
By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
The stories in the Puranas contain many incredible and
hard-to-believe occurences. 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 Ganpati being slain. So
worshipping Ganpati 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 Ganpati 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 Ganpati 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 the Ganpati 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 Ganpati. 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.
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