Aug 21: Ganesha Chaturti
The Namasankirtan was led by Sri Zivanji from Chicago.
Sri Narayanan from Boston provided the introduction.
This weekend is a special weekend – because the Sunday happens to be the day of Ganesh Chaturti. We often see Lord Ganesha who is to be propitiated to get rid of obstacles. ‘Vigna’ – obstacles, and hence he is Vigneshwara. In Vaishnava Sampradaya, Vishwaksena, the Lord with an Elephant head, removes obstacles, not just for the devotees, but for the Lord Himself. Before a procession, Vishwaksena goes on rounds and ensures that there are no obstacles for the Lord. He is also called ‘Senai Mudhaliyaar’.
Why is Ganesha so important to us? Not just because he removes all obstacles. Another reason, according to me, is, that, he is a great Bhagavata. Today, we have 10 major avatars for the Lord. But for Ganesha, we would have only 9 Avatars! Which Avatar is Ganesha responsible for?
Bhagavatam talks about Amrutha Mathanam (stirring the milky ocean). The Devas lose their wealth (aishwarya) and along with Brahma approach Lord Vishnu and praise Him. The Lord has a divine intention to play a Lila and uses Devas and Asuras as a cause. He advises the Devas that they could churn the milky ocean and obtain nectar, which would bring back their lost wealth and lost glories.
Bhagavatam introduces beautiful management concepts subtly, now, with the Lord as the mouthpiece!
The Lord says: you are undertaking a major task and the result of which is going to be life-saving. The only way to accomplish this is to get your enemies to help you. At a later point in time, you may part ways.’ Deadly enemies – snake and mouse can become friends in a box where both are trapped. The snake would befriend the mouse in order to get its help biting out the box, and the very moment both of them escape, the snake eyes to gobble the mouse and the mouse flees the snake.
Secondly, He says, ‘when you are undertaking such a noble task as churning an ocean, more can be accomplished by charity / donations in good faith rather than fighting.’ Give away to Asuras whatever they ask for. Don’t fight.
Thirdly, He says, ‘When you have a noble task on your shoulders, be devoid of any personal agendas and sinister desires. Don’t interest yourself in petty things that might come in your way and distract you. Eventually you will attain the good.’
Finally, the Devas and Asuras churn the ocean using Mandra mountain, and Vasuki snake and the Lord helped all along. In all the hectic activity, they had forgotten to perform Ganesha Puja. Ganesha, being a little upset, didn’t keep up his job of keeping obstacles away. So, thanks to him, the Mandara mountain started sinking into the ocean. The Lord realized that this is the play of Ganesha, and became a huge tortoise, eventually lifting the Mandara mountain. Thus the ‘Kachchapa Avatar’ is thanks to the great Bhagavata – Ganesha Maharaj.
Following this, Nishaji from Houston gave a nice talk on the glory of Ganesha.
It is only in our religion that we have so many paths and Gods. The reason is because the world is made of people of different tastes and preferences – both worldly and godly. So for varied Bhavas – there are varied Gods. Brave,humble and devoted can worship Hanuman. A lover of lilas worships Krishna. All these Gods are different forms of the same Supreme Being.
It is said, that a child and God are alike. The child is innocent, doesn’t appreciate distinctions – poor-rich, ugly-beautiful, good-bad etc. So God and Jnani are akin to a child. It is also said ‘kuzhandaiyum deivamum kondaadum edathile’ – a child and God go wherever one fondles them. Ganesha is such a God. – Bala Vinayaka – always a child.
In India, the floor in a home having a child can be seen spread with puffed rice because a child puts into its mouth anything it finds on the floor. Being a child-god, Ganesha ‘s favorite is puffed rice (‘pori’). He is a lover of foods and sweets – ‘modakas’. Adi Shankara, in his hymn sings Ganesha as ‘sadaa baalaroopaapi’ - ever a child.
Ganesha Pancharatnam composed by Adi Shankara (that goes as ‘mudakarata modakam sadavimukti saadakam… kalaadharavadamsakam vinaasiloka rakshakam…’) is set in ‘Chamara’ meter – signifying the movement of a hand fan / the ears of an elephant as our Ganesha is elephant God. This was composed in Tiruvanaikaval in the sanctum of Mother Akhilandeswari, when she was in a fiery (ugra) mood. How else could someone console an angry mother, other than singing the praise of her beloved son?
