GANESHA GANAPATI AND VIGNESHVARA

1. Vedic perspective:
The chief of gaa-s is kow as Gaapati. Gaa ot oly refers to a attedat
o iva, but also meas troop, multitude, sum total of aimate ad iaimate beigs.
Pati meas chief ad thereforeGaapati literally meas chief of both aimate ad
iaimate beigs. Hece, Gaapati is also kow as Brahmaaspati i Vedic
literature. The commo verse that is kow to us is this oe.




ga tv gaapati havmahe
kavi kavmupamaravastamam |
jyest harja brahma brahmaaspata
ah r vatrtibhih sda sdaam ||
Meaig: We ivoke you Gaapati, embodimet of immeasurable creativity, wealth,
ad brilliace. Please liste to our prayers seekig your blessigs ad reassurace.
Please come here ad take your seat.
Is Brahmaaspati the same as Idra? No, say Vedas. Brahmaaspati is the lord of
all the beigs, icludig gods ad goddesses ad Idra oly presides over wids. I
some Vedic verses, Idra is also described as mahhast (log hads), probably
referrig to the tusk. But, why Gaapati is first ivoked i all rituals? There is a
coectio betwee Agi (god of fire) ad Ga a
pati. Rig Veda (I.31.2) says, O!
Adorable God (referrig Agi) you are the first ad foremost essece of life; you
eforce the eteral laws; you are the offsprig of two mothers. Hece itelliget
commece their work by worshipig you. Agi is said to have two mothers, which
refer to two arai sticks (used to kidle fire). The two mothers i fact represet
heave ad earth or spiritual world ad material world. Similarly, Ga a
pati also has
two mothers, Durg ad Camud
. It is said that Agi is i the belly of Gaapati ad
that is why his belly too big. Whe Agi, who is the carrier of oblatios to the
respective gods ad goddesses, is placed i the belly of Ga a
pati obviously he
eeds to be worshiped first. Otherwise, beefits of oblatios will ot be carried to the
respective gods.
Apart from this, Gaapati is also kow as Vigevara (viga meas obstacles)
which meas he is the lord of all obstacles. If he is ot worshiped first there could be
obstacles i rituals. Therefore, he is first ivoked to remove all the obstacles. Whe

he is pleased, he ot oly does ot cause obstacles, but also esures that there are
o obstacles while performig rituals of ay kid.

gajaa bhtagadi sevita

khapittha jambphalasra bhaks itam |
umsuta oka viakraa
ammi vighevara pdapakajam ||
O! So of Um! the destroyer of sorrows, I prostrate at your lotus feet ad be kid
eough to remove all obstacles.
Several istaces ca be quoted from Vedas aloe to prove that worshippig
Gaapati is importat to remove all types of obstacles.
2. Tntrik perspective:
I Tatra also Gaapati is ivoked first. But tatra attributes differet types of
Viyaka-s ad importat amog them are seve types of Ga a
pati-s, each
represetig sapta mtr -s. The seve Gaapati-s are Mahgaapati, rdhva,
Pigala, Ucchist a
, Laksm, Haridr ad Vallabha Gaapati-s. These seve
Gaapati-s are associated with sapta mtr -s - Brahm, Mhevar, Kaumr,
Vaiav, Vrhi, Idr ad Cmud. These seve goddesses test our spiritual
progress by causig impedimets ad obstacles. A ma geerally fails to stay
coected with God whe he is i distress. These sapta mtr -s test us from differet
perspectives. They cause pride, ager, illusio, greed, evy, carpig ad deigratio.
By causig these obstacles, they test our depth of devotio ad hece they are also
kow as vige-s (causig obstacles). Gaapati is said to be their guardia ad
protector. These sapta mtr -s alog with Yogevar (makig a total of eight) cause
superatural powers (as t a
msiddhi). These eight superatural powers divided
themselves ito two major aspects of superatural accomplishmets ad ormal
itellect. These two major portios later became two femiie deities kow as
Siddhi ad Buddhi ad became the cosorts of Gaapati. Hece, worshippig
Gaapati also gives superatural powers, apart from removig all obstacles ot oly
durig rituals, but also durig our etire life time.
3. Commonly known forms of Ganapati:
There are thirty two forms of Gaapati, which are geerally kow.

