More About Lord Ganesha
Ganesha -- the elephant-deity riding a mouse -- has become one of the commonest mnemonics for anything associated with Hinduism. This not only suggests the importance of Ganesha, but also shows how popular and pervasive this deity is in the minds of the masses.
The son of Shiva and Parvati, Ganesha has an elephantine countenance with a curved trunk and big ears, and a huge pot-bellied body of a human being. He is the Lord of success and destroyer of evils and obstacles. He is also worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth. In fact, Ganesha is one of the five prime Hindu deities (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga being the other four) whose idolatry is glorified as the panchayatana puja.
Ganesha is also the destroyer of vanity, selfishness and pride. He is the personification of material universe in all its various magnificent manifestations.
It is believed that Lord Ganesh wrote the slokas of our great epic, Mahabharata using the tip of his right tusk as they were dictated to him by Maharshi Ved Vyas. Lord Ganesha is also known as Vidya Ganapati(the God of education). Scholars and students all over India pray to this God for knowledge.
All children love hearing stories at bedtime. It is a common sight in many houses in India, where children gather around their grandparents after dinner, clamoring for stories. The most popular are the stories about Gods, Goddesses and asuras or rakshasas. These stories are passed down from generation to generation. But nowadays because of nuclear families, this practice of telling stories is fast dying out.
You can check some of the stories of Lord Ganesha....
Lord Ganesh is the son of Lord Shiva and goddess Parvathi. The story of creation of ganesh is a very fascinating one.
Long time ago when Lord Shiva, was away fighting for the gods, the lady of the house, goddess Parvathi was alone at home. On one occasion, she needed someone to guard the house when she was going for a bath. Unable to think of an alternative, she used her powers to create a son, Ganesh. She instructed Ganesh to keep strict vigil on the entrance to the house and not to allow anyone into the house. Ganesh agreed and stayed on the strictest of strict vigils.
In the meantime Lord Shiva returned happy after a glorious victory for the gods, only to be stopped at the entrance by Ganesh. Ganesh, acting on Parvathi's orders verbatim, did not allow Shiva to enter the house. Lord Shiva was enraged beyond control and in a fit of rage slashed the head of Ganesh. In the meantime Parvathi came out from her bath and was aghast at the scene. She was very angry at her lordship for what had happened and explained him the situation.
Lord Shiva wanted to make it up to Parvathi very badly and agreed to put life back into Ganesha by putting the head of the first sleeping living creature that came in sight which was sleeping with its head to the north. He sent his soldiers to go in search of the creature. The first creature which came in sight was an elephant. So Lord Shiva re-created his son with the head of the elephant. Hence the trunk of Lord Ganesha.
Parvathi was still not totally happy with the deal and wanted more. Then Shiva granted Ganesha a boon that before beginning of any undertaking or task people would worship Lord Ganesh. Lord Ganesh has to power to remove any obstacles that come in the way of all true devotees. So before starting any new project or work it is good to pray to Lord Ganesh with all shradha and bhakthi for the successful completion of the task undertaken.
This is another interesting story about Lord Ganesh with Narada trying to create trouble as usual. Narada visited Lord Shiva & Parvati and presented them with a fruit, saying that they should give it to the person whom they liked most.
Shiva set a test for his two sons Ganesha and Murugha. He asked them to go round the world and said that the person who finished doing this first would get the fruit. Murugha at once rushed on his mount, the peacock and made a quick trip around the world. He was surprised to find that Ganesha had already finished doing this, since he knew that Ganesha could not move very fast. Ganesha replied that his parents were his universe, his only world. So he had completed his task by just going around them.
We should never take undue pride in our material or spiritual accomplishments. The old saying "Pride always leads to a fall." is proved true in the following story.
Kubera (the God of wealth) invited Shiva and Parvati to dinner wishing to show off his riches. But, the couple denied Kubera's request and said that he could feed Ganesha instead. Kubera laughed and said 'I can feed thousands of children like this."
Ganesha went to his palace and sat down to eat. He started eating all the food placed in front of him. As was the custom, more and more food was served to him, as he did not say that he had enough. Soon there was no more food in the palace and so Kubera ordered his troops to get more food from the surrounding villages. But Ganesha continued eating and there was no more food to be found. Still very hungry, Ganesha started eating all the furniture.
