Guest guest Posted November 7, 2002 Report Share Posted November 7, 2002 Choose an article to view --- List all articles --- Goddess Durga: the Female Form as the Supreme Being Draupadi, the Woman : Epitome of Feminity and Feminism The Ganges : River and Goddess Radha Krishna : A Divine Love Tribal and Folk Dances of India Classical Dances of India Go back to Library Archive list Click here to to our newsletter Ganesha: the Affable Elephant-Headed God Madhuri Guin for Dolls of India, 31st Aug 2002 // --> « Continued from the previous page The large head of an elephant symbolizes wisdom, understanding, and a discriminating intellect that one must possess to attain perfection in life. The wide mouth represents the natural human desire to enjoy life in the world. The large ears signify that a perfect person is the one who possesses a great capacity to listen to others and assimilate ideas. Ganesha's trunk is depicted as being curled and takes the form of the holy Hindu symbol, OM. The trunk is a unique instrument, which springs from his head, and represents the intellect, the faculty of discrimination, which necessarily arises out of wisdom. Intellect is the discriminating faculty, the discerning ability or the judging capacity in man. The trunk of an elephant has the unique capacity of performing both gross and subtle activities. Buy this sculpture SIDDHI VINAYAK GANESHAWITH RIGHT-TURNING TRUNK A trunk can uproot a tree. It can pick up a needle from the ground. Likewise, the human mind must be strong enough to face the ups and downs of the external world and yet delicate enough to explore the subtle realms of the inner world. The trunk hangs between the two tusks signifying discrimination between the worldly and spirituality. Ganesha, beyond all dualities, is attached to neither. The trunk should be curved to the left for normal idols. If it is curved to the right, it is called Siddhi Vinayaka and needs special worship. One should be very careful in worshipping such idols. The left-turning trunk has easy rules and one can worship however one wants to, with respect, but the right-turning trunk will burn the self, if rules are violated. The two tusks denote the two aspects of the human personality, wisdom and emotion. The right tusk represents wisdom and the left tusk represents emotion. Ganesha's right tusk is broken. This broken tusk is symbolic of knowledge, as it is with this tusk that he wrote the Hindu epic, Mahabharata. The depiction of a broken tusk is interpreted by some as indicative of the fact that we should not be trapped between pairs of opposites like pleasures and pains but that we should make conscious efforts to break its grip on us. Ganesha uses the broken tusk as a writing instrument. This shows that one who transcends the pair of opposites becomes creative. Our right side represents Shiva (spiritual) and the left is Shakti (material). The broken right tusk indicates that one must break-off the ego for spiritual fulfillment. In worldly life, however, we need the ego as otherwise we cannot live. But the ego is worldly and life must be controlled by divine wisdom. All animals can see in the right perspective. The elephant is the only animal that lacks this capacity: it can't see things in right perspective. It sees all things as being bigger than itself. Thus the elephant-eyes of Ganesha symbolize the idea that even if an individual gets "bigger and bigger" in wealth and wisdom, he should perceive others to be bigger than himself; that is, surrender one's pride and attain humility. All this also implies that one should never take one's opponents for granted and that one should regard everyone as being bigger and better and more virtuous than oneself. One should always view the goings-on of the world with a microscopic sight, reflecting over them seriously. Thus one will be able to anticipate the crises that may befall. ******** Check out the rest at: http://www.dollsofindia.com/library/article0007/2/Do you ? U2 on LAUNCH - Exclusive medley &; videos from Greatest Hits CD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 8, 2002 Report Share Posted November 8, 2002 I think there is an inaccuracy at the end of this article - horses share the elephant's visual confusion. , SY Zenith <syzenith> wrote: > > http://www.dollsofindia.com/library/article0007/2/ > > Choose an article to view --- List all articles --- Goddess Durga: the Female Form as the Supreme Being Draupadi, the Woman : Epitome of Feminity and Feminism The Ganges : River and Goddess Radha Krishna : A Divine Love Tribal and Folk Dances of India Classical Dances of India > Go back to Library Archive listClick here to to our newsletterGanesha: the Affable Elephant-Headed God- > This article was written by: > Madhuri Guin > for Dolls of India > , 31st Aug 2002//-->« Continued from the previous page > > The large head of an elephant symbolizes wisdom, understanding, and a discriminating intellect that one must possess to attain perfection in life. The wide mouth represents the natural human desire to enjoy life in the world. The large ears signify that a perfect person is the one who possesses a great capacity to listen to others and assimilate ideas. > > Ganesha's trunk is depicted as being curled and takes the form of the holy Hindu symbol, OM. The trunk is a unique instrument, which springs from his head, and represents the intellect, the faculty of discrimination, which necessarily arises out of wisdom. Intellect is the discriminating faculty, the discerning ability or the judging capacity in man. The trunk of an elephant has the unique capacity of performing both gross and subtle activities. > > > Buy this sculptureSIDDHI VINAYAK GANESHA > WITH RIGHT-TURNING TRUNK > > A trunk can uproot a tree. It can pick up a needle from the ground. Likewise, the human mind must be strong enough to face the ups and downs of the external world and yet delicate enough to explore the subtle realms of the inner world. The trunk hangs between the two tusks signifying discrimination between the worldly and spirituality. Ganesha, beyond all dualities, is attached to neither. > > The trunk should be curved to the left for normal idols. If it is curved to the right, it is called Siddhi Vinayaka and needs special worship. One should be very careful in worshipping such idols. The left-turning trunk has easy rules and one can worship however one wants to, with respect, but the right-turning trunk will burn the self, if rules are violated. > > The two tusks denote the two aspects of the human personality, wisdom and emotion. The right tusk represents wisdom and the left tusk represents emotion. Ganesha's right tusk is broken. This broken tusk is symbolic of knowledge, as it is with this tusk that he wrote the Hindu epic, Mahabharata. The depiction of a broken tusk is interpreted by some as indicative of the fact that we should not be trapped between pairs of opposites like pleasures and pains but that we should make conscious efforts to break its grip on us. Ganesha uses the broken tusk as a writing instrument. This shows that one who transcends the pair of opposites becomes creative. Our right side represents Shiva (spiritual) and the left is Shakti (material). The broken right tusk indicates that one must break-off the ego for spiritual fulfillment. In worldly life, however, we need the ego as otherwise we cannot live. But the ego is worldly and life must be controlled by divine wisdom. > > All animals can see in the right perspective. The elephant is the only animal that lacks this capacity: it can't see things in right perspective. It sees all things as being bigger than itself. Thus the elephant-eyes of Ganesha symbolize the idea that even if an individual gets "bigger and bigger" in wealth and wisdom, he should perceive others to be bigger than himself; that is, surrender one's pride and attain humility. All this also implies that one should never take one's opponents for granted and that one should regard everyone as being bigger and better and more virtuous than oneself. One should always view the goings-on of the world with a microscopic sight, reflecting over them seriously. Thus one will be able to anticipate the crises that may befall. > > ******** Check out the rest at: http://www.dollsofindia.com/library/article0007/2/ > > > > > > U2 on LAUNCH - Exclusive medley & videos from Greatest Hits CD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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