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·        Shree Ganapati Deva

·     If we look at a contemporary image of Ganesh, also known as Ganapati, we see a strange composite of elephant and man and at the bottom of the picture a mouse. The image represents the three worlds - of heaven, earth and the underworld, or Sun, Moon and Fire. In this idol mankind is the mean between the large universe and the small universe.

·     Because of this triple symbolism Ganesh is connected with the three gunas. His association with obstacles comes from the great strength of the elephant, the intelligence of the human and the subtlety or ability to penetrate small spaces like a mouse or rat.

·      Ganesha is usually shown with four arms - these represent the four directions of space or the four elements - the god being the spirit or quintessence of these. The word Ganesha means lord of hosts. The hosts are the hosts of spirits or denizens of the three worlds.

·     This yantra of Maha Ganapati Yantra and Ganesh has many different aspects including Heramba, Haridra and Ucchishta Ganapati. "...He is to be meditated upon as seated on a lotus consisting of the letters of the alphabet.

·      The sadhaka should meditate upon an island composed of nine gems, placed in an ocean of sugarcane juice; a soft gentle breeze blows over the island and makes the waves wash the shore thereof.

·      The place is a forest of Mandara, Parijata and other Kalpa trees and creepers, and the light from the gems thereon casts a red glow on the ground. The six gladdening seasons are always there.

·      The sun and moon brighten up the place. In the middle of the island is a Parijata tree where they are the nine gems and beneath it is the great Pitha (altar) on which is the lotus whereon is seated Mahaganapati. His face is that of the great elephant with the moon Crescent on it. He is red and has three eyes.

·      His beloved who is seated in his lap and has a lotus in her hand holds him in loving embrace. In each of his ten hands he is holding a pomegranate, a mace, a bow, a trident, a discus, a lotus, a noose, a red water-lily, a sheaf of paddy and his own tusk.

·      This is the bija or root mantra of Ganesha, Gung. Before doing the puja, the sadhaka or sadhvini places this bija on his or her body, using the long vowels of Sanskrit.

The Traditions:

·         Ganesh Chaturti is celebrated all over India, but the people of Maharashtra have made Lord Ganesh their patron.

·      A special pundit (holy man) is appointed by the community and the pandal (place where the idol is kept) is richly decorated. Devotees gather in-groups and singsongs in praise of Lord Ganesh. Singing is done mostly in the evenings, while during the morning and the daytime, individuals and families come to pray and offer prasad (blessed food).

·      A beautiful chowk (design made out of colorful chalk powder) in front of the deity is decorated with flowers. Two oil lamps stand on either side of the idol and a thaal (steel plate) with kumkum (red powder) or haldi (yellow turmeric) and another thaal and some katoris (small bowls) for serving the food cooked for the family are placed nearby.

·      This is first offered to the deity and then eaten for lunch and dinner. Special Prasad is made only on the first day.

·     Some people keep a fast for just the day. Learned pundits do the installation of the idol in a community center amidst the chanting of Sanskrit shlokas (couplets) with the people of the locality gathering to salute Ganeshji. Aarti (paying ritual homage) is done twice a day after the installation.

·      The people offer prasad of modak (a special type of round sweet meat) or pedas (sweets) at the pandal, at least one red flower - preferably hibiscus - a bunch of three sheaves of grass, collected and tied together, kumukum and haldi and rice along with the mithai (Hindu sweets).

·      In certain cases there is a tradition of getting an idol of Lord Ganesh installed in a home and the community can come there to pray. If a pundit is not available then the eldest member of the family does the rituals.

·      The Ganesh idols are not dressed with actual clothes, but clothes are painted onto idols.

·     The torso has an angavastra (body cloth), jewelry covers the neck and reaches right up to the stomach, and the lower part has a yellow or red dhoti. Ganeshji's stomach protrudes both as a sign of prosperity and the love of good food.

·       Though another tale has it that once when Ganesh fell off his vahan (vehicle) the rat, the Moon-god saw him and began to laugh. This angered Ganesh so much that he cursed the former saying, "From today nobody will look at you." Because of this curse none look at the moon on this festive day or else they are likely to be falsely accused of committing a theft.

·     There is a story connected to Lord Ganesh's eating habits. Long ago, he cursed the Moon for making fun of him for eating too many sweets and that is why the moon cannot maintain its full form all the time; it waxes and wanes making it less beautiful and at times vanishes altogether. The story teaches us not to make fun of anyone.

·      In Rajasthan, on Ganesh Chaturti, an image of Ganesh is bathed in red kumkum with a garland of red flowers. A small thaal with haldi (yellow turmeric) and kumkum (red powder) is placed at the entrance of a household so that people who come visiting take a pinch of each and put it on their foreheads and throat.

The tale of how Ganesh got an elephant's head:

·        Ganesh seems to have been born at a time when Shivji was not with Parvati; he had gone for tapasya (self-imposed isolation and meditation) to Mount Kailash.

·     Parvati did not have any guards of her own, as all the ganas were loyal only to Shivji - so she created Ganesh from her own 'flesh and blood' as her son and her guard.

