Significance of Ganesha Principle
Embodiments of Love! One who recognizes his identity with the Divine is a real jnani (the knower of the absolute). All Indian festivals are sacred and invested with deep spiritual significance. They are not to be celebrated as mechanical rituals.
Indians hail Vighneshwara [Lord of obstacles] as “Oh, son of Parvati (Shiva’s wife)! Master of the ganas (Ganadhipati).” Who is this Parvati? What is the relationship between Parvati and Ganapati? People do not normally enquire into these matters. Usually Parvati is considered as the mother of Ganapati and no one recognizes the underlying unity between the two.
Where are Parvati and Ganapati to be located? Are they in the external world or are they immanent in every human being? The truth is both of them are all pervading and convey the message of spiritual oneness.
Meaning of ‘Ganapati’
What is the meaning of the name, ‘Ganapati’? Where are the ganas? What is their form? When you investigate this, you find that the jnanendriyas and karmendriyas (five organs of perception and five organs of action) are the ganas. The mind is the master over these ten organs. Buddhi (intellect) is the discriminating faculty above the mind. The ten senses, the mind, and the intellect together constitute the ganas.
In the word gana, ga stands for buddhi. Na means vijnana (the higher knowledge or wisdom). Ganapati is the Lord of the intellect and the higher knowledge. The question may be asked, “Are the intellect and the higher knowledge present in the external world or are they to be found within man?” The answer is that He is present within each human being. There is no need to seek Him in the outside world. Ganapati dwells in every human being in the form of intellect and wisdom.
When Ganapati is described as “Parvati tanaya [son of Parvati],” who is this Parvati? Parvati signifies prithvi (mother earth). Everyone is a child of mother earth. The meaning of ‘Parvati tanaya’ is that Ganapati, who is the Lord of the ganas, is the son of Parvati, who symbolizes Shakti (the divine energy). The adoration of Parvati and Ganapati is not of recent origin. Ganapati is lauded at several places in the Rig Veda (ancient sacred Hindu text). This clearly shows that Ganapati is as ancient as the Vedas.
In several places Ganapati is mentioned both in the Vedas and the Upanishads (treatise commenting on the Vedas). There are many prayers addressed to Ganapati in the Maha Narayanopanishad (sacred text). There are prayers to him in the Taittiriya (sacred text) Upanishad also. The Ganapati Gayatri mantra (a formula) also figures in the former Upanishad.
Ganapati has the designation Vinayaka because there is no master above Him. He is all-powerful and independent. Without recognizing the esoteric significance of the Vinayaka principle, people look only at the external form and offer worship in mundane terms.
Knowledge is awareness
In what form does Vinayaka—the one who has no master—exist within a human being? It is in the form of the atma. The atma has no master. The mind is the master of the indriyas (senses); [Lord] Indra is the master of the indriyas. People conceive of Indra as presiding over His own celestial realm. But as the Lord of the manas (mind), He resides in everyone. The buddhi that is the master of the mind is the very embodiment of jnana (wisdom or awareness). What kind of awareness is this jnana? It is constant integrated awareness. It remains unchanged, neither growing nor diminishing. It is called vijnana. Unfortunately, nowadays vijnana is equated with science. Science is not vijnana. Science is phenomenal knowledge. It is based on demonstrability.
Students today worship Ganesha for success in academic studies and for developing into good scholars. As a matter of fact, all that is learnt by these studies may be termed education or learning but cannot be called vidya (true knowledge or wisdom). To apply the term vidya, which has a profound inner significance, to modem academic education is a misuse of language. Vidya is awareness of the power that animates every cell in one’s being. It is through this awareness that man learns all about the meaning of events in one’s life from birth to death.
Vidya in this sense is ’a way of life.’ Everything you do is part of vidya. It is total awareness of life. It comprehends everything in its totality. It is for this kind of total knowledge that you should pray to Vinayaka. The acquisition of degrees does not constitute vidya. To know up to the last moment how you should give up the ghost is vidya. The entire life of a man should be regarded as one continuous process of learning. A true student is one who pursues knowledge in this spirit.
The student is called vidyarthi (vidya + arthi—seeker of knowledge). The knowledge to be sought is not of book knowledge or knowledge of the phenomenal world. It is atma jnana (spiritual knowledge) that should be sought. Knowledge of the Self is the highest knowledge. The Gita declares: “Adhyatma Vidya Vidyaanam—among all forms of knowledge, I am the knowledge of the Self.” The true aim of life is to acquire this knowledge. Vinayaka is the preceptor for this knowledge. That preceptor is within you. The Vinayaka principle is in everyone.
