FAQs

There is a delightful story about a contest between Lord Ganesha and his brother Kartikeya. Kartikeya was very proud of his mount, the peacock, and of his speed and agility. He challenged Lord Ganesha to a race that would involve circumambulating the globe three times. Lord Shiva indicated that the race has begun. Kartikeya immediately mounted his peacock and set out to circumambulate the whole world. Ganapati just smiled. He circumambulated Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati three times. When Kartikeya returned to Mount Kailash, he was very surprised to find Ganapati there. Ganapati told them that parents have their own world and bypassing them means bypassing the world. In this way, he won the race.

Ganapati is the god of wisdom and higher knowledge. Each part of Lord Ganesha symbolizes intelligence: - Big ears, nose, small eyes, big belly, and head are the signs of a "Great Man". The 'Big Head' symbolizes a lot of wisdom. 'Big Ears' signifies the ability to hear well and that listening makes you a better person. The 'Little Eyes' symbolize the ability to see the future and reality instead of the fake outside. The 'Big Trunk' symbolizes the ability to smell good and bad in a person from afar. The 'Big Belly' is meant to suggest that a man of perfection can consume and digest whatever he experiences.

For normal idols, the trunk should be turned to the left. If it is bent to the right, it is called Siddhi Vinayaka and requires special worship. One should be very careful while worshiping such idols.But why is the trunk on the right so special and so tough?Ida Nadi is on the left, while Pingala Nadi is on the right. Sund turning to the left has easy rules and being the Ida Nadi Moon, one can perform the puja with respect. But the Nadi turning to the right is Surya and will burn the person if the rules are violated. When the trunk is straight ahead, it means that the Sushumna is fully open. Such idols are very rare and special. Even more special is the trunk where the trunk swings straight up in the air. This means that the Kundalini Shakti has permanently reached the Sahasra.

It is often asked why Ganesha, beloved of the gods and all humanity, remained a brahmachari, celibate, and brahmachari (as it is believed in the south).A legend states that the reason for this was that he felt that his mother Parvati was the most beautiful and perfect woman in the universe. He said, bring a beautiful woman like you, and I will marry her.No one was found equal to the lovely Uma. The deities are still searching and so is Ganesha! Why should we use Lord Ganapati's idol only in a sitting position and not in a standing position? When we have a guest, we offer him a seat; We don't leave him standing. Similarly, during Ganesh Chaturthi, we invoke Ganesha Tattva, which means I invoke Lord Ganesha. So we should do hospitality with the belief that Lord Ganesha himself is coming to us.Also, if we keep the idol standing for 10 days, there is a possibility of the weight on the feet of the idol, in fact breaking the idol. Therefore, the idols should be made in the traditional sitting position only.

When he came up with the idea of the Mahabharata, sage Ved Vyasa looked for someone who could write down the words even as they read them. He approached Lord Ganesha and asked him if he would do so. Lord Ganesha immediately agreed. Ved Vyas said "I will narrate the story and as I am telling, you should get it down fast and not interrupt or stop anywhere in between" Lord Ganesha also said, "I will do that and if you stop or hesitate, then I will stop writing and your epic will never be written". Vedavyasa agreed to his final condition "So I agree but you also must agree to fully understand the meaning of the poem as You write and not just blindly write them as I say". The elephant-headed god gave his assent and he started writing the epic Mahabharata. Lord Ganesha broke one of his teeth to write it. And used it as a pen. As he continued to write, Veda Vyasa found that Ganesha was very fast and did not even have time to breathe! His face slowly turned blue and he thought that without stopping how would he even draw his breath. Then he worked out the solution and recited a difficult verse. Ganesha, who was writing furiously, took a second to figure out the meaning of the verse. They paused and Ved Vyas thankfully used the split-second gap to take a deep breath. But Ganesha immediately proceeded and they left. And so, whenever Ved Vyasa needed a break, he would recite a difficult phrase and use Ganesha's timing to understand the meaning. Thus the original Mahabharata has many difficult verses placed at intervals throughout the length of the epic.

There is a very popular story in this context. Lord Ganesha loved sweet kheer or laddoos. On one of his birthdays, he was going door-to-door receiving the prasad of sweet kheer. After eating a considerable amount of these, he started walking on his rat at night. Suddenly the mouse staggered as it saw the snake and it was scared that Lord Ganesha fell down. His stomach burst and all the sweet pudding came out. But Lord Ganesha filled them back in his stomach and caught the snake and tied it in his stomach. Seeing all this, the moon in the sky laughed heartily. This unfair treatment of the moon greatly angered Lord Ganesha and so he pulled out one of his teeth and threw it against the moon, cursing that no one should see the moon on Ganesh Chaturthi. If one does, he certainly earns bad luck.

Angarki: The Chaturthi that falls on a Tuesday is called Angarki. Angaraki means 'Mars' or 'Earth'. Ganapati is the presiding deity of Mars as he is of Earth. The color of both Ganapati and Mangal is the same. On the day of Angaraki, Ganesha waves reach the earth in greater quantity. Ganesh waves from Mars also reach the earth. As a result, most of the waves coming from the moon get destroyed. Hence the benefit derived from performing 'Angarika Vinayaki' and 'Angarika Sankashti' is equivalent to a series of Vinayakis and Sankashtis performed in a year. Angaraki is not a religious ritual like the others performed throughout the day and night. It is a ritual consisting of five praharas (one prahara is of approximately three hours duration), four days, and one night. According to the method, food should be taken at the time of moonrise. Thus the food becomes a part of the ritual and is not eaten to break the fast.

