The Magnificent glory of Lord Ganesha! Part-2
Namāmi tvām gaṇādhipa!
Gaṇādhipa namastubhyaṁ sarvavighnapraśāntida |
Umānandaprada prājña trāhi māṁ bhavasāgarāt ||
Harānandakara dhyānajñānavijñānada prabho |
Vighnarāja namastubhyaṁ sarvadaityaikasūdana ||
Sarvaprītiprada śrīda sarvayajñaikarakhṣaka |
Sarvābhīṣṭaprada prītyā namāmi tvām gaṇādhipa ||
Shri Ganeshji! Greetings to you. You are the pacifier of all obstacles, a delight to mother Uma and the most intelligent one, please save me from the ocean of worldly existence.
Vighnaraj! You who make Lord Shankar happy, you are the bestower of knowledge and wisdom to those who meditate on you and the sole destroyer of all demons.
Salutations to you. O Lord Ganesha, you are the one who bestows happiness and prosperity on all, the sole protector of all sacrifices, and the fulfiller of all desires. I offer my respectful obeisances to you.
More secrets of Agrapuja (first to worship) of Lord Ganesha
In Part 1, we learned that Lord Ganesha is responsible for removing obstacles. This is why he is the first to be worshipped. In Part 2, we will know two more reasons.
For the first worship, a competition was organized by Lord Shankar to circumambulate the earth.
There is such a uniqueness of Hinduism (Sanatan Dharm) that in its Gyan Kanda of Vedas which says – ‘Ekmevadvitiyam’, means there is only one GOD the Brahma and there is nothing else other than that.
Eko devah sarvabhuteshu gudhah, Sarvavyaapi sarvabhutantaratma
(Shvetashvatara Upanishad 5.10)
While, it (Hinduism, Vedas) proclaims monistic principles like, ‘One God is hidden in all beings. He is omnipresent and the inner soul of all beings,’ (This is Advait Doctrine) , on the other hand in Veda’s itself in karmkand (Which is 80% of Vedic Mantras) the rituals are based on the belief in the existence of many gods and the necessity of worshipping and praying to many Gods.
If there were a provision for worshipping multiple gods, the question would arise as to who should be worshipped first. When this debate arose among the gods, they all went to Lord Shiva. (This story is well known, and therefore is being told very briefly).Lord Shankar decided in a competition that whoever comes first after circumambulating (Parikrama) the earth will be considered eligible for the first worship.
All the gods set off on their respective vehicles to perform the earth’s Parikrama, but Lord Ganesha used his wisdom. He thought competing with the other gods on the rat vehicle was futile and impossible.
When there is a competition to do the parikrama of the entire world, then Lord Shankar himself is the universal soul (vishwaatma), the entire world is his body “Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma”, so by doing bhagwaan shankar’s Parikrama will mean that entire world / earth’s parikrama is done.
Based on this thought, (that was off course as per dharma shastras), Ganesh Ji did the parikrama of mother Parvati and father Lord Shiva and sat calmly without any worries!
By the time all the gods returned from their earth’s parikrama, Lord Ganesha had already achieved victory. This story not only proves Lord Ganesha’s extraordinary intelligence and wisdom, but also demonstrates his devotion to his parents.
Lord Ganesha is also the first to be worshipped because he is the presiding deity of intelligence.
Shri Ganesha is first worshipped because he is the presiding deity of water element (of the 5 elements).
Adityaṁ gaṇanāthaṁ cha devīṁ rudraṁ cha keśavam ।
pañcadaivatam ityuktaṁ sarvakarmasu pūjayet ॥
Surya, Ganesha, Durga, Shiva and Vishnu – these are the five gods. They should be worshiped in all the dharm pujan activities .
In Sanatan Dharma, worship of the five gods is mandatory in all rituals. Worship of the five gods is related to the five elements (Panch Bhuta) – earth, water, air, fire, and sky (Space). This universe, nature, all living beings and everything in this world are transformations of the five elements (sky, air, fire, water, earth). Entire universe is composed of these five elements and each of this element has a presiding deity (God).
