What will you offer to Vinayaka on Vinayaka Chathurthi Day?

August 30, 2008

What will you offer to Vinayaka on Vinayaka Chathurthi?

People are under the false impression that today is the birthday of Vinayaka, but He has neither birth nor death. He has neither beginning nor end. He is the eternal witness.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba has said that on this sacred day of Vinayak Chaturthi, people spend lot of money in offering various fruits to God. All these offerings are made only as a ritual. Ultimately people themselves consume them. Pathram, Pushpam, Phalam and Thoyam - these are the four things that you should offer God. Here Pathram (leaf) means body. This body may wither away at any moment. So never develop attachment towards the body; instead offer it to God. Pushpam (flower) means Hridaya. This flower will never fade away. Mind can be compared to Phalam (fruit) and Thoyam stands for tears of joy. Hence all these four should be offered to God.

Three basic sounds - a, u, m - form the origin of all sounds. The three combined constitute Aum, called pranava emanated from Brahman, the supreme soul of the universe. It is from sound that all earthly forms are born. It is as the symbol of pranava that Vinayaka began to be worshipped.

In Tamil Nadu, Ganesa has come to be known as Pillaiyar, because he is the 'Pillai' or son of the parents of the Universe, Parvati-Parameswara .

By indicating to mankind the goal of human evolution and the path to reach the same, Lord Ganesha occupies a place of distinction in the Hindu pantheon." Ganesha or Vignaharta shows humanity its goal not only with his teachings, but also his physical appearance. So, the artisan's final touches to Lord Ganesha's idol for Ganesh Chaturthi, being celebrated on August 22, are crucial as each part of the popular God is symbolic and open to philosophical interpretations.

THERE is a deeper meaning to the form of Lord Ganesha that can be understood when we dwell a little on the symbolism. To contemplate on the formless and transcendental essence, some of us need an idol that can be seen and worshipped. Thus the idol represents an ideal, a medium for us to get in touch with our spirituality. So let's take a look at Ganesha's symbolic representation in our scriptures and what they mean to us.

Our ancient seers or rishis discovered a basic unity or harmony underlying all of life and its forms despite the apparent chaos Life has three stages of evolution, according to Vedantic thought: Birth, growth and death - the trinity, a continuous chain taking place again and again, with progress achieved in each scale of evolution. And one supreme power controls and guides this.

Our sages with their rich imagination, foresaw obstacles in cosmic progress, and installed the first Worn of Shiva, the destroyer, and his consort Parvathi, as the god to be propitiated, for removal of obstructions and to achieve success in any work undertaken. This god is none other than Ganesha. His name is invoked before starting any new venture. He is called Vighneswara, the lord who is the remover obstacles. He is also called Ganapati, the leader of Shiva's servants or ganas Vinayaka, the supreme leader. He is the master of knowledge or vidya, and the champion of worldly achievement, avidya.

Ganesha is depicted generally in a seated pose. It signifies that in him the mind and intellect are totally integrated. The entire world is at his feet, waiting for his command. The pose also resembles that first primeval cosmic sound in Sanskrit – OM – the beginning of creation itself. He has a bulky body, symbolic of the entire cosmos. This big belly symbolizes space. The mastermind has to digest all experiences of life. The snake around his expansive waist is like a girdle. It symbolises energy in all forms.

"In Hindu mythological literature Ganesha is described as having a human form with an elephant's head. An elephant's head on a human body indicates supreme wisdom. The two main steps of spiritual education are sravana, which means listening to the eternal truths of Vedanta and manana, which is reflection upon those truths. And the large ears and head of Ganesha indicate that He has acquired spiritual wisdom through both the steps.

He has an elephant's head, symbolic of the intellectual capacity one must have to understand the supreme truth. The large ears are symbolic of the sravana or careful listening one must give one's teacher, to understand Vedantic truth. Not only must the student understand the concepts, he must also have the sensitivity and the discriminatory power to distinguish the mortal from the eternal, impermanence from permanence, the gross from the subtle. This is symbolised by the trunk that starts from Lord Ganesha's forehead. An elephant's trunk can lift a log of wood as well as a blade of grass. The two tusks on either side of the trunk are symbolic of right and wrong, good and evil. Ganesha possesses the faculty of being aware of the duality of the world.

The crooked trunk of Lord Ganesha wbich also gives him the name Vakratunda, too has an interesting meaning. The trunk, which is able to uproot a tree and also lift a needle, represents Lord Ganesha's intellect. A man of realisation like Ganesha is one who has fully developed both his gross and subtle intellects. "He has perfect understanding and knowledge of the terrestrial as well as the transcendental". "Also, Vakratunda is one who punishes those who follow , the wrong path and leads them to the path of righteousness".

But one tusk is broken. This means that as the perfect student, he has gone beyond the pairs of opposites, beyond the subjective and the objective to a higher plane of consciousness. The broken tusk also symbolises that nothing is too precious to be sacrificed for intellectual progress.

Ganesha holds in his four hands an axe, a rope, and a rosary of beads, while the last hand is held up in benediction. With the axe, he cuts off the worldly attachments of his disciples. The rope brings them nearer the path of truth. The beads remind one of the continuous pursuit of supreme knowledge that the believer should engage in. His trunk holds the sweet stuffed riceball modak. It is symbolic of the self that resides within us and which has to be realised by each one of us. The fourth hand blesses his believers for success and joy through life's journey. On another level, the obstacles in life subjective and objective can be surmounted and realisation attained with Ganesha's blessing. The modak signifies the sweet satisfaction one gets in travelling the spiritual path.

The large belly denotes a perfect human being one who can "consume and digest" life's experiences, both good and bad. A balance between material and spiritual life is represented in Ganpati's sitting posture, with one leg folded up and the other leg resting on the ground. "The leg on the ground indicates that one aspect of his personality is dealing with the world while the other is ever rooted in singlepointed concentration upon the supreme reality".

Though His body is of gigantic proportions He is yet a child. It is paradoxical that with such a massive body, Ganapathi should have chosen the tiny mouse as His vaahana or vehicle.

This conception of Vinayaka riding a mouse is illustrative of the Vedantic truth that God alone matters and that all other external paraphernalia are illusions.

The mouse, at the feet of the lord symbolises material desires that can destroy the good within us. Though it's a small animal, it can play havoc with many things – foodgrains for one. Ganesha has subjugated this mouse of desire and kept it under control.

"This mystical form of Lord Ganesha represents not only the supreme state of human perfection but the practical path to reach that state. The details of his description suggest deep philosophical significance which can guide you to reach that ultimate state."

Ganesha thus represents, "The perfect wisdom of a fully realised vedantin a follower, or student of Vedanta. He is the highest and the best that has ever been given in our scriptures". Ganesha has an important position because he is invoked not only by Hindus at the beginning of any work, but even the other gods in the Hindu pantheon pray to him, according to the puranas.