What does Lord Ganesha Symbolize?

Indians are all geared up to celebrate Ganeshotsav. Artists are giving their final touches to idols of Lord Ganesha ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi. Pandals are being setup all over to celebrate this grand festival and children are excited to enjoy the sweet modak (the Indian delicacy offered to Lord Ganesha) during this 10-day celebration.

While we are all preparing to celebrate this grand festival, let us set aside a few moments to understand what Lord Ganesha symbolizes.

The story of how Lord Ganesha was born is known to all. Lord Ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Lord Ganesha is a bridge between us devotees and God. We need to cross this bridge to reach God. We need to understand Lord Ganesha to ultimately reach God.

There are eight shrines of Lord Ganesha scattered across the Indian state of Maharashtra that are popularly known as the Ashtavinayak. There is a custom of visiting these eight shrines as pilgrimage. If one understands what Lord Ganesh symbolizes, then one can experience the same fulfillment of the Ashtavinayak pilgrimage even without going on pilgrimage. Without this understanding, even if one visits these shrines any number of times, one would still lead a life in illusion.

You may wonder what illusion are we talking about. We all live in a big illusion – that we are this body. The false assumption that we are the body further leads to an eightfold illusion that we create around us and live with it. The eightfold illusion is the use of the words: I, me, my, you, yours, they, them and their. This is the eightfold illusion. The truth is that we are not the body and hence whatever is associated with the body cannot be us. The reality is that there is only one underlying reality of who-we-truly-are; the multiplicity that we feel is all an illusion. Mythological stories depict demons as crafters of illusion; but this world that we experience around us is the ultimate illusion.

You can gain an in-depth understanding of who-we-truly-are, why we have taken up this life on earth, what is the ultimate purpose of our life and many more in the Magic of Awakening retreat.

There are different mythological stories that help us understand what Lord Ganesha symbolizes. In one such story, it is said that Lord Shiva was fighting the demons. During this fight, he was unable to kill a particular demon and then Lord Ganesha was called upon to help him kill that demon. The demon symbolizes our judgmental mind. Our mind is nothing less than a demon that keeps comparing, judging, labeling, and makes us feel excited or dejected. This comparing and judging mind is filled with three things.

1. Our unending desires: There are so many desires that we have in life. No sooner one desire is fulfilled, we are all set to fulfil another one – it’s a never-ending story, where fulfillment is not possible.

2. Beliefs: Our mind is filled with all kinds of beliefs. For example, eating a specific food or performing a particular ritual on a particular day would please a particular God or even displease some other God. Some other beliefs like: one should not wear particular kind of clothes, one should not cut their hair or nails on Saturdays, and so on. These are some of the very common beliefs in our society.

3. Tendencies and Patterns: Our mind is filled with tendencies and behavioral patterns. Common ones are anger, comparison, envy, hatred, ill-will, jealousy, ego, fear, greed etc.

The story of Lord Ganesha killing the demon symbolizes the eradication of these demons of the mind. We need to understand that the more we get entangled in the vicious cycle of the mind, the more we are going to attract sorrow or stress in our lives. Eradicating these demons from our lives would lead to a life filled with peace, bliss and love.

There and many such popular stories of Lord Ganesha that narrate how he killed various demons. With these stories, Lord Ganesha came to be popularly known by various names. For example, He is called Vighnaharta – the one who eradicates problems or hurdles from our lives. The story depicts Lord Ganesha vanquishing the demon called Vignasur.

When the desires, beliefs and tendencies are removed from the judgmental mind, all the problems in life get solved automatically. If we are true devotees of Lord Ganesh, then we will surely aim at eradicating these demons from our lives. Lord Shiva is the symbol of higher consciousness, but it is shrouded by the judgmental mind, just like clouds that shroud the sun causing darkness.

Hence, we should ask ourselves whether we are taking the help of Lord Ganesha to kill these three demons of our mind?

During this Ganeshotsav, let us resolve to let go off all the tendencies of the mind and pray for the wellbeing of all. Let us set aside the desires of the mind and fulfill Lord Ganesha’s desire of surrendering to the will of God. Let us cast away the beliefs that we’ve been holding for years and live in the pure essence of our true nature.

You can also read: Which indications of Truth does the Idol of Lord Ganesha give us?