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OM SRI GANESHAYA NAMAH!

HAIL TO HOLY GANESHA, HONOR!

All sacrifices and religious ceremonies, all serious compositions in writing, and all worldly affairs of importance are begun with an invocation to Lord Ganesh. Without the Blessing of Lord Ganesh, no one will attain his purposes. A teacher on his pupils' first day in class will have the students recite this sacred Mantra. Only then will he begin teaching the alphabet.

Lord Ganesh is Lord of Categories (from "gan", to reckon or count and "Isa", lord). He is also known as "Lord of Hosts". It is no coincidence that in the Judaeo-Christian Old Testament, God is frequently referred to a "Lord of Hosts". He is Vighneshvara, Lord of Obstacles, who knows the intricacies of each soul's karma and the perfect path of Dharma that makes action successful. He sits on the Muladhara Chakra (which is located at the base of the spine, having the attributes of memory, space and time) and He is very easy to access. Lord Ganesh is also identified in the Rig Veda with Shri Brihaspati ("Lord of Prayer, The Holy Word").

Lord Ganesh is the first scribe and it was to Him that Vyasa dictated the Mahabharat. Lord Ganesha wrote the Mahabharat with His tusk while Vyasa dictated. Lord Ganesh accepted only on the condition that Vyasa dictate without interruption. Vyasa agreed on the condition that Lord Ganesh write nothing down until He fully understood it fully (thus giving Vyasa the pauses which he required).

There are eight miraculous contradictory qualities which God may exhibit at will in any Divine Manifestation. They are described in the Balakanda of Tulsidas and are manifested by Lord Hanuman. They are:

ANIMA - Small

MAHIMA - Great

GARIMA - Heavy

LAGHIMA - Light

PRAPTI - Obtain anything

PRAKAMYA - Do anything

ISHITVA - Absolute Supremacy or Domination

VASHITVA- Absolute Subjugation or Servitude

We see in the Moorty of Lord Ganesh the simultaneous manifestation of the Greatness and Heaviness of the Elephant and the Smallness and Lightness of the Rat. Lord Ganesh is the Remover of Dualities and the Unifier and Harmonizer of Opposites.

Once a dispute arose as to which form of the Deity was the greatest. Lord Brahma proposed a race around the world. Lord Ganesh, being the Unifier of all Dualities, and having the slowest vehicle, the Rat, was soon left behind. Lord Ganesh, being a scribe, decided to write the Holiest of Names, RAM which includes all of creation, in the dust of the earth. Then placing his parents Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati on either side of the Holy Name, He worshipped Them by circumambulating Them in pradakshina. Lord Brahma at once decreed that Lord Ganesh should be worshipped first before any other form of Bhagavan. For as Tulsidas says "If you would have light within and without, place the luminous Name of Ram on your tongue, like a jeweled lamp on the threshold of the door."

Lord Ganesh is also known by the name Ekadanta, which means "Having the Great, Supreme, Unique Tusk". We must ask ourselves how Lord Ganesh came to have only one tusk. What is the significance of the One Tusk.

Describing the wedding of Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati, on page 75 of our Ramayan, Tulsidas writes "At the Direction of the Sages, Both Shambu and Bhavani worship Lord Ganesh. Let no one be perplexed on hearing this, remembering that Gods have existed from time without beginning."

Now, we know from the various Puranas that one day Lord Ganesh's stomach had become very large from eating all of the sweet cakes and rice balls which His devotees had offered to Him. He mounted his Rat vehicle and began slowly to ride home. The Rat was frightened by a snake which was crossing the road, and Lord Ganesh fell down. His stomach burst and all of the sweet cakes and rice balls spilled out. Lord Ganesh gathered the cakes and put them back in his stomach, and then used the snake as a belt to hold them in. The Moon laughed to see such things. Lord Ganesh became angry and plucked out one of his tusks, throwing it at the Moon. This caused the Moon to disappear. Lord Ganesh at once retrieved His tusk and restored the Moon, but to this day the Moon waxes and wanes between full moon and new moon. On the Feast Day of Lord Ganesh, devotees are cautioned not to look at the Moon.

