We pray and bow down to Lord Ganesha and while we do that it is important to be aware of the essence of doing it.
Ganesha is –
Lord of Wisdom
Lord of Intelligence
Lord of Awareness
Lord of Initiatives and hence the name of Ganesha before anything else.
Who is Ganesha as per mythology?
The son of Lord Shiva – The destroyer and Parvati – the Shakti, The Energy!
With energy(Shakti) when you destroy (Shiva) the Ignorance within, you get WISDOM – Ganesha!
Let’s look at the mythological story –
Parvati created her son (not yet Ganesha) with dirt and sandal from her body and asked him to safeguard her while she took a bath. When Lord Shiva was stopped by the son, Shiva failed to recognize HIM (Ignorance) which led to his killing by the destroyer himself! Shiva did not kill the person, He killed IGNORANCE and when we do that we replace it with Awareness and Wisdom!! The elephant, Ganesha is an animal of high intelligence and wisdom and hence the depiction! The story concludes with a blessing to Ganesha that before any pooja, people will pray upon you first!
It only says, Awareness is bigger than anything, Ignorance can be dangerous!!!
Ignorance is when…
We stop talking to our loved ones
We don’t invest in our health and say ‘no time’ as an excuse
We don’t invest quality time with people who matter
We play politics in Organizations and hurt people without realising that the person belongs to the same family
When we change ourselves, stop blaming and take initiatives to change ourselves, improve relationships, improve health, improve community, improve our country and the world WE are GANESHA in action!!!!!!
Let’s look at how Lord Ganesha is depicted –
Elephant – Wisdom and Awareness
Large Ears – It’s not only about being a good listener but listening beyond the logical and normal. An Elephant can listen to different frequencies – so listen to all the perspectives rather than just judging and listening to what we want!!!
Ek Dant, One Tusk – Breaking Duality – Oneness
Vaahan – the Mouse – Strange isn’t it? Do you think an elephant can ride on a mouse?
Significance? – Impossible is nothing!
A mouse can reach every corner and hence, reach all corners with wisdom to destroy the ignorance and barriers! Wisdom and Intelligence can bring in false power so be humble and be so light in the HEAD that you can even be placed on a mouse – ZERO ARROGANCE with WISDOM!
The Visarjan
While a lot of stories abound behind why we carry out Visarjan, in essence through the Visarjan we are ‘living’ the fact that no matter how much ever you get attached, be it a day or 3 days or 11 days at the end YOU HAVE TO LET GO!!!!!!
Moving away from attachments is the message. We do however say ‘come back soon’ which represents nothing but the process of LIFE and DEATH , it will come and go – the eternal truth for everyone!!!
And remember, the most important message is – NO matter who you are, no matter who you have become, what you have achieved , YOU still join your hands and BOW down!!!! Bowing down is not just about the IDOL in front, it’s about Self, the attribute of humbleness and humility which matters the most!!!
The day we can join hands and bow down in front of Lives around us, People around us and the existence around us, we have attained mastery!!!!
Let us celebrate Lord Ganesha in his essence every day of our lives!