Welcome Ganapathi

WELCOME TO GANAPATHI 

Ganapathi, the chief of the pratama Ganas of Lord Shiva (Ganaanaam Pathi) is ubiquitous to the land of  the Tamils.  He is found everywhere so to say, under the pipal tree, on the bathing ghats near the rivers, in small wayside temples along the foot paths in the cities, why even in the compound walls of houses and of course He invariably adorns the place above the main doorway in Hindu houses as dispeller of evil eyes (Kan drishti).  Though He is worshipped across the Bharat varsha from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Assam to Gujarat and is offered the first place among the Gods as ordained by Lord Shiva, He is very dear to the Tamils and is affectionately called PILLAYAAR, the revered SON.  Whose son? (Yaar Pillai), the son of every house hold in Tamil Nadu and not merely the son of the Adhi dampathi (the first couple) Sri Parvathi Parameshwara. 

The deep connection of the Lord to the Tamil speaking parts of the country according to the sage of Kanchi Pujya Sri Paramacharya is because of a grand old Lady called Avvaiyar.  She was attracted to the beautiful child like form of the Lord from her childhood and prayed and got as a boon the looks of an old lady, lest she should be married off and hence would not be in a position to serve her Lord and humanity.  She has composed very many poems for the children which are steeped in moral values – the Dos and Donts so to say – called Aathi Chudi which to this day are taught to children at a young age. Maha Swami says that while the child (Pillayar) never moved and remained seated, His devotee the grand old lady Avvai was highly energetic and travelled from village to village counseling the people and helping them drawing inspiration from Her Lord, Maha Ganapathi. Her devotion to the Lord Ganapathi was so much that when her contemporaries Sri Sundaramoorthy Nayanar and Sri Cheraman Perumal Nayanar, two eminent Shaivites invited her to join them on their sojourn to Mount Kailash the abode of the Lord supreme, she politely declined saying that her prayer time had come and without any compunction she started her worship bidding the two savants god speed in their journey. The moment she finished her prayers, the Lord Ganapathi whisked her with one sweep of His trunk to the lofty mountains where she reached ahead of the other two.

Saint Avvaiyar has also sung a highly philosophical poem steeped in Tantric values called Vinayagar Agaval which speaks about the channeling of Kundalini Shakti in our bodies. The epithet Maha meaning Great is given only to Ganapathi and Lord Vishnu among the gods. Maha Ganapathi in Tantric science is the Lord of the base chakra Moolaadhara where the Kundalini shakti lies dormant as a serpent coiling herself around the base of the Shusumna Nadi within the spinal cord. Only with iHiHHH         His grace can the great power Kundalini Shakti be awakened and then she travels along the other five chakras to meet Her Lord in the crown chakra.

Vinayaka is not merely the remover of obstacles. He is also the creator of obstacles – Vigna kartha and removes them once His grace falls on the devotee – Vigna Hartha. That is why He is worshipped before the start of any auspicious event.  His brother lord Murugan (again very much dear to the Tamil household) could marry His lady love Valli only with His grace.  When Lord Shiva was requested by the devas to do fight and conquer the Tripurasuras, He mounted His chariot without invoking the Lord of Vigna and the axle of the chariot broke down. Lord Shiva quickly made amends and prayed to His son for success in His endeavour. As the story goes, the Lord never used the weapons against the Tripurasuras and with a smile burnt them and their cities to ashes.

There are many stories about Lord Vigneshwara and His advent.  According to the Vinayaka Puranam, He is the manifestation of the Supreme Brahman and He created the Trinity of Nrhama, Vishnu and Rudra for performing the functions of creation, protection and withdrawal. He pervades all and He is without parallel.  He manifested as the son of Sri Shiva and Parvathi when they prayed for His grace. He broke His tusk to fight the valiant Gajamukasura who when defeated became the Lord’s vehicle, the Mooshika (bandicoot).

