Posted on: 09 Sep 2005
Discourse Podcast
It is pitiable to depict Lord Ganapati with the head of the elephant and offer grass and leaves treating Him as animal. The story itself is absurd because the story says that Lord Shiva cuts the head of Ganapati, who was prepared by Goddess Parvati. It is said that Lord Shiva was ignorant of Ganapati as the son of Parvati. How much ignorant is this fabrication?! Lord Shiva is said to be the deity of Knowledge (Jnanam Maheshwaraat). He is Sarvajna or omniscient. Is it not insulting Lord Shiva who is the ultimate Lord? Even in the story of Markandeya, people have fabricated that Lord Shiva killed Yama due to excess of anger and emotion and that later on He realized His hasty action. Lord Shiva really gets anger and becomes Rudra due to such insulting stories, which denigrate His divine personality.
Ganapati means the Lord of the devotees of His innermost circles that are liberated souls only. He is the ultimate Lord who comes down to this earth in human form to play well here. The ignorance is maximum on the earth and therefore, the earth is an excellent playground for His divine play or game. He comes down along with His devotees of innermost circle called Gana (Kridayanta Maharnisam… Shankara). It is just like a boy calling his closest friends to play a game. It is just like a person going to see and enjoy the cinema along with his family members. Therefore, the ultimate Parabrahman, which descended down in the human form along with the innermost devotees for the divine play on this earth is Ganapati (Gananaantva… Veda).
What is the meaning of the elephant head? It means the nature of the elephant. The word head represents the intelligence or buddhi of elephant and not the head of the elephant physically. We scold a fellow as a donkey. It means that His nature is like the nature of the donkey and not his physical form. What is the nature of elephant? It is said “Gajaana mati Bhirutvam’, which means that the elephant has enormous strength but forgets its own strength and always fears for everything. Similarly, when the Lord comes down, He imposes ignorance on Himself to enjoy the role. The actor should forget himself in the role if he wants to enjoy fully the role. Therefore, the Lord forgets His divine strength and acts like Jiiva (soul) and fears for troubles in this world. The Veda says that fear is the characteristic of the limited soul (Atha tasya Bhayam Bhavati). Then only the Lord can fully enjoy and also do full justice to the role.
It is said that Goddess Parvati prepared the body and also introduced the life. This statement has inner spiritual meaning. Goddess Parvati represents Maya. When the Lord incarnates, Maya prepares the human body and also introduces life, which is Para Prakruti. Therefore, the life or awareness is only a part of the creation and is not Parabrahman. Ganapati also shows five faces like Shiva. This indicates that Parabrahman indicated by the word Shiva has entered the human body. Ganapati is said to be husband of Siddhi and Buddhi. They are not the two ladies. The symbolic representation shows the two ladies. Buddhi means knowledge associated with logical analysis. Siddhi means attainment. You have to attain the Lord in human form who is Sadguru by logical analysis so that you can eliminate the fraud preachers. Siddhi means attainment of the Lord in human form.
Dravya Yajna means sacrifice of the fruit of your hard work, which is said as Karmaphala Tyaga in the Gita. This sacrifice is praised as the highest stage of the spiritual effort and is emphasized everywhere in the Gita. The Veda also says that one gets the goal only by the sacrifice of fruit of his hard work (Dhanena Tyagenaikena). But in the Gita it is said that knowledge is higher than sacrifice of the material (Shreyaan Dravya mayaat). Now this is contradiction. Here you have to solve like this. When the material is wasted in terms of sacrifice that is done by ignorance. Such ignorance can only be removed by knowledge. Therefore, in such case knowledge of the inner meaning is better. The Veda also says that the food or money should not be wasted (Annam Naparichakshiita). But when the fruit of work is properly utilized without wastage, the sacrifice of material is highest because it is practical sacrifice. Therefore, instead of purchasing these leaves and branches of trees, you can use your money to serve Sadguru or real devotees or beggars or at least the hungry animals. You feed the hungry animals with these leaves. Then the sacrifice is properly done and will give you good result.
Today, people are worshipping the statue of Ganapati made by earth. Such worship is condemned in the scriptures and especially by Shankara as Parthiva Puja. Ravana used to do this every day and was finally destroyed. It is actually a sin to establish the Lord in the earthen statue and you are doing the initiation of life (Prana Pratistha). On the 10th day you are saying ‘Udvasana’, which means removing the life from the body. It means killing Lord Ganapati. You can invite the Lord but should never say to Him to get out after your work is over. You are immersing the dead body in the river on the 10th day. Therefore, you should have a permanent photo or statue and worship it every day.
