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.
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