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
, , , , , , , , , , , ,
ad .

Bla Gaapati, Tarua, Bhakta, Vra, akti, Ucchis t a

, Siddhi, Dvija, Viga, Ks ipra,
Heraba, Laksmi, Mah, Vijaya, Nr tya, rdhva, Vara, Ekks a
ra, Tryaksara,
Ksippaparasda, Haridr, Ekakadata, Sr s t i , Uddad a, Sakat a
hara, Dhud hi,
Dvimukha, Trimukha, Siha, Yoga Durga ad R a
Gaapati.
4. Ganapati in Purna-s:

Almost i every pura, there is a referece to Gaapati. But there are two exclusive
pura-s for Gaapati - Gaea pura ad Mudgala pura. These two pura-s
hold Gaapati as Brahma, the highest form of Diviity. That is why, pra ava () is
cosidered as the form of Gaapati. It is also said that Brahma wated to take a
particular form through which He would show that He is the root ad true form of
everythig so that everyoe ca worship Him. The root of creatio is pra a
va. Of all
the beigs, oly the truk of the elephat if tured to right gives the form of pra a
va.
There are several versios about Gaapatis origi. The commoly kow versio is
available i Varha Pura, which goes like this. Saits ad gods oce experieced
various obstacles*. So, they wet to iva for solutio. iva thought about the
problem ad foud out that out of pacabhta-s ka is ot represeted i physical
form whereas the rest four have forms (air, fire, water ad earth). He the
remembered His promise to Brahm that He would create ka i the form
ofGaapati. The iva smiled ad from His smile origiated a very hadsome ad
effulget youg ma. ivas Cosort Prvat looked at the youg ma with bereft
love. This made iva agry ad made this hadsome youg ma as a deformed
perso with elephat head. The basic priciple i the creatio of Gaapati is the
metal uio of iva ad akti, i order to remove all obstacles i righteous deeds of
all me. However there are several variatios ad iterpretatios. The poit is
that Gaapati is ot ormally bor, but a mythological creatio by Prvat ad
Paramevara through Their mutual looks.
(*I geeral oly those who are pious, religious, good i ature, god fearig, etc ted
to suffer more; this is oly to sped the remats of karmic imprits; whe his or her
karmic imprits are about to be exhausted, oe first trasforms ito a sthitapraja
ad later evolves ito a jvamukta ad whe all his karmic accout is wiped out, he

is liberated ot to be bor agai. At the same time evil doers ejoy life with all
luxuries ad pleasures, as they cotiue to accrue karmas, which results i their
repeated rebirths ad associated pais.)
5. Ganapati and kund alin:
Auvaiyr is a great sait ad she composed a hym called Viyagar Agaval i
Tamil. This hym coveys may subtle thigs like kuda
li, liberatio, etc. Details
ca be read i the above lik.
6. Ganapatis vehicle:
Mouse is his vehicle or vhaa. There is a story about how Ga a
pati got mouse as
his vehicle. Gaea was cryig for a vehicle for him. He frequetly disturbed his
mother Prvat for this. iva o oticig that His Cosort is beig troubled
by Gaea, a idea dawed o Him. There was a little mouse disturbig iva all the
time. I whatever maer iva tried to sed the mouse out, the mouse came back
agai. Whe Gaea cried for a vehicle, iva gave the mouse to him as his vehicle.
There is aother story about mouse becomig his vehicle i Gaea Pura. There
was a celestial musicia kow as Krauca. Oe day, i the court of Idra, Krauca
accidetally stepped o the foot of sage Vmedeva, who became agry ad cursed
Krauca to become a mouse. However, Krauca became a huge mouse ad eded
up damagig everythig. Oce, he eded up steppig o the hermitage of sage
Parara, with whom Gaea was stayig ad destroyed the hermit. Gaea i
order to teach Krauca a lesso uleashed his pa (oose) o Krauca ad
brought him to his feet. Gaea the told him, "Krauca...you have caused a lot of
trouble ad you deserve a severe puishmet. But sice you ask for my forgiveess,
I will pardo you ad use you as my vehicle". However, whe Gaea mouted o
Krauca, he could ot bear the weight of Gaea. Krauca pleaded for Gaea to
become light weight so that he could support him. Lord Gaea obliged ad sice
the, has bee usig the mouse as his vehicle.
But mouse represets earth elemet ad mldhra chakra also represets earth
elemet. Gaea presides over mldhra ad this subtle sigificace is expressly
coveyed through mouse. Hece,Gaea is also kow as msika vhaa (msika
meas mouse).
7. Ganea festivals:
i) Sakat a
hara Caturthi: This is also kow as sa kas t i t caturthi, which is
observed every moth durig fourth luar day of kr s a
paksa or waig moo
period. It is a religious vow (vr t) ad durig this day, oe should abstai from eatig
from su rise to moo rise (ormally this time period could be aroud 14 hours). After

