Ganapati Bappa Morya

 “Vakratunda Mahaakaaya Suryakotee Sama Prabha,

Nirvighnam kuru mey Deva, Sarva kaaryeshu Sarvadaa”

(May Lord Ganesh of large body, curved trunk, with the brilliance of a million suns, make all our work free of obstacles always)

    Another occasion to cherish the richness of our culture and celebrate it. What could be a better time other than these ten days of Ganapati  Festival to talk about the God of wisdom and intellect. It also gives us a chance to tell our kids about this festival and the stories related to it. I told my daughter that Ganesh Chaturthi is Ganapati’s birthday and he likes Modak so we are offering him that.

   Ganapati, the elephant-faced deity also known as Ganesh (lord of all gods), Gajanan (elephant-faced lord), Lambodar (huge bellied lord), Vighnarata (demolisher of obstacles), has always inspired not only small kids but grown-ups too.  The son of Parvati was given the name Ganesh by Lord Shiv. The word Ganesh is made up of gana (group) and isha (lord).

Each body part of Ganapati has its own significance:

     Big Head- Think Big

    Large Ears- Listen More

   Small Eyes- Concentrate

   Small Mouth- Talk Less

   One Tusk- Retain good and throw away bad

   Large Belly- Peacefully digests all the good and bad in life

  Trunk- High efficiency and adaptability

     Apart from this, I would like to share a very interesting comparison between Ganapati and Computer. Yes, you read that right. My mom told me about this. (In the following paragraphs some of the Hindi words will be used)

     The translation for ‘Computer’ in Hindi is ‘Sanganak’. Gana (group);  ‘Sanganak’ (in a group). ‘gam’ is considered to be the ‘Beejakshari Mantra'(Beej meaning Seed) from Vedic and pre-vedic period. There could be a separate article on these Mantras but for better understanding-for a tree to grow planting a tiny seed is the first step, the same way to train our mind to focus chanting of these mantras is the first step. Each deity has one Beej Mantra. For Ganapati  ‘Om Gam Ganapathaye Namah’ is the mantra. 

    Ganapati is different from all other gods because of his looks. But he is the Lord of all gods and gets the honor of being worshiped first on any auspicious occasion. This ritualistic practice is an indicator of the fact that he is probably the most popular of the numerous gods in Indian culture.

Moving forward towards the comparison, 

    Ganapati rides on a Mouse (mooshak) signifying the unity of the small with the big. And who drives the computer? – ‘Mouse’.  So, alike this tiny mouse which connects us to the entire universe (small with big), Ganapati removes all the obstacles riding on his Mouse (mooshak) (small with big).

    Even though, we enjoy listening and reading the stories about Lord Ganesh but we cannot deny the fact that there are lot of lessons to be learned from the stories of Ganesh.  As a student, I came across this very inspiring article in a newsletter.The title was ‘Ganapati as a Management Guru’.

     BIG HEAD: Inspiration to turn big and think profitability, NARROW EYES: Deep concentration for task completion, BIG EARS: Listen patiently to new ideas and suggestions, SMALL MOUTH: Speak less and listen more, MOUSE: Well planned, clever, alert movement, adaptable to fast changes, SMALL LEGS: Firm, balanced and steady progress towards goal

   This was related to management but even in our day-to-day activities there is a lot that we can learn and implement from this delightful god.

May lord Ganesh shower his blessings on you forever!! Ganapati Bappa Morya…