Ākāśasyādhipo viṣhṇur agnerschaiva maheśvarī ।
vāyoḥ sūryaḥ kṣhiterīśo jīvanasya gaṇādhipaḥ ॥
That is, Vishnu is the presiding deity of the sky element, Goddess Durga is of the fire element, Surya for the air element, Shiva is for the earth element, and Ganesha is the presiding deity of the water element.
The worship of the five deities is prescribed in the Vedas, and Lord Ganesha holds the first place to be worship among five deities, because he is the ruler of the water element and the life, the creation starts from water. Therefore, the ruler of the first element from where the creation begins should be worshipped first.
Various stories and leelas (Playful acts) of Shri Ganesha related to the secret of elephant-face !
The story of Shri Ganesha’s first appearance in Shvetakalpa from the Shiva Purana (the most famous and well known).
In this story of Shvetakalpa, Lord Shiva himself beheaded Ganesha. Two of Mother Parvati’s friends (Jaya and Vijaya) once said that all of Shiva’s Ganas are his exclusive servants and always obey his commands. We have no one among the innumerable Pramathganas; they stand at our door only because of Lord Shiva’s orders, since they are his devotees, hence we also need a Gana who follows only our orders.
Mother Parvati was thinking about this, then one day at the time of bath, even though Nandi was posted at the door, and he informed Shankar ji that Mother was taking bath, Shankar ji ignored Nandi and went inside. Mother Parvati felt a little embarrassed and began to think that Jaya Vijaya was right, I don’t have complete control over Nandi, Bhringi, and other ganas. I too should have a gana who never wavers in following my orders.
Parvati then created a boy from the ubtan (gram floor paste applied on skin) of her body, he was endowed with auspicious characteristics, all his body parts were flawless and beautiful, he was a child with a huge body and great strength and valor. Mother Parvati gave him many types of clothes, jewelry and best blessings and said – You are my son, there is no one else here as dear to me as you.
The extremely handsome, brave and intelligent boy bowed with utmost devotion at the feet of Mother Parvati and said with utmost humility, “Mother! I will follow your every command obediently, please give your orders.”
Then Mother Parvati said, “You be there at the entry gate and ensure that no one enters the inner chamber without my permission.” Pleased, Mother Parvati gave her son a sturdy stick and ordered him to the gate, while she herself went to bathe with her friends.
Lord Shiva beheading Ganaraj
Ganraj was standing at the door when Lord Shankar, who was unfamiliar with the Parvati Ji’s son, wanted to enter inside, then stopping him, Ganraj holding a stick said – You cannot go inside without the permission of the mother, the mother is taking bath, you should go from here at this time. There was an argument with Lord Shiva, but Ganraj remained firm. When Shiva moved in again, Ganraj blocked his path. Shiva, then ordered his Ganas to remove him from the path and himself stood at a distance.
There was a dispute between Lord Shiva’s ganas also and even after their persuasion, Ganaraj remained firm and warned all the followers that I will definitely follow the orders of the mother, no one can enter inside in my presence. Upon this, all the Ganas went to Shiva and told him that the boy was Parvati’s son and was ready for war. Lord Shiva, the, angrily replied, “He is a only a single child even then you cannot do anything. If you have to fight, do so, but remove the boy from the door.
Then the Shivganas, armed with their weapons, again reached before the boy and after another argument, a fierce battle broke out, and the son of Parvati, the Ganaraj holding the stick, made all the Ganas restless, and all the Ganas, on seeing Pralayanker in the form of Ganaraj, started running away, all were defeated.
At that time, Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma also reached before Lord Shankar and after praising him, asked – please give us orders as to what we should do.
