Shiva had granted a boon to Ganesha that before anything auspicious is begun; Ganesha’s name would be invoked... So Ganesha also represents the beginnings of anything good.
When light passes through a prism and breaks into its constituent colors, Red is the first color visible to the human eye... The beginning! Lord Ganesha’s signature color is red. How astonishingly scientific!
Every year, especially in the city of Mumbai, around the beginning of September, the festival of Lord Ganesha is celebrated with great reverence, enthusiasm and joy. Lakhs of idols of Ganeshji are installed for 10 days with great pomp and ceremony. Small idols find their way in various people’s houses and really giant ones (3 floors high) are installed in various colonies all over the city. Poojas and Aartis are done, Prasad is given... And everyone has a great time.
The energy and feeling of the entire city completely changes as the atmosphere gets charged with the mantras and the devotion of millions of people... It is a magical time to be there...
On the last day however, all these idols are taken and submerged into the seas off the coast of Mumbai... To the cries of “Ganapati Bappa Moriya!! Pudhcha Varshi Laukar Yaa!!!” Meaning Victory to Lord Ganesha, Come back to us quickly next year...
(By the way, this does affect the seas and the environment, but more and more people are becoming environmentally conscious and having Ganeshji’s idols made out of quickly degradable materials... I am sure soon we will see very green Ganapati Festivals in Mumbai!)
There is a great significance to this: All the Gods are within us... In every cell of our Being. During the festivals, with great reverence we ask them to manifest themselves in the idols so we can worship them and play with them... Once we are done with the celebration, the final Pooja mantras actually invite the Gods back within us... So now it’s just a pretty statue... And so that we can learn non attachment, all the idols are put in the sea... This is done every year, to keep reminding ourselves about our own Divinity... And of course to celebrate and enjoy this great journey called Life!
Ganapati Bappa Moriya!!
Hope you enjoyed these posts on Ganeshji, do give in your feedbacks :)
Cheers :)
Friday, September 4, 2009
Interpretation of the story - 2
Ganeshji is the remover of obstacles... Obstacles are there because there is no Knowledge and awareness... as soon as wisdom dawns, all obstacles and problems just vanish like dew in the sunlight...And really what obstacle can stand in the way of an elephant?!
He has a huge stomach which signifies an all accepting nature... He is the Lord of all kinds of groups (Gan means group), so He accepts everyone... but He also wears a snake as a belt around the stomach, which means that He accepts you, but with the full awareness of a snake! It is not passive chalta hai attitude acceptance, but an active, participative acceptance...
He has many hands, one holds a rope, another a poke and still another a modak (yummy sweet).
He offers you the modak (sweet) of Wisdom and Knowledge and when you come near to Him to take it, He quickly ties you with the rope (probably while you are eating it)... meaning that once Wisdom has dawned, you can never really go back to whatever you used to be!
And it may happen that even having all the Knowledge and Wisdom, you may feel low, unhappy or miserable... then He pokes you (remember the snake? He accepts you as you are, doesn't cast you away, but takes action after acceptance)... to wake you up to Reality... And sometimes if the poking is too much for you and you try to run away (you can't He has got you tied with the rope! :)), He gives you the sweet, the Knowledge :) and that brings you back to Him. And so Lord Ganesha binds you sweetly and firmly to Himself!
He is Vinayaka. The peerless leader. He reports to no one!
And the mouse?
The mouse nibbles the veils of ignorance that surround our consciousness, so that true Knowledge can get established in the Self. So, Lord Ganesha rides the mouse who eats away the anger, the ignorance and allows the Bliss of Knowledge to dawn...
Thus Lord Ganesha is the gift of Lord Shiva for Parvati to teach and nurture her to always be in her true nature... The Celebration and Bliss of the Self!
He has a huge stomach which signifies an all accepting nature... He is the Lord of all kinds of groups (Gan means group), so He accepts everyone... but He also wears a snake as a belt around the stomach, which means that He accepts you, but with the full awareness of a snake! It is not passive chalta hai attitude acceptance, but an active, participative acceptance...
