Ganesha or Ganapati is an extremely popular God in India. He is called Vighneshvara or Vighnaharta, the Lord of and destroyer of obstacles. People mostly worship Him asking for siddhi, success in undertakings, and buddhi, intelligence. He is worshipped before any venture is started. He is also the God of education, knowledge and wisdom, literature, and the fine arts. In reality, he is a Brahman.

Ganesha is also one of the five Gods the worship of whom was popularized by Adi Shankaracharya; the other four being Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti and Surya. The worship of these five deities is called the panchaayatana puja. In some cases, Skanda is also worshipped.

It is said that Ganesha was born when the eternal couple contemplated on AUM. If you view Lord Ganesha sideways, then you will see the symbol AUM in sanskrit. That's why Ganesha is called AUMkara and worshipped first. AUM is praNava. What is meant by praNava. pra is short for prakriti and navam means excellent boat. That is, AUM is the way to cross the ocean of worldly existence.

Ganesha Legends and names

The following stotra is from the narada purana, and is recited to remove all troubles and get liberation.

praNamya   shirasaa devaM gaurii putraM vinaayakaM |
salutation head     god   gaurii son    vinaayakaM
bhaktaa vaasaM smaren.h nityaM aayuH kaama artha siddhaye ||1 ||

devotee stays  remember always longlife desired wealth powers

One should bow the head and offer obeisance before the son of Gauri, Vinayaka, whose abode is the devotees, and remember Him always for the purpose of obtaining longevity, desired powers and prosperity.

Vinakaya is like all of us, never born and eternal. But it is our nature to associate a naama-ruupa to everyone including Gods. The divine, pleased with this, bestows forms on themselves (Shankara). All devotees start with the purpose of obtaining desired powers or with a wish to live long. Eventually, all of the true devotees see the futility of such a venture. Why live long ? As long as one earns money and is fit, everyone fawns on him but when one gets old, everyone forgets him. When life leaves the body, even the spouse who enjoyed the body runs away from it fearing that death will touch that person too (Shankara). Why live long in a body when one can realize that the person is immortal by letting go of the notion there is a body-mind. As long as the body lives, the mind should be fixed on Divinity. The life lived catering to the senses should not counted as living.

prathamaM vakratuNDaM  cha eka dantaM dvitIyakaM|

first curved trunk and one tusked secondly

tR^itIyaM kR^ishhNa pi.ngAkshhaM gaja vaktraM chaturthakaM ||2 ||

thirdly black red-eyed elephant faced fourth

(Now the twelve names of Ganesha are mentioned. One  must utter) first the name Vakratunda, One with a curved trunk, second ekadanta, the single-tusked One, third Krishnapingaksha, the black and red-eyed One, fourth gajavaktra, the God with the   face of an elephant.

The trunk should be curved to the left for normal idols. If it is curved to the right, it is called siddhi vinakya and needs special worship. One should be very careful in worshipping such idols.

The trunk of Ganesha reaches the sweet, modaka. Ganesha is known as modaka priiya. When Ganesha was "born", the Gods were very happy and presented Parvati Devi with modaka. They said anyone who smells it realizes he/she is immortal. He who eats it will become great in both spiritual and worldly knowledge. This is said in the padma purana.

Trunk is also an unique instrument. It can pick up a needle and also a huge tree. No man made instrument can do both. Similarly, Ganesha will give you wealth, health etc. or liberation (we will see that in the later verses). He will give you what you sincerely ask unless there is a reason (see under large ears). If you ask Him, he will grace you with the touch of his trunk, and smash all the obstacles with the same trunk. The trunk hangs between the two tusks signifying discrimination between the worldly and spirituality. Ganesha, beyong all dualities, is attached to neither.

But why is the trunk curved to right so special and so strict ? The iDa naaDii is on the left side, while the pingalaa naaDii is on the right. The left-turning trunk has easy rules and one can do puja however one wants with respect since the ida naadii is the moon. but the right turning nadi is the sun and will burn one if rules are violated. When the trunk is facing straight forward, then it signifies the sushumna is entirely open. Idols such as these are very rare and special. Even more special is the trunk where the trunk is swung up right in the air. It means the kundalini shakti has reached the sahasra permanently.

