga undertook the journey on a peacock, Ganesha simply circumambulated his parents, Shiva and Parvati, and won the fruit of knowledge from them. Once Ganesha wanted to know the most powerful sacrifice in the world. His father Shiva said, “You have to find out the most powerful person and sacrifice him.” Ganesha asked, “Aren’t you the most powerful person on earth? Shall I sacrifice you?” Shiva was startled, so he gave Ganesha a shortcut, “Whoever sacrifices a coconut is sacrificing Me, and this is the highest sacrifice.”
The three eyes of a coconut are said to correspond to the three-eyed Shiva. When you circle the coconut around your head, it energetically absorbs the lower vibrations in your aura. When smashed, the energy holding back your progress is forcefully disseminated. Breaking coconuts before Ganesha is a symbolic act of sacrificing one’s own life for renewal.
Talking about renewal, from today (Ganesh Chaturthi) onwards Ganesha himself is being renewed. According to the Hindu calendar, time is cyclical in nature. Every 60 years, Ganesha is known to appear in a different form. The Ganesha who is going to be active in times to come will be the Naramukha or human-headed Ganesha!
Lord Ganesh outside India
3 Sep, 2006 0019hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK
This professional dealer in stamps, coins and paper money is always on the lookout for treasure. But even he was not prepared to find the God of Prosperity in perhaps his most real setting — money. And not just that alone.
The more intriguing fact is that Rajendra Maru found this widely worshipped Hindu deity sharing space with the former Indonesian president, KI Hadjar Dewantara, in the country's national currency, the rupiah.
Dated 1998, and valued at 20,000 rupiah (Rs 102), Maru, its new owner, says: "There are many more such notes with Lord Ganesha issued in this Islamic country every year." It seemed like a miracle to him.
How did this 'Remover of Obstacles and Provider of Happiness,' transcend the country of his origin, India, and earn a place in the social and economic fabric of a South-East Asian nation?
Historical notings on the existence of trade between India and countries such as Mongolia, Indonesia, China and Sri Lanka are aplenty. The story of Lord Ganesha's journey into these lands are most likely buried here.
The Cultural Heritage of Ancient India by Sachindra Kumar Maity talks about the exchange of commodities between China and Cambodia with India. So does another record from a Chinese envoy, Chang Chein, in about 138 BC.
Besides, the exporters who took the Silk Route through China and Mongolia could have passed on this hugely popular pot-bellied god too.
The spice trade in the southern part of India and the maritime trade from Gujarat to the Middle-Eastern countries have always been known to push art, culture and religious ideas to their trade partners.
According to historians though, while the idea of Ganesha must have appealed to the foreign traders, the actual emmigration happened when Buddhism travelled there via Tibet. Japan too did not remain untouched.
So, today, you can find Mumbai ka Ganapati worshipped as Sho-ten or Shoden (literally, Holy God) in many Buddhist temples of Japan, where he is believed to confer happiness to his devotees. He is also known as Kangi-ten (God of Joy and Harmony) in Japan. In Sri Lanka, people call Him Pillaiyar (the Noble Child). In Kung-Hsein, a site in China, sits Ganesha's stone image, two-armed, holding the lotus in the right hand and a jewel in the other.
Though known as Kuan –shi t'ien or Ho Tei, meaning the large-bellied God of Happiness, the jewel in the hand manifests the image of the one who bestows rewards and provides for. A most recurring leitmotif of Ganesha.
His versatility can also be gauged by the number of countries he is worshipped in, as also by proofs of his presence in far-off lands. It is not just China, Myanmar, Mongolia or other neighbouring countries that revere him.
Ganesha is also embodied in various physical forms and symbolic representations in Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia. Surprisingly, several images of Ganesha have been discovered during excavations even in farflung places like Central America and Mexico, where he is known as Virakosha.
Closer home, more evidence of his power are increasingly coming to light. Stamps and legal documents from pre-independence era showcase his grandeur.
Before the erstwhile states of Maharastra — such as, Miraj, Kurundwad Junior and Sangli — merged with the Indian Union in 1950, all the stamps used for government work carried his image.
According to Maru, who has collected many such stamps, "This position of eminence for Ganesha could perhaps explain how prosperity became the byword for Maharashtra."
