Legends of Ganesha – 1

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What does a snake around Ganesha’s stomach represent?

Ganesh Chaturthi or Ganesha’s Birthday comes on the 4th day of Bhadarva Shukla-Paksh of Hindu calendar in (August/September). Milk is offered to idols of Lord Ganesh at home and at temples, and worshippers visit Ganesh temples for Ganesh Puja. Ganesha’s vehicle is the Mooshak.  Lord Ganesh is very fond of modak. On one of His birthday’s Mata Parvati, cooked for him twenty-one types of delicious food and a lot of  of modak. Ganesha ate so much that even his big belly could not contain it. Then he set out moving on his mouse at night. Suddenly the mouse stumbled as it had seen a snake and became frightened with the result of that Ganesha fell down.

His stomach burst open and all the sweet puddings came out. But Ganeshji stuffed them back into his stomach and, caught hold of the snake and tied it around his belly. Seeing all this, the moon in the sky had a hearty laugh. This unseemly behavior of the moon annoyed him immensely and so he pulled out one of his tusks and hurled it against the moon, and cursed that no one should look at the moon on the Ganesh Chaturthi day. If anyone does, he will surely earn a bad name.

The symbology behind the mouse and snake and Ganesha’s big belly and its relationship to the moon on his birthday is highly philosophic. The whole cosmos is known to be the belly of Ganesha (hence, his other name is Mahodara) .Parvati or Shakti is the primordial energy. The seven realms above, seven realms below and seven oceans, are inside the cosmic belly of Ganesha, held together by the cosmic energy (kundalini ) symbolized as a huge snake which Ganesha ties around Him. The mouse is nothing but our ego. Ganesha, using the mouse as a vehicle, exemplifies the need to control our ego. One who has controlled the ego has Ganesha consciousness or God-consciousness.

At other times, the snake is shown around Ganesha’s neck. Here, it represents kundalini, the coil of psychic energy that lies at the base of our spine.

 

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Why is Ganesha called the remover of obstacles (Vighneshwara)?

Ganesha is known as Vigneshwara because his devotees believes Ganesha roots out obstacles and difficulties from their lives and ensure success.

“Eshwara’” is the embodiment of all riches – physical beauty and strength, knowledge, wisdom, material wealth, spiritual enlightenment. “Vighna” translates as an unforeseen obstacle or impediment.

Abhinandan, king started a Yagya in order to fulfill his goal of becoming the Indra ( or King of Heaven).  When the news of the yagya spread, Lord Brahma tried to block King Abhinandan’s overweening ambition of ruling  the heavens and decided to create obstacles in the his path. He summoned Kalapurush and asked him to destroy the Yagya. After killing Abhinandan and destroying the yagya Kalapurush acquired the name Vighnasura, the creator of obstacles.  But Vighnasura, ran amok himself and and destroyed all Vedic practices on earth.  He could be thwarted by none, except Ganesha who in those days was at the ashram of Sage Parashar.

Gajanan took birth as Parshwaputra and Deepvatsala son and fought valiantly with Vighnasura, who had to except defeat. He abdicated himself to the Lord and asked to be blessed. Ganesha spared Vighnasura’s life, on the condition that the demon would not appear in any place where Ganesha was worshipped. Before disappearing, the demon extracted a promise from Ganesha, that he incorporates his name with that of the Lord. Thus, Ganesha acquired the name Vighneswara or “Destroyer of Obstacles”.  Legend also has it that the very same Devtas installed an image of Vigneshwara at Ozar on Ganesh Chaturti and offered worship.