He has many hands, one holds a rope, another a poke and still another a modak (yummy sweet).
He offers you the modak (sweet) of Wisdom and Knowledge and when you come near to Him to take it, He quickly ties you with the rope (probably while you are eating it)... meaning that once Wisdom has dawned, you can never really go back to whatever you used to be!
And it may happen that even having all the Knowledge and Wisdom, you may feel low, unhappy or miserable... then He pokes you (remember the snake? He accepts you as you are, doesn't cast you away, but takes action after acceptance)... to wake you up to Reality... And sometimes if the poking is too much for you and you try to run away (you can't He has got you tied with the rope! :)), He gives you the sweet, the Knowledge :) and that brings you back to Him. And so Lord Ganesha binds you sweetly and firmly to Himself!
He is Vinayaka. The peerless leader. He reports to no one!
And the mouse?
The mouse nibbles the veils of ignorance that surround our consciousness, so that true Knowledge can get established in the Self. So, Lord Ganesha rides the mouse who eats away the anger, the ignorance and allows the Bliss of Knowledge to dawn...
Thus Lord Ganesha is the gift of Lord Shiva for Parvati to teach and nurture her to always be in her true nature... The Celebration and Bliss of the Self!
Interpretation of the story - 1
Parvati is the Celebrative aspect of our consciousness. Parvat means mountain: The Earth herself rising up in celebration...
Now Parvati was dirty, meaning, the celebration had gone out of life, feeling of sadness, etc had arisen, and she decides to take a bath (be alone)...When you are not feeling good (your celebratory aspect is dirty), you say, give me my space, leave me alone...
The dirt that comes off her and she gives life to is the Ego... She tells the Ego see that no one disturbs me while i am not feeling well... dont let anyone come in!
Thats exactly what most people do when they are not feeling good: people usually isolate themsleves, feel separate from everyone and dont like others around them...
This is the significance of Parvati animating her ego and asking it not to let anyone disturb her because she is feeling dirty.
Lord Shiva is the protector of Parvati. So when He sees her that way with her ego standing guard, keeping the Bliss of the Self out, He does what any protector would do... Kills it!
Chopping off the head signifies killing the ego... Now, when you have had your ego trampled upon, you are going to feel even more hurt and bewildered, which is where Parvati flares up... to appease her and teach her, Lord Shiva replaces the child's ego) head with an elephant head.
The Elephant in Hindu mythology is held in great reverence. In old times, if a lover wanted to praise his girlfriend, he would tell her she is like an elephant... That was supposed to be the ultimate praise! Please don't try this today... you just might get flattened :)
The big head symbolizes Knowledge. The eyes of the elephant are kind, full of compassion and innocence: the most beautiful in the animal Kingdom. So Shiva replaces the head of ego (ignorance) with Knowledge and innocence! That's not all, if you have ever seen an elephant walk, stately and strong, you can see that nothing can stand in its way! So Shivji removed the ego and replaced it with Strength, Grace, Knowledge and innocence. What a superb combination! And the perfect gift for an angry, sulking wife! :)
Lord Shiva then names the child, Ganesh. The Lord of Knowledge and Wisdom.
Next more will be revealed about the mouse and some other really fascinating aspects of Ganeshji...
Now Parvati was dirty, meaning, the celebration had gone out of life, feeling of sadness, etc had arisen, and she decides to take a bath (be alone)...When you are not feeling good (your celebratory aspect is dirty), you say, give me my space, leave me alone...
The dirt that comes off her and she gives life to is the Ego... She tells the Ego see that no one disturbs me while i am not feeling well... dont let anyone come in!
Thats exactly what most people do when they are not feeling good: people usually isolate themsleves, feel separate from everyone and dont like others around them...
This is the significance of Parvati animating her ego and asking it not to let anyone disturb her because she is feeling dirty.
