Wednesday 13 July 2011

The symbolism of ganapati

The symbolism of ganapati

by Mantra & shlokas on Friday, March 11, 2011 at 1:34pm
Ganesha Vedic Shloka Om Gananaam twa Ganpati gum havamahe Kavimkaveenaa mupamashravastamam Jyestharaajam brahmanaam brahmanaspta Aana shrunvanootibhi seedhasadhanamMaha Ganapataye namah

The symbolism of ganapati
Ganapati is a God from the rig Veda, where he is seen as the “Gana” or clan

The modern ganapati can be explained as the totem of the farmers Bain, the elephant, snake and rat.
But as we decode the mythology. We come with various amazing discoveries.

Most of us are familiar with the Shiva purana story that revolves round the birth of vinayka, who is called so because he was born without the intervention of Shiva. Yet he is able rouse the jealous and anger within the self contained hermit. Shiva turns violent and beheads the boy. But seeing the wailing Gauri he revives her using the head of Airavata the elephant that belonged to Indra.

This recreation of Vinayaka, becomes symbolic as the head is placed by the god and body is created by the goddess. The body created by the goddess symbolizes rasa material abundance, while, the head revived by the Hermit god represents spiritual energy. Thus ganesha becomes the union of the soul with substance a balance of material delight with spiritual bliss.

Ganesha the son of gauri is worshiped with lakshmi (material abundance) and saraswati (wisdom) he becomes the god of thresholds, between Yoga and bhoga, discipline and indulgence, monastic order and fertility rites. The God sitting between the past and future removing all obstacles. Ensuring the realization of every dream.

This is why even the head that used to revive him has to come from the Airavata, the elephant (abundance) associated with the rain god Indra. When the clouds are cut off, do we find the mother earth emerging draping herself with the green sari of harvest, and her son who removes all obstacles emerges with her. The elephant also symbolises the large wisdom reserve that ganapati has, the large reserve of knowledge that is collected by the large ears.

Mythology has riddhi(material abundance) and siddhi(spiritual essence)) as his spouses. Sometimes siddi is referred to as Buddhi (inner wisdom). His offspring’s being shubh (good) Lab (profit) and daughter Santoshi (contentment).

The tantric traditions talk of the path of realizing the truth through shakti. The flowering of the kundalini in stages till the union of Shiva and Shakti occurs. The Ganapati, sits as the lord of the muladhara or the first chakra preventing Shiva’s entry into Parwati’s cave.Analysing the sons of Shiva Parwati.

No comments:

Post a Comment