Parvati created Ganesha with the turmeric on her body and asked her to safeguard her palace against intruders. When Shiva came in, not knowing who he was, Ganesha blocked Shiva’s entrance. Out of anger, Shiva severed his head. Realizing that her wife would be enraged if she sees her son beheaded, Shiva through his ‘ganas’ (assistants)fixed an elephant’s head and makes him the head of his ganas – and hence he becomes ‘Ganapati’.
Arunagirinathar sings how Lord Subrahmanya left for Tripura Samhara without worshipping Ganesha, and how his chariot broke down. The same Subrahmanya seeks Ganesha’s help to win Valli’s hands.
There is a small town called Thirupangur close to Vaitheeswaran Kovil. It is the place where Nandi moved a little to let Nandanar have Shiva’s darshan. One day, Nandanaar gathered his people and wished to have Tirupangur Lord Shiva’s darshan. His employer laid down a condition, ‘you can leave for Tirupangur only the day harvest is done’. Nandanar was disappointed because it was only that day that they had sown the seeds!
That night, in his dream, Nandanaar saw that the grains had grown fully! He rushed to his fields to find that the grains had indeed grown! How did this happen overnight?
Once folks made fun of Ganesha that he had a pot belly and was idle all the time. So Ganesha, as a young boy, approached a farmer and offered his services. In return, he was given a handful of grains. Ganesha proudly took the earnings to his mother. Parvathi directs him to his father saying that it is only the father who is pleased with the son’s earnings. When Ganesha gave the rice-grains to Shiva, being a ‘pitha’ (lunatic) that Shiva is, he threw them on his head. Already Shiva’s head was filled with sand. How was this? Once Shiva helped an old devotee in the banks of Vaigai river by lifting sand on his head. Moreover, Shiva had Ganges on his head too. With sand and water, the grains sprouted on his head. And this happened in synch with Nandanar’s prayers and Shiva was more than happy to send those plants to Nandanar!
Various Sadhus have sung hymns in praise of deities – because the Lord loves praises – frank and truthful praises (‘nija stuti priyan’) unlike us! Lord Ganesha is sung as ‘mathala vaiyiran’ (stomach like a drum) and ‘muram pol kaadhu’ (ears as big as a sieve!) and yet He is happy to be sung so!
Once Kanchi Mahaperiyava was in a place called Thenambakkam, a few miles away from Kanchipuram. One evening, the sound of fireworks was heard. When enquired, He was told by His assistants that Kamakshi Devi was being taken in a procession in Kanchi and it was time for her return, and as is customary, fireworks are being displayed. The Acharya nourished a desire to have the Mother’s darshan. Disciples around Him said ‘But Periyava! If we were to walk to Kanchi to have the Mother’s darshan, the procession would be long gone.’ The Acharya was adamant. No amount of the disciple’s dissuasion could stop the Acharya. As he left the Tenampakkam camp, he stopped by the Ganesha who stood at the entrance and whispered something to Ganesha’s ear, and then continued His walk. Accompanied by His whining attendants, the Mahan strode towards Kanchi. When they eventually reached Kanchi, they found, to their surprise, that the Mother had not moved an inch from where she was about to return and the Acharya had a blissful darshan of the Divine Mother.
The Acharya’s attendants enquired as to how the Devi was still at the same spot! The temple priests said, ‘Soon after the fireworks, the elephant that led the procession would not move from where it stood and would get wild if the procession proceeded. It would remain silent if the procession wouldn’t move! We were confused about this strange behavior!’
Then Acharya, after having had His darshan to His heart’s fill, patted on the elephant and the elephant silently continued the procession! The attendants now understood the import of Mahaperiyava’s stop over at the Ganesha temple!
We all know about Avvayaar, who was a great devotee of Ganesha, since her childhood. When she was of marriageable age, she wished to escape the mundane household life, much against the wishes of her family. She prayed to Ganesha to turn her into an old woman so that no suitor would approach her, and Ganesha immediately granted her wishes. Avvayar was such a great devotee that once, when Avvayar was sitting in front of Shiva-Parvati, her legs stretched out pointing to Lord Shiva, Parvati took offense to it and requested her to point it elsewhere; and where ever Avvayar pointed her legs, Shiva moved there!
All of us know the anecdote of the ‘Knowledge Furit’ that Narada brought to Shiva’s family. When there was a predicament on who of their sons should be given the fruit, they were subject to a contest – ‘who can go around the world in the quickest time?’ – and the winner would receive the fruit. Karthikeya immediately jumps on his peacock and travels around the world while Ganesha, knowing well that his mouse is not as fast and cognizant of the fact that parents are verily the world, circumambulates them and wins the fruit! He shows us here the respect for our parents.
