Introduction
Across India, if there is one God, who is revered, it is Lord Ganesha, the elephant headed God. He is seen as the God to pray to remove all obstacles. During any major religious function, it is Ganesha who is prayed first. Ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva and his divine mother is Parvathi. Over a period of thousands of years, myths have been told about Ganesha. Outside of Hinduism, people may wonder why there are so many Gods. The main reason is that, Hinduism is full of symbolism. Unfortunately, even devout Hindus have just looked at the myth, rarely ever questioning anything and totally eliminated understanding the symbolism behind Ganesha. If there is a painter using his brush on a canvas, it is like people admiring the movement of the brush or the texture of the paper without for a minute stopping to see the picture. In this article, I hope to bring out the mythological story, the inconsistencies and the real symbolism.
The Myth
Shiva and Parvathi are a loving couple. Once Shiva goes on a penance. Then Parvathy creates a small child out of mud and gives him life. The child is Ganesha. Ganesh is in charge of protecting the house and he has been strictly told not to let anyone in. Once Parvathy has gone for her bath and Ganesh is guarding the house. Shiva comes back after several years of penance and is prevented from entering his house by Ganesh. A battle ensues and Shiva cuts off Ganesh's head. In the meantime, Parvathi comes out and is grief stricken seeing her dead son. Shiva realizing his mistake, looks around and sees an elephant. He kills the elephant and puts its head on to Ganesh's torso and Ganesh comes to life with a elephant's head.
The Inconsistencies
1. Shiva's anger
If any one tries to do meditation for even 20 minutes, one will notice the amount of peace that can be experienced. Here in the story, we have Shiva, one of the most spiritual of all Gods, who has come back after doing penance for several years and in a matter of minutes, he becomes so angry!! IS this not totally incredible? Many times when we are playing with kids, we experience similar things. The child thinks it is preventing us from doing something and is enjoying itself. Will we in anger, beat the child for preventing us? So, how can anyone sane believe that Shiva, first of all as an adult, would become angry at a child? Second, how is it possible for someone with so many years of peaceful meditation to become angry at all?
2. Inhuman killing
As per the myth, Shiva killed Ganesh and to to make it worse, killed an elephant. The elephant was innocent and had nothing to do with the whole situation. Recently, there was an incident in a zoo in USA, where a young child accidentally fell into a gorilla's cage and the zoo people killed the gorille even though it had not harmed the child. Universally, the sympathy was for the gorilla. So, is it reasonable to think that a person of Shiva's stature would not only kill Ganesh, but also an innocent animal?
3. The head surgery
As per the myth, Shiva put the elephant's head on to Ganesh's torso. This was brilliant surgery. But then, if Shiva is such a super surgeon, why did he not just fix Ganesh's own head to his torso? Why did he have to kill an elephant and fix its head? Does it sound logical?
Rationale
If we see so much illogical sequences in the story, why do we still believe it? Can we just throw out the whole story and say that this Indian God, Ganesh is a creation of unreasonable and illogical people and stop worshiping Ganesh? I can almost sense the so called rationalists smirking and saying yes! But throwing out the concept of Ganesh because of the illogical story, is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
So, why did ancient India create this myth? The ancient teachers would possibly have used the myth to create attention and then drawn people towards the actual symbolism. However, over centuries, the symbolism would have gradually faded away and the myth would have grown, making the whole purpose of the story meaningless. This leads us to the next step of uncovering the symbolism.
The 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 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
Across India, if there is one God, who is revered, it is Lord Ganesha, the elephant headed God. He is seen as the God to pray to remove all obstacles. During any major religious function, it is Ganesha who is prayed first. Ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva and his divine mother is Parvathi. Over a period of thousands of years, myths have been told about Ganesha. Outside of Hinduism, people may wonder why there are so many Gods. The main reason is that, Hinduism is full of symbolism. Unfortunately, even devout Hindus have just looked at the myth, rarely ever questioning anything and totally eliminated understanding the symbolism behind Ganesha. If there is a painter using his brush on a canvas, it is like people admiring the movement of the brush or the texture of the paper without for a minute stopping to see the picture. In this article, I hope to bring out the mythological story, the inconsistencies and the real symbolism.
The Myth
Shiva and Parvathi are a loving couple. Once Shiva goes on a penance. Then Parvathy creates a small child out of mud and gives him life. The child is Ganesha. Ganesh is in charge of protecting the house and he has been strictly told not to let anyone in. Once Parvathy has gone for her bath and Ganesh is guarding the house. Shiva comes back after several years of penance and is prevented from entering his house by Ganesh. A battle ensues and Shiva cuts off Ganesh's head. In the meantime, Parvathi comes out and is grief stricken seeing her dead son. Shiva realizing his mistake, looks around and sees an elephant. He kills the elephant and puts its head on to Ganesh's torso and Ganesh comes to life with a elephant's head.
The Inconsistencies
1. Shiva's anger
If any one tries to do meditation for even 20 minutes, one will notice the amount of peace that can be experienced. Here in the story, we have Shiva, one of the most spiritual of all Gods, who has come back after doing penance for several years and in a matter of minutes, he becomes so angry!! IS this not totally incredible? Many times when we are playing with kids, we experience similar things. The child thinks it is preventing us from doing something and is enjoying itself. Will we in anger, beat the child for preventing us? So, how can anyone sane believe that Shiva, first of all as an adult, would become angry at a child? Second, how is it possible for someone with so many years of peaceful meditation to become angry at all?
2. Inhuman killing
As per the myth, Shiva killed Ganesh and to to make it worse, killed an elephant. The elephant was innocent and had nothing to do with the whole situation. Recently, there was an incident in a zoo in USA, where a young child accidentally fell into a gorilla's cage and the zoo people killed the gorille even though it had not harmed the child. Universally, the sympathy was for the gorilla. So, is it reasonable to think that a person of Shiva's stature would not only kill Ganesh, but also an innocent animal?
3. The head surgery
As per the myth, Shiva put the elephant's head on to Ganesh's torso. This was brilliant surgery. But then, if Shiva is such a super surgeon, why did he not just fix Ganesh's own head to his torso? Why did he have to kill an elephant and fix its head? Does it sound logical?
Rationale
If we see so much illogical sequences in the story, why do we still believe it? Can we just throw out the whole story and say that this Indian God, Ganesh is a creation of unreasonable and illogical people and stop worshiping Ganesh? I can almost sense the so called rationalists smirking and saying yes! But throwing out the concept of Ganesh because of the illogical story, is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
So, why did ancient India create this myth? The ancient teachers would possibly have used the myth to create attention and then drawn people towards the actual symbolism. However, over centuries, the symbolism would have gradually faded away and the myth would have grown, making the whole purpose of the story meaningless. This leads us to the next step of uncovering the symbolism.
The 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 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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