The single tusk is because the tusk was broken when Ganesha killed Gana, the demon. Another incident is related to the breaking of the tusk to write the Mahabharata. The following are other incidents.
The name ekadanta is from the incarnation to subdue mada-asura (pride). The asura after surrendering to ekadanta describes that eka is the embodiment (maayaa) and danta stands for truth (satya). Thus, ekadanta stands for the supreme truth that weilds maya. Who weilds the maya ? Mahamaya. Who is Mahamaya ? Ekadanta.
Ganesha ate all the modhakas and became very fat. When he could not move, the moon laughed at Him. Ganesha broke his tusk and threw it at the moon. Thus he became ekadanta. Later, the moon apologized. The inner meaning is that the light was covered by the maya. How does eka stand for maya ? Mudgala purana says so. the interpretation is that eka means one. Everything is one. But maya is the bija of the brahman. Only the maya makes it seem it is many. Mudgala purana says that the tusk stands for both creation and the one who supports creation. the creator and the created are not different.

Why is Ganesha red-eyed ? I don't know. Maybe he is crying at my ignorance and became red-eyed. :-) Generally, it is referred to the slaying of the slaying of the demon sindura.

Gajavaktra means elephant faced. Perhaps the most popular story regarding Ganesha's origin is the one derived from the Shiva Purana. Mother Parvati once wanted to take a bath and created a boy from the dirt of Her own body, asking him to stand as a guard outside while She bathed. In the meantime Lord Shiva returned home to find a stranger at His door, preventing Him from entering. In anger, Shiva cut off the boy's head, upon which Parvati was stricken with great grief. In order to console Her, Shiva sent out His troops (gaNa) to fetch the head of anyone found sleeping with his head pointing to the north. They found an elephant sleeping thus and brought back its head. Shiva then attached the elephantine head to the body of the boy and revived him. He named the boy Ganapati or commander of His troops, and granted Him a boon that anyone would have to worship Him (Ganesha) before beginning any undertaking.

Of course, there are several esoteric meanings to having an elephant head. An elephant is strong, but always calm. It is the one of the few animals which is self-aware and even has rituals for funerals. Despite its strength, it is vegetarian. Hinduism allows for animals to be worshipped, because essentially everything is Divine. We should see Divinity in every living being. gajavaktra has an inner meaning also. gao is sound and ja is to be born. Thus, gajavaktra is one who is born from sound. Another derivation is ga is goal and ja is origin. Thus, Ganesha is the origin and goal of life.

The mudgala purana states that the ganapati took the vakratunda incarnation to subdue the demon Maatsarya-asura (envy, jealousy). The demon was born out of the negligence (pramaada) of Indra. Indra is the Lord of the subtle tendencies i.e., the mind. When the mind is neglected, then demons are born. The bad demon is envy. This demon can be found in all fields, including spirituality. Only when duality of "me" and the "other" is lost, one truly awakens to the state of nondual objectless awareness. All that is left is pure bliss and consciousness.

Let us look at the next verse,

lambodaraM panchamaM cha shhashhThaM vikaTameva cha  |

large belly fifthly and sixthly gigantic/gross and

saptamaM vighna raajaM cha dhUmra varNaM tatha ashhTamaM || 3 ||

seventh obstacles lord and smoky colored thus eighth

fifth lambodara, the God with a large belly, sixth vikata, the gigantic One, seventh vighnaraja, the Lord (and destroyer) of obstacles, dhumravarna, the smoky-colored God, Lambodara was born to overcome the demon krodha-asura. When the ocean was churned, and the asuras and devas quarelled about the nectar, Vishnu took the form of Mohini and Lord Shiva also took a form. Out of this encounter was born the demon krodha-asura. Krodha is anger. One has to control anger at all times. What is the cause of anger ? A feeling of inferiority/superiority. When all that exists is Her manifestation, who should be I against ? If at all I should be angry I should be angry at my ignorance i.e., my association with the unreal. When some one makes fun of us, the way we talk, dress etc., we should be internally thank them for giving us a test and feel very happy. We should laugh with them and tell Shakti, 'Thanks for testing.' But after sometime, we don't even feel that they are making fun of you. When a right hand becomes dirty, does the left hand laugh at it ? As krishna says in BG, anger leads to delusion and loss of discrimination.