What can we learn from Lord Ganesh's one Tusk, and his parents Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati worshipping their Son at their Wedding?

We must look at the Chandogya Upanishad and the Holy Mantra to be found there:

TAT TVAM ASI

THAT THOU ART.

There is in India a Sampradaya which takes Lord Ganesh as their Ishtadeva. Sacred to this Sampradaya is the Mudgala Purana which explains a form of Yoga centered around Lord Ganesh as the embodiment of Tat Tvam Asi, That Thou Art. For the Advaitin Monist Vedantin, Tat Tvam Asi expresses the unity of the individual soul with the greatest reality, Brahman. Tat Tvam Asi is a mirror image of Lord Ganesh Himself. The body of a human is associated with word Tvam. The head of the elephant is equated with word Tat. The entire Moorty itself is the Unifier of both these opposites and is associated with the word Asi.

In the Chandogya Upanishad, we see the young Lord Krishna being taught these principles by his Guru, Ghora Angirasa:

"Said the seer Sandilya: At the moment of death a knower of Brahman should meditate on the following truths:

Thou are imperishable,         Thou are the changeless Reality,         Thou art the source of Life.

This highest knowledge, the knowledge of Brahman, having drunk of which one never thirsts, did Ghora Angirasa teach to Lord Krishna, Son of Devaki."

The possibilities for analyzing the world are virtually infinite, and the meanings of the individual words TAT and TVAM and their synthesis ASI, are also infinite. Lord Ganesh, who is the Embodiment of TAT TVAM ASI, is also infinite in his Avatars or Incarnations. But eight primary forms of Lord Ganesh's Avataric manifestations are emphasized in the Mudgala Purana. Each incarnation represents a particular stage of the Absolute as it unfolds into Creation. Lord Ganesh is the Physical Universe. That Absolute is both Svaraka - the world and all its diversity, and Niraka - the imperishable Soul as it abides apart from the movement of Creation and Dissolution of the Universe. The Mudgala Purana contains Hymns in which Lord Ganesh is praised as a variety of entities that represent the various stages of the Absolute as it unfolds in the world. The Absolute, prior to Creation, is devoid of distinction. The first step in the creative process is a twofold change in the absolute that becomes svata utthanaka, a term that means something like "awakening on its own", and parata utthana, which might be loosely translated as "aroused by another".

The Svata Utthana Brahma, the absolute that has awakened to creation of its own accord, is in fact the entity responsible for creation. It begins to wonder about itself, to ponder its own nature, and through the power of its thought (VIKALPA) it becomes twofold. It becomes a cognizer, and it becomes that which is cognized, both, however in an undifferentiated state. In other words, It becomes both the Body (Deha) and the Embodied Soul (Dehin).

The cognizer is considered to be formless, NIRAKARA, while the Absolute as the potential object of cognition, the visible and invisible physical world, has everything as its form, and is SARVAKARA.

The actual creation of the world will proceed from the undifferentiated unity of potential physical objects, which are seen as four different types of bodies. The undifferentiated unity of the four bodies is termed the BINDU. The process of creation will require as well an undifferentiated unity of cognizers, which is the "SO HAM" or awareness of "I AM".

The Bindu is equated with PRAKRITI or Primordial Matter, while the unity of souls is equated with PURUSHA, and together they will create the world of Souls and Bodies. It is Lord Ganesh, as the ASI, of TAT TVAM ASI, who joins the PRAKRITI and PURUSHA, and allows Creation to proceed. Lord Ganesh is the synthesis of the SVATA UTTHANA and PARATA UTHANA, the two Absolutes which arise at the first moment of Creation. From this perspective, Lord Ganesh is responsible for the appearance of the entire Universe, of its physical elements as they proceed from the BINDU, of individual Souls, and of the Puranic Manifestations of the Deities and Sakti Ma, Lord Surya, Lord Visnu, and Lord Shiva.