Lord Shiva is the protector of Parvati. So when He sees her that way with her ego standing guard, keeping the Bliss of the Self out, He does what any protector would do... Kills it!
Chopping off the head signifies killing the ego... Now, when you have had your ego trampled upon, you are going to feel even more hurt and bewildered, which is where Parvati flares up... to appease her and teach her, Lord Shiva replaces the child's ego) head with an elephant head.
The Elephant in Hindu mythology is held in great reverence. In old times, if a lover wanted to praise his girlfriend, he would tell her she is like an elephant... That was supposed to be the ultimate praise! Please don't try this today... you just might get flattened :)
The big head symbolizes Knowledge. The eyes of the elephant are kind, full of compassion and innocence: the most beautiful in the animal Kingdom. So Shiva replaces the head of ego (ignorance) with Knowledge and innocence! That's not all, if you have ever seen an elephant walk, stately and strong, you can see that nothing can stand in its way! So Shivji removed the ego and replaced it with Strength, Grace, Knowledge and innocence. What a superb combination! And the perfect gift for an angry, sulking wife! :)
Lord Shiva then names the child, Ganesh. The Lord of Knowledge and Wisdom.
Next more will be revealed about the mouse and some other really fascinating aspects of Ganeshji...
The story of Ganeshji....!!!
The birth of Lord Ganesha is one of the weirdest tales i have ever come across...
Shiva's wife Parvati decides to take a bath... While bathing, a lot of dirt comes off her body (may have been meditating many years... these things accumalate :)), and being creative (pun intended) puts that dirt into the form of a really handsome child... and being a Goddess blew life into the child and asked him to wait outside (she could be modest too) and not let anyone come in till she finished her bath (and accessorizing)...
So the little kid goes out and waits and soon enough along comes Shiva, and asks the boy to step aside and let him go in. Boy refuses. Shiva gets angry. Shiva shouts and threatens. Boy doesn't budge. Shiva chops off boy's head! (Children in those days faced pretty harsh disciplining)
Parvati is very upset when she comes to know Shiva has killed her son ... son?! Shiva must have thought... when did that happen?!!... in any case to make her feel better, Shiva chops off the head of a passing elephant and attaches that to the body of the fallen child and gives Him life... Parvati is aghast at how her son looks and says everyone will mock him... no one will respect him... Lord Shiva smiles benignly and says that He will give a boon to the little Ganesha that before any Pooja or ritual of any kind is started, He, Ganesha will have to be worshiped first!
Parvati is quite mollified by this, but demands a vehicle for Ganesha... Shiva presents Ganesha with a mouse as his vehicle... Parvati was very happy with that and the family lived happily for many eons to come (ever after really as far as us humans are concerned)
And that's how Lord Ganesha was born... like is said it is a very weird story with plenty of really big loop holes and questions! To start with Parvati must have been really REALLY dirty for so much dirt to come off her... Then Shiva is the Lord of the Universe, if a small kid told Him to come back later, He could have gone somewhere, looked after a galaxy or two, meditated or something :)... but no, He chops off the kid's head!
Then He puts an elephants head on the child and gives a mouse as a vehicle... no sense of proportion whatsoever!, should have been the other way round! Give a mouse's head and the elephant as a vehicle...
We could go on and on... but as usual there is a secret to the story...
Shiva's wife Parvati decides to take a bath... While bathing, a lot of dirt comes off her body (may have been meditating many years... these things accumalate :)), and being creative (pun intended) puts that dirt into the form of a really handsome child... and being a Goddess blew life into the child and asked him to wait outside (she could be modest too) and not let anyone come in till she finished her bath (and accessorizing)...