Another story for lambodara states that Kubera went to the eternal couple and wanted to show off his wealth. He invited them to dinner. But, the couple denied Kubera's request and sauid he could feed Ganesha instead. Kubera laughed, and said 'I can feed many children like this.' Ganesha calmly went to his place and sat down to eat. He started eating all the food. Kubera's army had a tough time feeding the child. Then, Ganesha started eating all the furniture, palace etc. Kubera became very afraid but Ganesha merrily said, 'You promised my parents u will feed me. Now, I have to eat you.' Kubera ran away and pleaded with Shiva. Shiva gave him a handful of rice and asked him to give it to Ganesha without pride. Kubera went back. By this time, Ganesha's stomach had become very huge but the child was merry. When Kubera served a cup of rice with humility, Ganesa;s hunger was satisfied. We should be never proud of our material or spiritual accomplishments. Everything has been given unto you by Ganesha, and He can take it away any time. We should be unaffected by these successes or failures by surrendering ourselves completely to His feet. Ganapati's belly enshrines the entire brahmanda and that's another reason his pot belly is called lambodhara.

Vikata was an incarnation to overcome the demon kaama-asura (lust). The demon was born due to a boon from Lord Vishnu, and obtained various siddhis. He married tR^ishhNa (desire) and had two sons, decay and corruption. Finally, they were killed by Vikata. When one has lust, to satisfy the lust, action is taken, but the desire is never satisfied even after indulging in them. The sons who are born are only decay and corrupt. No desire can be satisfied by indulging in them. That is like throwing kerosene in fire instead of water. One should control these vaasaana-s by throwing the water of detachment on them or go to the source of these vaasaana-s or ask 'To whom do these desires arise ? Are they mine ?'

vighnaraaja is similar to vijneshvara, i.e Ganesha is the lord and destroyer of obstacles, respectively. Why so ? Lord shiva says to Parvati that Ganesha will create numerous obstacles for those who do not follow the path of dharma but he will remove all the obstacles to those who revere knowledge, shruti and guru. Even if one has to worship shiva or Vishnu, they have to worship our friend, Ganesha, first. This incarnation was born to overcome mama-asura. When parvati laughed, the incarnation was born signifying mama (mine), but he fell into bad habits and got Mohini (enchantment). The worst sense is 'This is mine,' and leads to all kinds of errors including the thought 'I am the body/mind, as distinct from his/her body/mind.' This type of thought can be killed only by vighnaraaja.

dhuumravarNa rode upon a horse and overcame the demon abhimana-asura (attachment). The creator brahma blessed sun and gave him siddhis. The sun thought to Himself, If not for me, nothing in the earth would function. Thinking such, he became proud and sneezed and out of him was born a demon named aham (I). Aham married egoity, the daughter of negligence and they had two sons arrogance and pleasure. When the thought of I arises, it is pure and unadulatered. But, it mixes with the unreality, neglects the mind and marries egoity. Out of egoism is born arrogance and a search for incessant pleasure. Man is ignorant when he says 'I am such and such.' but when he says that with pride, he is arrogant. Seeking pleasure outside in objects, he becomes attached to them. This attachment to the unreal can be killed only dhuumravarNa (why is he smoky-colored ?). Man's ego is like smoke, it is everywhere, but when searched for, it cannot be found. Search, in this case, means self-enquiry as to 'Who am I ? Where does the ego arise from ?'

navamaM bhAlachandraM cha dashamaM tu vinAyakaM  |

ninthly forehead moon and tenthly  the great leader

ekAdashaM gaNapatiM dvAdashaM tu gajAnanaM  || 4 ||

elevently gaNa-lord twelfthly the elephant-faced

ninth bhalachandra, One whose forehead is adorned by the moon, tenth, vinayaka, the great leader (of army), eleventh, ganapati, the lord of gaNas, and twelfth gajanana, the elephant-faced One.

Gajanana - We have already seen the origins of the word gaja. Gajanana was born to overcome the demon lobha-asura (greed) and moha-asura. Once Kubera, the richest person, meditated on the eternal couple of Lord Shiva-Shakti. After a long penance, They appeared before Him. Kubera thought to himself that since He was the richest person, everyone would be greedy for his wealth. So thinking, he cast amorous glances at the Divine Mother, Parvati. Parvati was greatly angered that Kubera would think like this of Her and cursed him saying that She was not greedy (She had Shiva, no other wealth is necessary) and Kubera was deluded by moha. Out of this encounter was the asuras. They were killed by gajanana.

