Why in India are there many Gods, many traditions etc?🔗

Freedom is the basic condition for growth in any field – Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda says beautifully that freedom is essential for any type of development in any field. Where there is freedom there is development. If development is the fruit of freedom; freedom is the base for progress.

In Western societies people enjoy tremendous freedom in the outer world. They can live in whatever way they like. Society never interferes in the life of individuals. They can wear what they like to wear, eat what they like to eat. Plenty of freedom is given to them in the outer world. Due to this freedom they developed science and technology to its peak. They achieved all possible comforts to live in the outer world. Because of the freedom they were able to develop so much in the material world.

The same society did not give any freedom in the inner world, in the world of spirituality. A set of beliefs and faiths are spoon-fed to them. They have to eat that; whether they digest it or vomit it, it is their responsibility. They are not free to choose their own way to reach the Ultimate. So when they don’t want that path they are leaving the spirituality itself. They have a large variety of cars, houses, machines but not spiritual paths, because they are not given freedom in the area of spirituality. They have to follow the path given. Whatever is dictated to them is to be followed.

In the Eastern societies they have tremendous freedom in the inner world. Anybody can enter into the inner life, the spiritual world, do some research; bring new philosophy, new gods etc into this world. They can worship any form, they can travel in any path to reach the Ultimate State. This may be the reason to say 3 crore Gods (30,000,000). May be in those days the world population may be 3 cr. That is why 3crs. Gods. Society never interferes in their spiritual life. This is the reason to have many gods and many philosophies. Still they can introduce some more new forms, new names etc. no one objects to them. This is an achievement in the spiritual world which is the result of the tremendous freedom given to them in the world of spirituality.

But Eastern cultures do not have freedom in the outer world. Society does not permit them to live as they like. The West has a great number of scientists in the outer world and we have millions of inner world scientists, the Rishis, Enlightened Masters etc. The spiritual wealth of the East is very large and very valuable also.

Due to this reason in eastern cultures, especially in India there are many Gods, many paths, and many philosophies. Ista Devatha (favorite God) concept is the greatest tradition of this land. This supreme state in spirituality is the biggest asset of our culture and is the reason for the thousands of years of undisturbed and unbroken lineage of Vedic culture.

In this context I would like to clarify on the concept of idol worship. Some of my Western devotees asked me many times, ‘why do you have idol worship in India, especially in Hinduism?’

Please understand idol worship is not worshiping an idol as God. It is worshiping God through idols. It is like this; if you want to show the moon in the sky, you show it through a window. Then can you argue that the window is the moon? No. Through the window you are showing the moon, that’s all. In the same way through idols we develop relations and establish connections with God.

Understand one thing, we don't say, "Oh! Statue, please save me, Oh! Stone bless me." We say "God bless me". That is why it is not idol worship but worship through idol. Worshiping God through idols is the first step towards individual spiritual progress.

Ganapathi who enjoys love and respect of all is certainly a non-controversial God. Irrespective of Paramparas, he receives the first worship by all. He is always remembered and meditated as a simple, innocent and easily approachable God. He is presented to the world as divine innocence and supreme intelligence. He is Ashudosha, God easily approachable. Even though Siva is considered as Ashudosha, Ganapathi is more approachable and easy to develop a connection with him. Every person can grow spiritually by meditating on him. He is the God who came closer to all and is an easy God to any type of human being.

There are no restrictions or conditions to worship Ganapathi. No objections or no formalities are required to install ganapathi statue in any house or shop or any where.That is why he became popular as people's God.

Any work, big or small, simple or complex, short or lengthy it will have a start only after offering the first worship to Ganapathy, because he is Vijneswara, who helps to complete the work without any break or disturbance. His energy, his form and his weapons all express the same.

Form of Ganapathi, the weapons he carries in his hands conveys a lot of spiritual messages. If you carefully observe all these and meditate on his form, several spiritual Truths will be revealed to you.

Ganapathy appears in different forms. His idols are carved in different ways. His pictures are available in various forms. Ganapathi in sitting position, dancing Ganapathi, Ganapathi completely involved in writing and so on. In whatever form he is, he expresses pure and divine innocence and cosmic intelligence. He radiates ecstasy and great joy. He has some peculiar features which express specific spiritual messages to the world.

In some of his stotras, devotees pray to him,' Oh! Lord of great belly I surrender to you....' Ganapathy's form is dominated by his big belly. His big belly is predominantly seen in his pictures. This great belly expresses prosperity. It is also a symbol of eternal joy and unlimited growth. Please understand it is not a belly out of obesity. It continuously expresses simplicity and supreme innocence to the world.

