In Hindu tradition everything starts with Ganesha.
Those who believe that Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Shakti, has removed all obstacles on a newly established path, will not start any work without mentioning Ganesha’s name.
I am one of them.
So who is Ganapati? How could perhaps the best-known God of the Indian pantheon, with his elephant head on a human body, also remain one of the greatest mysteries of the universe?
Ganesha: Lord of Difficulties
There are two basic principles in the foundation of life: Absoluteness and ambiguity.
Absoluteness is about order, being in control and being safe. This is our own sheltered area. In this area, a person feels safe, but he cannot grow and realize his potential by staying here.
Uncertainty is chaos, giving up control, stepping from the known to the unknown. This area is outside of one’s comfort zone, but it is also the area where physical and psychological growth can occur.
According to the Upanishads, the word Brahman used for theology derives from the syllable ‘Br’. ‘Br’ means to grow. Only by seeking growth can one discover the divine; this is the purpose of life. To grow one must step into the unknown. Moving from the known to the unknown. But stepping outside of your comfort zone is scary and takes courage.
When a person steps out of his comfort zone, he remembers ‘Ganesha’ with these feelings. Ganesha is the master of difficulties – he is also both ‘Vighnakarta’ meaning placer of difficulties and ‘Vighnaharta’ meaning remover.
Both are good. When Ganesha presents us with difficulties, we mature mentally and emotionally, gain wisdom by trying to overcome these difficulties. When Ganesha clears our path of difficulties, we grow financially, prosper, prosper, prosper. We taste the joy and happiness in life.
Either way, we are one step closer to the discovery of the divine.
That’s why we whisper Ganesha’s name at every new beginning, our hope is that Ganesha will guide us on the path to what we deserve or dream. Until at the end of the road, with the material reality, that is, the discovery of Ganesha’s mother Shakti, and the spiritual reality, that is, Ganesha’s father Shiva…
Ganesha: Convergence of Opposites
Man and woman, life and death, happiness and pain, success and loss are God’s dual creations. With so many unknowns surrounding us when we are born as human beings, life cannot always flow smoothly and in a straight line for each of us.
Life can sometimes be a festival of happiness, and sometimes it can be extremely painful. Sometimes we want to explore life deeply with enthusiasm, pleasure and desire, and sometimes we can be pulled into the dark with fear. Ancient Hindu sages also agree that there are two ways to live life after going through these experiences. The first option is to withdraw from everything worldly as a recluse, while the other is to stay in the flow of life and be a worldly person who bravely meets everything that life puts before it.
The ancient Indian sages regarded Shiva as an ascetic, the masculine aspect of divinity, while Shakti is the ‘earthly’, feminine form of divinity. From the gravity of the hermit and the earthly, from God and Goddess, ‘Ganesha’ comes into being.
As the divine child of Shiva and Shakti, Ganesha represents not only the supreme essence but also spiritual wholeness and enlightenment potential.
Ganesha as the divine child is the union of opposites. It is the union of the soul of his father Shiva and the body of his mother Shakti.