Ganesha, a universal god
The Times of India, Sep 1, 2011
Baskaran Pillai
Ganesha is a Universal god. There is not a single village or city in India without Ganesha’s statue sitting somewhere in a street corner or under a tree. Elephant deities are also commonplace in China, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil and Mexico. There is a Ganesha rock in Sedona, which indigenous Americans call ‘elephant’ rock.
However,Ganesha is not an ‘exalted’ deity. In most temples in India, he is represented as the doorkeeper. What this means is that he is the guard and hence he is close to human beings.
Ganesha is associated with the root or mooladhara chakra in the subtle body. This is the first energy centre and represents the earth element, providing a solid foundation for material life. That’s why Ganesha is the first god to be worshipped. Praying to Ganesha is believed to bring stability, enabling one to proceed with higher goals in life.
Yogis recommend seeking Ganesha’s blessings before embarking on a venture. Ganesha is known as Vignaraja, the one who rules over obstacles. He represents the energy that controls and removes obstacles. How does he do that? He has special intelligence, siddhi and buddhi, a fine sense of discrimination. These are presented as his consorts.
Ganesha is depicted with an elephant face and prominent ears. Elephants can process infra sound waves (below 20 Hertz). This allows them to sense danger and leave a place before the occurrence of natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes.
‘Gam’ is the beej or seed mantra for Ganesha. In Tamil, there is a saying “Gammunu iru”, which translates as ‘Be still through Gam’. By chanting the mantra you can connect with inner silence and find solutions. It is common to see people tapping their temples with their knuckles when visiting a Ganesha shrine. This activates the frontal lobes, enhancing rational intelligence. Ganesha symbolises quick thinking and effortless accomplishment. Once Ganesha entered into a competition with his brother Muruga (Kartik) and both of them decided to go around the universe. While Muruga undertook the journey on a peacock, Ganesha simply circumambulated his parents, Shiva and Parvati, and won the fruit of knowledge from them. Once Ganesha wanted to know the most powerful sacrifice in the world. His father Shiva said, “You have to find out the most powerful person and sacrifice him.” Ganesha asked, “Aren’t you the most powerful person on earth? Shall I sacrifice you?” Shiva was startled, so he gave Ganesha a shortcut, “Whoever sacrifices a coconut is sacrificing Me, and this is the highest sacrifice.”
The three eyes of a coconut are said to correspond to the three-eyed Shiva. When you circle the coconut around your head, it energetically absorbs the lower vibrations in your aura. When smashed, the energy holding back your progress is forcefully disseminated. Breaking coconuts before Ganesha is a symbolic act of sacrificing one’s own life for renewal.
Talking about renewal, from Ganesh Chaturthi onwards Ganesha himself is being renewed. According to the Hindu calendar, time is cyclical in nature. Every 60 years, Ganesha is known to appear in a different form. The Ganesha who is going to be active in times to come will be the Naramukha or human-headed Ganesha!
The ‘Morya’ in “Ganapati Bappa Morya”
By Nanasaheb B. Patil, IAS
"What is the significance of the word ‘Morya’ in “Ganapati Bappa Morya”?
The word Morya refers to a famous devotee of Lord Ganesh in the fourteenth century called Morya Gosavi, originally from a village called Shaligram in Karnataka where his devotion was looked upon as madness. He later travelled and settled in Chinchvad, near Pune and invoked the Lord with severe penance.
He attained siddhi (special powers and blessings) at Shree Chintamani and his son built the temple to commemorate the event. It is said that Moryaji also performed penances at Siddhi Vinayak in Ahmedabad and in Moreshwar/ Mayureshwar at Moregoan where he also built the temple. Overwhelmed by the devotion of Moryaji, he was blessed by Lord Ganesha to fullfill any wish of his.
Morya asked to be remembered forever on this earth whenever anyone remembers his Lord, as his 'Param Bhakt'. Thus this depicts the inseparable relationship between God and his devotee."