And Ganesha was the one who wrote Mahabharata. Veda Vyasa was looking out for someone who could scribe Mahabharata for him. Ganesha willingly offered his services, and even broke a tusk for this sake, but with a condition – Vyasa should recite the slokas continuously without leaving a hiatus! Vyasa had a counter-condition – that Ganesha should write a verse only if he understood the complete purport of the verse! Ganesha’s speed of penning down and the few complicated verses by Vyasa were a perfect match, and thus we have Mahabharata today!
Ganesha is a very colorful God, very approachable, even his form is easy to sculpt and draw. We make a small cone out of flour/ turmeric and install Him .. and lo! He is there! He is truly pervasive – in so many countries – in different forms – any and every form that we can imagine! He is also ubiquitous and simple. Years ago, He was found under every pepul tree by the pond in a village. Today, when humans have moved to cities, He has moved too! – He is found even in bus-stops, parks, dead ends, amidst smoke and dust – blessing anyone who rushes by him even without removing our footwear– unlike other Gods who warrant huge temples and ‘Praakaaras’!
It is indeed a great opportunity for us to have been remembering Ganesha during Ganesha Chaturti!
After Nishaji’s talk, Shaliniji from California narrated another nice story on Ganesha:
Once Kubera, the Lord of wealth is bloated with vanity of his affluence. He threw a party to all the devas and other gods to show off his wealth. When he came to Kailash to invite Shiva, Shiva knewing Kubera’s intent, said, ‘I am a like an ascetic, there is no point inviting me. I will send my little son, Ganesha, instead. He will be more than happy to attend the party!’
Ganesha is the first to arrive at the party. Kubera thought, ‘Ganesha is a little child! Why not feed him first, and not wait for others to arrive!’ So he opens his dinner for Ganesha. Ganesha ate his way through the kitchen. All the food was emptied and the guests have not arrived yet! The cooks are alarmed and notify Kubera! Tensed, Kubera rushes to Kailash and explained this to Shiva. ‘We are not able to appease Ganesha’s appetite! All our food is emptied, and the groceries are all empty too! Please save me!’ Shiva smiles and gives him a handful of puffed rice and asks him to offer it to Ganesha.
The moment Ganesha was offered the puffed rice given by Shiva, Ganesha felt very satisfied! Then Kubera understood – you don’t need great riches and grand offerings to please Ganesha. Even puffed rice, offered with love and devotion satisfies Him. A lord who loves to eat, but can yet be easily pleased!
And of course, Kubera’s ego was vanquished too!
The satsang ended with prayers with Mahamantra Kirtan.
Apr-17: Ekadasi – Science & Scriptures
The Nama Sankirtan was lead by Nainar Mohammad from Mountain View, California.
We know the story that Rama and Sita who lived in Ayodhya and following Dasartha’s (Lord Rama’s father) orders, Rama went to forest for fourteen years. There he lost Sita Devi to Ravana and waged a war to get her back. During this journey, he met Hanuman, Vaali, Sugriva – many great devotees including Vibheeshana.
One way of looking at it is from a story perspective- the story of a great king of the Solar/Ikshvaku dynasty. The other way to look at it is from a philological perspective. All the stories in our Sanatana Dharma do have a philosophical view. Rama is the Paramatma and Sitadevi is the Jeevatma. Hanuman is verily the Guru. Sita Devi was separated from Rama for ten months. This ten months of separation that she underwent is akin to the ‘Garbha vasa’(the ten-month stay for the fetus in the mother’s womb) and then she gets united with Paramatma with a help of a guru called Hanuman.
Our Swamiji conveys a very interesting point. Sitadevi who is the Jeevaatma comes to meet Lord Rama who is the Paramatma when Rama broke the bow in Mithila. Here Sage Vishwamitra is the Guru. Vishwamitra is the friend of the world. A guru is supposed to be a friend of the world. A friend need not be a guru but a guru is most definitely a true friend! Here, Sage Vishwamitra is the guru and with his help, Jeevatma and Paramatma are united in wedlock. And from that point in time, it shows how a perfect ‘jiva’ should behave. Seetha being a Pativratha, had never looked at any other male. The moment Sitadevi married Rama, she was with Him always both during joyful and sorrowful times.
When Rama was ordered to go to the forest she was very adamant that she would also accompany him to the forest, as wherever Rama lived was her Ayodhya. That clearly outlines how a devotee should actually be. He should be in the company of the Lord. Now comes a twist. Let’s see what happens when a devotee is distracted from the company of the Lord. The moment she took her eyes from Lord Rama, and was attracted to a beautiful deer, misery befell her. At that point in time, there was something more beautiful to her than her husband. And that was that golden deer. In our scriptures, deer is equated with manas/maya/mind or the world. She got separated from het husband.