His belly is the Brahmandam, the entire universe. For Shiva, his head is considered as the universe. That is why the moon will be there on his head. For Ganapathy his belly is considered as the entire Cosmos, the Brahmanda. The whole Brahmanda is his belly. Holding the universe in his belly, Ganapathi takes care of the prosperity of the entire universe and radiates eternal celebration.

Big ears of Ganapathi represent his mastery in the art and science of listening. He is capable of listening to the most subtle and the most complicated sounds given at any speed without missing a single syllable or a minute sound. Due to this quality and capacity of Ganapathi, Vyasa the great Master selected Him to be the writer for his great epic the Mahabharatha. It is an impossible task for others to catch Vyasa's words without mistakes or leaving any concept. Big ears also symbolize the importance of careful and active listening. His devotees strongly believe that he is a God who listens to their prayers very carefully with love and compassion.

Long Nose : Ganapathi has a long nose, which we call Thondam. This long nose of Ganapathi helps to sense the subtle and super conscious issues which are expressed in silence. Not only this, a long nose can graspe more information in a short time. This helped him in writing Mahabharatha, the greatest epic dictated by the great Sage Vyasa.

Weapons (Audhas) of Ganapathi : Ganapathi is the Lord of all beginnings. His form, his Ayudhas (weapons he carries) convey a lot of spiritual messages to those who meditate on him. His form is depicted with four hands holding four different instruments or weapons. If you understand the ayudhas that he carries, you can understand the truth he is giving to the world. They are: Ankusha, Pasha, Modaka (Sweet) and his own Tusk in his four hands. What each ayudha says.

Ankusha : Ankusha is a steel rod that is used to control the elephant. It is a small steel rod. Ankusha in the hand of Ganapathi conveys the technique of unclutching, that can control the big mind which is like an elephant, the mind which cannot otherwise be controlled. Unclutching is such a powerful technique, though it looks very simple, can control the complex mind.

What is unclutching: Unclutching is a beautiful spiritual technique which makes a person highly balanced and that state leads him to the ultimate state of Eternal Bliss. Let me explain to you what the meaning is and the need of this technique. Mind is a collection of independent, illogical thoughts. But they appear to be connected because the gap between two thoughts is too subtle. There is a time of silence between thoughts which is very minute.

There is no problem with thoughts, but the problem starts when we connect these thoughts. This is the original source of all our problems, worries and suffering.

For example: You might have eaten ice cream 5 years back and enjoyed it. You might have eaten ice-cream 3 years back and enjoyed, one year back and yesterday and enjoyed. Now you connect these independent experiences to make a shaft and conclude that if I eat ice-cream I get joy. So you try to repeat this in future even if you don't enjoy the ice cream. You will make yourself believe that you enjoy eating ice cream. Here starts the trouble.

Similar is the case with the painful experience. The pain you experienced due to an incident 5 year ago, 3 years ago, 1 year ago, 5 months ago and yesterday are independent events. But you connect all these and make a pain shaft and conclude that this incident gives me pain in future. Accordingly you experience pain even if it does not pain you and carry the pain unnecessarily. If you make pain shaft you conclude that my life is filled with pains therefore the future is also painful.

Both are wrong and both are imaginary and unreal. The shaft is unreal and does not exist. Once you realize this you are liberated.

Ganapathy, the super conscious energy, holds Ankusha to remind us about this unclutching. Just if you look at Ganapathi, who is in complete joy and Bliss communicates to us this powerful and sharp technique of unclutching through Ankusha that shows us the way towards the ultimate state of Bliss.

Pasha : On the other hand he carries pasha, the rope. It shows that all his emotions are under his control. There is no pasha and no emotion beyond him. Everything is under perfect control. Therefore he signifies a state of emotional balance. He is highly balanced.

Emotional Balance: Emotions are responsible to block the flow of cosmic energy in us through major seven chakras. This makes an ordinary person to become week and inefficient.

The emotions that disturb us are; living with fantasies, fear, worry, attention seeking, jealousy, ego and discontentment. These emotions create imbalances both mentally and physically in us. All these emotions have a negative existence just like the darkness in the room. You cannot really take them out. All you have to do is to bring in the light of awareness into your being. Then all the negative emotions will be under you total control. Once you know the technique of handling negative emotions you can divert those energies towards higher levels. It is like this; lust can be transformed to pure divine love: seriousness will be transformed to sincerity.

