lord ganesha head stopping shiva unaware of the lad being his son, shiva became furiously and fired...

In my pr ev i ous ar ti cl e, w e saw “w hy Ganesha i s god and w or thy ofw or shi p”. If y ou hav en’t r ead i t , then pl ease go thr ough the bel ow post: Is lord ganesha God and worthy of worship<http://www.mallstuffs.com/Blogs/BlogDetails.aspx?BlogId=169&BlogType=Spiritual&Topic=Is+lord+ganesha+God+and+worthy+of+worship

In thi s ar ti cl e, I w i l l conti nue fur ther to l i st out the r easons on “w hyel ephant head w as chosen for Ganesha” or w hy “l or d Ganesha i s show nw i th el ephant head”. Let us f i r st see how Ganesha got hi s el ephant head. Befor e k now i ng howGanesha got hi s el ephant head, ther e i s a pr ef i x ed stor y w hi ch shoul dbe k now n f i r st: Once upon a t i me, Di ety Sur y a (Sun) k i l l ed tw o demons, Sumaal i andMal i . Thi s anger ed Lor d Shi v a because Sumaal i and mal i w er e hi sdear est dev otees and thei r deeds w er e not sev er e enough to be aw ar deddeath puni shment. So, infuriated Lord Shiva fired his trident on DeitySurya. Str i k e of the pow er ful tr i dent w as unbear abl e ev en for thedei ty Sur y a and he fel l dow n f r om hi s char i ot unconsci ous. Seeing thedire unhealthy condition of his son, sage Kashyap began to wail inagony. Soon, al l other demi gods joi ned i n mour ni ng of k ashy ap si ncethe par t of the w or l d w as pl unged i nto dar k ness because of no r egul armoti on of the sun. Angr y sage Kashyap cursed Shiva that one day; hewill decapitate his own son by his trident. In the meanti me, l or dShi v a’s anger subsi ded and he r esur r ected Dei ty Sur y a but w as unabl eto av oi d sage k ashy ap cur se as show n i n bel ow stor y .

How Ganesha Got His HeadAs per shi v a pur ana, the stor y of l or d Ganesha bi r th goes l i k e thi s:Once goddess Par v ati w as al one i n her house and w anted a guar d w how i l l not al l ow any one to enter her di v i ne chamber w hi l e she baths. So,

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she rubbed paste of sandalwood on her body to create a magicalfigure of a young boy. She i nfused l i fe to that cr eatur e and tol d hi m toguar d the entr ance l i k e her son w hi l e she baths. W hen her husbandl or d Shi v a r etur ned, Ganesha obstr ucted hi m i n enter i ng hi s w i fechamber .


Ganesha Stopping Shiva U naw ar e of the l ad bei ng hi s son, shi v a became fur i ousl y and f i r ed hi spow er ful w eapon to behead the y oung boy . Retur ni ng f r om bath,Par v ati saw her headl ess son and i n ex tr eme gr i ef thr eatened shi v a todestr oy w hol e uni v er se. To soothe her , Shi v a ask ed hi s cel esti alar mi es(Ganas) to sear ch for ganesha head. U nfor tunatel y , shi v a Tr i shulstr i k e w as so pow er ful that Ganesha head w as hur l ed bey ond the r eachof shi v a cel esti al ar mi es. Lor d Br ahma then suggested Ganesha's head tobe r epl aced w i th the f i r st l i v i ng bei ng w i th head faci ng nor th si nce


nor th i s associ ated w i th w i sdom. Shi v a ask ed hi s cel esti al ar mi es(k now n as ganas) to get the head of any l i v i ng bei ng faci ng nor th. Thei rsol di er w as not abl e to f i nd a sl eepi ng human bei ng but found asl eepi ng el ephant . So, they brought elephant head which was laterattached to the headless body of the boy. Shi v a r estor ed the l i fe ofthe boy and made hi m the l eader (Pati ) of hi s fol l ow er . Hence, he w asgi v en the 'Ganapati '. Another name Ganesha i s made up of gana(Fol l ow er s) and is ha (l or d) w hi ch pr eci sel y means l or d of the ganas. However, Brahma purana narrates a completely differentstory: Once, lord Shiva asked Parvati to fast for a year (punyak av rata) to propitiate Vishnu year to have a divine son. Af ter oney ear of fasti ng, l or d Vi shnu av atar (Kr i shna) announced that he w oul di ncar nate as mother par v ati son i n ev er y k al pa (eon). So, af ter a y earw hen par v ati gav e bi r th to a son, al l dei t i es gather ed to cel ebr ate babybi r th w i th gr eat enthusi asm. How ev er , Lor d Shani (Son of dei ty sur y a)av oi ded l ook i ng at the i nfant. Disturbed by this behaviour, Parvatidemanded an explanation for which lord shani replied “looking atthe baby might harm the baby body”. How ev er , par v ati i nsi sted andw hen Shani l ook ed at the baby , chi l d head w as sev er ed i nstantl y andf l ew dow n to Gol ok a. Al l gods star ted to bemoan, w her eupon Vi shnutr av el l ed on hi s di v i ne Gar uda (Eagl e) and br ought the head of asl eepi ng el ephant f r om the bank s of r i v er pushpabhadr a. This headwas joined to the headless body of the baby after which life wasrevived on the baby body . As Indi ans, w e ar e of ten questi oned about our fai th of w or shi ppi ng anel ephant-headed, br ok en-tusk ed, pot-bel l i ed god hav i ng mouse as hi sv ehi cl e. N ow el ephant headed god mi ght sound str ange but l or dGanesha ev er y si ngl e pecul i ar i ty has a deep spi r i tual meani ng w hi chw e w i l l di scuss i n thi s ar ti cl e