Shiva, laughing to himself, said “There’s an invincible boy sitting at my door, holding a stick, refusing to let me enter.” The wounded and defeated Ganas were telling Shiva that they couldn’t defeat the boy. Shiva then commanded Indra and other gods, as well as ghosts and spirits, to defeat the boy. They all attacked the parvati ji’s son with their weapons, but all failed. Parvati and his sons single-handedly crushed Shiva’s immensely powerful army. The defeated gods then began to plead with Lord Shiva, “Lord, who is this great warrior? We have witnessed many battles, but we have never seen or heard of such a war. It seems very difficult to conquer this fierce and ruthless boy, kindly suggest some solution save us.”
Lord Shankar became very angry and himself got ready to fight with Ganaraj, Lord Vishnu was also present there and he thought that the boy could be killed only by deceit and not by any other means. After that a fierce battle broke out agani, many powers of Mother Parvati gave their strength to Ganaraj.
Seeing this formidable battle prowess, Lord Vishnu said, “this boy is immensely blessed! He is a mighty warrior, endowed with valor, and a lover of war. We have seen many yakshas, demons, devils, and gods, but none can match this Ganesha.”
At the same time, Parvati’s son attacked Vishnu with Paridh. Seeing the fight between Lord Vishnu and Ganraj, Shiva attacked with his sharpest trident due to which the Ganaraj’s head got cut off and fell away.
The Wrath of Mother Parvati
When Mother Parvati learned that her husband has beheaded her son, the gods and Shiva’s followers were celebrating their victory, She became furious. He created thousands of superpowers and commanded them to bring about a cataclysmic event across the universe. Devour all gods, demons, Yakshas, Gandharvas, sages, and so on. Then those thousands of fearsome powers started moving forward chanting the praises of Mother Parvati.
The entire world was gripped by terrible turmoil. Gods, sages, demons, Shiva’s followers, and humans were all gripped by fear, a situation akin to apocalypse. Everyone began praying to the Trinity for ways to appease Goddess Parvati.
Brahma, Vishnu and other gods reached before Lord Shankar and said – O Girijanath, the entire world is afraid of a catastrophic crisis, you should find a way to calm Goddess Parvati.
Then, on the advice of Devarshi Narada, all the gods reached Mother Parvati led by sage Narad Ji and started praising her. When even the praises of the gods did not appease her, Narada himself offered his prayers and prayed to the Mother Goddess to free the world from fear. Then the Mother Goddess said, “If only my son were to come back to life, And if he is given the Supreme Position among Gods (first to be worshipped) then this crisis can be resolved.
Lord Shiva brought Ganesha back to life by giving him an elephant’s face and making him the head of the Ganas.
All the gods told this to Lord Shankar, then after thinking for a while, Mahadev said – Go towards the north and cut off the head of the first creature you see and place it on the skull of Parvati’s son. Before that, clean the skull and worship with procedure to purify it.
The gods did the same and first they found an elephant in the north direction, they cut off its head and brought it and placed it on the neck of Parvati’s son and then prayed to Lord Shankar to give him life. By the grace of Lord Shiva, when the water consecrated with Vedic mantras was sprinkled on the child, the child started regaining consciousness as that water touched and within a few moments he became alive and opened his eyes as if he had woken up from sleep.
All the gods, the Trinity, the Yakshas, and the Ganas of Shiva were very happy. Mother Parvati, was most pleased with the news, she took her son Ganesha in her lap, showered him with love, and all her sorrows soon vanished.
After that, Mother Parvati and the Trinity gave many boons to Lord Ganesha and Ganpati also got the boon of being the first to be worshipped.
Lord Shankar said, “Girijasuvan, O son, I am very pleased with you, so consider the entire world pleased with you. Because my happiness is the world’s happiness, and my anger contains the world’s anger. Now, no god, yaksha, kinnara, human, gandharva, or other being can dare to oppose you. You are the son of a great power (parvati Ji), and therefore, you are extremely radiant. By displaying great valor in battle, you have made it clear that no one can face you. You will be the best at removing obstacles. Because you will be revered / worshipped by all, I make you the leader of all my all Gana’s. That’s why Mother Parvati’s son was called Sri Ganesha and Ganpati means the one who is the leader of all ganas.