Balachandra - Ganesha's head is adorned by the moon. The moon signifies the subtle tendencies i.e., the mind.

vinakaya and ganapati - He is the lord of gaNas (groups, numbers) and the leader of the army. To the King abhijit and queen Gunavati was born a beautiful son named Gana. He was very bright and strong. In addition, he had great devotion to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva pleased with his devotion granted him some boons. However, this increased Gana's ego and he also fell into bad company. One day he visited sage Kapila's ashram. Kapila had a gem called Chintamani which was wish-fulfilling and could provide food for thousands. When Gana saw this, he wanted to possess the gem but Kapila did not want to give it to him. But Gana forcibly took it away from him. Kapila prayed to Lord Ganesha and Ganesha appeared in the dream of Gana and cut off his head. Gana, on waking up, did not repent but became angry and took his army to kill Kapila. Gana's father, abhijit, pleaded with Gana to give Kapila back his gem but Gana did not heed the advice. However, on reaching Kapila's ashram he found that Ganesha had assembled an army. In a huge fight, Gana was killed by Ganesha and Ganesha restored the chintamani to Kapila.

Kapila, however, gave it back to Ganesha saying that even a small gem like that is the cause of all troubles and wealth is the root of many troubles of the world. Kapila, however, requested Ganesha to stay in that place. That place is called 'Chintamani Vinayaka' and is at Theur, near Poona (Pune). There are also other incidents involving other demons called gana in the ganesha purana and mudgala purana. Let us look at the esoteric meaning. Gana means numbers, groups of. That is, any group is a gana. Thus Lord Shiva's group of attendants, servants, mischieveous children etc are called ganas. But what is a group ? Mind is a group of thoughts. Who is ganapati? the lord of ganas- i.e group of thoughts. Who is the Lord of Thoughts ? Obviously, the source of thoughts. What is the Source ? Atman i.e. Ganapati.

Normally if we overeat, we are not merry. We feel pain, but Ganesha will be our friend and eat all our obstacles and still be very merry. See the incident under lambodhara. why ? Because He is Vigneshvara. We should be never proud of wealth and riches, either in material or spiritual. We should be dedicated and devoted to the Lord since everything is His. Humbly serving whosoever asks, we should pass our time singing His glory. This brings us to the verse which is the next sholka

dvAdashaitAni nAmAni  tri   sandhyaM yaH     paThen.h naraH |

twelve names repeats three sandhya one who reads man

na cha vighna    bhayaM tasya sarva siddhikaraM prabho  || 5 ||

no and obstacles fear all successes Lord

Anyone who chants these twelve names during the three sandhyas (morning twilight, noon, evening twilight), will not experience  any fear of obstacles, and will achieve all successes, O Lord (Ganesha)!

Only the years we think of God count as life lived. The rest has been wasted. They don't count.

Before we examine the next verse, let us contemplate on Ganesha for a moment. Immediately his form comes to mind. We see a mouse as his consort and his large ears.

Let us examine the word mouse closely. Mouse in English is derived from the sanskrit word, muushhaka. What is the name of pure gold in Hindi/Sanskrit ? muushha. The crucible for melting gold ? muushh. Thus, the mouse is the gold which lies and has to be awakened. Why does it awaken ? When it smells the sweet modhaka (which is the amrit on the sahasra), it will not stop at any obtacle and gnaw its way through to the top. When man eats the modhaka, but once, he will be hooked. Even if it is taken away from him by the senses, he will become like the rat and gnaw his way to get the modhaka permanently. Ganesha sits on the mouse. Ganesha is the Lord of the muladhaara chakra. When the rat starts gnawing, it will gnaw through the knots in the consciousness and eat away all the knots until the Kundalini shakti can reach the top chakra.

There are atleast two stories. In the yajur-veda it is said that Agni became afraid of Shiva and became a mouse and went into the earth. Agni is fire, just like Kundalini shakti. If you play with it, it will burn you. If you harness the fire, you can do a lot of useful things. Such is the rat of Ganesha. The other incident involves the sage vamadeva. A gandharva was hurriedly leaving Indra's court and hit vamadeva accidentally. Vamadeva cursed the gandharva to become a mouse. After the gandharva apologized, vamadeva said that he can be a mouse at parasara's ashrama. One day, Ganesha came across this mouse which was causing trouble at the ashrama and threw his paasa and caught the mouse. This is said in the Ganesha purana. The inside implications are obvious. Indra is the subtle mind, paasa is the noose of ignorance, Ganesha is the Lord etc.

The significance of the mouse (muushhaka) as the vehicle of Ganesha is explained by the Mudgala Purana. muushhaka also means thief.