havig dara of moo, oe ca break his or her fast. This vow is observed for oe
year.
ii) Gaea Caturthi: This is oe of the major festivals ad this is celebrated o the
fourth luar day ofuklapaks a or waxig period of the moo. This is the day
whe iva declared to the world thatGaea is more powerful tha other gods. This
is the day whe Gaea is believed to desced to the earth ad shower his
blessigs o those who worship him by offerig modaka (cotaiig grated cocout,
jiggery ad rice flour).
Kci Mah Svami, oe of the greatest saits of recet days spoke about
modakam. Whe we offer differet food varieties as oblatios, cocereed gods
take oly the essece of these food stuffs. Oly huma beigs eat cooked food.
Vigevara eats modakam which is cooked twice. Rice flour is first cooked to make
the coverig for modakam. It is cooked agai after coverig the pr a
m (pram is
the mixture of grated cocout ad jiggery) with the flour. Sometimes, the modakam is
also fried i ghee for greater ritual purity. Whe modakam is offered as oblatios
durig homa, it is fried i ghee. Whe it is ot for homa ad is oly offered as
aivedya, it is offered oly as cooked modakam. He is called modaka-hasta (hasta
meas had) ad he is the oly form of god who keeps a sweet i his had (truk).
8. Upanisad-s associated with Ganapati:
There are few Upaisad-s about Gaapati.
i) Gaapati Sktam
ii) Brahmaaspati Sktam
iii) Gaapatyupaisad. This is also kow as Gapatayatharvarsam.
iv) Gaeaprvatpiyupaisad (prvatpa meas first half)
v) Gaeottaratpiyupaisad
vi) Herambopaisad
9. Ganapati mantra-s:
i) Mahgaapati:

om r hr kl glau ga gaapataye varavarada sarvajaa me vamaya

svh
ii) r Vidy Gaapati Vcha kalpalat:

Please read i this lik

r Vidy Gaapati Vcha kalpalat matra:
We ca observe origi of gaapati i lalita sahasraama also. "Kameswara mukha loka
kalpida sree gaeswara".
Tatrik versio:
Just ear to muladhara chakra there is a swayambhu siva liga. A hasteedraaa (very
stregthe ad awesome elephat) is carryig this liga. The place of this liga with this
elephat is just below the muladhara ad above the vishu chakra. Kudalai is i sleepig
positio i ad aroud the truk of this elephat. This elephat is kow as Gaapati. The
startig poit of kudalii. That's why kudalii will ot be activated uless the saadhaka
worships gaapati properly. This is the importace of gaapati worship for kudalii
activatio.
Secret here is that the liga ca be associated with Srikaalahasteeswara. Reaso beig, at
muladhara there is hasti (elephat), kaala (serpat/Kudalii) ad Sri (spider/aadis). So
symbolically, Sreekalahasteeswara is owhere other tha at our muladhara. This is very
secret i ature. Now ope to all.