The god who rides rats
The Times of India, Sep 05 2016
Devdutt Pattanaik
Rats evoke the feeling of disgust. There is something inherently dark, unclean and sinister about them. Think rats and you think garbage, gutter, plague and other diseases. Rats mean destruction of property . Pilferage.Filth. There is nothing adorable or desirable about a rat. So why is Ganesha always associated with a rat, lovingly called Mooshika? Aha, but it is not a rat; it is a mouse.Rats are nasty . Mice are much gentler.Cute Ganesha rides a cute mouse, my nephew insists. The fact is, nobody is sure what Mooshika is, exactly . Scholars and the general public can argue about it endlessly referring to obscure Sanskrit texts: Rat. Mouse. Maybe even a bandicoot. Whatever! Basically a rodent, pest, the bane of the storehouse, farmer's enemy , a denizen of the sewer.Rats are inauspicious. You definitely don't want them in your house. Ganesha is Mangala-Murti, the embodiment of auspiciousness.Why then does he have as his mount something so inauspicious as a rodent?
What is the message there?
Mooshika embodies the pest that plagues our lives, a problem so small that it eludes detection, and exasperates us. It is that bill that will never be cleared by the boss; that pimple that refuses to go away .It is that neighbour who always parks his garbage right in front of your door. It is that dripping water tap that no plumber can fix. It is that set of keys which you cannot find just when you have to leave the house; that case in court which is not moving for years. These are the rodents in our lives, the insatiable thieves who are gnawing into our sense o who are gnawing into our sense of well being. Imagine someone who gets rid of all those irritating rat-like problems of your life. That someone, for Hindus, is Ganesha. Around Ganesha's giant belly is a serpent that friend of the farmer who eats the rats, controls pilferage and thus protects the harvest. With the grace of Ganesha, problems disappear and prosperity and power appear. You can imagine Ganesha catching hold of a problem (rat mouse bandicoot) by its tail, dragging it away , sitting on it, so that it troubles you no more. No wonder Ganesha is such a popular god. Remover of rats that plague our existence.Remover of obstacles, remover of hurdles. Vighna-harta.
Rats are also symbols of fertility as they are fast breeders. Ganesha is always associated with fertility symbols.va grass for example, which The Dhurva grass for example, which keeps growing even when uprooted. If Dhurva is the plant-symbol of fertility , rat is the animal-symbol of fertility. In China and Japan, rats are associated with fertility , children, prosperity .Rats are also unstoppable, relentless, breaking through any obstacle to get to the grain. They are also symbols of avarice and greed. They are relentless hoarders. Thus, rats have a positive aspect (fertility unstoppability) and a negative aspect (pilferage plague).With Ganesha sitting atop Mooshika, only the positive aspects reach devotees while the negative aspects stay away .
Ganesha's image may evoke a sense of prosperity and power and auspiciousness for which fertility is important but his Mooshika reminds us not to be complacent: the rat may be fertile and unstoppable a contributor to our wealth but it is also capable of silently and secretly gnawing into our ethics, our morals, our values, the very foundation of our apparently fulfilled lives.
Aspects of Sri Ganesh
The Many Aspects Of Ganesh
The Times of India, Sep 17 2015
Yogi Ashwini
Invoking the many aspects of Ganesha
Ganesha is the swami of Riddhi and Siddhi. Riddhi is the force responsible for prosperity and abundance all material riches and luxury pertaining to the five senses.Siddhi refers to spiritual powers, including extra-sensory perception, clairvoyance, clairaudience, premonition and thought manifestation. Ganesha was born of the `dirt' of Adi Shakti, as she bathed, indicating that all the riddhi and siddhi in creation are nothing but a speck of dirt of the phenomenal force of the Mother. Ganesha is the deity closest to physical creation, the swami of ridhhi and siddhi, which are nothing but maya, unreality. They are temporary and so are bound to leave. Most people spend their lives chasing these, forgetting the temporary nature of these forces and oblivious to what lies beyond ... Ganesha is venerated as the first deity, the first step to the phenomenal experiences of the world of spirit. Ganesha manifested at a time when impurities started creeping into the society. In due course, as worldly desires took precedence over spiritual pursuits, mantras and sadhanas were prescribed to invoke different aspects of Ganesha, to fulfil specific desires in the realm of the physical, the grossest layer of creation.