Then Shivganas worshiped Lord Ganesha and every one started chanting Jai to Lord Gajanana Jai Ganaadhyaksh, this echoed in the entire world. Parvati ji was very happy to see her beloved son being honoured.
In the Padma Purana, Goddess Parvati herself created the elephant-faced child Ganesha from the Ubtan (a paste applied on the skin).
The Padma Purana’s Srishtikhand tells the remarkable story of Lord Ganesha’s appearance. After marrying Shiva, Himgirinandini Parvati, once applied a body paste (ubtan) using fragrant oils and powders. She created a man’s figure from the ubtan that had fallen on the ground, his face was like an elephant. Playfully she put that elephant-faced man figure in the holy waters of Ganga. Ganga, the saviour of the three worlds, considered Parvati to be her friend. As soon as the the man’s figure fell into her sacred waters, he became gigantic. Mother Parvati called him son, then Ganga ji also called him son, the gods also addressed him as Gangay (Ganga’s son). Thus, Gaja-Vadan was worshipped by the gods. Brahma Ji granted him lordship of the Ganas.
In the Linga Purana, Lord Shiva and Parvati manifested Gajamukha Ganapati on the request of the gods.
Once upon a time, the gods were speculating that the demons, through their penance, often please Lord Brahma and Shiva, and obtained boons. Which makes them invincible and they cause us great suffering. Therefore, why should we not pray to Lord Ashutosh Shiva for our victory and to create obstacles in the work of demons.
The community of gods (devta’s) approached Lord Shiva and praised him, Devguru Brihaspati requested that often you are pleased with the worship of the demons, and grant the boons to them, which causes lot of trouble for us. We pray to you that there should be obstacles in the work of those demons who are our enemies.
Then Lord Shankar assured the gods by saying ‘Tathastu’. After some time, a very bright child with the face of an elephant appeared before Shiva’s great wife Parvati. He had a noose in one hand and a goad in the other.
On the incarnation of Modak Priya, the destroyer of all obstacles, the gods showered flowers and bowed at the feet of Lord Ganesha. Lord Shankar said: My son Ganesha, this avatar of yours has taken place to destroy the demons and to benefit the Gods, Brahmins and Brahmavadis.
If on earth someone performs a yagya without offering Dakshina, then you, should create obstacles in his unrighteous act and he must not go to swarg. You should punish the person who studies, teaches, lectures in this world in an unfair and unjust manner, which is violation of principles of dharm shastra.
Vinayaka! Grant blessings to those men and women who always worship you at O child Ganesha, protect your devotees, both young and old, in every way, both in this world and the next.
As the ruler of the Obstacles (and Obstacle creators), you will undoubtedly be revered and worshipped throughout the three worlds. Those who worship me, Lord Vishnu, or even Brahma through sacrifices or through Brahmins will worship you first.
Whoever performs the rituals of Shrauta, Smarta or worldly welfare deeds without worshiping you, his auspiciousness will also turn into inauspicious. You will be worshiped by Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras with variety of offerings.
After receiving the blessings of the Supreme Lord Shiva, Lord Ganapati created the Vighnaganas (Obstacle creators) and along with those Ganas, he bowed at the auspicious feet of Lord Shankar with great reverence and love.
Then he stood in front of Pashupati, Lord Shiva. Since then Lord Ganesha is worshiped in the world first. After this, Lord Ganesha started creating obstacles in the work of the demons.
In Part 2 of The Extraordinary Glory of Lord Ganesha, we learned some more secrets about why Lord Ganesha is worshipped first! and also about the different stories and leelas of Lord Ganesha (in different periods and kalpas) about how Sri Ganesha has the face of an elephant.
In Part 3, we will learn some more stories of other kalpas about secrets of Lord Ganesha having the face of an elephant and also about the secrets of his form and names.