The following story of Lord Ganesha’s birth
is from Shiva Purana
Two Divinely beautiful maidens Jayaa &
Vijayaa attending on Mother Parvathy, once approached her and told her:
“Generally, all the Ganas(Attendants) are more loyal to Lord Shiva than to
you. Though they do not neglect us, we
feel that we should have a very powerful Gana for ourselves, who will be
implicitly loyal to you.” Parvathy heard
them but kept silent.
Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva and
Parvathy, is a place of pilgrimage for all devas, rishis, ganas and
others. They reach in their hordes
there, to worship and to sing praises of the Lord and to obtain fulfillment of
their desires. They spread all over the
place, setting their camps in the vast open spaces in Kailash.
One day, Mother Parvathy wanted to refresh Herself by taking a bath in the cool
waters of the large bathing pool in Kailash.
She summoned Nandi, the Chief of the Ganas and told him to guard the
entrance of the bathing pool, so that no one would wander into that area and
disturb her. So, Nandi stood guard and
the Mother entered the pond and began Her bath.
A little while after, Lord Shiva Himself came there. Nandi told Him in all reverence about the
Mother’s Instructions, but the Lord brushed it aside and went straight to the
Pool. Parvathy was abased to see the
Lord in front of Her. She recollected
the promptings of her attendants Jayaa & Vijayaa and decided to create a
Gana who would be absolutely loyal to her.
On a later occasion, when Parvathy wanted
to have a bath, she rolled out of Her body some dust and out of it created a
handsome and powerful male form, and enlivened it with Her spiritual
power. She called him Vinaayaka(created
without a naayaka or male involvement, here indicating the Lord) . “You are My Son,” She said to him, “and
extremely dear to Me! Please stand guard
for Me at the entrance of this bathing pond and allow none whomsoever to come
in without My Permission.” She gave him
a stout stick and endowed him with Her Powers.
After some time, Lord Shiva came that way.
Vinaayaka stopped Him and refused permission to go in. The Lord said, “What a fool are you? I am the Lord of Mother Parvathy and this is
My own house and bathing Pool. Who are
you to refuse permission to Me to enter My own Place?”
Vinaayaka said, “You may be anybody. But I have the instructions to allow none to
enter here.” The Lord was amused and he
retreated a few steps and stood there.
He asked His Ganas to find out who the new guard was? They went and asked him, “Who are you? Where
from are you and what are your intentions?”
Vinaayaka replied, “Im the attendant of Mother Parvathy and I am here on
Her instructions to guard the entrance ot the pond. You have come here on your Lord’s
instructions to remove me and make way for Him.
But please note you will not succeed in your plan.” A confrontation therefore became inevitable
and in this battle, Lord Shiva cut the head of Vinaayaka with His Trident. Mother Parvathy came out to see Her dear son
lying headless.
Overcome by anger and sorrow, she went
about destroying everything that came on Her path. The gods and rishis shuddered with fear and
confusion. They assembled together and
started praising the Mother with divine hymns.
She clamed down a bit, but told them that She would be happy only when
Her son was restored to Life.
It was not possible to stitch back the head smashed by Lord Shiva’s
Trident. So Shiva sent out His Ganas
with an instruction that they should cut out and bring the head of the first
living creature which is seen lying with its head pointing towards the
North. During their search, they first
found an elephant sleeping with its head towards the North, cut it out and
brought it with haste to Kailash. Lord
Shiva joined the head of the elephant with the truncated body of Vinaayaka
& imparted Life to it.
The form immediately became a very handsome Divine Child. Mother Parvathy was extremely pleased and
took Her son in Her lap and blessed Him.
Thus was Ganesha the elephant-faced God born.
Symbolism
of the story:
Kailash is our own Pure & Peaceful
heart. Mother Parvathy is the creative
mind ever in communion with Lord Shiva– The Consciousness & Guru who alone
are Auspicious. Jayaa & Vijayaa represent comparison & jealousy. Nandi is the intellect. Ganas are the senses.
Comparison & Jealousy create the
insecurity in Mother Parvathy, the Creative mind, that she should have her own
attendant. Mother Parvathy listens but
keeps quiet. When Mother Parvathy(the
creative mind) appoints Nandi(the Intellect) to safeguard her while she is
getting refreshed in the pool of enjoyments/comfort zone, Lord Shiva(Guru &
satsang) comes there and the intellect tells the Lord politely not to enter but
the Lord brushes the intellect aside and goes in. Creative mind is shocked and decides to make her
own attendant who will be loyal to her, protect her and will be the most
powerful amongst all other attendants (Senses).
So the creative mind creates Vinaayaka(Ego)
and has the vanity of having created him without involvement of the Lord. Naturally, Vinaayaka also is ignorant of the
Lord. Vinaayaka is given the stout stick
of rudeness and impoliteness to guard.
Vinaayaka(Ego) guards the creative mind indulging in the pool of
enjoyments/comfort-zone.
Lord Shiva comes there and Vinaayaka stops Him.
Our ego not only is ignorant of the Lord but blocks the very Lord of our
heart. In the battle that ensues, the
Lord cuts the head of Vinaayaka(destroys the ego beyond redemption) with His
Trishul. When creations spring from
the promptings of the vanity, instead of Divine-Inspiration, then the
imperfections of such creations would have to be removed with ‘ruthless mercy’
The Creative mind is shocked and becomes destructive
mind. Everyone tries to pacify it by
singing its praises and it does become quiet but is adamant that its creation
must be brought back to life.
Lord Shiva sends the attendants (senses) to bring the head of a creature facing
the North(Direction of Immortality, Knowledge, Austerity, Meditation, Peace
etc. South is the direction of Death).
The attendants find an elephant sleeping(immersed in) facing the
North(Knowledge etc.). They cut its head
and bring it.
Lord Shiva then replaces the head of
Vinaayaka with the elephant’s head and brings him back to life. Now he is the creation of both – Creative
Mind and the Lord of the heart. His ignorance of the Lord is destroyed. He is
the Lord of Material Prosperity & Spiritual Illumination. There is no vanity & no ego. He is most auspicious, most powerful of all
Ganas(Senses) and is called Ganesha(The Lord of all senses).
He is worshipped first. He is worshipped before anything auspicious
is begun, indicating to us that let the ego be destroyed before any undertaking
and let all our actions be based on Higher Vision, Knowledge, Selflessness. Such actions will not only make one
successful but also peaceful & happy.
They also lead to Welfare of all beings.
Bhagavad Geeta Chapter 4 says –
“Yasya sarve-samaarambhaaha kaama-sankalpa-varjitaaha.
Jnaanaagni-dagdha-karmaani tam ahuh panditam budhaaha.”
Whose all beginnings are devoid of desire & fanciful imaginations,
whose actions have been burnt by the
fire-of-knowledge, Him, the wise call a Sage.
Ganesha is the remover of all obstacles
because having destroyed the ego which is the cause of all obstacles, he helps
others also to overcome the ego. Just
like Men of Realization who wake up to the Truth & help others to
awaken.
Story of Vinaayaka’s transformation into
Ganesha is our transformation from selfishness to selflessness, from bondage to
freedom. As Individuals & as a Nation we need to rise above selfishness & focus on the greater good of all. Ganesha’s Birth is the birth of
Wisdom, Success, Happiness & Peace within us.
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