If you look at Ganapathy murthy anywhere you can find joy, ecstasy, radiating Peace and Bliss. This is the state one can achieve when the energies of negative emotions are diverted to higher levels with awareness.

Do not suppress or do not express negative emotions, both are dangerous. Just transform them to higher energies. This is the message Ganapathy is expressing through pasha in his hand.

The technique of unclutch, unclutches you from all your intellectual problems. If you are emotionally disturbed your unclutching will not work. Emotional balancing gives support to unclutching and balancing intellectual problems.

Modaka the Sweet : If you know how to unclutch and how to keep all emotions under your control then your life will be sweet. That is why he carries sweets in his hand to show that life is sweet. It is a symbol showing a sweet life with an unclutched state and intellectually and emotionally balanced life.

Tusk ; On another hand Ganapathy holds his own tusk. You might have heard about the Mahabharatha story. Vyasa, the author of Mahabharatha was dictating the story and Ganapathy was writing. Suddenly the pen was broken. If someone else were there in the position of the writer, they would have stopped Vyasa to get a new pen or leave it and go to get a new pen without bothering about the missing part of it. But Ganapathy, without wasting a moment of time, broke his own tusks and continued the work of recording or writing of Mahabharatha.

From this incident we can understand two important truths about Ganapathy : Spontaneity and sacrifice. It is the nature of readiness to give himself to the cause to which he is committed. This is an important value we can learn. Spontaneity means deciding an action immediately

Dedication means ready to give himself, ready to make himself available without any hesitation. Making himself an instrument to execute the plan. Because he is spontaneous he decided immediately to take tusk as new pen; Because of his nature of dedication he broke his own tusk to continue the writing of Mahabharata.

That is why Ganapathi is considered as Lord of Beginning. When you have spontaneity and dedication, any work you start, you will be able to complete it successfully. That is why Ganapathi is considered as God of all Beginnings. When you look at him holding a tusk in his hand, he reminds you about spontaneity and dedication. So he is a symbol of spontaneity and an expression of dedication.

Pasha and Ankusha : When Ankusha is continuously in your hand, Pasha will work effectively. When you are able to use the technique of unclutching continuously your emotions will be under your control. Pasha is the rope used to tie the elephant. If you don’t have Ankusha, the technique of unclutching, you cannot control the elephant. It cannot come under your control. Therefore Ankusha, the technique of un clutching is essential to use pasa effectively to control the elephant, the mind.

Those who carry ankusha with them continuously, they will be like Ganapathi. Such a person will be emotionally balanced and will be unclutched. If you are in that state then you are Ganapathi. For such a person, who holds ankusha and pasha, life will be sweet, like Modaka which Ganapathi carries in a hand. For them life expresses through spontaneity and dedication. Then your whole life, your lifestyle will be a Modaka and you can be like Ganapathi always carrying and expressing an unclutching, emotionally balanced life, spontaneity and dedication to your life. Such a person's life will be sweet and he will be always dancing. Even when he walks it will be like a dance.

Dancing Form : Ganapathy’s Forms will be designed and carved in different styles of which sitting Ganapathi and the dancing Ganapathi are the most popular. His complete form is an expression of innocence, cosmic intelligence, joy and ecstasy. His form resonates innocence, intelligence and ecstasy especially in the dancing form. If you look at the beautiful form of dancing Ganapathy, it expresses ecstasy and celebration. The flowing clothes show joy and celebration in the most meditative state. It is an expression of free concept. He just holds all instruments (Ayudhas) so casually and gracefully in dancing form. This is the expression of the Enlightened State.

Vahana : Ganapathy’s Vahana(vehicle) is Mushika, the mouse. Vahana is one through which his qualities are expressed. The quality or important feature of a mouse is that it is constantly alive and Ganapathi is the most active and constantly alive energy. That energy is expressed through the mouse. The vahanas of each God is an expression of such qualities. For example, the quality of Nandi, the vahana of Mahadeva, is silence. The intense energy is expressed in the form of silence. Like this vahanas express the chief quality of energy. To represent one one energy, one one vahana is given. Ganapathy’s vahana expresses intense activeness and Ganapathi is expression of intense activeness.

Snakes on Him: Usually Ganapathi pictures consist of one snake around his waist. In some pictures there may be two snakes, signifying the two basic nadis we have in our back bone area.

