Ganapati Atharva Seersha Upanishad

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12.0pt;font-family:Arial">Om Shanti

font-family:Arial">Neil

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font-family:Arial">Ganapati Atharva Seersha Upanishad

(Translated by Swami Brahmananda)

Courtsey : "Ganeshanjali"

Temple News Letter, The

Hindu Temple

Society

of North

America,

font-family:Arial">New York

font-family:Arial">.

10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Om Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapataye Namah

Adi Sankara interprets that the

principal meaning of the term

upanishad is the destruction or removal of

the seed of wordliness

(ignorance)

from the mind of a student by "sitting close to" the

teacher and receiving direct knowledge from

the teacher. Although

such a definition may seem to preclude a

scriptural work or book from

being viewed as an upanishad,

since the knowledge derived from such a

work or book serves (indirectly) the

same purpose, it could also be

considered as an upanishad.

Therefore, the term upanishad

primarily

refers to pure Knowledge and only

secondarily to a scriptural work or

book.

This short upanishad, which forms part of the

Atharva Veda, is an

incomparable jewel of a mantra and contains the

gist of the Maha

Vakyas found in the four vedas. Therefore, this upanishad is said to

be the essence of all the four vedas.

There are three sections

to this upanishad - a

preamble, the main

upanishad and phala

sruti which enumerates the benefits that will

accrue to one who chants or listens to

this upanishad with devotion.

The preamble is a joint

prayer by the teacher and the student and

reads:

"

font-family:Arial">Om. Oh gods, May we

hear with our ears what is auspicious. May we

see with our eyes what is sacred. May

we sing the glory of the gods

so we may enjoy with strong limbs and

body, the life span allotted to

us by the gods. May Indra, Surya, Garuda and Bruhaspati confer

prosperity on us and remove enmity from us. Om Peace,

Peace, Peace".

The main upanishad, which reads as below,

extols the glory of

Lord Ganesa,

contains Sri Ganesa Gayatri

and describes how the

greatest of all yogis would meditate on Him:

"Prostrations to You,

the leader of the ganas; Thou art the

embodiment of the Maha Vakya

'Thou art That'; Thou art the one and

only Creator, Supporter and Dissolver of

this Universe; Thou art the

Brahman permeating

everything manifest; Thou art none other than the

eternal Brahman. I am uttering only Rtham (Absolute Truth) and

Sathyam (that which remains the same in all

the three periods of time-

past, present and future).

>From the quarters all

around, above and below, always protect me,

who glorifies Thy transcendental form;

listens to Thy great virtues;

adores and worships Thee; and has

dedicated my life for the study of

Thy

great deeds.

Thou art the embodiment of

all eloquence and wisdom, Conscious

Principle,

Bliss and the Supreme Brahman. Thou art Sat Chit Ananda

(Truth,

Conscious Principle and Bliss) and One without a second. Thou

art the manifestation of the Supreme

Brahman. Thou art pure Knowledge

and Wisdom (for discriminating the

Truth from the untruth).

This whole Universe has

emanated from Thee; is sustained by Thee

and by Thy power, shall dissolve in

Thee only. Thou art the five

elements Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether.

Thou art the source of

the four kinds of sound (words) and

eloquence. Thou art beyond the

three gunas (sattva, rajas and tamas); the

three periods of time

(past,

present and future); the three kinds of bodies (sthula,

sukshma and karana

- gross, subtle and causal). Thou always reside in

the Muladhara

Chakra. The three kinds of Saktis (Iccha, Jnana and

Kriya) are none other than You. The yogis always meditate on You.

Thou art Brahma, Vishnu,

Rudra, Indra, Agni, Vayu, Sun and the Moon,

the Supreme Brahman and the three

worlds - Bhu, Bhuva and Suva.

Thy transcendental form

glows like a beautiful crescent moon and

sparkles like stars. Your beejaakshara (GAM) is a combination of

font-family:Arial">Ga-

kara (ga-sound),

A-kara (aa-sound), Ma-kara (ma-sound) followed by by

anuswara and is the essence of all sound. I

meditate on nada, the

Cosmic

Sound.

Arial"> I meditate on the Holy Scriptures. For this Ganesa

Vidya, the sage is Ganaka, the meter is Gayatri and the presiding

deity is Ganapati. Our

prostrations to Gam Ganapati.

May we realize Lord Ganesa.

Let us meditate on His curved trunk,

which resembles the pranava

akshara OM. May that one-tusked God

enlighten and inspire us. That yogi who

always meditates on Your

attributes as below, is the greatest of all

yogis:

'Your form with a single

tusk and four hands - two of them holding

pasa (noose) & ankusa

(goad) respectively and the other two in abhaya

(protective)

and varada (benedictive) mudras; Your banner, displaying

Your mushaka

vahana; Your Cosmic-belly containing all the worlds;

Your ears resembling

winnowing baskets; Your crimson-red hue and

crimson-red garment; Your body smeared with

crimson-red sandal paste

and covered with crimson-red flowers;

Your infinite compassion toward

Your devotees; and Thou as

the immutable Cause of this Universe; Your

manifestation at the beginning of Creation,

although Thou art beyond

prakriti and purusha'.

Our prostrations to Vratapati (Leader of the assemblage of gods),

Ganapati (Leader of the Ganas), Pramathapati (Leader of Pramathas,

the attendants of Lord Siva), the Lord

with a Cosmic-belly and one

tusk, Who is the son of Lord Siva; Who

destroys all obstacles and Who

grants all our wishes.

The concluding section, phala sruti, reads as below :

One who chants this Atharva Seersha Upanishad, becomes

fit to get

merged with the Supreme Brahman. He is

unaffected by all obstacles.

He enjoys happiness all

around. He is released from any and all of

the five great sins he may have

committed. One who chants this in the

evening is absolved from the sins committed

by him during the day and

vice versa. One who chants both in the

morning and evening becomes

sinless. One who constantly chants this upanishad, not only never

faces any obstacles; but attains the four

types of purushartas -

dharma, artha,

font-family:Arial">kama, and moksha.

This Atharva

Seersha Upanishad is not to be imparted to any one,

unless he seeks it from a guru. Out of

delusion, if any one imparts

this upanishad

to an unqualified recipient, he (the donor) incurs sin.

One who chants this upanishad 1,000 times, attains all

his desires.

One who does abhisheka to Lord Ganesa chanting

this upanishad,

attains eloquence. One who chants on

Chaturthi while fasting, obtains

Divine

Knowledge. This is an assurance given by the sage Atharvana

for the benefit of mankind. The veil of

maya or ignorance covering

Brahman will be removed

for him and he will never again experience

fear of anything.

One who worships Lord Ganesa with durva grass while

chanting this

upanishad, becomes comparable to Vaisravana or Kubera, the king of

Yakshas; one who worships with puffed rice

attains great fame and

develops sharp intellect; one who worships

with 1000 modaka gets all

his wishes fulfilled; and one who

worships with ghee and samit

(twigs),

attains everything.

By teaching this mantra to

eight deserving disciples, one gains

radiance like the Sun. One who chants this upanishad on solar eclipse

day either on the banks of a great

river or in the presence of Lord

Ganesa's idol,

attains full realization of this mantra. He is

released from all obstacles. He becomes free

of all defects. He

becomes devoid of all dangers. He becomes

Knower of everything. Know

these to be the words of the Upanishad.

10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Om Peace, Peace, Peace