WHY TO FIX ELEPHANT'S HEAD?


I gav e some of the r easons i n my pr ev i ous ar ti cl e (Li nk gi v en at star t ofthi s ar ti cl e). In thi s ar ti cl e, l et us see the deep spi r i tual meani ng ofeach or gan of l or d Ganesha head.

Lord Ganesha eyes Firstly, eyes of the elephant are beautiful, kind, compassionate and full of innocence. So,Lord Ganesha is also kind, compassionate, loving and caring to devotees.Secondly, all animals on earth see the objects with right dimensions. Elephant is the onlyanimal which does not have this feature and sees all the things bigger than size. Thisimplies that never go by the size of the opponent and all living beings are tobe nurtured and respected. This is the reason why lord Ganesha vehicle is mouse, thetiny creature compared to elephant. TEETH OF AN ELEPHANT Elephant has two kinds of teeth - one for show and other to chew and eat. These teacheshumans to adopt a dual behavior in life, Good behavior with gentleman and badsuperficial behavior with crooked evil minded individuals.


LONG NOSE (TRUNK)Nose signifies the reputation of an individual. For example. Whenever anyone commits awrong deed, others say he has cut his nose; i.e. his respect and reputation is gone. Longerthe nose, greater is said to be the reputation of the individual. Elephant is the mostrespected by all animals like lions, tigers etc and most often, elephant is also known as theleader of the forest. So, lord Ganesha long nose signifies that he is the mostrespected of all deities. Ganesha trunk is also a symbol of his intelligence.Elephant uses trunk to carry massive trees, logs etc. At the same time, elephant uses histrunk to perform minute task like picking up blades of grass, breaking small coconut etc.Hence, massive and minute task performed by the same trunk signifies lordGanesha power of discrimination and intelligence. Lord Ganesha inverted trunk represent OM, the most powerful word of this universe. OMis said to be the sound generated first when creation came into being.

Lord Ganesha inverted AUM on swastika


PEC U LIAR T ON GU ETongue is the most dangerous organ of any human being because it is tongue which producesthe sound which in turn becomes the mode of communication between two living beings. Iftongue speaks offensive words, than it can ignite violence, loss of life etc. On the other hand, iftongue speaks good words then it can increase harmony, love and mutual affection between twoliving beings. Since humans have tongue outwards its neck, their tongue keep lollying outwhereas in case of elephant, their tongue points towards its neck and hence need an extra effortto speak by moving their trunk upward first. Such Lor d Ganesha pecul i ar tongues i gni f i es that one m us t speak as per the need and befor e speak i ng agai ns tother , one m us t i ntr ospec t hi m sel f . LON G EAR SLord Ganesha is also known as Surpakarna, meaning one with flappy ears. A flapper (Surpa) isa traditional, indigenous way to winnow the grains so as to remove all unwanted material fromthe grains, Hence this teaches human to live in peace by listening to only good talks and ignoringall filthy immoral words that reaches our ears. Ganesha l ong ear s al so s i gni fy that hel i s tens to the pr obl em s of al l hi s devotees . Al though hi s l ar ge ear s hearever y thi ng, he r etai ns onl y good and f i l ter s al l bad.

LAR GE BELLYLord Ganesha another name is Lambodra, meaning one with large belly. Literally it means onewho can digest even a high level secret easily. One who can't digest even a small gossip is shortbellied. T hus , Ganeshj i has the pow er of di ges t i ng or sw al l ow i ng al l thesor r ow s of thi s U ni ver se. Ganesha' s bi g bel l y al so r epr esents gener os i tyand total acceptance.


