Turning around

[Guest guest]

Haribol! Jai Ma!

Pranam.

 

I remember having read something a while ago regading Lord Shiva and

Parvati who requested their sons (Lord Ganesh and maybe Lord Skanda

or Subramanya, I can't remember) to perform some kind of contest

(circling the Universe 3 times if I am not mistaken). I cannot

remember what was the @price@ for the winner but Lord Ganesha turned

3 times around his parents and won.

Does anyone knows that story?

Thank you very much for any information because I would like to use

this story in a little offering to my guru.

Om Shanti!

 

Mukunda

[Guest guest]

This is a favorite story with children. There is another part of it

and that is the two sisters Siddhi (Accomplishment) and Vriddhi

(Wealth). Their family's affairs comprise and important subplot.

The parents of the two girls decide that it is time to get the

little girls married. The girls add a challenging problem. They do

not want to be separated. The girls seem fond of Ganesha and Muruga

(or Skanda or Subramaniam, all names for Ganesha's brother) so the

parents approach Shiva and Parvati about the possibility of

marriage. Since the girls will not be separated, Shiva and Parvati

have to figure out which sone will marry the girls.

 

Then comes the announcement of the contest. The winner will marry to

two sisters Lord Muruga rushes off on his speedy peacock. Ganesha

politely discusses with his mouse the possibility of carrying him

around the universe. In the children's version of this that I have

staged, the little mouse laughs because Ganesha is so big and the

mouse is much to small to carry him anywhere. Then Ganesha sees how

he can win anyway. He rises and walks three times around his

parents. Then he announces that he has won! Shiva and Parvti ask

him how that could be and he says that they ARE the universe. Lord

Shiva is the intelligence behind the universe and Parvati is the

very stuff out of which it is made. Ganesha has circumnambulated

them and thus gone "around" the universe three times and is the

winner.

 

Shiva and Parvati congratulate Ganesha on his true understanding and

declare him the winner. Preparations for his marriage to Siddhi and

Vriddhi begin.

 

When Lord Muruga returns on his out-of-breath peacock, he finds that

he has lost. He is so disheartened that he announces that he will

become a swami. As he begins to transform into Palani Swami, one of

the forms of Lord Muruga, Shiva and Parvati call out to him that he

does not have to renounce because he is not the doer. But Muruga's

mind is made up and he presides over his devotees for many millenia

as a simple swami.

 

(I'm sure that there are more official versions of the story, but

this is the one I've used with small children, around age 5. There

are many wonderful images and ideas in the story. It really works

to see the Lord who removes obstacles as partner to accomplishment

and wealth. The descripion of why Shiva and Parvati are the

universe is the basis for seeing God in everything. Sometimes

children's versions of things have the great benefit of being simple

enough for us grownups to understand.)

 

Aikya

 

 

 

Ammachi, "Maxime Lapointe" <tulasi3@w...>

wrote:

>

> Haribol! Jai Ma!

> Pranam.

>

> I remember having read something a while ago regading Lord Shiva

and

> Parvati who requested their sons (Lord Ganesh and maybe Lord

Skanda

> or Subramanya, I can't remember) to perform some kind of contest

> (circling the Universe 3 times if I am not mistaken). I cannot

> remember what was the @price@ for the winner but Lord Ganesha

turned

> 3 times around his parents and won.

> Does anyone knows that story?

> Thank you very much for any information because I would like to

use

> this story in a little offering to my guru.

> Om Shanti!

>

> Mukunda