Offerings to Vinayaka
There is a practice among Hindus when they go to Gaya [in northern India] to give up what they relish most among vegetables and fruits. In modern times this practice has been perverted such that the vegetables and fruits that are given up are those they do not like. In this connection there is a mythological story that reveals how the practice of offering fresh green grass to Ganapati during the Vinayaka Chaturthi festival originated.
Once Parvati and Parameshwara [Parvati & Shiva] were playing the game of dice, with Nandiswara (Parameshwara’s vehicle, the bull) as the umpire. Although Easwara [Shiva] lost the game, Nandi declared Him as the winner. Enraged at this unfair decision, Parvati cursed Nandi that he would be afflicted with an incurable disease. Seeking Parvati’s forgiveness, Nandi explained that he gave the verdict in Parameshwara’s favor because the latter was his master and his duty as a servant was to serve Him. Parvati relented and said that Nandi would be freed from the curse if he offered to her son Ganapati what was most relished by Nandi. Nandi pondered for a moment and declared that, as a bull, what he loved most was fresh green grass. He would offer that to Ganapati. That was how the practice of including fresh green grass among the offerings made to Ganapati during festivals came into vogue.
Ganapati accepts as offerings many things which men consider useless and trivial. One of the names of Vinayaka is Arkadronapriya (one who loves thummi and jilledi flowers, which are usually not valued by people). Other offerings to Vinayaka include a special kind of grass. There is a story relating to this.
Easwara is ‘Bhola Shankara’
Once upon a time there was an asura (demon) named Gajasura [the one with an elephant head] who performed a penance. Pleased with his penance, Easwara offered him whatever he desired as a boon. Easwara is a deity who is easily appeased. Hence He is known as ‘Bhola Shankara.’ When He is pleased with a devotee, He gives the devotee whatever he asks for. Sometimes He [Bhola Shankara] gets into a difficult situation, as in the case of Bhasmasura who was granted by Shiva the boon to turn into ashes anyone on whose head he placed his palm. Immediately after getting the boon Bhasmasura wanted to test his power by trying to place his hand on Shiva’s head itself!
What was the boon Shiva gave to Gajasura? The demon desired that fi re should go forth from him continuously so that no one dare approach him. Shiva granted him the boon. Gajasura continued to do penance and Shiva would occasionally appear before him. Again Shiva asked him what he wanted. The demon said, “I want You to dwell in my stomach.” Shiva granted the boon and lodged Himself in the demon’s stomach. Shiva’s consort Parvati searched for Shiva everywhere and could not find Him. As a last resort, she went to her brother, Vishnu, and appealed to Him to trace the whereabouts of her husband. The all-knowing Lord assured her, “Don’t worry, dear sister. Your husband is Bhola Shankara. He grants readily whatever boon His devotee prays for, the Yajna was here in the form of Krishna. What was the use of doing yajnas without realizing that God was in human form close by?
Nothing in the world is yours and you are just a trustee for the wealth that belongs to the Divine. Developing the feeling of “mine” and “thine” people get attached to the unreal and the transient and forget the eternal.
Devotion of the gopikas
The gopikas [milk maidens] were examples of true devotion. Krishna was fi ve years old when He did the rasakreeda (sporting with the gopikas). The gopikas experienced the sacred atma-tattwa, or oneness with the Divine. They enjoyed the music of Krishna’s flute as nada-brahman (the cosmic Absolute in the form of sound). Krishna gave them the essence of the music of the Vedas in His music and talked to them in the language they could understand.
The gopikas had only the name of Krishna on their lips and the form of Krishna in their hearts. When Uddhava [a friend of Krishna] was sent by Krishna to teach them the Shastras (spiritual texts), they said they had only one mind and that was given to Krishna, and they had no room in their mind for anything else. Uddhava read a letter from Krishna that said, “I am always with you and around you. I am the indweller of your hearts. Uddhava will pass on the message. Practice it.” The gopikas had no patience to learn any lesson from Uddhava. Finally they sent a message to Krishna that said, “Let Krishna come and make the flower of our hearts blossom.” Uddhava went to Krishna and extolled the pure unalloyed devotion of the gopikas.
You should understand the real devotion of the gopikas. You should have full faith in and single-minded devotion to God.
Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 28
