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Ganapati or Ganesha,
the Lord of Ganas, the elephant faced God, represents
the power of the Supreme Being that removes obstacles
and ensures success in human endeavors. Ganesha is revered
as the son of the Shiva
and Parvati, and is
always honored first in most worship services and rituals.
Ganesha is also known as Ganapati, Vigneswara, Vinayaka,
Gajamukha and Ainkaran. He is worshipped 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. Ganesha is also one of the
five Gods the worship of whom was popularised by Adi Shankaracharya;
the other four are Vishnu, Shiva,
Devi and Surya.
The worship of these five deities is called the pancayatana
puja. In some cases, a sixth God, Skanda is also worshipped.
The large head of an elephant symbolizes wisdom, understanding,
and a discriminating intellect that one must possess to
attain perfection in life.
The wide mouth represents the natural human desire to
enjoy life in the world. The large ears signify that a
perfect person is the one who possesses a great capacity
to listen to others and assimilate ideas. The trunk relates
to the power of human mind which must be strong enough
to face the ups and downs of the external world and yet
delicate enough to explore the subtle realms of the inner
world.
The two tusks denote the two aspects of the human personality,
wisdom and emotion. The right tusk represents wisdom left
tusk represents emotion. The broken left tusk conveys
the idea that one must conquer emotions with wisdom to
attain perfection. The eyes: the
elephant eyes are said to possess natural deceptiveness
that allows them to perceive objects
to be bigger than what they really are. Thus the elephant
eyes symbolize the idea that even if an individual gets
"bigger and bigger" in wealth and wisdom,
he should perceive others to be bigger than himself; that
is, surrender one's pride and attain humility.
The four arms and various objects in the four hands: the
four arms indicate that the Lord is omnipresent and omnipotent.
The left side of the body symbolizes emotion and the right
side symbolizes reason. An axe in
the upper left hand and a lotus in the upper right hand
signify that in order to attain spiritual perfection,
one should cut worldly attachments and conquer emotions.
This enables one to live in the world without being affected
by earthly temptations, just as a lotus remains in water
but is not affected by it.
A tray of Laddus near the Lord denotes that He bestows
wealth and prosperity upon His devotees. The lower right
hand is shown in a blessing pose, which signifies that
Ganesha always blesses his devotees.
A body with a big belly: the human
body possesses a human heart, which is a symbol of kindness
and compassion toward all. Ganesha's body is usually portrayed
wearing red and yellow clothes. Yellow symbolizes purity,
peace and truthfulness. Red symbolizes the activity in
the world.
A mouse sitting near the feet of
Ganesha and gazing at the tray of Laddus: a mouse symbalizes
the ego that can nibble all that is good and noble in
a person. A mouse sitting near the feet of Ganesha indicates
that a perfect person is one who has conquered his (or
her) ego. Right foot dangling over the left foot illustrates
that in order to live a successful life one should utilize
knowledge and reason to overcome emotions.
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