Sankashti Chaturthi: This fast is observed by the devotees on the Chaturthi of Shukla Paksha every month. On this day devotees fast for the whole day and break their fast after seeing Lord Moon and worshiping Lord Ganesha. This fast is strictly observed by the devotees to get rid of the problems in their life. On this day in the evening first, take a bath and worship Ganesha, offer 21 Durvasa, perform aarti, offer naivedya and pray for the fulfillment of your wishes. Then see Lord Moon, offer Naivedyam to him, feed the Brahmin, and break your fast. In this way, if the fast is followed, then all your wishes are fulfilled.

In the 120 days from the full moon of Ashadha to Kartik of the Hindu lunar calendar, Yama waves, which have destructive potential and are Tama dominant, reach the earth in greater abundance. They are of greater intensity during this period. However, during the same period, i.e. from the fourth day (Chaturthi) of the Shukla Paksha of Bhadrapada to Anant Chaturdashi, Ganesha waves also reach the earth in greater quantities, helping to reduce the intensity of Yama waves. Thus celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi gives the benefits of Ganesha waves and helps in reducing the effects of Yama waves.

According to spiritual science, Lord Ganesha is worshiped to imbibe his qualities and experience spiritual and worldly benefits as a result. To experience these benefits to the maximum, the images of Lord Ganesha used in worship should be sattvic. Therefore, with a view to bringing maximum benefit to the devotees, Sanatan has crafted images of Lord Ganesha which have a significant proportion of the divine principle (Ganesh Tattva) of Lord Ganesha. Source: From the book "The Shubh... The Beginning" (Siddhivinayak Library)

Once upon a time, there used to be a demon named "Analasura". They had the ability to spew fire. The demon used to trouble all the gods. The gods were distressed by the terror of Analasur and tried their best to get rid of him. When all of them failed, they pleaded with Ganesha for help. Ganesh ji had a long war with that demon which lasted for a long time. Finally, Ganesha swallowed the demon. But since the demon was made of flame, the heat became unbearable for the god. Various deities turned to Ganesha's rescue, offering their own methods, but to no avail. He was fed the holy water of Vishnu's lotus. This brought some relief to Prabhu, although he was still in pain. Then Lord Shiva's snake was tied around his waist. This also helped but the pain was still there. As a last resort, he was given 21 Durvas, and finally, the Lord was cured. Since then, 21 Durvas are offered to the Lord as a symbol of devotion.

There was a Gandharva named Krauncha in the royal court of Lord Indra. He was a good singer. One day he laughed at a monk. The sage got angry and cursed Kraunch that his next birth would be in the rat clan. At that very moment, Krauncha fell down near the hermitage of sage Parashara, where one of the incarnations of Lord Ganesha was living and is called Gajanan. Like other rats, this rat also started troubling the people of the ashram. Started eating food by making holes in the ashram. Sage Parashara called his son Gajanana to get rid of the crisis. Gajanan coughs up Kraunch, who is in mouse form. He begged for mercy and asked for a boon. Kraunch said, 'I don't want anything for myself. I'll take you a ride instead. I'll take you wherever you want! ' At that very moment, Lord Ganesha sat on his back. Lord Ganesha reduced his weight to that which was tolerable for a mouse, without reducing in size. Since then the rat became the vehicle of Lord Ganesha.

Tulsi, daughter of Dharmaraja. Wandering the world in ecstatic devotion to Lord Narayana, the god of righteousness, walking thus white in his young days, he came upon the banks of the holy river Ganges. There she wandered into a quiet hermitage full of fragrant flowers and plants swaying in the cool breeze. He saw Ganesha, in the prime of his youth, dressed in yellow silk, and lost in deep contemplation of Lord Krishna. She was mesmerized by Ganesha's beauty and begged him to marry her. Ganesha declined the proposal saying that he had the least interest in married life. Tulsi became enraged and cursed Ganesha saying: "You must be married!", to which Ganesha also gave him a counter-curse: "You too will be married, but to an asura, and after that you will be married to an asura." Will be cursed to be born as. Plant trees by wise men". Tulsi realized her mistake, pleaded for mercy, and praised Ganesha with divine hymns. Ganesha relented and said: "Though you will be born as a plant, you will The essence of fragrances will be inherited. All the gods will be pleased with your fragrance and Lord Hari will be especially pleased to be worshiped with your leaves. But you will not accept the worship offered to me". Saying this, Ganesha left that place and went to Badrikashram.

Man has created many different names and forms for the Divine or the Eternal throughout history. Just as we have many names and forms for other things, be it food items, or forms of art, a similar great variety has been created in religion. The Western world has prided itself on monotheism, the idea that there is only one God as the highest truth. Western religions have said that only those names and forms that refer to this one god are valid, but those that appear to worship another god, or a plurality of gods, must be false. He restricts the names and forms to be used in religious worship and insists that only one set is true and correct and others are wrong or impure. As a universal formulation, Hinduism accepts all formulations of truth. According to the universal point of view, there is only one reality, but it cannot be restricted to any particular name or form. Although the truth is one, it is also universal, not a specific formulation. It is the inclusive, not the exclusive unity - the one spiritual reality of being - consciousness - bliss, which may be called God but which is beyond all names. The different gods and goddesses of Hinduism represent different functions of this one supreme divinity and are not separate gods. Having many names of a thing is not necessarily a sign of ignorance of its real nature. On the contrary, it may indicate an intimate knowledge of it. For example, the Eskimos have forty-eight different names for snow in their language because they know snow in its various forms intimately, not because they are ignorant of the fact that all snow is only one. The many different gods and goddesses of Hinduism represent the divine experience at different levels.