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Ganapati or Ganesha,
the Lord of Ganas, the elephant faced God, represents the
power of the Supreme Being that removes obstacles and ensures
success in human endeavors. Ganesha is revered as the son
of the Shiva and Parvati,
and is always honored first in most worship services and rituals.
Ganesha is also known as Ganapati, Vigneswara, Vinayaka, Gajamukha
and Ainkaran. He is worshipped for siddhi, success in
undertakings, and buddhi, intelligence.
He is worshipped before any venture is started.
He is also the God of education, knowledge and wisdom, literature,
and the fine arts.
Ganesha is also one of the five Gods the worship of whom was
popularised by Adi Shankaracharya; the other four are Vishnu,
Shiva, Devi and Surya.
The worship of these five deities is called the pancayatana
puja. In some cases, a sixth God, Skanda is also worshipped.
The large head of an elephant symbolizes wisdom, understanding,
and a discriminating intellect that one must possess to attain
perfection in life.
The wide mouth represents the natural human desire to enjoy
life in the world. The large ears signify that a perfect person
is the one who possesses a great capacity to listen to others
and assimilate ideas. The trunk relates to the power of human
mind which must be strong enough to face the ups and downs
of the external world and yet delicate enough to explore the
subtle realms of the inner world.
The two tusks denote the two aspects of the human personality,
wisdom and emotion. The right tusk represents wisdom left
tusk represents emotion. The broken left tusk conveys the
idea that one must conquer emotions with wisdom to attain
perfection. The eyes: the elephant
eyes are said to possess natural deceptiveness that allows
them to perceive objects to be bigger
than what they really are. Thus the elephant eyes symbolize
the idea that even if an individual gets "bigger and bigger"
in wealth and wisdom, he should perceive
others to be bigger than himself; that is, surrender one's
pride and attain humility.
The four arms and various objects in the four hands: the four
arms indicate that the Lord is omnipresent and omnipotent.
The left side of the body symbolizes emotion and the right
side symbolizes reason. An axe in the
upper left hand and a lotus in the upper right hand signify
that in order to attain spiritual perfection, one should cut
worldly attachments and conquer emotions. This enables one
to live in the world without being affected by earthly temptations,
just as a lotus remains in water but is not affected by it.
A tray of Laddus near the Lord denotes that He bestows wealth
and prosperity upon His devotees. The lower right hand is
shown in a blessing pose, which signifies that Ganesha always
blesses his devotees.
A body with a big belly: the human body
possesses a human heart, which is a symbol of kindness and
compassion toward all. Ganesha's body is usually portrayed
wearing red and yellow clothes. Yellow symbolizes purity,
peace and truthfulness. Red symbolizes the activity in the
world.
A mouse sitting near the feet of Ganesha and gazing at the
tray of Laddus: a mouse symbalizes the ego that can nibble
all that is good and noble in a person. A mouse sitting near
the feet of Ganesha indicates that a perfect person is one
who has conquered his (or her) ego. Right foot dangling over
the left foot illustrates that in order to live a successful
life one should utilize knowledge and reason to overcome emotions.
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Elements
in Yantras