IshvaraH sarvabhoktaa cha choravattatra saMsthitaH
sa eva muushhakaH prokto manujaanaaM prachaalakaH
maayayaa guuDharuupaH san.h bhogaan.h bhuN^kte hi choravat.h ||

The Lord (Ganesha) resides in all things and experiences everything. He is called muushhaka because He operates unseen like a thief, concealed by maayaa, and experiences all phenomena.

Mind is the thief. If we don't control it, it will operate through the senses making us lose the discrimination. Thus, Ganesha controls the thief.

Among other features of Ganesha's body is the suprakarna (large ears). When a devotee of his is desirous of liberation, he/she may still ask for worldly pleasures. What does man know ? He is ignorant and does not even know what is good or bad for him. Ganesha with His long ears will separate the wheat from the chaff and give the aspirant what the person actually needs, not what the aspirant actually thinks what he wants.

Let us come to the next verse,

vidyArthI labhate vidyAM dhanArthI labhate dhanaM |
putrArthI labhate putrAn.h mokshhArthI labhate gatiM || 6 ||

One who desires knowledge (vidyA) gets it; one who desires wealth (dhana) gets it; one who desires sons (putra) will have sons; one who desires liberation (moksha) attains it.

Devotion always starts on a bargaining table. Give me this, I will give you that, we say. Auvaiyar also did the same. But a true devotee always recognizes that there is nothing which is his/hers. Everything is Divine. What can we give to Him to make Him happy ? He is always happy. I always thank Him. I came to Him asking for material pleasures. He showed me that this is like asking for water from a King while you can ask for the King itself. That's why it is said 'Ask for the kingdom of God, and the riches will follow.' The riches need not be material but spiritual since if there are spiritual riches, material riches are no longer needed.

How should one really pray ? 'I truly don't want anything; I don't even care what happens as long as my mind is fixed at Your feet. You see, as long as there is something left, there may be a slight feeling left 'This is mine.' If I am stripped of everything, then even the mind can not for one moment think 'This is mine.' Not even the kaupina. ' Of course, the best course is to strip the mind itself of the thoughts.

Everyone has a doctorate, job, works, earns money, begets children. But is anyone truly happy ? No. They are all cycling on the ups and downs of life. In essence, they have missed out on the true purpose of life. By holding back and taking the ride of life, they have lost the true meaning.

Sometime we delve into maya and hope for things to happen, and sometimes they do and sometimes they don't but this hope is what holds us back from experiencing Her love. That's why I call upon my Mother's child, Lord Ganesha, to help me discriminate between the real and the unreal so that the mind is never enveloped by maya.

All we need is Him and He will decide what you want.

If you have everything and Him, it is fine.

If you have nothing besides Him, it is fine too.

If you have everything but Him, it is useless.

Ganesha, with His ears acting as a winnowing basket, will give His true devotees only what is needed for spiritual progress, and will not give them what they ask for. With Him in my heart, what else should I ask for ? Nothing. Will material pleasure ever satisfy the mind ? Never.

The last two verses,

japed.h gaNapatistotraM shhaDbhir.h mAsaiH phalaM labhet.h |
saMvatsareNa siddhiM cha labhate nAtra saMshayaH   || 7 ||

One gets desired results if this Ganapati stotra is chanted everyday for six months; a complete success is assured undoubtedly, within a year.

ashhTabhyo brAhmaNebhyashcha likhitvA yaH samarpayet.h  |
tasya vidyA bhavet.h sarvA gaNeshasya prasAdataH     || 8 ||

Anyone who writes this stotra and presents it to eight Brahmins, will obtain all kinds of knowledge, by the grace of Lord Ganesha.

One may ask whether it is possible to attain liberation in a single year, when Indra took 101 years even to hear the brahma upadesha. Japa should be done such that a single thought is kept. The thoughts should not be diffused. If you think of Ganesha continously, why should liberation take a year ? It will take only His Grace.

Thus ends the eight verses on Ganesha, which has the twelve names. I have presented only a small portion of what I know about my Lord, Ganesha. Please refer to scriptures for more details or write to me. You may also read the reference books, Ganesha purana and 'Ganapati: song of the Self," by Grimes. In any case, I sincerely hope that next time you see an idol of Lord Ganesha, you will remember atleast one of the features mentioned above. He is Brahman, He is Atman, He is everything. Without His Will, not even a blade of grass moves