·     One day when Parvati went for a bath, little Ganesh was asked to stand at the entrance of the baori (bathing place) and not let anyone enter while she was bathing.

·      At that very moment Shivji came back from his tapasya and, finding out where his wife was, made straight for the baori and decided to go down to the water. Ganesh, little as he was, stopped him and stepped right in front of him.

·      This annoyed Shivji very much. He ordered Ganesh to step aside. Ganeshji did not budge and Shivji's anger got the better of him. He chopped off Ganesh's head. The noise and commotion brought Parvati out of her bath and she hurried to where the noise came from and saw to her great anguish what Shivji had done.

·      She was very angry and told Shivji that he had killed his own son. Shivji was horrified and promised to set things right at once. In the meantime, one of the doots (servants) had run off with his son's head and it could not be located.

·       Shivji promised Parvati that he would put the head of the first living thing that came along his way on the shoulders of his son. As luck would have it, it was an elephant that found his way there. Shivji cut off his head and put it on Ganesh's shoulders.

·      The boy came alive, but it was a very strange Ganesh indeed! Parvati was upset as now no one would pay attention to her little son and no one would even worship him as a devta (God).

Why is Ganeshji worshipped first?

·        Shankarji declared then and there that Ganesh would be worshipped first, before all the other gods. No pooja, festival or marriage would be celebrated in future without invoking the name of Ganesh in the three worlds.

·      Lord Shiva is himself the 'Supreme' and his word is law; therefore, Ganesh poojan is to be done first, even on Shivratri. The other gods didn't appreciate this, so they went to Brahmaji (Creator of the Universe) and asked for his help, as they felt that justice demanded that the most intelligent and clever amongst them should be worshipped first.

·       Brahmaji told them that since Lord Shiva is one of the holy trinity and that each of the trinity (Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh) holds another of the trinity as equal, he could not alter the verdict: only Shiva could do so.

·      All of them went to Shiva and asked him to test their intelligence before deciding on such an important issue. Shiva was fair-minded and he asked them to go round the world on their vahans (vehicles) and whoever came first would be the one to be worshipped  first.

·      Everyone, including Ganesh and his brother Kartikeya (Skand-God of War), the elder son of Shiva and Parvati, started on their fastest vahans, fully confident that Ganesh on his musak (rat) would never be able to compete with them. Ganeshji is reputed to be highly intelligent, and this became apparent; he just went around his parents on his slow musak and declared that as they were the Supreme they were the real world. No one could dispute that; hence he was chosen to be the first to be worshipped by all the gods and men without argument.

·     Ganesh was chosen by Narad to be the stenographer to write down the Mahabharata for posterity, while Vyasji related the tale of his grandsons to him.

·      He chose his broken tusk to write. He told Vyas that he would only write if Vyasji gave the dictation continuously and did not stop or hesitate and waste time. His mother Parvati (also referred to as Bhagwati) asked Ganesh to use his buddhi (knowledge) while writing and explain certain points so that the generations to come would understand the great epic as it was meant to be understood.

Ganesh is portrayed with only one tusk in some pictures:

·        There is a story explaining why Ganesh has one tusk. Ganesh had two tusks as is usual with elephants, but he had a great fight with Parshuram, when Ganesh laid claim to immortality. There are only seven who are immortal - Hanumanji, Vibhishan, Kripacharya, Parshuram, Ashwathama, Bali and Ved Vyas (Markande joined later).

·      These great men do not die and even when the world dissolves and a New World takes birth they will be here. They are not born again and again.

·      Ganeshji declared that he was eligible for such a position, but Parshuram was not satisfied and wanted to test him. Parshuram is supposed to lose his temper very easily and declared he would fight Ganesh and if Ganesh won he would be immortal. There ensued a terrible battle and in the heat of the moment Parshuram broke one of Ganeshji's tusks.

·     Ganeshji then gave up the idea of being immortal! Therefore, he is born like us but the difference is that he is born at the beginning when the world is formed and only dies when pralay or the end of the world comes.

·     However, another story says that when Ganesh was writing the Mahabharata as told to him by Vyasa, his writing instrument, an iron spike, broke. But he broke off his right tusk and continued writing on the palm leaves. This act of Ganesha clearly reflects his great wisdom and resourcefulness and the idea that no sacrifice is too great for a noble cause. Because of this incident Ganesha is also known as Ekadanta or Single-tusked.

Ganesh - The Remover of all obstacles:

·        Ganesh is the remover of all obstacles, and yes, there is a story connected with this aspect of Ganesh as well. All the gods and devtas were married and those that were not were getting ready offers because of their position and good looks. No one was, however, ready to marry his daughter to Ganesh although he was the first amongst all the gods and devtas. His elephantine looks dismayed everyone and no one was ready to give his daughter to him in marriage.

·     So Ganeshji decided to create problems for the other gods and devtas who had the audacity to make fun of him. He asked all the rats and mice to make burrows in the path of all those getting married and make it impossible for them to tread the path. Thus creating so much confusion in life.  

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