Taking Things Further With Shri Ganesha

[Webimpulse]

Namaste HDF,

As I mentioned in a previous post, I feel disconnected from the Gods when things are as bleak for me as they are now. I have realized that as a result of this disconnection, I seem to be doing more adharmic things. I haven't done anything illegal, obviously, but I have noticed myself being more emotionally labile, and saying and doing things I should not have.

That's why I want to reestablish my connection with Shri Ganesha, whom I consider to be my Ishta Devata. He was the one to draw me into and accept me into Hinduism, and now I feel He would be the only one to accept me now.

I guess what I want to know is how best to do this? Are there any sadhanas (I forget if that's the term for a religious group or sect within Hinduism or not) dedicated to Shri Ganesha I can contact and join? Any living gurus who are reachable that can help me reestablish my connection? I am going to need some help in this. I realized a long time ago that I cannot do this alone...it's only now that I realize that my need for the help of other people in this matter is deeper than I thought.

[ganeshamylord]

Namaste webimpulse

I was just praying to Lord Ganesha yesterday to give me an opportunity to express my gratitude towards Him by getting me acquainted with His devotees so that i can discuss and share my experiences and guess what He made it true through this post.
Bhagavan is my Ishta too. I can guarantee you that once you take refuge unto Him you will cross over all obstacles in your life be it spiritual or material.

.
The meaning of Ganesha is given by Lord Vishnu as Jnanaartha vachako gascha nascha nirvanavachaka, Thayor esham parabrahmam ganesham pranamaamyaham. Lord Vishnu said “I salute the Supreme Lord Ganesha whose name is formed by two letters ga and na ga indicating Jnana or knowledge Na indicating liberation.

Entire Cosmos is a manifestation of Nada (Sound) which has 4 stages of evolution- Para, Pashyanti, Madhyama, Vaikhari .Nadas originate from the Mooladhara Chakra and slowly transform and purify themselves as they reach the Sahasrara. . These 4 Nadas are called Ganas of Nada (Nada Samooha). According to Ganapati muni the Parama Shiva or the Nirguna Paramatma takes two forms during the process of creation. The first form is Nada Rupa at the Mooladhara which is the abode of Ganesha ). Shining in the Mooladhara, Lord Ganesha controls these entire 4 Nada Ganas and hence, He is called Gana-Pati

Ganesha is Vakratunda - His trunk in bent with 3 angulations representing iccha kriya and jnana shaktis . These shaktis being ganas, He is thus called Ganapati (as is the primordial Om which has 3 angulations too)

The famous Rig vedic Ganapati suktam
Gananam tva ganapatim havaamahe kavim kavinaam upamashravastamam
Jyeshtarajam brahmanam brahmanaspati aanah shrunvanutibhih seedasaadanam.
“Brahmanam Patih iti Brahmanaspati.” Ganesha is The lord of all the ganas starting from Brahma..Brahma is also called the Veda and Vaak Swarupa. Since, Ganesha is the creator of Brahma and the vedas He is called Brahmanaspati. Vedic Mantras are in the form of Matrikas. These Matrikas are also called Ganas (Gana denotes Samooha -�a Group�). Since, He is the Master and Inspirer of all these Matrikas which make a mantravarnamaala which is in the form of Veda Mantras, Chandas (Vedic Metre), he is called Brahmanaspati. Also He is the first amongst the Gods hence called Jyesta.

The whole essence of Ganeshas beeja and His form hold a great deal of significance. Now if you compare forms of God it is only Ganeshas form that is closest to Aum and also the swastika sign is associated closely to Him. Ganeshas beeja Gam represents gagana or the celestial akasha the very place where karmas of souls are stored. And He is the overlord of it and Hence astrology calls Him as the lord of time and karma. Mushaka is His vehicle. Musha means thief and Ka is the root word for karma and His vahana being mushaka He steals all the karmas of His devotees.
Also being the overlord of Karma and Time surrendering to Him leads to our work moving forward and faster. While many methods of yoga might take eons to fructify worshipping Ganesha makes the same work flow faster and also meet success. The chief obstacle of any form of yoga is lack of wisdom. This lack of wisdom leads to people differentiating not only between the souls but also Gods forms. Worshipping Ganesha will remove this ignorance and give them the real understanding of God beyond all superficial manifestations of names and forms. Thus Ganesha is verily the Parabrahman without whose bestowed wisdom even the different sects of yoga lead to delusion and eternal ignorance.

