Significance of Ganesha Worship
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba clarifies the meaning behind the worship of Ganesha, the figure of God with the elephant head. In the following discourse delivered at Prasanthi Nilayam, He encourages us to look behind the symbolism and ritual involved in the worship, and to focus on the source of wisdom that He is.
No one knows all that has to be known.
There is none, who knows nothing of anything.
Many there are, knowing something of some things.
Sai alone knows everything of all things.
The elephant-head of Ganesha is a symbol of intelligence, discrimination, and wisdom. The elephant is ever alert and eminently conscious of its surroundings. Its memory is strong and deep. It treads through the thick forest, imprinting huge footmarks on the track. One such print can subsume the marks left by scores of other animals, both wild and tame. It moves majestically through thick jungles; its very passage blazes a trail for other animals to go through. It is a path-maker, helping others without being aware of it, because it is its nature. Ganesha guides the stars, communities of men and their homes. He is the Lord of obstacles, causing them when needed, and helping men to overcome them when that boon will promote the well-being of the supplicant.
There is astronomical support also for the Ganesha festival, celebrated on the fourth day of the bright half of Bhadrapada month. A constellation with the appearance of the elephant-head becomes brightly visible on this very night.
Ganesha is the embodiment of buddhi (intelligence) and siddhi (achievement). Sage Vyasa prayed to Ganesha, requesting Him to write down the Mahabharata even as he [Vyasa] composed the hundreds of thousands of its verses! Ganesha agreed immediately. He made no delay, even to secure a writing tool—He broke his sharp-pointed tusk and was ready to start!
Lessons that Ganesha teaches men
Ganesha can teach many a lesson to man. That is why people of all ages and professions adore Him. Thyagaraja [a saint and composer from South India] invites Ganapati [another name for Ganesha] most endearingly, and delights in offering Him sweet satwic [pure] food items—coconut kernel, sweet fruits of various types, steam-cooked rolls and balls of sweet and more. The elephant feeds on grass, sugarcane, bamboo shoots, and twigs and leaves of the banyan tree. While worshipping, devotees offer Ganesha leaves, grass blades, and flowers gathered from meadows and valleys. Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, is adored as the source of love, faith, intelligence, guidance, and grace.
Take into consideration another role assigned to Ganesha. When Shiva is moved to supreme ecstasy and it is expressed as the cosmic dance of Nataraja [the Lord of dance], Ganesha, the master of tune and time, leads other gods and plays the drum [mridangam]. No wonder, the gods are pleased when Ganesha is worshipped even before any of them is propitiated. Man is bound by three tendencies. The first is kama (the longing to possess). When that longing fails, krodha (anger) raises its hood. When a desire is fulfilled the third tendency, lobha (greed), overtakes him. If one’s desire is beneficial, the Divine will shower grace.
Ganesha has no desire, no anger, and no greed. His grace is available for all who seek good and godly goals. Look at the vehicle which He has chosen, the mouse! The mouse is a creature that is led, even to destruction, by vasana (the smell of things). Men are all victims of vasana (preferences and predilections stamped on our minds from past lives). Ganesha smothers and suppresses the vasanas, which misdirect man and create misfortune.
Since the mouse has been honored, it shares the worship offered to Ganesha. Association with gods, as vehicles, ornaments, accessories, or servants of gods, endows objects, animals and men with a sacred status. Elephants, lions, eagles, snakes, and primates—all these and many more have been divinized thus.
This day is the Ganesha festival. Since Ganesha leads when gods are invoked, installed, and adored, this festival leads the long line of festivals for other forms of God—Navaratri, Deepavali, Sankranti, and Shivaratri. On this day, one should contemplate on the universal and eternal truth embodied in Ganesha and worship Him with purity and faith, praying for the grace that can prevent lapses, and promote progress in all efforts to achieve the highest goal.
Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 18
