Today, the 10th of September 2021, is Ganesha Chathurthi or Ganesha's birthday. Till today vedic astrologers are able to calculate the exact date in the vedic calendar. This birthday is celebrated all over India with a lot of excitement. The food that is Ganesha’s favourite is made, like kozhukattai (as it is called in south India) and modhak (as called in the north). His symbolism is seen in the picture above and below is an Ode to Ganesha.
Ganesha had one of the first ever head transplants, as he was a young boy who was beheaded by Shiva. They could not find his original head, the story goes, due to the force of the trishul (trident) of Shiva (consciousness). So they decided to take the head of the first recently dead animal - which happened to be an elephant - and place it on the body of the boy, breathing life into him. Thus Ganesha was reborn with the powers of man, gods and the elephant.
One might wonder why Shiva cut off the head of his own son. Parvathi, Shiva’s wife, had created him and breathed life into him so he was her own. She wanted her privacy. Nandi, the bull who was subservient to Shiva, did not have the gumption to stop Shiva even though Parvathi had instructed him to do so earlier. She understood she needed to create a new life that could stand upto Shiva himself and that only someone with her powers would have the courage to do so.
When the young boy she created, Ganesha, stopped Shiva he was angered by the insolence of this boy. That anger grew to rage which blinded Shiva from seeing it was his own son. Shiva sent his army of ganas to kill the boy. They were destroyed and the young boy was victorious. Shiva was further angered and decided to do the job himself. When the young boy’s head was severed Parvathi realised it, though she was in her chambers, and told Shiva off. Shiva was extremely remorseful and decided to make amends. Shiva and the other gods decided to resurrect the boy into someone even more powerful than he was by giving him the head of an elephant.
There is a lot of symbolism and beauty when we understand the energy of Ganesha and tap into it. We not only invoke Ganesha on this day but evoke those beautiful qualities from within us. He symbolises all that an elephant and an elevated human stand for. His divinity shines though by his capacity to not get fazed by any situation but calmly know that he has the power to deal with it.
Ganesha
Oh one with an elephantine memory
Who holds the key to the akashic records
You are the obstacle to the obstacles
Who marks the beginning of any endeavor
Oh spiritual and business starter
Keeper of stability and continuity
Showing me the power of lateral thinking
As you earned the fruit over you brother Muruga
Oh Isha of the Ganas, dear Ganesha
You lord over all thought forms and fantasies
Even the grotesque ones or mischief makers
To build a powerful cohesive army that will set oneself free
Oh bringer of siddhis and stickability
With an out of the box rhythm and beat
Oh mooladhara, moksha murthi
Thank you for earthing me
Paradoxically as I root, I fly
As I fast, I am full, as I feast, I digest
When I consciously slow down
I speed up my evolution
Oh supporter of sadhana
Who broke off his own tusk
In excitement to record Mahabharatam
The great legacy of Bharath
Oh patriot of "The gift of God"
Spirit animal and energy of resurrection
Who washes away past loops
And guides us to renewal and redemption
Explanations of Sanskrit or Key words in the Ode to Ganesha
Akashik records: It is a library of all universal actions, events, thoughts, emotions, words and intentions. This recording is available for all animate and inanimate forms through all of time.
Ganesha, Muruga and the story of the fruit: Muruga is the younger brother of Ganesha. Shiva and Parvathi (or Shakthi) are the parents of Ganesha. They have the brothers play a game. Whomever goes around the world three times would get the tasty mango they had.
Muruga, the youthful one, thought he was going to win for sure as he had a peacock for a vehicle while his fat brother, Ganesha, had a mouse. When he returned, to his dismay, he found Ganesha had mostly finished eating the fruit already.
He surely thought there was foul play. His parents explained that Ganesha went around his parents three times and said they are the creative building blocks of the universe and therefore the universe itself. Shiva = consciousness and Shakthi = energy, power. Therefore Ganesha, by applying his lateral thinking powers, had aced the game :)
Isha: Lord
Ganas: Goblin-like creatures but can be of all shapes and forms like the creatures in star wars. I like to think of them as our thought forms as well. They can range from benign to mischievous to malignant.
Siddhis: Powers
Mooladhara: Root foundation, the first chakra
Moksha: Liberation from conditioning
Sadhana: Spiritual practice for self-awareness and liberation
Mahabharath: An epic that Ganesha wrote as Veda Vyasa recited it
Bharath: India; also means Gift of God and therefore refers to any region which is viewed as such.