Guest guest Posted September 17, 2007 Report Share Posted September 17, 2007 Lord Ganesha - the Hindu deity in a human form but with the head of an elephant - represents the power of the Supreme Being that removes obstacles and ensuressuccess in human endeavors. For this reason, Hindus worship Ganesha first before beginning any religious, spiritual or worldly activity. In Hindu mythology,Lord Ganesha is the first son of Lord Shiva and the Divine Mother Parvati. Their second son is Lord Subramanya and their daughter is Jyoti. As explainedbelow, the portrayal of Lord Ganesha as the blend of human and animal parts symbolizes the ideals of perfection as conceived by Hindu sages and illustratessome philosophical concepts of profound spiritual significance. Elephant head, wide mouth, and large ears: the large head of an elephant symbolizes wisdom, understanding, and a discriminating intellect that one mustpossess 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 perfectperson is the one who possesses a great capacity to listen to others and assimilate ideas. The trunk and two tusks with the left tusk broken: there is no known human instrument that has an operating range as wide as that of an elephant's trunk.It can uproot a tree and yet lift a needle off the ground. Likewise, the human mind must be strong enough to face the ups and downs of the external worldand yet delicate enough to explore the subtle realms of the inner world. 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. The broken left tusk conveys the idea that one must conquer emotions with wisdomto attain perfection. Elephant eyes: the elephant eyes are said to possess natural deceptiveness that allows them to perceive objects to be bigger than what they really are.Thus the elephant eyes symbolize the idea that even if an individual gets "bigger and bigger" in wealth and wisdom, he should perceive others to be biggerthan himself; that is, surrender one's pride and attain humility. The four arms and various objects in the four hands: the four arms indicate that the Lord is omnipresent and omnipotent. The left side of the body symbolizesemotion and the right side symbolizes reason. An axe in the upper left hand and a lotus in the upper right hand signify that in order to attain spiritualperfection, one should cut worldly attachments and conquer emotions. This enables one to live in the world without being affected by earthly temptations,just as a lotus remains in water but is not affected by it. A tray of Laddus (a popular snack) near the Lord denotes that He bestows wealth and prosperityupon His devotees. The lower right hand is shown in a blessing pose, which signifies that Ganesha always blesses His devotees. A human body with a big belly: the human body possesses a human heart, which is a symbol of kindness and compassion toward all. Ganesha's body is usuallyportrayed wearing red and yellow clothes. Yellow symbolizes purity, peace and truthfulness. Red symbolizes the activity in the world. These are the qualitiesof a perfect person who perforrns all duties in the world, with purity, peace, and truthfulness. The big belly signifies that a perfect individual musthave a large capacity to face all pleasant and unpleasant experiences of the world. A mouse sitting near the feet of Ganesha and gazing at the tray of Laddus: a mouse symbalizes the ego that can nibble all that is good and noble in a person.A mouse sitting near the feet of Ganesha indicates that a perfect person is one who has conquered his (or her) ego. A mouse gazing at the Laddus, but notconsuming them, denotes that a purified or controlled ego can live in the world without being affected by the worldly temptations. The mouse is also thevehicle of Ganesha, signifying that one must control ego in order for wisdom to shine forth. Right foot dangling over the left foot: as stated above, the left side of the body symbolizes emotion and the right side symbolizes reason and knowledge.The right foot dangling over the left foot illustrates that in order to live a successful life one should utilize knowledge and reason to overcome emotions. The greatest tragedy that can ever befall a human being is to have eyes andstill not see..."Helen Keler" -- P. Subramani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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