Ganesh ; The Indian God

GANESH The word Ganesha is made up of the words "gana" and "isha ", "gana" referring to all beings that have a name and a form, and "isha" means Lord, master. Ganesha is the name given to Shiva's second son, for becoming Lord of the entire creation. Ganesha or Ganapati is a highly popular god in India. Ganesha is invoked for the removal of obstacles, as well as in the beginning of all important actions: trips, building houses, writing books, getting paranormal powers and spiritual discrimination. He is the god of education, knowledge, literature and arts. All spiritual rituals in the Hindu tradition begin with an invocation to Ganesha. The tantric tradition considers that Ganesha protects and guides sexual relationships, giving them a spiritual orientation. He is considered the embodiment of tantric mysteries. SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION Ganesha is god of small stature, with a large, round abdomen, four arms and an elephant head that only has one fang. In three of his hands he holds an axe, an ankush (a small axe), a noose, a sash and sometimes a shell. In some representations, he makes a gesture of bestowing his divine favors with the fourth hand, but most often he holds a cake known as ladhu. His eyes always shine like two diamonds. He rides a rat or is accompanied by one, which is an ex-demon whom he defeated and then accepted as a vehicle. This representation may not be so attractive for a rational mind. The animal head and the fat body usually attract children, but for adults he can seem somewhat ridiculous. Nonetheless, it is a mistake to be fooled by his appearance, because Ganesha is the protector of refined people, who are not fooled by exterior appearances. People who cannot see the divine in him and are distracted by his representation become prey of their discursive mind, the greatest obstacle on the spiritual path. Ganesha's acceptance as a spiritual force has calms and grants control over the mind. It also dismisses all doubt from one's mind as well. Therefore, Ganesha is considered as the most appropriate deity for the removal of obstacles. Faith in him generates great spiritual force, reversing the natural downward flow of energy and orienting it upwards, thus allowing the activation of our superior centers of energy. The divine Ganesha is pretty much unstoppable. Therefore, he brings courage and firmness to people who meditate on him, and invoke him in the beginning of all their actions. In Mangala Purana it is said, "Ganesha's human body represents tvam (you), his head is tat (Brahman) and together they represent the unity between the two." Thus, Ganesha's body is the representation of the highest reality Brahman, and together they signify unity between the two aspects. Thus, Ganesha's body is the visible representation of the highest reality, Brahman expressed through "tat tvam asi" (you are That - Brahman or God). Another explanation is that generally, Ganesha's head represents Atman, the Supreme Reality, and the body from the neck down symbolizes maya, the principle of a phenomenon based existence. The implication of Atman into the world is done through the mind and speech. LEGENDS ABOUT THE ELEPHANT HEAD There are of course several explanations about the elephant head. An elephant is strong, but almost always calm. It is one of the very few self-conscious animals that actually has funeral rituals. Despite its strength, it is vegetarian. The Purana-s offer several versions on Ganesha's birth and on the origin of his elephant head. Shiva Purana tells that Ganesha was created from a washing ointment (ubtan) which Parvati took from her body. It is said that one day when she was preparing to take a bath, she noticed that the guardian of her house was missing. So she took part of the soapy foam from her body and molded a child-like form. She then brought life to it. She made this child her guardian, and gave him instructions not to let anyone enter the palace. The guardian-child respected her wish and sat out front with a war scepter in his hand. Right about that time, Shiva decided to visit his beloved wife, Parvati, and came to the palace. Because the little guard did not let him enter, Shiva eventually got mad and threatened the boy. The little guard did not even flinch and after a long battle he was finally defeated, but only with the help of all the gods and demons combined. By this time Shiva was so angry that he beheaded the little guard using his trident. When the Divine Mother found out what happened, she became very upset and asked Shiva to bring him back to life. Shiva, realizing he got carried away, began searching for a sleeping child, to take his head and put it on the little guard's body. However, mothers were sleeping with their children in their arms that night and Shiva was not able to find what he was looking for. He finally saw an elephant baby that had just passed away and decided to use this opportunity. He took the elephant's head and placed it on the guardian child's body and thus, brought him back to life. Shiva named this child Ganapati and made him leader of all his troops. Furthermore, he decided that everyone should invoke him before any performing any important actions, so that obstacles could be removed and tragedies avoided. GANESHA HOLDS THE COSMIC EGG IN HIS STOMACH There is also a legend about Ganesha's prominent abdomen. It is said that the god of wealth, Kubera, once invited the divine couple Shiva and Shakti for dinner, to boast about his wealth. The divine couple declined the invitation, sending instead their divine son, and asking Kubera to feed Ganesha who was very hungry. Kubera laughed, saying "With my wealth I can feed an army of children such as this one!". Ganesha sat calmly at the table and started eating. First he ate all the food available, then the furniture, than the entire palace. Frightened, Kubera heard the little god saying: "You promised my parents you would