There is no other form of Brahman who can be closer to us than Ganesha. He is the most merciful protector of the fallen. He destroys all the obstacles whether material or spiritual. Because only Ganesha has the full knowledge of time and karma and this form of Brahman specifically makes sure the path to liberation is not only faster but easier too. It is said that devotees of Ganesha never fail in any of their tasks.He is the one worshipped by even lakshmi in the forms of seeta and radha. The Goddess Radha the divine half of Krishna prayed to Him “Param dhama param brahma paresham parameeshwaram vighna nighna karam shaantam pushtam kaantam anantakam suraasurendraihi siddhendraihi stutam staumi paratparam sura padma dinesham cha ganesham mangalalayam” Radha prayed “Oh Ganesha. You are the supreme abode the supreme Brahman the supreme lord and the supreme lord of all the lords, Kindly destroy the obstacles in my path Oh unlimited being who is the embodiment of Peace and Completeness. All the gods,siddhas praise you as the supreme lord who like the beautiful sun shows them the ultimate path of auspiciousness”
Brahma Vishnu and Maheshwara offer their prayers “Ajam nirvikalpam niraakaaramekam niraalamba madvaita maananda poornam.Param nirgunam nirvishesham nireeham para brahma roopam ganesham bhajemah”
We salute the supreme Ganesha who is Unborn, unchangeable, without a form, one without a second,independent,the ultimate truth,bliss,complete,the supreme without any qualities,non dual,and the motionless supreme lord.

Lord Ganesha is the guardian of His mother Gauri. Many scriptures misinterpret His appearance from Gauri as being Her creation. But Ganesha was not created by Gauri rather He is the eternal Brahman who by His will took His birth as the son of Shakti as Her guardian. That way He resides in the mooladhara chakra to protect and guide the kundalini shakti. He is the eternal well wisher,the eternal guide of the souls and is always eager to help them reach their final destination that is liberation,.
Many foolish people call Him a minor god of removing obstacles but He was worshipped by everyone from Brahma to Vishnu to Shiva to Shakti to Jupiter and the Sun. Even Lalitha devi worshipped Him before destroying Bhandasura. That is because only the supreme lord can remove the obstacles and no one but the supreme Brahman can avert the karma of individuals. And that is the reason karmic effects dont touch the devotees of Ganesha provided they approach Him with the required fervor and devotion.
Refuge unto this unlimited Supreme Lord Ganesha means to understand His tattva where all souls cleansed of karma and maya become one with Him in His Svaananda loka.
And refuge unto Him means freedom from ignorance..By personal experience He made all things impossible possible for me. For that id be eternally grateful to Him. Spiritually when i was at the verge of becoming an atheist thanks to a famous superficial cult which brainwashed me into ignorance and destroyed my intelligence it is this merciful Lord who saved me. Id be eternally grateful to Him and hope i serve Him to the best of my capability in this life and the next if i have one. And hope i meet more devotees of His from whom i can learn more about Him.

[ganeshamylord]

Namaste HDF,

I guess what I want to know is how best to do this? Are there any sadhanas (I forget if that's the term for a religious group or sect within Hinduism or not) dedicated to Shri Ganesha I can contact and join? Any living gurus who are reachable that can help me reestablish my connection? I am going to need some help in this. I realized a long time ago that I cannot do this alone...it's only now that I realize that my need for the help of other people in this matter is deeper than I thought.

Namaste
Im unsure of online gurus. But the sadhana to Him is chant His mantra Aum Gam ganapataye namaha. Plus fasting during Chaturthi days(4th day of both waxing and waning moon)
This is unparallelled. You will instantly get a connection with Him.
He will be there to guide you. No matter who you are, how big a sinner or a philanthropist you are He will accept you with all your merits and demerits,.
Read His Ganesha Gita from GANESHA PURANA, You will understand He is the Supreme Brahman capable of cleansing all your Karmic residues.

I also advise you to chant His atharvasheersha and His sankashta nashana stotra. Both of them worked miracles for me. My paper got published in the worlds number one medical journal even though i was just in the first year, i got back my lost visa extension papers for which i spent around 2k dollars
I can especially vouch for Ganesha Atharvasheersha. It is just divine. And i am saying this out of personal experience and not because some book presumes it to be so.
Goodluck

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam Webimpulse: Different sects view Ganesha differently, as usual. So you will get differing advice. I hesitate to jump in because of this, as it could cause confusion. Setting up a special shrine, and just sitting in front of it might help. In the mystical Saiva sect, He is separate from Siva, yet emanated from Siva, and the easiest of all deities to make mystical contact with. He's the helper guardian of the world with unlimited patience.