His advent as Parvathi’s son is described differently in Shiva Purana. Parvathi went to take Her bath and wished not to be disturbed by anyone and she created a boy of unparalleled beauty from the sandal paste adorning Her body whom she ordered to stand guard at the entrance of the bathing ghat.  Soon Lord Shiva came and was stopped at the gate by the sprightly boy. When all the Lord’s entreaties failed to move the boy a fight ensued and the boy easily defeated all the Shiva ganas and also the mighty gods like Maha Vishnu. Ultimately to save His face Lord Shiva had to use His mighty Trident (an embodiment of Parvathi, Para Shakti) and cut off the boy’s head. Devi Parvathi was livid with rage and to calm Her, Lord Shiva sent his ganas to find the head of any being they saw first and they brought back the head of an elephant which was fixed to the neck of the boy and He sprang back to life.  He was made the head of Lord Shiva’s ganas and was called Maha Ganapathi.

According to Lalitha upaakyaanam (the story of the divine mother Lalitha) when Sri Lalithambika was fighting Bhandasura, She created Vigneshwara by just looking at the face of Lord Shiva Kameswara to ward off the obstacles (Vigna yantra) created by the demon. Vigneswhara playfully picked up the Vigna yantra and scattered it, breaking it into a thousand pieces.

He is called Kumara Guru, the guru of His brother Kumara or Karthikeya. Another story tells us about how once the two sons of Lord Shiva were given a contest of going around the worlds to gain access to a divine mango fruit. Lord Subrahmanya set off on His peacock while Lord Ganapathi remained stationed in His seat. The Lord slowly got up and circumambulated His divine parents and claimed the fruit. What a lesson ! Ones parents are ones world and they are the ones fit for worshipping first and foremost.

In the northern parts of our country, Lord Vigneshwara is considered to be the younger son of the divine couple Shiva Parvathi and is married to Sidhi and Budhi, His shaktis. Kumara or Karthikeya is considered to be their elder son and is unmarried. This is juxtaposed to the belief in the South that Lord Ganapathi is a bhramachari and is the eldest son of Lord Shiva – Parvathi. If we understand that it is only the manifestation of the prowess of the Lord which is deemed to be His consorts or Shakti, then we would know that in the North, Vigneshwara is the Mangal moorthi who like Maha Vishnu performs the functions of protection and preservation of the universe (Rajas Amsam) while in the south He is considered as an embodiment of Lord Shiva, the supreme yogi advocating withdrawal into the self and who leads His devotees into higher realms of spiritual bliss.

Vinayaka is considered to be the manifestation of the Supreme Bliss , Ananda incarnate of – Sat – chit – Ananda. He holds in His hand the Modhaka the embodiment of Bliss supreme (Modham – Bliss supreme). This unique dish contains an outer layer of rice flour with an inner core of coconut scappings mixed with jaggery, symbolically meaning that our life comprises both physical and spiritual quotients and both are to be enjoyed.  The taste of the outer layer sublimes into the sweet inner core called poornam, very aptly called so as our inner core is always Poornam meaning THE WHOLE as nothing is beyond our own inner SELF.

The Lord is also PRANAVA swaroopa meaning He is the first word – AUM. The three syllables denoting the three aspects of the Supreme Brahman. He is EKAKSHARA, the single syllabled one. Everything converges on the Lord. There is a beautiful piece of propitiation to the Lord called the Ganapthi Atharva Seersham. It worships the Lord in His immanent formless form. If recited with proper intonation, this is a supreme prayer which will destroy all three karmas (Prarabha, Sanchita and Akamika) and make the propitiator pure and radiating with Self.

The form of the Lord is very beautiful to behold. No matter ones age one loves to see the elephant and appreciate its majesty, its might in uprooting a tree or dexterity in picking up a pin with its trunk and wisdom. The Lord has an elephant face and the body of a child. The elephant face representing wisdom and might, the small piercing eyes twinkling with mirth, the large flapping ears seem to suggest that the God is a great listener and we can pour out all our woes into His large ears, The mighty trunk twisted to one side either holding the pot of ambrosia or touching the Modhaka in His left hand, A well formed tusk on one side and a broken one on the other. The Lord’s human body is very much chubby and child like. His pot belly can stomach all our offerings and submissions and He holds the Noose (Pasam) representing attachment (Raga) and the Goad (Ankusam) representing control of senses from running after sensual pleasures (Dvesham). His face itself is Omkaram personified. We can draw the Tamil or Samskrit OM using the Lord’s elephant face.