Uchchhishta Ganapati is invoked through specific mantras as a giver of boons, as protector and to develop mastery over the five senses. Heramba is the fiveheaded form of Ganapati, golden in colour and riding a lion. This ten-armed deity is invoked for acquiring fearless ness and to overcome one's enemies. The Maha Ganapati form corresponds to wealth and pleasures, as he is the bestower of bliss. The red-golden Bala Ganapati is called upon for good health and a bright future. Haridra Ganapati with his turmeric complexion and yellow vestments is the harbinger of prosperity and protection.
The white-coloured Shwetark Ganpati is said to reside in the root of a rare variety of the madar plant, bearing white flowers instead of the common purple flowers. Shwetark Ganpati brings vitality, vigour and strength when kept in the bedroom; intelligence and concentration when kept in the study , spiritual powers in the puja room, bringing luck and prosperity , freeing the house from negative influences.
These potent sadhanas are given according to individual requirements and capacity by the siddha guru, without charging you a fee. When the guru gives the mantra, blessings follow but then it's imperative to balance out that karma, since every action has an equal and opposite reaction and every pleasure has pain attached to it.
The guru guides the practitioner on which mantra is to be practised, for how long, the correct pronunciation and bhaav and the different practices to complement the sadhna. At the completion of the mantra sadhana, a yajna is performed for the siddhi of mantra.One of the safest mantras to practice for manifesting the shakti of Ganesha is `gama ganpataye namah' but this too can be channelised by the guru for desired effects.
The success of the sadhana is indicated by the manifestation of the deity in the yajna agni. Sadhakas or seekers who have been seriously practising the various mantra siddhis, have been known to have had physical manifestations of the gods. Ganesh Chaturthi is the auspicious night of siddhi mantra and mantra diksha under the guidance of a guru.
Remover of obstacles
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, The Divine Energy To Overcome Obstacles , August 25, 2017: The Times of India
Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, is worshipped as the supreme lord of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune.
Ganesh Chaturthi, which has been an individual, home function for a long time, is now a social event as well.During colonial rule, there was a wave of depression and desperation in society as there was no hope for freedom in the prevailing circumstances. Many leaders like Lokmanya Tilak then decided to have community celebrations during Ganesh Chaturthi to invoke a sense of bonhomie and togetherness. Since then, Ganesh Chaturthi has become a community event, also. At the individual level, it's a spiritual celebration and it assumes a cultural identity and expression when celebrated in community on a large scale.
Interestingly different types of Ganesha idols have been found during excavations in places in Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Bulgaria and many countries in Europe, revealing that Ganesha had a presence outside India as well.
Ganesh Chaturthi is the occasion to realise that you are connected to the Divine, and that you can overcome all obstacles. When you face hurdles in life, you feel a sort of helplessness. You feel you don't have the power and energy to get over them and so you tend to feel low and confused. At such moments, remember Ganesha, who, as Vigneshvara, is believed to be the remover of obstacles.
Ganesha is also known as the Dhoomra Varna (smoke-coloured god). Obstacles are smokey . When situations are unclear, you don't see what's in front of you, even though it is there. When you invoke the Ganesha within, you get the courage, confidence and spirit to face all obstacles. And once you are ready to face them, you will find that they just vanish.
Another aspect of Ganesha is as the bestower of intelligence. However intelligent you are, you would still need more intelligence to sail through the ups and downs of life.
Ganesha is also the one who gives you perfection. Siddhi means perfection, buddhi means intelligence. If at all one needs to pray for something, it should be for good intellect and perfection. One sign of siddhi is that things appear before you desire them; you don't even get a chance to make a desire.
The second level is when you desire, and at that very moment, it appears in front of you. Sometimes, you desire but you don't get what you want this is lack of siddhi. Getting in abundance on time or before time is siddhi. And this can only happen through sincere prayer.
Among the deities, Ganesha is the first deity. Ganesha's place is in the base, the mooladhara chakra. He is the entry point for the divine qualities. So when we worship him, all the good qualities blossom in us. Usually , before immersing the clay idol in water at the culmination of the festival, the water element is worshipped. We have to keep the pancha tattva, the five elements, free from toxic pollution and so avoid plastic and harmful paints.
Making the lord of intellect and perfection a part of you and your family is the essence of Ganesh Chaturthi.Though people adore Ganesha every day , the days of Ganesh Chaturthi are special as there is a wave of togetherness and devotion that gets invoked in the individual and in society .
See also
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