So a simple puja the same time every day would be appropriate. So would a visit to a local temple, if you can.

A mantra I use is the Ganapati Gayatri.

Best wishes.

Aum Namasivaya

[Ram11]

Namaste,

Informative post.

He was worshipped by everyone from Brahma to Vishnu to Shiva to Shakti to Jupiter and the Sun.

Even Lalitha devi worshipped Him before destroying Bhandasura.

Can you provide references for above statements?

[ganeshamylord]

Namaste,

Informative post.
Can you provide references for above statements?

Namaste
Source of them is Brahmanda Brahmavaivarta Ganesha and Mudgala puranas.
You can go through the website
http://shreemahaganpati.blogspot.com...1_archive.html
http://ganapatya.wordpress.com/
http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/p4.htm
http://www.stutimandal.com/new/poemgen.php?id=303

And regarding Lalitha devi.. Please read Lalitopakhyana section from Brahmanda Purana. Lalita devi unable to break the barrier created by Bhanda offers prayers to Mahaganapati .
Brahma prior to creation
Vishnu offers prayers to Mahaganapati prior to destroying Madhu Kaitabha
Shiva prior to tripurasura vadha
Parvathi before destroying asuras
source Pushpadanta virachita Ganesha Mahima stotram

[Ram11]

Namaste Ji,

Thanks a lot.

Could you list the scriptures related to Sri Ganapati like Ganesha Purana,Mudgala Purana etc.?

[ganeshamylord]

Namaste Ji,

Thanks a lot.

Could you list the scriptures related to Sri Ganapati like Ganesha Purana,Mudgala Purana etc.?

Namaste
Brahmanda,brahmavaivarta,ganesha,mudgala,narada.. rest im unsure of

[hinduism♥krishna]

Namaste
Brahmanda,brahmavaivarta,ganesha,mudgala,narada.. rest im unsure of

PraNam all devotees of Bhagavan Ganesha.

I think Ganesha and his worship is mentioned in Padma Puruna-Vaishnawa Purana as well.

This may be somewhat off-topic but would like to share one important verse from Padma Puran.


There's a conversation of Krushna with his wife Satyabhama. The verse is as follow:

Krishna says:

शैवा: सौरा: गणेशावैष्णवा: शक्तिपूजका: ।
मामेवप्राप्नुवन्तिहवर्षांभसागरंयथा ।। पद्म पुराण उत्तरखण्ड ८८।४३।

"Like the rain water comes from all around and finally reaches to the ocean, similarly all those worshiping Shiva, Surya, Ganesha, Vishnu, Devi acquires me alone."

Note: 'Me' here refers to Brahman as Vaishnawa word is already said before. Just as different Rivers by different paths attain the sea only, worshipers of Various Gods attain one supreme destination, Brahman.

This Verse clearly indicates All pantha attains formless Brahman. No one is supreme or lower. It's the lila of Vishnu who's seen differently. Ignorants see him different while Dnyanis see him in all gods and Jivas.
Ignorants can't understand that Hari and Ganesha are one, no any difference. Hari is Ganesha, Ganesha is Hari.

Note: 'Pantha' : Sampradaya ie sect

Jai Ganesha..Jai Shri Hari

[ganeshamylord]

PraNam all devotees of Bhagavan Ganesha.

Krishna says:

शैवा: सौरा: गणेशावैष्णवा: शक्तिपूजका: ।
मामेवप्राप्नुवन्तिहवर्षांभसागरंयथ� �� ।। पद्म पुराण उत्तरखण्ड ८८।४३।

"Like the rain water comes from all around and finally reaches to the ocean, similarly all those worshiping Shiva, Surya, Ganesha, Vishnu, Devi acquires me alone."

Note: 'Me' here refers to Brahman as Vaishnawa word is already said before. Just as different Rivers by different paths attain the sea only, worshipers of Various Gods attain one supreme destination, Brahman.

This Verse clearly indicates All pantha attains formless Brahman. No one is supreme or lower. It's the lila of Vishnu who's seen differently. Ignorants see him different while Dnyanis see him in all gods and Jivas.
Ignorants can't understand that Hari and Ganesha are one, no any difference. Hari is Ganesha, Ganesha is Hari.

Note: 'Pantha' : Sampradaya ie sect

Jai Ganesha..Jai Shri Hari

Namaste
Exactly. Even if a form of Brahman worships another form of Brahman He is worshipping His own self which is the imperishable eternal brahman. Even Lord Ganesha in Ganesha Gita makes the same statement. The self is paramatma,paramashiva and narayana and mahaganapati and hree devi,