The sweet cakes in the large belly of Lord Lampodara represent all of physical reality. The two tusks represent the Dualistic nature of Reality, Dukka and Sukka, Hot and Cold, Good, and Evil, Sweet and Bitter (as well as our mind's dualistic true-false Reason). The fear of the snake represents the ignorance of Maya as we mistake a rope for a snake, not recognizing that a rope offers us a means both to bind our adversaries and to ascend to a higher plane. The confusion between the snake and the rope is a frequent metaphor in Sanatan Dharma for the ignorance and delusion of Maya. This fear and delusion leads to a weakening of Faith and we loose our ability to transcend the suffering of the Dualities through Yogic equanimity. But Lord Ganesh makes the snake into a rope and subdues all the "ten thousand and one" sweet cakes of samsara. The moon of course is God in the Dvaita Saguna relationship to the devotee through Bhakti, which we recognize as Ramachandra. When we loose our equanimity and faith by misusing the two tusks of our rational mind, we mistakenly perceive that God is laughing at us as our enemy, as did Ravanna. This causes God to disappear from our view, (even though He is always really there). The two tusks of an elephant represent the Dualistic nature of Human Reason (which is always looking for contradictions) and which causes doubt and weakness of Faith. Lord Ganesh does violence to Himself, to remove one Tusk, so that we will be Single Minded in our faith. So the devotee must do violence through the practice of meditation, japa, Tapyas, and fasting, and constantly bathing the Mind in the Holy Katha of the Lord, singing the Lord's Glories, to achieve single mindedness. But the removed Tusk becomes the pen whereby the Sacred Scriptures of the Lord are forever written in our Hearts. And it is by means of the constant singing of the Leilas of the Lord in His Holy Katha that the Lord continuously Incarnates in Midst of our Sat Sang. We see that it is the snakes immobilizing Lord Ram which cause Lord Garuda to doubt His Divinity. Again, here is one of the eight Miraculous qualities of absolute servitude, (almost to the point of death) in Lord Ram, and of snakes as binding ropes. It is only the Recitation of the Holy Katha of the Ramayan by Kag Bushundi to Lord Garuda which restores Lord Garuda's faith.

Now, if we are confused by all these images and seeming contradictions, we need only look at the Bhagavad Gita in chapters nine and ten and contemplate all that which Lord Krishna explain to Arjuna that He is. In 9:17 Lord Krishna says:

"I am the Father of the Universe, The Mother, the Grandfather, the Sacred Syllable OM, the Rig, Sama, and Yajur Vedas."

9:19 "I am Immortality and Death, Being and Non-Being (SAT and ASAT)"

10:21 "I am Vishnu,... and among the (nightly) heavenly bodies I am the Moon"

10:23 "I am Shankara (Shiva),... I am Fire (Agni)"

10:25 "Of Sacred Words I am OM,... of sacrifices, JAPA (silent repetition of prayer)"

10:27 "I am the most princely of Elephants"

10:30 "I am Prahalad,... I am Garuda"

10:31 "I am Ram,... I am the Ganges"

10:38 "Of Secrets,...I am Holy Silence (Maunam)"

and in 11:31 Arjuna says to Lord Krishna:

"You are the Infinite Lord of Gods, you are the Dwelling Place of the Universe, The Imperishable, the Existent, the Non-Existent, and That which Is beyond both"

We may also notice that, in the Srimad Bhagavatam, when Lord Krishna and BalaRama enters into the arena of Kamsa, each group of persons perceived them differently. Their parents saw Them as mere infants. Kamsa saw Them as Death Incarnate, the Yogis saw Them as Ultimate Truth, and the towns people each perceived Them each differently according to each beholder's wisdom or lack of wisdom.

So Divinity has many Forms and Many Names, and Many are the Paths to the One, and may each one of us continually progress spiritually day after day, birth after birth, towards that Ultimate Liberation through the help of Lord Ganesh.

Ganesha Sharinam, Sharinam Ganesha Jai Shri Ram Om Namaha Shivaya Hari Om Tat Sat Om Namah Bhagavata Vasudevaya