The key take away point from Ramayana is that one should always be in the divine company of the Lord. And the divine company is verily satsang.
Followed by introductions, Aravindji from Orlando gave a beautiful talk.
Every religion has a founder and the religion derives its name from the founder or from the holy book. For instance, the religion Christianity derives its name from the Jesus Christ. The word Buddhism, is deduced from Buddha and so on. When we take the religion Hindu, the word Hindu is neither the founder’s name nor is it present in the scriptures. Since there was only one religion present in the whole world, there wasn’t any need to give it a name.
Let’s take a step back and first define the word religion. It comes from the Latin word “religare” which binds each one of us to where we originate and that is none other than God. Any path that shows the route to get united back to the place from where we originated is called Religion.
Now let’s come back to the religion that was prevailing all throughout the world without a name. It did have a name but there was no need for it to be referenced by that name. That religion was Sanatana Dharma. Sanatana means eternal. And Dharma means righteousness. It was the only prevailing religion throughout the world, until the advent of new religions.
If we take the Mexican god, Quetzalcoatl, one can see that he is seated on snakes and is holding corn shells by his side, which precisely points to Lord Vishu from Sanatana Dharma. Let’s now take an example from southern hemisphere, the Aborigines of Australia. It is seen that on the day when the natives of India go over the holy hill of Arunachala praying to Lord Shiva, the Aborigines of Australia pull out a boy from the village and smear him with ashes all over his body and mark a tilak on his forehead signifying the third eye. They circumambulate around this boy and this boy for this festival is called Shiva. So, one can clearly see the presence of Sanatana Dharma in other religions as well.
As years passed by, more and more religions came into existence and hence people wanted to give Sanatana Dharma a new name. Since Indians were adept in trading and had expertise in dealing with merchants, they used to go all over the world and navigate by ship. If we step back and see how the word ‘navigate’ was coined, it came from the Sanskrit word, navgati, where the word ‘nav’ means boat. Indians were pioneers in navigation and since they extensively glob-trotted, Santana dharma thus spread worldwide.
The Indians did a lot of trading with the Persians and the Chinese. Since there was lot of religions which were coming into existence in the Persian world, the Persians decided to confer a new name to Sanatana Dharma. They initially wanted to name our religion as Sindhus, the people who come from the land of Sindhu, the land of Indus. They had difficulty in pronouncing the word Sindus and hence gave the name Hindu. The British people who came to India started to call us as Hindus. That’s how we got the word Hindu. And if we ponder as to who the founder of this religion was, the answer is no.
Hinduism is an experience of many saints and rishis. They did penance for many years and as a result of that they were blessed with Lord in the form of Vedas and gave it to the mankind. Are the Vedas really useful to this? Let’s take the sloka –
“Shuklambaradaram Vishum Sashi varnam chatur bhujam
Prasanna vadanam dyayeth sarva vignobhasanthayae”
It is interesting that in this sloka, dedicated to Lord Ganesha (who is an elephant God), they refer to him as ‘Sashi Varnam’ (color of the moon – which appears silvery white). It is strange because we have never heard of ‘silvery’ or ‘white’ colored elephants, have we? The only one that we know of from our scriptures is ‘Airavatha’. But Ganesha’s head was from a dead elephants, our scriptures say; so this is ruled out too!
All elephants are darkish grey in color. Then why did our Rishis call Lord Ganesha as ‘sashivarnam’?
The Rishis perceived the soil color of the moon because of their immense penance and this was later found to be true when the astronauts from NASA travelled to moon and when they picked the soil in moon they found it to be dark-grey in color. We can clearly see that religion can be proven by science.
In a similar manner, Rishis have clearly outlined the ways through which we can attain the lotus feet of the lord. One such path is ‘Ekadasi Vratha’. Ekadasi refers to the eleventh day of the fortnight belonging to lunar month. It is the eleventh day after the full-moon or the new-moon day.
On the day of ekadasi, one has to sincerely perform Upavasa. The word “Upa” means “Near” and “Vasa” means ”stay”. Ekadasi upavasa means staying near to the god all day. And the means to stay near god is verily through Nama Sankirtan, thinking about guru. But Vratha means fasting. So why should we fast on ekadasi day.