So the little kid goes out and waits and soon enough along comes Shiva, and asks the boy to step aside and let him go in. Boy refuses. Shiva gets angry. Shiva shouts and threatens. Boy doesn't budge. Shiva chops off boy's head! (Children in those days faced pretty harsh disciplining)
Parvati is very upset when she comes to know Shiva has killed her son ... son?! Shiva must have thought... when did that happen?!!... in any case to make her feel better, Shiva chops off the head of a passing elephant and attaches that to the body of the fallen child and gives Him life... Parvati is aghast at how her son looks and says everyone will mock him... no one will respect him... Lord Shiva smiles benignly and says that He will give a boon to the little Ganesha that before any Pooja or ritual of any kind is started, He, Ganesha will have to be worshiped first!
Parvati is quite mollified by this, but demands a vehicle for Ganesha... Shiva presents Ganesha with a mouse as his vehicle... Parvati was very happy with that and the family lived happily for many eons to come (ever after really as far as us humans are concerned)
And that's how Lord Ganesha was born... like is said it is a very weird story with plenty of really big loop holes and questions! To start with Parvati must have been really REALLY dirty for so much dirt to come off her... Then Shiva is the Lord of the Universe, if a small kid told Him to come back later, He could have gone somewhere, looked after a galaxy or two, meditated or something :)... but no, He chops off the kid's head!
Then He puts an elephants head on the child and gives a mouse as a vehicle... no sense of proportion whatsoever!, should have been the other way round! Give a mouse's head and the elephant as a vehicle...
We could go on and on... but as usual there is a secret to the story...
Fairwell to Ganeshji :)
Kal ganapati bappa visarjit hogae.
In his ‘fairwell party’ of the year we danced and danced and danced completely loaded with fun and as ‘there is no tomorrow’ attitude;(no I wasn't in mumbai, it is celebrated with equal spirit here in Coorg too). I retired from the seemingly endless celebrations by around 3 am!!! (yes the festivities end only by the break of day light over the visarjan night). It is an amazing experience and my second. It has always been fascinating for me to be a part of huge gathering threaded with same emotion. It’s a different feeling to see that every single soul around you is feeling just the same as you, is going through the same emotion as us!!! The mood that bound us all yesterday was ‘elation’!!! Anyways moving on from the ‘mob phenomenon’, while dancing yesterday I remembered the interpretation of the ganeshji’s story which I read on dinesh and bawa’s blog long time back. It is so striking that I want to share with you all. Thus even when the coming few posts on ganapatiji are not mine I am posting them on my blog so that I can do my bit in putting across this wonderful story to as many souls as possible. I am quoting these posts from their earlier blog address(http://bawandinesh.blogspot.com/). I enjoy reading their posts myself wherein they give a different perspective to almost everything and anything around us. Thank you both for giving me this unique insight into this age old story :)I hope all guests to my page will find these posts as discovering as i did.....
As u put it – Jai Gurudev!!!!
Cheers!!!! :)
In his ‘fairwell party’ of the year we danced and danced and danced completely loaded with fun and as ‘there is no tomorrow’ attitude;(no I wasn't in mumbai, it is celebrated with equal spirit here in Coorg too). I retired from the seemingly endless celebrations by around 3 am!!! (yes the festivities end only by the break of day light over the visarjan night). It is an amazing experience and my second. It has always been fascinating for me to be a part of huge gathering threaded with same emotion. It’s a different feeling to see that every single soul around you is feeling just the same as you, is going through the same emotion as us!!! The mood that bound us all yesterday was ‘elation’!!! Anyways moving on from the ‘mob phenomenon’, while dancing yesterday I remembered the interpretation of the ganeshji’s story which I read on dinesh and bawa’s blog long time back. It is so striking that I want to share with you all. Thus even when the coming few posts on ganapatiji are not mine I am posting them on my blog so that I can do my bit in putting across this wonderful story to as many souls as possible. I am quoting these posts from their earlier blog address(http://bawandinesh.blogspot.com/). I enjoy reading their posts myself wherein they give a different perspective to almost everything and anything around us. Thank you both for giving me this unique insight into this age old story :)I hope all guests to my page will find these posts as discovering as i did.....
As u put it – Jai Gurudev!!!!
Cheers!!!! :)
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