Now is the time in India when the festival of Ganesh is being celebrated. Lord Ganesh is among the most loved and revered Gods in India. Almost all major religious functions start with a prayer to Lord Ganesh. Ganesh is among the more modern Gods in the history of Hinduism, which has the unique trait of ascribing divinity to almost anything and everyone. There, apparently is no mention of Ganesh in ancient vedic literature. Some researchers say that Agni used to be the primordial God or symbol to whom all prayers were first offered, since Agni, the God of fire was presumed to be the route to take messages to other Gods. Agni gradually evolved into Lord Ganesh who took an equivalent important position of getting the first prayer according to some researchers.
Lord Ganesh for those who are not aware of Indian Gods is a combination of a human body and an elephant's head. There is a story behind why Ganesh got an elephant's head, which however is not the focus of this article. This article will try and explore some of the symbolism of Lord Ganesh. Again there are numerous explanations of symbolism and readers should feel free to explore any other symbolism.
The wide head and large ears symbolize the need for openness of the individual to receive and assimilate the higher knowledge of the Self. It is ignorance alone which prevents us from realizing our full potential of Divinity. If we can open ourselves to "listening" to the powerful messages contained in the scriptures, which enable us to lift ourselves out of our depths of ignorance, we are on the path to self enlightenment and a divine personality with infinite happiness. However most of us are so deep rooted in ignorance and are not even aware that we are ignorant. Like in a dream, when a lion comes and we wake up, we need some event in our life to shock us and hopefully look for the ray of light through which we will get out of the ignorance.
The trunk of an elephant is a very unique organ. It knows the type of gentleness to apply when accepting and eating a banana. At the same time it knows the strength to apply when holding the trunk of a tree and pulling it off the ground. It symbolizes the human intellect with an unique capability to discriminate. As I have covered earlier, it is the phenomenal capability of the human intellect to discriminate, which separates us from animals which do not have this capability. What should we use the intellect to discriminate? Not just bad and good, which are worldly concepts. But the intellect should be used to discriminate between what is real and what is unreal. It may come as a shock to most people, to know that this world with all its glossy and bright objects is unreal. It is like an illusion. In a dream, I can be with the most beautiful lady. But that is not reality. Similarly this world is like a dream and the reality is elsewhere. The reality is our true nature, which is absolute bliss.
As a person dreaming, and being a character in the dream, what is the reality? For the character in the dream, the dream world appears to be the reality, whereas the absolute reality is me who is fast asleep in my bed room, which the dream character will never know. In the same way, being in this glittering world, we will never know our reality unless we employ the strong discriminating capability of the intellect to understand that this world is unreal and we are dream characters and the reality is divine bliss or Brahman.
Ganesha has only one tusk and the other is broken. It symbolizes the breaking of the concept of duality. My life is not different from any other life as a life principle. The same life principle that exists in me exists in another human being, animal, bird, fish, insect or a plant. There is no duality. The same principal of electricity runs in a small bulb, a floodlight or any giant equipment. There is absolutely no duality. The only reality for electrical devices is electricity. Rest all are names and shapes of objects using the same core reality. In exactly the same way, Brahman or the Life principle is our only reality. Each of us has different names and shapes, but the underlying reality is one only and that is Brahman.
Another interesting aspect of Ganesh is the mouse. The mouse is seen as the vehicle of Ganesh. Looking closely at the image, we see the mouse right in front of a bowl of delicacies eagerly looking at Ganesh only. The mouse symbolizes our mind. Just like a mouse, our mind moves around from place to place. Whereas the mouse scurries around looking for edibles, our mind flirts around with objects of desire. Our mind is never constant. in that numerous thoughts arise and through the thoughts, we are driven towards objects of desire. But in the symbol of Ganesh, we do not see the mouse going after delicacies. This symbolizes that when the mind is under the control of a discriminating intellect, we will not be running after worldly objects. The mind is like a leash of a carriage driven by the five horses, representing the five senses. Unless the leash is held tight under the guidance of a good rider, the horses will run in whatever direction they wish and derail the chariot. In exactly the same way, if our mind is not under the guidance of a well developed intellect, the sense organs will drive us towards various objects of desire, ultimately ending in disaster for us. This concept is also superbly symbolized in the image of Arjuna and Krishna is the Mahabharatha war. Arjuna is like us, a living entity, a jiva. He is in a chariot and traveling, just as we travel on our life's journey. The horses driving the chariot are the sense organs which go towards their favorite sense objects. The mind is the leash holding the horses or the sense organs. In Arjuna's case, the leash was held by none other than Krishna, the divine incarnate and this led him to success in the war. The war we fight daily is not against others, but against our own ego. In this fight, if our mind is controlled by a powerful intellect, we will win the war and subdue our ego and merge with the eternal Brahman.