Lord Ganesha long ears and large belly

LOW ER H U M AN - LIKE PAR TEvery part of Lord Ganesha teaches a lesson. Only the Upper part of lord Ganesha is elephantshaped whereas the lower part is human like. Why it is so? This is because among all otheranimals, only humans have heart that beats with extreme love and emotion and understandsgood and bad feelings quite well. So, l or d Ganesha has been gi ven the hum an hear tto under s tand the l ove, af fec t i on and good feel i ngs of hi s devotees .

M EAN IN G OF M OU SE AS VEH IC LE Mouse is very small in size but his activities are very enterprising and huge. It is alwaysengaged in activities involving hardwork


U D YAM AM SAH ASAM D H AIR YAMBU D D H IH SH AKT IH PAR AKR AM AH |SH ED T E YAT R AVAR T AN T E T OT R AD EVA SAH AYAKR IT | |M eani ng: Gods is helpful to those who have entrepreneurship, intelligence, capacity, courage,patience, and powers.You may find it strange that the lord has chosen an obsequious noisy mouse as his vehicle sincehe is quite incapable of lifting the massive head and bulging belly of lord Ganesha. But i ti m pl i es that the w i se l or d do not see any l i v i ng bei ng as di spr opor t i onateor ugl y and gi ves pow er to ever y bei ng devoted to hi m . Mouse is able topenetrate and wander through all places even the most secret places. Hence, this mousesignifies removal of obstacles from all places of this universe by going through even the mostsecret places. Also, this wandering of mouse is similar to our wandering, uncontrolled mind andthe only solution for this wandering mind id subservience and devotion of the lord. Anotherreason isthough a mouse lacks intelligence and strength, yet it keeps digging even mountains with itssmall teeth. It may not know the futility of its efforts, but it does not give up efforts. M ouseteaches hum an bei ng to r em ai n i n cons tant ac t i on w i thout gi v i ng upeffor ts .


Lor d Ganesha show n on top of mouse w i th l aptop to pr each W i sdom andk now l edge (Ef fect of moder ni zati on i n Indi a)


Lord Posture: Lor d Ganesha postur e w i th one foot on the gr ound and the other fol dedup tel l s us that ther e must be a constant alignment with the soul andall spiritual experiences while we operate in this world. Lord Ganesha Foot Modak and other food k ept at l or d Ganesha feet sy mbol i ze pow er andmater i al w eal th. Thr ough thi s, the l or d say s that “Those who becomespiritual achieve success in all his daily activities and receivewealth and respect even though they are not very fond of it. Four hands: Lor d Ganesha hol ds a r ope, an ax e, a m odak (sw eet) and a l otus. The ax esi gni f i es the r emov al of desi r es w i th the ax e of spi r i tual i ty . Roper epr esents bi ndi ng our mi nd w i th spi r i tual k now l edge and dev oti on togod aw ay f r om al l w or l dl y desi r es. The m odak r epr esents joy andhappi ness a seek er der i v es f r om spi r i tual pur sui t and the l otus standsfor di v i ne state of consci ous or unconsci ous Sel f -Real i zati on In spi te ofstay i ng i n di r ty ponds, l otus l ook s v er y beauti ful and si gni f i es pur i ty .Ganes ha's upraised hand, depicting protection, means, 'Fear not, Iam with you', and his lowered hand, palm facing outwards meansendless giving as well as an invitation to bow down, thi s i s sy mbol i cof the fact that w e w i l l al l di ssol v e i nto ear th one day

Lord Ganesha and OM Descr i pti on of l or d Ganesha w oul d be i ncompl ete w i thout menti oni ngthe w or d ‘OM’. AU M i s sai d to be the most uni v er sal sy mbol of god. N omantr a i s compl ete w i thout the w or d AU M. In a phy si cal sense,Ganesha i s r egar ded as the di ety r epr esenti ng the pr i mor di al sacr edsound AU M, hence r emi ndi ng us hi s supr eme posi t i on i n the Hi ndupantheon.


The Lord of Success Ganesha, son of shi v a and par v ati , has an el ephanti ne appear ance w i thbi g ear s, a l ong cur v ed tr unk , and a huge pot-bel l i ed stomach l i k e ahuman bei ng. He i s the destr oy er or al l ev i l s and obstacl es. He i s theLor d of success and i s w or shi pped as the god of k now l edge, educati on,w i sdom and w eal th.


Lord Ganesha head

So, head of el ephant w as sel ec ted for Ganesha because i t has m or em aneuver abi l i ty than head of any other ani m al .


lord ganesha head stopping shiva unaware of the lad being his son, shiva became furiously and fired...

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