Kubera became very frightened. Ganesha told him, " You promised my parents you will feed me. Now, I have to eat you up as I am still very hungry ". Kubera ran away and pleaded with Shiva to save him from Ganesha. Shiva asked Kubera to give up his pride and serve Ganesha a handful of rice. Kubera went back to his palace. By this time, Ganesha's stomach had become very huge but the child was still hungry. When Kubera served a cup of rice with humility, Ganesha's hunger was satisfied.
Vinakaya or Gananayaka is another name for Ganesha.
Gananayaka is the lord of Ganas or one who defeats Gana. A beautiful son named Gana was born to the King Abhijit and queen Gunavati. He was very bright and strong. He was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva, pleased with his devotion granted him some boons. However, this increased Gana's ego. He soon fell into bad company.
One day he visited sage Kapila's ashram. Kapila had a gem called Chintamani that was wish fulfilling and could provide food for thousands. When Gana saw this, he wanted to possess the gem. Kapila did not want to give it to him. But Gana forcibly took it away from him. Kapila prayed to Lord Ganesha. Ganesha appeared in Gana's dream and cut off his head. Gana, on waking up, did not repent but became angry and took his army to kill Kapila. Gana's father, Abhijit, pleaded with Gana to give Kapila back his gem but Gana did not heed the advice. However, on reaching Kapila's ashram he found that Ganesha had assembled an army. In a fierce fight, Gana was killed by Ganesha and Ganesha restored the " Chintamani " to Kapila.
Kapila, however, gave it back to Ganesha saying that even a small gem like this could cause trouble, as wealth is the root of many problems in this world. Kapila requested Ganesha to stay back. From then on, this place (Theur near Pune) was called 'Chintamani Vinayaka'.
One day Ganesha was invited to a feast. Being very fond of sweets, he consumed a large number of sweets. While returning home his stomach burst open, due to the weight of the food consumed. Luckily it was night. Hoping no one had seen him; he quickly tied his stomach with a snake. Unfortunately the moon saw him and burst into peals of laughter.
Ganesha was furious and uttered a curse that the moon would be invisible from then on. The moon was ashamed of his action and begged forgiveness. Ganesha also felt he had been hasty in cursing the moon. But since he could not take back his curse but only lessen it's intensity, he proclaimed that the moon would wax and wane and would be invisible on only one day of the month, " amavasya ", which is, to this day considered inauspicious.
Legend has it that the ghat region of Tamil Nadu was ruled by Nambirajan, the king of the Kuravas or the hill tribes. Nambirajan worshipped Shiva, praying for a daughter. His prayers were answered and it was revealed to him that he would discover a baby in the nearby woods and that she would be his daughter.
Accordingly the Kurava king discovered -- Vallinayaki -- in the woods and brought her up as his own. Valli grew up to be a beautiful maiden and Subramanya - son of Shiva and Parvati sought her hand in marriage. Their courtship is full of many interesting stories that form the basis of many a folk tale and classical performing arts in Tamil Nadu.
Murugan assumed the form of an old bangle seller, and sold bangles to Valli, in return for a local delicacy of honey soaked corn flour. A conversation ensued between the two, which was interrupted by the arrival of Valli's brothers, a valiant lot who were highly possessive and protective of their sister. Flustered by their sudden appearance, and unwilling to indulge in battle, Murugan (Skanda) changed himself into a Vengai maram (a stump of which is still seen in the Temple at Velimalai in Southern Tamil Nadu).
Skanda appeared again, in the guise of an old tribal king and sought her hand in marriage. The brothers materialized again, and Skanda transformed himself into an old ascetic from the Himalayas, and they left the spot.
Upset by the ongoing hindrance, Skanda sought the help of his brother Vinayaka - the remover of obstacles, who appeared on the spot as a wild elephant. A scared Valli embraced Skanda and promised to offer him anything in return for protection from the wild beast. Skanda sought her hand in marriage, and Valli consented gladly, realizing that her suitor was none other than Murugan, whom she and her tribe held in great regard.
Valli married Murugan and the marriage was celebrated with great pomp and splendor by Nambirajan, the king of kuravas.