Foremost, I humbly offer my prayers
to the (my) guru. Kanchi Paramacharya gave a very illuminating exposition on
Ganesa and His essential qualities. Ganesa is unique; like an innocent child He
is easily pleased. Yet among all the gods, He is beyond the symbolic form – He
constantly teaches us to look beyond the frivolous physical form and beauty
constraints. Ganesa is of course, the Para-Brahman,
far away from the limits of space, tri-guna
restrictions, and human imagination.
Lamba = large; udara = belly; lakumi = lakhumi = Lakshmi
(seems it is from Marathi); kara = hand, trunk, give, yield; amba = The Mother,
Devi, Parvati; suta = son, child; amara = celestials, those immortals in heaven
(swarga); vinuta = praised, extolled;
Sri = Lakshmi, prosperity, holy; gaNanatha = master of all the ganas; sindura = the color of red cinnabar (HgS). (I came across
this color first in our village in two situations. The Anjaneya temple murti of Hanuman is fully colored in
this oily orange-red paint. People also used locally available ochre stone (iron
compound) to paint and decorate their houses and exterior walls. Perhaps that
is how most of the Vaishnava temple walls are covered with red stripes.) varna
= color, hue; karuNa = compassion, grace; sagara = ocean, the body of water
named after the emperor, Sagara; kari
= elephant; vadana = face;
siddha = persons with great abilities (acquired through
yoga) ; charaNa =wandering actors, flying persons, students of Vedas; gaNa =
group of gods (nine classes); sevita = (One who is) served by; siddhi =able to
accomplish (any proper, dharmic)
goal, also having total control of the eight or more supernatural powers;
Vinayaka = a distinguished master, Lord of obstacles; te = thou, you, namo =
salutations, respects;
sakala = all types, various; vidya = branches of knowledge
(arts, sciences, etc.); adi pujita = offered prayers first; sarva = all; uttama
= best, excellent;
Here in this composition, we
address Ganesa with various qualifying epithets. Each one speaks to the unique
characteristic of this embodiment of ‘innocent childlike purity of Brahman’.
The Mother imparted Him with all the auspicious qualities of wisdom, boundless
energy, (slight) mischievous playfulness of a child, and infinite compassion.
Ganesa also forgives His devotees easily. In the forest nothing can obstruct
the advances of an elephant. Similarly with Ganesa’s grace every obstacle can
be efficiently overcome with ease. How to illustrate His benevolent timely
grace to the devotees? Once He effortlessly transported Avvaiyar to Kailas with
His trunk. At another time He arranged a sumptuous meal for Kavya-kantha Ganapati muni and his
brother miraculously on a deserted street.
(Faith and morals (truthfulness,
altruism) are best taught to children when they are young. In earlier times
(we’re truly blessed in this regard) mothers, grandparents, and teachers taught
us edifying stories from the puranas.
With age one contracts the corrosive disease of “endless questioning and
disobedience”. We refuse to listen to others. Some times questioning is good in
certain areas (science, math) for exploration – the trait is more like a
healthy skeptical attitude. But sheer useless, often endless questioning will
not help in developing a healthy personality. Modern man tends to size up all
bygone seers, rishis, and philosophers as “ignorant nincompoops”. This is a
dangerous vice; in the end he will have no friends in the world. Crass stubborn
rationality will not come to his aid when he gets sick, bankrupt, alone, or in
despair. Lay people sadly are not aware that even in mathematics, in certain
instances logic breaks down (Kurt Gödel). Lucky are those who still can seek
the guidance of a ‘guru’ while the day is young!) Copyright 2018 by the author
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