Ganesha Chaturthi marks the birth of the elephant-headed Hindu deity, the God of prosperity, wisdom and knowledge. The day offers an opportunity to reinforce the symbolism of a deity with big ears that signify being a good listener, the most intelligent and sharp thinker and one who remains calm, much like the elephant who gracefully takes all comment and criticism in its stride, unperturbed, in its march towards its goal.
The Gayatri Mantra dedicated to Lord Ganesha is a prayer that inspires us to have only one goal in life, which is to unfold our personality to the fullest. Our profession is the means and the goal is inner joy. It is not about pleasing others or winning an award, recognition or title, rather we revel in bliss through a single-pointed pursuit.
Ganesha inspires us to stay focused on one endeavour. Know our core competency and stick to it. Remove all distractions. When focused, the intensity behind our action increases. With such intensity, we are able to pierce through all obstacles in life and realise the highest. This is exactly what achievers whether in academics or sports or any chosen field accomplish. This is the difference between an ordinary and extraordinary life.
When we realise the highest, intense joy in life dawns. That joy is called ‘modaka’. ‘Moda’ means happiness and ‘ka’ means the giver of happiness. As a symbol on Ganesha Chaturthi, we offer ‘modaka’ to the Lord and pray that we should get immense happiness in life by overcoming all obstacles, including mental distractions, on our path. We pray for energy and vigour to work towards our goal. We seek His blessings for space and freshness in life.
{{/usCountry}}When we realise the highest, intense joy in life dawns. That joy is called ‘modaka’. ‘Moda’ means happiness and ‘ka’ means the giver of happiness. As a symbol on Ganesha Chaturthi, we offer ‘modaka’ to the Lord and pray that we should get immense happiness in life by overcoming all obstacles, including mental distractions, on our path. We pray for energy and vigour to work towards our goal. We seek His blessings for space and freshness in life.
{{/usCountry}}‘Gana’ means group and ‘esha’ means Lord. Another name for Ganesha is Ganapati, which means a team leader. We are all team leaders according our capacity in life. We all have a role to play and must do it to the best of our ability. The biggest team leader is the Supreme Lord and the universe is under his sway. As for Ganesha, He removes all roadblocks or puts them to guide us to the right path. He gives space for everyone to blossom.
Everyone has potential and the scriptures say when obstacles are removed by Ganesha’s grace, potential energy gets transformed into kinetic energy. Yoga practitioners believe Ganesha governs the ‘Muladhara Chakra’ and is responsible for awakening the ‘Kundalini shakti’ or energy. He is the guardian of the spiritual world and the first energy to grant access to higher dimensions, also known as the ‘pratham pujya’, who is invoked at the start of any ritual or ceremony.
When we pray to Ganesha, we offer our respects to the son of Shiva and Parvati. Shiva is the master of the mind, in-charge of the ‘Manomaya Kosha’, while Parvati is the form of expression. From the mind is born ‘akasha’ or space. Whatever we think, we should be able to express; the alignment is crucial for communication. Sound needs space or a medium to travel. Ganesha is the presiding deity of ‘akasha’ or ‘avkasha’ or opportunity.
We are indebted to Lord Ganesha for the knowledge and wisdom our scriptures offer and pray that He may remove all obstacles from our path or guide us on the right one so that we may realise the highest. vasudevakriyayoga@gmail.com/ YouTube/fb/twitter: Vasudevakriyayoga
The writer is the Melbourne-based founder of Vasudeva Kriya Yoga