You must invite the Lord every day and should never say to the Lord to go. In fact, you should know that your invitation would never bring the Lord unless it is fully filled with devotion. Do you think that He is coming on your invitation and is going out on your Udvasana? Is He your servant? Some people say that if Lord Ganapati stays in the house the food materials are exhausted quickly. How foolish is this idea? He is the creator of this universe. He created the food and yourself. Should you have such an idea towards Him? Is this the devotion? You are treating Him as some human guest because when the guest stays for more days the food materials are exhausted. In fact, the statue or photo is not eating even a grain of the food.
In fact, Ganapati represents Sadguru who is in human form. If Ganapati i.e., Sadguru stays in your house forever, really the food materials get exhausted. In the correct sense of this statement Ganapati means the human incarnation and not the statue or photo. Thanks! At least you have recognized that Ganapati means the human form of the Lord and not the statue. Again, this statement means that you can keep Sadguru in your house for 10 days at the maximum and He should be sent out by 10th day. Therefore, you are treating the Lord as an outsider and not even equal to one of your family members, whom you keep forever and never say this statement. This shows the value you give to the God! You expect God to protect you in this world in every issue and finally to give the salvation in the upper world? On this day, we should analyse ourselves and feel ashamed regarding our behaviour to the Lord who gave us this human birth and created all this cosmic facilities. The story that Ganapati curses the moon has also the inner meaning. Moon represents the mind (Chandrama Manaso – Veda). This means that when the Lord comes in the human form, the mind sees the outermost human body only and laughs at the idea that He is the Lord as said in the Gita (Avajananti Maam…). The face of such a fellow should not be seen by real devotees and this is the meaning that we should not see the Moon on this occasion.
Message After Bhajan
You should take the inner sense of the story, which alone is truth. Scholars say the concept in symbolic language for the sake of illiterate and ignorant people. Ganapati was very brave and stood against even Lord Shiva. This means that when the Lord is with full knowledge in His original form, He is fully aware of His divine strength. But when the head of Ganapati is replaced by the head of elephant, He forgot all His divine strength and feared for every thing. This is symbolic story. Actual meaning is that the Lord in His original form is fully aware of Himself and His power. But, when He comes down in the human form, He forgets His divine strength and fears like an ordinary soul. This gives the full enjoyment to the Lord in the human role. The vehicle of big Ganapati is the small rat. This means that when you enter the service of Lord, you need not think about your capacity to do the service. By the will and power of the Lord, you will do service of the God. You are just an external instrument and the Lord wants to give you the divine fame. The small rat is carrying the big Ganapati and this is not due to the strength of rat. It is by the power of Ganapati, the rat is carrying Him. When Ganapati and His brother Kumara got the competition for the selection to the post of Ganapati (The leader of ganas), the test was to go round the world and come back at the earliest. Kumara played the role of an ignorant devotee.
Kumara represented the serpent, which is famous for its egoism (Tamas) and jealousy (Rajas), Kumara went round the world. Ganapati surrendered to Narada who is the Sadguru. Nara means knowledge and Da is giver. This shows that if you catch and surrender the Sadguru, you can achieve the goal very easily. By the advice of Narada, Ganapati went round His parents. Shiva represents Parabrahman and Parvati represents the creation. Therefore, Ganapati went round the Parabrahman and also the creation. Kumara went round the creation only. The human forms of Shiva and Parvati represent the Lord in human form and His real devotees. Therefore, the service to the Lord in human form and His devotees is the ultimate path. The rat was a demon and became the enemy of the Lord. Finally, it turned as a servant to the Lord. This means that even if you misunderstand the Lord in human form for some time, if you realise the truth in course of time and surrender to Him, He will accept you as His servant and give a place in His innermost circle. You need not hesitate about your past behaviour. The Lord forgets every thing and showers love on you in the same way as He graces other devotees. Today, you are offering the sugar cane to the Lord Ganapati. The sugar cane consists of visible matter of cellulose and invisible sugar, which can be known by experience only. This represents the human incarnation. The visible cellulose is the visible human body. The invisible sugar is the unimaginable Parabrahman, which can be experienced only. Similarly, the leaves represent the best item of the food, which is green leaf-vegetables. The sages lived on leaves, which have herbal medicinal value. Such food develops the quality of Sattvam, which pleases the Lord. It is said that Lord Datta appeared to a sage called Parnada. Parnada means he who eats green leaf-vegetables.
Unless you understand internal sense and get benefited, what is the use of celebrating a divine festival simply by wasting the money and by overeating?