God images in Hindu Religion

As you may know, there are many festivals in the Hindu traditions that happen almost through the entire year. A good number of them happens to fall during the time between August and November every year that we could almost call this time period as the festive season. Two of these festivals, the Ganesha Puja and the Durga Puja are very unique and similar in one respect. In both these celebrations, a temporary idol made of clay is consecrated and worshiped for ten days. And, at the end of the worship period, the idol is ceremoniously discarded into a river or lake. In this annual ritual, one can observe the devotees  attempt to use idols as symbols of a greater God principle  and their conscious effort to transcend the image of the idol in order to connect permanently with its underlying principles. One would easily get agreeable nods from learned Hindus that there is an extensive use of symbolism in the God images that are used for worship. But, at the same time there would hardly be much consensus on what exactly they are which only makes it all the more interesting to explore. Here is an attempt to explore the symbolism behind the image of Maha Ganapathi or Lord Ganesh as popularly known.

 

Before we get into discussing the meaning of the symbols, let's get a consistent picture of what the image is since there appear to be slightly varying versions of it. Ganapthi or Ganesh has the head of an elephant and the body of a human. In the Atharva Veda, we find one of the earliest  hymns on Ganesha called as the Ganapathi Atharvasesham or Ganapathi Atharvopanishad and here is a description of the Ganapathi image from that hymn:

eka dantam - One tusked

chatur hastam - Four handed

pāsam ankusa dhārinam - a rope in one back hand and an elephant goad in the other back hand

radam cha varadam hastair - Removing difficulties and delivering wish fulfillment with one forehand

vibhrānam mushaka dwajam - shines elegantly with a mouse as his sign

raktam lambodaram ṡürpakarnakam …'Reddish in (skin) color, pot-bellied and ears like a winnowing basket

There are more than one way to look at the symbolism behind this including the Yogic, Purānic and Vedic approaches. Let's start with the Yogic approach which is from the point of view of a spiritual seeker

eka dantam - One tusked indicates the single minded purpose of a seeker, which is to know and realize the truth about the self, the world and God. As you may note, this is a noble intent and hence depicted in white color. The tusk also indicates a fierce desire that penetrates all difficulties as depicted by its sharp tip

chatur hastam - Four handed. Hands are the means by which we grasp or accomplish things. For a seeker these means are the sadhana Chatushtaya. The four essential means for spiritual seeking as explained in the sadhana chatushtaya are Viveka (discrimination), Vairagya (dispassion), shadka sampathi (the six positive qualities which are mind restraint, sensual restraint, fortitude, dwelling in higher ideals, faith and mental calmness)

pāsam ankusa dhārinam - a rope in one (back) hand and an elephant goad in the other (back hand). Having a means is not sufficient for a seeker. They need few aides to help them practice those means. The two key aides for a spiritual seeker are the practices of self-restraint as indicated by the rope and ethical living as indicated by the goad that is used to guide  an elephant. In the Yoga sāstra, Patanjali classifies these practices as Yama and Niyama.

radam cha varadam hastair - Removing difficulties and delivering wish fulfillment with one forehand. We all know everyone prays to Gaensha for removing difficulties and blessing one with their wishes. And, when this happens, it doesn't come directly from Ganesha but through someone or something. If this someone or something can act as the God's agents to help us, why Is that we ourselves cannot become God's agent and act in ways that help someone? This symbol of protection and blessing is as much a message to the devotee to practice those qualities as it is a depiction of the Lord. Being socially responsive and compassionate are essential to the spiritual seeker's everyday living

vibhrānam mushaka dwajam - shines elegantly with a mouse as his sign. The root word 'mush' in Sanskrit means to steal. A Mushaka or mouse is called so because it is stealthy and nibbles into what we have cooked or harvested and stored. Why is this a symbol for Ganesha? If you think about it, we also deal with a phenomena that is stealthy, eats slowly into everything that we accomplish and it is very, very tiny! The Mushaka here is a symbol of time and reminds us of the impermanence of things as well as the importance of using the available time wisely. 

raktam lambodaram ṡürpakarnakam …'Reddish in (skin) color, pot-bellied and ears like winnowing basket. The red color is usually used as a symbol of the Rajas quality and is relevant here because there is a need for conscious action from the devotee. Same time, it is not action that is motivated by discontent and greed. The pot-belly of Ganesha depicts a constant state of contentment. In the Yoga practice this is known as 'santhosha' and is prescribed by Patanjali as one of the Niyama.  The Sanskrit word 'ṡürpa' means a winnowing basket that is used by the farm helps to separate out good grains from empty husk shells. Ganesha has ears that resemble the shape of the winnowing basket. A seeker also has to have ears like a winnowing basket that will catch everything but at same time will be diligent to separate out what has substance from what is mere fluff!

In addition, Ganesha also has a big head and a long trunk. This long trunk could be indicative of the Pranayama practice where the outbreath is stretched out.  Pranayama is not merely a breathing exercise. It is a practice that is aimed to build conscious moderation into our activities.  Also, just as an elephant uses its trunk to smell out things before it eats, a seeker should also use discretion on the sensual inputs before letting them into the system. The best way to explain the big head will be to use this term that has become very popular these days, Mind fullness. It means being conscious of the self and actions every single minute, except of course when you are sleeping !

This is not all that is there to the Ganesha image. We will try to examine it from a Vedic and Purānic points of views the next time. Meanwhile, hope this information will help in changing little of what you may contemplate in your daily prayers.