The Lord is called EKADANTA or the Lord with one tusk. How did He lose one tusk? According to the legend He was commissioned by sage Veda Vyasa to write the Maha Bharata. The Lord agreed on condition that Vyasa should recite the epic to keep pace with his tusk which He would use as pen.  Vyasa baghavan countered this with the condition that the Lord should understand the full meaning of the verse before scripting it. So it was a worthy contest between the pen and the flow, with Maha Ganapathi writing faster and faster and Vyasa making the verse more and more complicated. However according to the Vinayaka Purana, the Lord broke his tusk to chasten Gajamukasura as the demon had a boon not to be killed by any divine weapon.

The Lord’s form is huge, but He makes Himself so light as to be carried by a tiny creature, the RAT. This signifies that the Lord is easy to reach and carry. The rituals to worship Him are simple. To this day we find people young or old taking bath in rivers carrying a vessel in which they carry some water which is poured on the Ganapathi idol waiting under the tree in the river bank. Some water and flowers plucked from the nearby shrubs, such as Arka (Erukku) and Drona (Thumbai) which do not have any fragrance are okay with Him. He can be invoked in almost any object from mere mud or cow dung or a piece of turmeric or jaggery.  In marriages before the mass cooking begins it is customary to make Ganapathi out of jaggery and even offer a piece of the same Jaggery to the Lord as neivedhyam.

In the south we have the practice of striking our face near the temples with our fists clenched (thalaiyil kutti kolluthal) and also perform the Dorbi karanam (Thoppu Karanam). Funny as it would seem, this also has a story attached to it. Once Lord Maha Vishnu paid a visit to Kailash. The playful Maha Ganapathi picked up Lord Vishnu’s discuss Sri Sudharshana chakra and put it into His mouth. Maha Vishnu, powerless without His favourite weapon placed His two hands crossed over His face , clasped His ears and made sit ups. This funny act made the little Ganapathi roll with laughter and out rolled the Sudharshana chakra too which Maha Vishnu was quick enough to grasp. The knocking at the temples is a Yoga practice to kindle the Mooladhara chakra and so does pulling of the ears has a similar function.

Let us conclude with the celebration of the God’s advent Vinayaka Chaturti which is celebrated with great gusto and fervor in the southern and western parts of our country.  Once again the story part first. The Lord Ganapathi was once wandering over the three worlds with His baby gait and huge form which made the God Chandra (Moon) laugh with mirth. Quick to teach a lesson in propriety the Lord cursed Moon that he will wane away. The moon began to melt and hid himself in the lily flower. With nights devoid of the Moon the earthlings were suffering and hence the devas went to Lord Brahma to help them resolve the issue. Brahma the creator said that the only way out was to propitiate Lord Ganapathi and the Moon God Chandra did the same and god the Lord’s blessing to grow again which explains the waxing and waning of the moon. The day the Moon was cursed was on the fourth day of the new moon (Shukla Paksham) and the Moon god got cured of his curse on the fourth day of the full moon (Krishna paksham). So to this day it is believed that whomsoever see the moon on the fourth day after the new moon will be cursed and would be subject to vilification by all and sundry and hence need to propitiate Ganapathi. Lord Krishna also underwent the same turmoil when He was accused of abducting the coveted jewell Syamantaka from Sartajit. On praying to Lord Vinayaka.

Let us pray with all devotion to our dear Lord Gananayaka on this holy day of Shukla Chaturti in the month of Badrapada and be removed of all our obstacles and karma bandha and be immersed in eternal bliss.

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OM TAT SAT