Ganapati - Remover of obstacles and Giver of gyana

 

The stories in the Puranas contain many incredible and hard-to-believe occurrences. But they should not be interpreted as a nursery rhyme. Their language is Shakespearean and laden with great depth and meaning. We need to interpret these stories with a very refined state of mind.

The story goes that Parvati created a boy out of dirt from her body and appointed him to guard the doorstep. The first question that comes is how could Parvati, the Goddess Herself, have so much dirt? Parvati symbolizes the triguna – sattva, rajas and tamas. The entire creation is made up of trigunas. The dosha or imperfections that originate out of the triguna is an obstruction for the functioning of prakriti. That was the boy that Parvati created to stand guard at the door. 

Shiva is shuddha chaitanya, pure consciousness. Like the sun does not recognize darkness and cuts through it, Shiva does not recognize dosha and slays the impurity. But prakriti cannot stay without impurity. So Shiva replaces the dosha with the head of an elephant, which symbolizes knowledge. Through knowledge, all the doshas or obstructions of prakriti can be taken care of. This is the spiritual and metaphysical meaning of Ganapati being slain.

So worshipping Ganapati as the remover of obstacles and the giver of gyana, knowledge, is the most amazing depiction of the nature of consciousness.  Going a step further, even this difference between prakriti and purusha is done away with. That is why, the Ganapati Upanishad says,

ajam nirvikalpam niraakaaram-ekam

niraanandam aanandam advaita poornam

param nirgunam nirvishesham nireeham

para brahma roopam ganesham bhajema

Ganesha is the only one unborn unmanifest reality. He is nirvikalpa and advaita – the formless, undivided One. This is the play and display of consciousness within itself. While Ganapati is certainly the nirakara parabrahman, he is invoked and worshipped in the mud idol for a period of time for the joy of the devotees. Then Ganapati is asked to merge back into our heart and the idol is immersed in water. This ritual is observed for the sake of devotees, not for the sake of Ganapati. He who is without form is invoked in a form and then his spirit is invoked back into one’s heart as the idol is immersed.

Dealing with loneliness

Just having a partner does not take away your loneliness, mind you!

There are millions of people who have partners, soul mates, who have fallen in love and married the same person, and yet they feel lonely!

Many may not come out and tell you honestly, but if you ask the ideal couples, "Tell me one secret, do you ever feel lonely or anything like that?" They will say, "Yes!" The only people who don’t feel lonely are the ones who are connected with the being, with the self.

One who is established in the self feels no loneliness. Only spiritual elevation can take away the loneliness, not soul mates. 

On Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesha is formless, but on Ganesh Chaturthi we make a form and invoke him by saying, ‘Ganapati, though you are everywhere, I would like to offer my gratitude to you by offering sweets, by offering all that you offer to me; flowers & fruits. You make the sun & moon go around. I’ll take a little camphor around you. So all that you gave me, I offer it back to you!’ And in the end you say, ‘you have come from my heart and you will get back into my heart,’ and leave the idol in the water.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi!

Lord Krishna - birth of knowledge, love and mischief

 

Lord Krishna said, ‘I am never born and I never die. I am ajanma (one who is never born).’ Celebrating the birth of one who is never born is a very fascinating thing. Before being born as Lord Krishna, there was another birth that Lord Krishna had taken. In that previous birth, he was known as Kapil Muni (a renowned wise enlightened sage). In his incarnation as Kapil Muni, Lord Krishna gave his mother the knowledge of the Self, the knowledge of Sankhya Yoga. So he had an avatar (incarnation) by the name of Kapil Muni before being born as Lord Krishna.

Now, a mother’s love is such that she would always want her child to keep coming back to her in every birth. So, even though she received self-knowledge, still her attachment to her child remained. So in the next birth she was once again born as mother to Lord Krishna –Yashoda. As Kapil Muni, He gave his mother the knowledge of the Self, but as Lord Krishna he gave her a lot of love and affection, and not Self-knowledge. So in one birth he gave her only knowledge and in another birth He gave her only love. He did not give any Self-knowledge to Yashoda. He played and did so much mischief with Yashoda. So today is a day to be mischievous!

The birth in which knowledge, love and mischief all come together is considered as the birth or incarnation of Lord Krishna. So, on Lord Krishna’s Birthday, all of you must take a Sankalpa (pledge or promise) to read the Bhagvad Gita. Read it with its simple translation, and understand as much as you can. If you cannot understand, never mind but at least read it once. Whatever you understand is good enough. Do not expect to understand the entire Bhagvad Gita all at once. Throughout your life you must read and go through the pages of the Gita again and again, only then will you be able to understand it completely. As the level of maturity of our mind and intellect rises, our understanding of the Bhagvad Gita also increases.

Lord Krishna says, ‘Senaninam Aham Skandah’ – Among Military Generals, I am Kartikeya. (Kartikeya was the most powerful leader of armies). Among Munis (wise sages) I am Kapil Muni. Among Rishis (enlightened seers) I am Veda Vyasa. Among Pandavas I am Arjuna. So he says that he is both Krishna and Arjuna. If someone is able to understand the tenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, they would have perfected the knowledge of Advaita (philosophy of Non-duality of the Self; experiencing all as ‘One’). It is called Vibhuti Yoga. One’s life becomes endowed with Vibhuti. Vibhuti does not just mean the holy ash that one smears on the forehead. Vibhuti also refers to miracles.

Why do good people suffer?

 

Sometimes you feel that you have not harmed anyone in your present life, or even thought ill of anyone, yet you are suffering and going through misery. This question is very common. We often have a very limited understanding of our own life, and think that life is just this short time span of 50-60 years.

You should always remember that people’s ideas, emotions and opinions keep on changing. Everything changes. Many friends become enemies and enemies become friends. You are friends with somebody and suddenly for no obvious reason they become your enemy. You have not done anything wrong to anyone, yet they turn out to be unfriendly towards you. Sometimes people who you do not even know will come to your help. You have not done them any great favour, yet they help you. This friendship and animosity works on a deeper principle called karma. 

If your time is good, your worst enemies also start behaving like your friends. And if your time is not good, then your closest friends too will misunderstand you and start behaving like your enemies. If you look back, you will realise that somewhere you have sown the seeds for a tree of thorns. So today, or sometime later, you will surely have to reap the thorns of that tree. 

There are two types of karma: one that immediately gives fruit and second, one that yields fruit sometime later. For example, if you place your hand in a fire, you will immediately get burnt, right now, not tomorrow or any time later. But if you sow a mango seed today, it will take a few years for it to grow into a tree. In the same way, some karma yields their fruits almost instantly, while some take time to bear fruit. 

Look back at your own life and see how many challenges you have had and how you have sailed through them and come out. This will give you confidence. The other option is to realise that you have to pay some debt, and so you are undergoing what you are undergoing. But do not think that every problem or suffering that you go through is only because of your actions from past lifetimes. Some of it also comes because of the foolishness and ignorance from the present lifetime also. 

You cannot simply say that the people who are good keep suffering, or keep going through difficult times. People also suffer because of their own foolishness, and because of their ignorance. If someone says, ‘I am very good and noble’, and then goes and puts his hand in fire, then he is bound to get burnt. You should also have a presence of mind and use your intelligence before you act. To free yourself from the results of past actions, you should be regular with sadhana (spiritual practices).When you see this from a bigger perspective, great inner strength dawns within you and you are able to smile through any situation.