Friday, September 6, 2013

(Sep 6,2013) Spiritual Message for the Day – Lord Ganesa – The Remover of Obstacles

Lord Ganesa – The Remover of Obstacles
Divine Life Society Publication: Chapter 11 Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals by Swami Krishnananda
(Ganesa Chaturthi message given in September, 1981)

 

Ganapati is the name that occurs right in the beginning of the Rig Veda itself, the earliest of scriptures, "Gananam tva ganapatim havamahe..."

The traditional annual worship of God, as the remover of all obstacles, as Vighna Vinayaka, is known as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Ganesa Chaturthi. On the fourth day of the bright half of the lunar month of Bhadrapada (August-September) every year, the great Lord Ganapati, called the Lord of Hosts (Ganas), is worshipped throughout India and in many other parts of the world also. It is the day on which we offer special adoration to the Remover of obstacles.

Human life is beset with obstacles. The moment we wake up in the morning, we have to face the obstacle called hunger which we try to obviate by cooking and eating food, the obstacle called thirst which we have to get rid of by drinks, and the obstacles called disease, exhaustion, fatigue, sleeplessness and the like, which we endeavor to remedy by the introduction of various types of medicines. The very presence of people around us is an obstacle and the human individual suddenly becomes restless, and both consciously and unconsciously puts on an attitude of self-defense.

Tradition conceives this great Remover of Obstacles, Ganapati, as the son of Lord Siva, with a proboscis of an elephant and a protuberant belly, with weapons of various types and with His right hand in a benign gesture of goodwill, grace and blessing. The family of Bhagavan Siva is of a peculiar setup. The Lord of all the worlds lives as one possessing nothing! This manner of living in Mount Kailasa by the great Master of Yogis, Lord Siva, is perhaps a demonstration of the great definition of the glory of Bhagavan, the Supreme Being as possessed of all-knowledge, all-power and all-renunciation.

What is Bhagavan and what are His characteristics? 'Bhagavan' is one who has six characteristics. "Aisvaryasya samagrasya viryasya yasasah sriyah; jnana-vairagyayoh chaiva shannam bhaga itirana" – these six characteristics mentioned are all called Bhaga. One who has Bhaga is called Bhagavan. All prosperity, all wealth, all treasure, all glory, all magnificence is Aisvarya. Entire Aisvarya is there. Virya is tremendous energy, force and power. Yasas is fame and renown. Srih is prosperity. Jnana and Vairagya are the pinnacle of wisdom and the pinnacle of renunciation, respectively. Knowledge is supposed to be a benediction from Lord Siva Himself.

Such a Master's son is Sri Ganapati, Sri Ganesa. The usual belief is that Lord Ganapati is a celibate and He never married, though there is a belief in North India that He has Siddhi and Buddhi, two consorts.

There is a story as to why He is worshipped first on all occasions. It appears Parvati, the consort of Lord Siva, went for a bath, maybe in the Ganga. She scrubbed her body, and out of the dirt of her body she made a small image of a boy, gave life to it by her touch, and ordained him not to allow entry to any person while she is bathing in the river. Accordingly, that boy stood guarding. At that moment, the great Lord Siva Himself came and the boy prevented His entry, because he could not recognize Lord Siva, whom he had not seen. Lord Shiva was angry and chopped off Ganapati's head, and he fell down dead.

When Parvati came up, she was aghast and said, "Oh Lord, What have you done! You have killed my boy and I am deeply hurt."  She started weeping and would not speak. The Lord Siva said, "Do not weep. I shall give life to him." He said, "Bring the head of someone who is sleeping with his head towards the north." And they found nobody except an elephant lying with its head towards the north. Its head was severed and brought.

The elephant's head was attached to the trunk of this boy and He became alive again. Lord Siva not only gave him life, but also made him the leader of His hosts (Ganas). Ganas are demigods; they are neither human nor superhuman. Sometimes they look like astral beings. These Ganas are ruled by Ganapati under the order of Siva. Hence he is called Ganapati.

Apart from making Ganapati the Leader of his hosts (Ganas), Lord Siva bestowed another blessing on Him, saying, "You shall be the first one to be worshipped on all occasions." So this is the order or the ordinance of Lord Siva. The ordinance stands forever. It is a permanent ordinance from the Great Master. We will not worship Lord Siva or Lord Narayana without first worshipping Ganapati. "Om Gam Ganapataye Namah", is a Mantra to propitiate Ganapati.

The Puranas and the epics bring home to us the idea of the necessity to accept the power of God as the only medium by which obstacles can be removed. So, He is called Vighnesvara, the God who is not merely the Ganapati or the ruler of the hosts or Ganas, but also a Remover of all impediments on all paths.

Everything is not clear to the minds of men. There are great secrets. If we recognize this mystery within us which mystifies even our intelligence and our efforts, we will be humble, simple and small before God. A person becomes smaller and smaller as he approaches God through spiritual Sadhana, just as a candle flame becomes dimmer and dimmer as it goes nearer and nearer to the sun; and just before the sun, it is not there. We cannot even see its existence. It vanishes. Likewise, when we approach God we become smaller and smaller, humbler and humbler, until we become nothing. When there is total emptiness created by an abolition of ourselves, God fills it Himself. "Empty thyself and I shall fill thee," said Jesus Christ.

The Mahaganapati Purana, the Ganapati Atharvasirsha Upanishad, the Ganesa Gita and several anecdotes occurring in the Mahabharata and the other Puranas glorify this aspect of the Supreme Almighty which requires our submission at His feet and expects us to recognize Him as the sole power that can remove all obstacles on the path of the spiritual seeker towards the attainment of Godhead. This seems to be a part of the meaning, hidden behind the holy worship of Bhagavan Ganapati or Sri Ganesa or Mahaganapati. These stories are not meaningless narrations. They instill into our minds a divine urge and faith in our hearts of the Divine Presence.

The worship of Maha-Ganapati, with the Mantra "Om Gam Ganapataye Namah", is a humble submission of the true circumstance of oneself before the might of the Creator, God's glory, the magnitude of His power, the depth of His Wisdom, His Knowledge and His Omniscience. This is a little tribute to the glory of Maha Ganapati.

Excerpts from:
Lord Ganesa – The Remover of Obstacles (Chapter 11) Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals by Swami Krishnananda

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