BIRTH OF VINAYAKAR

The Elephant Head - Story of Ganesha

This story is about Lord Ganesha's birth and how he got the head of an elephant. Once upon a time,   Goddess Parvati, wife of Lord Shiva,  was going to take her bath. Before baing she , created him out of the sandalwood dough that she used for her bath.  Parvathi modeled the sandalwood dough into a boy, called him her son and breathed life into him.   She assigned him the task of standing guard at the door and not to allow anyone inside while she went to have her bath.   While Parvati was taking her bath, Lord Shiva arrived.  On discovering that the boy guarding the door to his house would not let him enter, he flew into a rage and cut off the head of the boy.  When Parvathi heard the news she broke down in grief, Lord Shiva realized that he had beheaded his own son.  In order to console her, Shiva sent out his squad to fetch the head of any sleeping being that was facing the north. The group found a sleeping elephant and brought back its severed head, which was then attached to the body of the boy.
Shiva restored him to life and made him the leader of his troops. Hence the name 'Ganapathi'. Shiva also bestowed a boon that people would worship him and invoke his name before undertaking any venture. That is why he is called the First God of Hindus and all Hindu temples have an idol of Sri Vinayagar in the front. A devout Hindu has to pray him before entering the temple.

Murti of Ganapati and Its Significance

The worship of the Divine presence in Murti
Hindus do not worship a stone or even a statue made of stone or wood. What they worship is the divine presence in the murti, often called as icon or idol. To appreciate the divine presence, he/she should study carefully every aspect of the statue or icon and understand the deeper meaning behind it. The worshipper should understand the cosmic power of the
attribute of each of the icon. People whose minds are full of the simplistic stories
about the birth of Ganapati or his deeds are not likely to appreciate the divine power in the icon even though they may offer a detailed ritualist worship. Only if he or she has some appreciation  for the power of Ganapati, and the empathy of the God towards his devotees, then he/she can have an experience of the divine presence in the icon.
To invoke the divine presence in the icon, one aspires intensely to the God to come to the icon from his seat in the devotees heart and manifest in the icon. The key mantras in the Veda are
“come” and “manifest within” (avirbhava). The deity in his grace comes down from his place in
the heart and manifests his presence in the deity.
Hence it is important to have some idea of the symbolism behind each aspect of the icon.

TRUNK
RAT AS VEHICLE
BIG BELLY
SNAKE
WIDE-EARS
SINGLE TUSK

Trunk (hasti, vakratunda):

The twisted trunk symbolizes the written form of the sacred letter (akshara) Om or Aum. Note that this sound is represented in different ways in the different Indian scripts.

We can easily imagine the top part as signifying the centre between the eyes and the bottom part as the shape of the twisted trunk. The Om symbol in Tamil can also be of help.

Note also that in the tantrik literature, the sacred single lettered mantra associated with Ganesha is lam.

    The letter looks like the Bengali Om rotated; thus the trunk can easily symbolize Om.
Note that the trunk, known as hasti, produces the sound. Hence it is said that the sacred sound ‘aum’ is coming out of the trunk, and it is called hastinada. The famous Shri Sukta in Rig Veda refers to this sound by which the Goddess Lakshmi teaches mankind:
‘hasti nada prabodhinim’.
Note that the Ganapati Gayatri mantra given  declares that one should meditate on Vakratunda (twisted trunk), it can only mean “meditate on om” The trunk symbolizes both the sound and written letter Om.
The meditation is focussed only on the twisted trunk. However we can use the trunk to symbolize the entire face of the Vinayaka and hence on the power behind it.
Ganesha has the ability to solve all difficult us of his devotee by placing the appropriate mantra in the appropriate place. The trunk, which can assume any shape it wants, can place the mantra in the appropriate position in the soul of the devotee to resolve the difficulties. Sweets like laddu or mysorepak have no such connotation. Thus the offering to Ganapati are the Bliss and the Vast.

The Rat as vehicle

It is said that the rat is the vehicle of Ganesha. Note that the Sanskrit word is mushaka. mushayate means one who causes destruction. Recall that creation of new forms, a recurring task of Brahmaspati, is possible only when the old form, is destroyed. Hence the destructive forces are under the control of Ganesha.

Big belly

Note that a common epithet of Ganapati is that he is most generous; the word is, maha+udara=mahodara.
one of the devotees, for fun or mischief, replaced the ‘mahodara’ with ‘mahodara which means one with big belly. Udara is belly.
Note that in many languages including English, a greedy person is portrayed as, ‘lean and mean’. It seems that the epithet ‘mean’ goes with ‘lean’. Its opposite is ‘fat’. Here a generous person is portrayed as fat. In the icons, Buddha is presented with a big belly.
In the Veda, the word ‘udara’ appears in many places with the meaning of ‘mover (ra) of uda (waters)’ Uda represents dynamical energies of water. Udga in Veda represents a fountain. The deity spreads his grace like a fountain.

Snake

He is in control of all the prana-energy. Hence a snake, symbolising the prana energy, is like an ornament on Ganesha.

Wide-ears

A common epithet in Veda for Ganapati  is ‘one who gives great hearing’ Ganapati’s wide ears symbolize his eagerness to hear all the prayers of the devotees and take appropriate actions.

Single tusk (eka danta)

The single tusk symbolizes his goad and his ability to goad the devotee to take the necessary step in his life. If he had 2 tusks, then they together would represent two horns which always signify arrogance. A single tusk points out the way to proceed to the higher levels.

Offerings: modaka and barhi

In the ritual, a sweet called modaka and grass (barhi) are offered. It is said that barhi offered because the animal elephant like it. But the word barhi  occurs frequently in Rig Veda. bar in barhi is derived from the root br, which denotes brhat, the vast. So the grass symbolizes the Vast. Hence it is offered to Ganapati.
Ritual or legend-oriented devotees are at a loss to explain why modaka should be offered. Why not the popular sweet laddu? modaka is derived from moda which means bliss. The popular sweets like laddu or Mysore pak have no such connotation. Thus the offering to Ganapati are the Bliss and the Vast.

Release from Debts

The debt need not be money only. It is the sense of obligation which acts as a bondage. Brhaspati releases the devotee from this bondage.
You are the truth, you make us repay all our debts.
You are the seer of every Sama mantra (1);
You acknowledge the debt (rna) of every devotee;
You make your devotee free from all debts (rnaya) (2).