Though the worship of Lord Ganesh may itself be the end objective of people, an understanding of what the lord symbolizes may bring more more meaning to the worship.
As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.
I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.
1. My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality
My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality
2. Attain Infinite Bliss
Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide
3. The Spirit Of Spirituality
The Spirit Of Spirituality
Lord Ganesh for those who are not aware of Indian Gods is a combination of a human body and an elephant's head. There is a story behind why Ganesh got an elephant's head, which however is not the focus of this article. This article will try and explore some of the symbolism of Lord Ganesh. Again there are numerous explanations of symbolism and readers should feel free to explore any other symbolism.
The wide head and large ears symbolize the need for openness of the individual to receive and assimilate the higher knowledge of the Self. It is ignorance alone which prevents us from realizing our full potential of Divinity. If we can open ourselves to "listening" to the powerful messages contained in the scriptures, which enable us to lift ourselves out of our depths of ignorance, we are on the path to self enlightenment and a divine personality with infinite happiness. However most of us are so deep rooted in ignorance and are not even aware that we are ignorant. Like in a dream, when a lion comes and we wake up, we need some event in our life to shock us and hopefully look for the ray of light through which we will get out of the ignorance.
The trunk of an elephant is a very unique organ. It knows the type of gentleness to apply when accepting and eating a banana. At the same time it knows the strength to apply when holding the trunk of a tree and pulling it off the ground. It symbolizes the human intellect with an unique capability to discriminate. As I have covered earlier, it is the phenomenal capability of the human intellect to discriminate, which separates us from animals which do not have this capability. What should we use the intellect to discriminate? Not just bad and good, which are worldly concepts. But the intellect should be used to discriminate between what is real and what is unreal. It may come as a shock to most people, to know that this world with all its glossy and bright objects is unreal. It is like an illusion. In a dream, I can be with the most beautiful lady. But that is not reality. Similarly this world is like a dream and the reality is elsewhere. The reality is our true nature, which is absolute bliss.
As a person dreaming, and being a character in the dream, what is the reality? For the character in the dream, the dream world appears to be the reality, whereas the absolute reality is me who is fast asleep in my bed room, which the dream character will never know. In the same way, being in this glittering world, we will never know our reality unless we employ the strong discriminating capability of the intellect to understand that this world is unreal and we are dream characters and the reality is divine bliss or Brahman.
Ganesha has only one tusk and the other is broken. It symbolizes the breaking of the concept of duality. My life is not different from any other life as a life principle. The same life principle that exists in me exists in another human being, animal, bird, fish, insect or a plant. There is no duality. The same principal of electricity runs in a small bulb, a floodlight or any giant equipment. There is absolutely no duality. The only reality for electrical devices is electricity. Rest all are names and shapes of objects using the same core reality. In exactly the same way, Brahman or the Life principle is our only reality. Each of us has different names and shapes, but the underlying reality is one only and that is Brahman.
Another interesting aspect of Ganesh is the mouse. The mouse is seen as the vehicle of Ganesh. Looking closely at the image, we see the mouse right in front of a bowl of delicacies eagerly looking at Ganesh only. The mouse symbolizes our mind. Just like a mouse, our mind moves around from place to place. Whereas the mouse scurries around looking for edibles, our mind flirts around with objects of desire. Our mind is never constant. in that numerous thoughts arise and through the thoughts, we are driven towards objects of desire. But in the symbol of Ganesh, we do not see the mouse going after delicacies. This symbolizes that when the mind is under the control of a discriminating intellect, we will not be running after worldly objects. The mind is like a leash of a carriage driven by the five horses, representing the five senses. Unless the leash is held tight under the guidance of a good rider, the horses will run in whatever direction they wish and derail the chariot. In exactly the same way, if our mind is not under the guidance of a well developed intellect, the sense organs will drive us towards various objects of desire, ultimately ending in disaster for us. This concept is also superbly symbolized in the image of Arjuna and Krishna is the Mahabharatha war. Arjuna is like us, a living entity, a jiva. He is in a chariot and traveling, just as we travel on our life's journey. The horses driving the chariot are the sense organs which go towards their favorite sense objects. The mind is the leash holding the horses or the sense organs. In Arjuna's case, the leash was held by none other than Krishna, the divine incarnate and this led him to success in the war. The war we fight daily is not against others, but against our own ego. In this fight, if our mind is controlled by a powerful intellect, we will win the war and subdue our ego and merge with the eternal Brahman.
Though the worship of Lord Ganesh may itself be the end objective of people, an understanding of what the lord symbolizes may bring more more meaning to the worship.
As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.
I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.
1. My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality
My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality
2. Attain Infinite Bliss
Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide
3. The Spirit Of Spirituality
The Spirit Of Spirituality
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