The science behind Ekadasi
If we take any particular system, the components of that system are governed by the laws of that system. We are part of solar system and what ever rules govern the solar system also imply to us. The earth is part of the solar system and we are part of the Earth/
On a full-moon day, the tidal waves in the ocean are very intense than any other normal day. It is because of the moon’s effect on the water. The moon’s effect is clearly seen on the water since water is liquid in nature, but the effect on earth is less perceivable. If we go to an asylum it is seen that the lunatics behave very strangely on a new-moon or a full-moon day because the moon has an effect on the mind akin to the sun which has an effect on the soul. The sun is called the atmakaraka. Atma means soul and karaka is the director. The word lunatic is derived from the word ‘lunar’ which translates to moon. It can be very clearly felt that during rainy days, one does not feel hungry whereas on a sunny day we feel extremely hungry. The mind works with the help of chakras. There are seven chakras and the mind uses these seven chakras in order to function. Just like how the same base (mud) is used to build a mirror and a pot but only the mirror reflects objects, in the same way whatever food we consume reflects our mind. Even though the mind travels through these seven chakras, there are only two chakras where the mind is at peace. They are the agnya chakra and anahata chakra. The agnya chakra is located right between the eyebrows and our rishis have strongly advised us to wear a tilak in the forehead because the mind at this focal point can be easily manipulated. The anahata chakra is located in the heart. On the eleventh day after the full-moon or the new moon, our rishis have proved that the mind is at home and hence comes to peace. On every other chakra the mind is very active and our minds cannot be controlled. The rishis have tuned their mind in such a way that the mind will abide to what the rishi’s desire to do and not the vice versa. The rishis have control over the mind and only when one has control over the mind, can one think about the lord. On the day of Ekadasi mind comes to rest and hence one should think about the lord in order to attain his lotus feet. So what does ekadasi got to do with fasting? When we eat more, the digestive system needs more oxygen and blood in order to digest the food. Hence the mind and other parts of the body are deprived of oxygen and that’s the reason we feel sluggish after eating. There are primary two reasons for fasting, the brain is not deprived of oxygen and secondly it is very beneficial for the body to rest the digestive system once a while in order for the body to function properly. We need a healthy body even for spirituality.
From our Puranas…
Let’s substantiate the significance of ekadasi from Srimad Bhagavatam. There was a great king called Rukmangada, and belonged to Ikshavaku dynasty akin to Lord Rama and ruled over Ayodhya. His wife was Sandhyavali and had a handsome son Dharmangada. One day he was taking a stroll in the patio and he saw some fairies (apsras) stealing some flowers from his garden. This sight caught his attention and he ran out to catch them. The fairies eyes caught sight of this and they started to flee in their celestial vehicle. Just as they were about to fly, Rukmangada caught hold of the celestial vehicle and it stopped moving. Since the celestial vehicle would stop at the very touch of a human, the fairies were in a state of confusion as to what to do next. Hearing this, an old day who has been observing Ekadasi fasting ever since her childhood came and touched it and the vehicle started to move. Rukmangada was surprised as to how an old lady can make the vehicle move and inquired about this. On enquiry he learned about the old lady’s Ekadasi vratha and from that day on, he started to observe Ekadasi fasting.
On the day of Ekadasi, he would fast and only think about God. The devas who were watching this wanted to test Rukmangada. One day, they sent a beautiful maid by name Mohini in front of Rukmangada in the forest where he was hunting and he instantly fell in love with her. He requested her to marry him and she agreed to it provided he satisfies her wishes. Rukmangada readily agreed to her conditions as she was smitten by her beauty and married her. One day, she requested him to have food. That day being Ekadasi, Rukmangada politely refused to that wish and pleaded with her to waive it. But Mohini wouldn’t listen and threatened him.
After numerous pleas from Rukmangada to ask for something else instead of making him break his Ekadasi vows, Mohini asked for the head of his son, Dharmangada and also ordered that not a single drop of water should come out of her eyes. The little boy readily agreed to be beheaded and so did the queen Sandhyavali, for, the whole family considered Ekadasi vows as the supreme.
Just as Rukmangada took his sword to behead his beloved son, Lord Vishnu was pleased with Rukmangada’s steadfastness on Ekadasi fast and Himself appeared in front of the King and amply blessed him.
Thus, it is very clear that Rukmangada was one of the very chosen devotees from this sloka
“Prahlada Narada Parasara Pundarika Vyasa Ambarisha Sukha Sounaka Bheesma Dhalbyan
Rukmangada vashishta vibishanadhin punyanimam parama bhagavathan smarami”
And such is the greatness of Ekadasi.
The satsang ended with Nama Sankirtan – prayers, by Nainar Mohamed.
