Thus Spake the Divine - The Embodiment of Life’s Philosophies

Thus Spake the Divine

Lord Ganesha

The Embodiment of Life’s Philosophies

Breaking the coconut into several pieces at the entrance of Ganesha Temple is quite unique to Tamil Nadu alone. Sri Maha Periyava strikingly highlights this concept as also the philosophies of life, which manifest from the Physique of Lord Ganesha.

Why do we break coconut for Lord Ganesha? Lord Ganesha once told His father Lord Shiva: “Give your Own Head as sacrifice to me!” This means that Lord Ganesha feels happy and contented only with the best offering and most superior substances. Only to symbolise that philosophy has God created the coconut with three eyes. The coconut thus represents Lord Shiva and hence people break the coconut as an offering to Lord Ganesha to fulfil his desire.

Here arises a question. Who are entitled to take the coconut pieces as prasadam? To succinctly bring out the answer, Sri Maha Periyava reveals an event.

“In 1941, I was in Nagapatnam, following the Chathur Masya Viratham. There, many people used to break coconuts at the entrance of the Ganesha temple. There would be lot of children around. Before any person could break the coconut, these children would run to the entrance of the temple in bunches from different directions and assemble there. They day I arrived in Nagapatnam, the children started running fast in groups towards the temple’s entrance. People, who came along with me, got quite nervous that the children would tumble onto me in their rush. So, they shouted at the children to move away.

At that time, one young boy categorically responded saying, “You are breaking the coconut for Lord Ganesha. What rights do you have to prevent us from coming here? Who do you think has the right to pick up the broken pieces of the coconut? It is only we, the children, who are entitled to take the broken coconut pieces. So we will definitely be here to collect the pieces”. Hearing the firm and unyielding words of the boy, I myself realised, “Yes! It is quite true that it is the children who are the most entitled ones to have the prasadam of the Child God!”

Maha Periyava goes on to explain the philosophies manifesting from the Physique of Lord Ganesha.

“The outer cover of the coconut is very firm and sturdy, representing egotism and self-centeredness of an individual self.

Once the sturdy outer cover is broken, there is the nectar-like coconut water inside the coconut. This symbolises that if one renounces his egotism and arrogance, the pleasant nature of the individual will be exposed.”

There is no one else who could be more plump and bigger in physique than Lord Ganesha. He is called “Sthoola Kayar”, reflecting His bulky body structure. He looks like a mountain, but still He is a little cute child! What attributes to the beauty of a child? While being a child, a child should eat sumptuous food, unlike aging adults and look plump. This ideology is demonstrated by Pillaiyar holding a modhakam (a sweet covered with rice flour) in His Hand!

All other Gods use a bullock, a horse or a bird as their vehicle. But for Lord Ganesha, contrary to His huge size, the mouse, which is too tiny, is His vehicle. The esteem of the God does not depend on the vehicle He owns. On the contrary, the esteem of the vehicle is enhanced by the presence of the God seated on it. But to treat His tiny vehicle with compassion and respect, Lord Ganesha makes His body very light, as that of plywood. This symbolises that even though Lord Ganesha is bulky in physique, He would be gracefully occupying the hearts of devotees without making their hearts heavy!

Every animal has its own unique, distinctive and precious body characteristics. For example, there is a kind of deer, which has its speciality in its tail. For a peacock, its feathers are a marvel and the peacock preserves its feathers with care. What would an elephant preserve in its body? It would sharpen its tusks and keep it white and bright.

But what this Elephant God did was that He broke one of His tusks and wrote the Epic Mahabharata with the same tusk! Thus, the Elephant God demonstrates that though the esteem, beauty and ego lies in its attractive tusks, above all, establishing the Dharma is the most imperative aspect!

God does not need any instrument to carry out any action. There is also an example that He will use anything as an instrument if He wants to. Once He killed a demon with His tusk. At that time, the tusk was used as weapon. But while writing Mahabharata, the same tusk turned into a pen!

We never get tired of looking at certain things on earth, such as moon, sea, elephant etc. Every time we look at them, we get enormous happiness. That’s how this Child God, in the form of an elephant, brings in immense joy in the eyes of the devotees who look at him. This is the philosophy of bliss and happiness; the philosophy of insatiable, unquenchable devotional desires.

Lord Ganesha Himself has born out of the state of ecstasy. When demon Bhandasuran prevented warriors of Goddess Parvati from moving forward by chanting mantras that induced obstacles, Lord Parameshvara gave a romantic look at Goddess Parvati. Right at that time, Parvati gave birth to this Child Ganesha. Ganesha demolished the obstacles created by Bhandasuran and aided His mother in winning the war with the demon.

We do ‘thoppukaranam’ (an act of holding both the ears cross- handed and bending down) in front of Pillaiyar. Here is a story that it is Lord Maha Vishnu who taught all of us to do the act of thoppukaranam. Once, Maha Vishnu’s nephew, Lord Ganesha, playfully snatched the Chakra from Maha Vishnu’s hands and put it into His mouth. It is difficult to snatch back the Chakra from Pillaiyar, who is very powerful and strong, and threatening him to give back the Chakra would not work. Maha Vishnu planned a trick; if He could make Ganesha laugh profoundly, His mouth would automatically open and the Chakra would come out, and He would pick the same. With this plan, Maha Vishnu danced by cross holding His ears with His four hands. Seeing this, Lord Ganesha rolled on the floor with loud laughter. Thus the chakra fell down from His mouth and Maha Vishnu immediately picked it up!

Whichever God one wants to worship before taking up a task, he should first and foremost worship Lord Ganesha and get His blessings. Only then can the task undertaken by the person be accomplished without any obstacle. There is also “Ganapatyam”, the religion, which worships Lord Ganesha as the Most Supreme and Paramount God.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in & across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture & Tradition.

To Know More & For Deeper Insights on Sanatana Dharma, Hinduism & Indian Culture & Tradition, Follow Us on.