feed me. Do so, or I will have to eat you as well." Kubera ran for his life, and asked Shiva for help. Shiva gave him some rice, and advised Kubera to give this rice with deep humility to Ganesha. Kubera came back. Meanwhile, Ganesha's stomach had become gigantic, but he was as joyful as ever. When Kubera offered him the rice with great humility, Ganesha's hunger was finally sated. Legend has it that Ganesha is represented this way because he also ate the Cosmic Egg. THE PATRON OF THE GANA-S (BEINGS) There is a very significant story revealing the way in which this god had become the patron of the Gana-s, and earned the name "Ganesha". During the ancient times, Shiva was the unique master of the gods, demi-gods, people, demons, phantoms, spirits, and all other beings in existence. But because he was always in the state of divine ecstasy (samadhi), the gods and the other beings found it very difficult to communicate with him. Any time they were in trouble, they needed to spend hours on end praying and singing songs so that Shiva would come down to their state of consciousness. Therefore, the gana-s felt they needed another leader, who would be easier to call upon and who would solve their problems as well as protect them when needed. They went to Brahma, but he could not help them with this problem, so they turned to Vishnu to persuade Shiva to appoint a new Ganapati (leader of the gana-s). Vishnu suggested that they should pick one of Shiva's sons Kartikaya or Lambodar (Ganesha) as a leader. In order to decide whom of the two deserved the title of Ganesha, the gods and demi-gods decided to organize a contest. At the established day, they all came to the contest presided by Vishnu and attended by Shiva and Shakti. Vishnu announced the test: the two should tour the universe, and the first to arrive back would be appointed Ganesha, the lord of all gana-s. After announcing the trial, Kartikeya flew into space right away, riding his fast peacock, in order to cross the universe as quickly as possible. During all this, Ganesha stood still on his rat, without moving an inch. Vishnu, noticing that Ganesha did not move, told him to hurry. Since Vishnu was insisting so much, Ganesha smiled, paid his homage at the feet of his mother and father, humbly saluted all those present, and then flew away on his rat. Amazed, they all saw that instead of going off into space, Ganesha flew around Shiva and Parvati, and then returned to the starting point, kneeled at his parent's feet and said: "I fulfilled my task. I toured the universe." All the gods and demi-gods said as one: "It's not true! How can you be so lazy?" Ganesha turned over to Vishnu and said: "I know that you understood the significance of my actions, but in order to make everyone understand I will say this: I fulfilled my task of touring the universe, because this phenomenal world of forms and names is only a manifestation of my Divine Mother and Father. They are the source of all there is. I went to the source, to the truth, to the essence of all existence and phenomena. I know that this world is an ocean of relative existence, that it is illusionary and that it makes no sense to pass by the ultimate reality in order to tour an illusion. My brother is still touring the universe. When he reaches the truth, he will know that all is one, and the rest is but an illusion, including me and you." This statement lit a spark of authentic understanding in his listeners, who were amazed and delighted by his wisdom. Applauding his refined judgment and his enlightening action, the gana-s had accepted the "fat" Ganesha as their lord. While Vishnu was placing the mark of victory (tilak) on Ganesha's forehead, Kartikeya returned from his journey. He was very upset and contested Ganesha's victory. Then the gods told Kartikeya about Ganesha's subtlety and wisdom and added: "you focused your attention on matter, which is illusion. You went around the phenomenal world, whose existence is relative, and therefore you were not able to perceive the truth directly. Ganesha showed us that the entire universe is but a manifestation of the ultimate truth. This is the source and the phenomenal universe is maya, the illusion." Kartikeya realized then that he also had been fooled by maya that his rush into the world of ever-changing phenomena had been in vain. He had chased a mirage. Kartikeya had behaved just as any other mortal who takes the world of names and forms as reality, and the title of Ganesha was offered to the one whose wisdom had passed beyond material existence. Also, Vishnu decided that from that moment on, all beings should invoke Ganesha's grace at the beginning of all their actions, so they would not have to deal with various obstacles in achieving their beneficial goals, and their path would be smooth and without hardships. GANESHA'S YANTRA The meditation and focus on Ganesha's yantra grants a state of inner balance. The background is intense green. This green is obtained from a mixture of warm yellow and cold blue, so green is seen as a color that brings balance. Focusing on this green color, we produce its complementary color, red. Red is the symbol of life, inspiration, revolution, freedom from rules and limitations. The eight-petal red lotus represents the eight aspects of Prakriti (the primordial nature): 1. Akasha 2. Air 3. Fire 4. Water 5. Earth 6. sattva 7. Rajas 8. Tamas The yellow star represents the balance between the masculine and feminine energy, and it was created through the superposition of a masculine triangle pointing upwards and a feminine one pointing downwards. The male triangle pointing upwards represents the vital masculine essence, the elixir of immortality. The color of this triangle is the same as Ganesha's skin. Bindu, the point placed in the middle of the central triangle represents Ganesha himself. Meditation on this bindu is the main purpose of yantric worship. Its color is golden, attractive and calming at the same time.