Nadis : Our Vedic Rishis identified three chief nadies at the center of our backbone. We cannot see them with our physical eyes because they are very subtle. These are Idagala, Pingala and Sushumna. They represent the flow of energy from Sahasrara to Mooladhara; from Mooladhara to Sahasrara; And the third one at the middle balances the flow of energy on both sides.

The two snakes represent Idagala and Pingala which are completely balanced and under His control. The two energy flows are under his control. That is why he represents the most balanced state, the blissful state.

Ganapathi and Muladhara Chakra: As we know, our ancient Rishis were able to identify seven major energy centers in our body which exist in a very subtle way. They are known to us as chakras. The seven major chakras in our body as shown in the picture are:

Mooladhara Chakra; Muladhara Chakra is located at the base of the spine. This is the root chakra and is the basis of existence. This chakra is blocked by fantasy and imagination. 80% of our energy is locked in this chakra. This Chakra does not need energisation. If it is opened and activated, a flood of energy flows from it. It is pure energy that transforms your whole life. Ganapathy is the Lord of Muladhara Chakra. He represents the pure energy of visualization. When the energy of visualization is disturbed, it leads to fantasies and imagination which is the root cause of our problems. Undisturbed visualization is pure energy of Muladhara Chakra.

Understand, undisturbed energy is visualization which is pure and transforms man to higher state. Disturbed energy of Muladhara is fantasy and imagination, which throws man to a lower state and it blocks the flow of pure energy of Muladhara Chakra.

Ganapathi is the undisturbed energy of visualization. That is why it is said that Ganapathi is the God of all beginnings. If you begin with Ganapathy, which is pure visualization, no obstacles will be on the way till the end of that work. You don't experience any disturbance during the work process. The pure visualization does not create blocks or disturbances. That is why Ganapathi is Vigneswara. He is a pure planning master. He is a pure form of higher planning. Pure plan does not require any preplanning. Plan and work go together.

The Very source of intelligence is the clear visualization. You need to plan only when you don’t have complete and clear visualization. Pure and clear visualization expresses the total concept in one glimpse. If we don’t have such visualization we do linear planning, step by step in a logical process. Enlightened Masters don't have inner chatter. So they have this pure and supreme visualization. To translate their visualization to the level of a common man, it takes a long time and requires many words. For them there will be pure and intense energy between Manipuraka chakra and Vishudhi chakra.

Anybody with clear visualization does not require planning. They work with spontaneity. Plans happen around such a person. Any updating, further development happens automatically. Even if he comes out with any new developments, they will be beautifully settled with the work or plan he created. Only a person with pure visualization can create a real plan and update it constantly with his spontaneity and intelligence.

Ganapathi is the energy of pure spontaneity. Even the efficient planners may plan a great plan and execute them, but during execution whatever intelligence, updating, learning etc., may be there, they will not be able to adopt unless they have spontaneity. Spontaneity is needed to match the earlier plans with the present updating and latest developments.

Especially in the modern world, this is the most needed skill in any sector, be it business or education or science or research and development etc. All who are in the competitive world require Ganapathy’s energy. Ganapathy is the representation of spontaneity and visualization. That is why he is called Lord of all beginnings and God who removes obstacles, is real Vigneswara, the remover of obstacles.

The most popular epic from India is the Mahabharatham. It is the longest poem on the planet earth which consists of more than 100,000 slokas( poems) and still is the longest poem on the Earth. It is written by a great Rishi, the enlightened master Vyas. He is the greatest orator, author and poet. He is an expression of cosmic intelligence.

He wanted a writer or a transcriber who can record what he dictates. It should be written as he says and as it is. Once he starts speaking Vysa will be completely immersed in narrating the poems. He does not bother to stop in between. Being an enlightened master, his visualization is at the supreme state. Therefore he needs someone who is in the same plane. He needs an enlightened being who has the supreme visualization and spontaneity to transcribe what Vyasa dictates. The Conscious state should be at the same state.

There are many who had these qualities, but Vyasa chose Ganapathi because of his special qualities such as spontaneity, intelligence, dedication and strong commitment. Apart from these intellectual values, Ganapathy’s physical form is very much suitable for this mighty task.

His big ears can catch even a minute sound and can listen attentively without missing a syllable. His ears represent that he is an attentive, active and empathetic listener. Vyasa needs such energy to cope up with his speed and accuracy.

His long nose expresses the quality of grasping the subtle information and the subject given through silence.

Here one should understand one important truth about Enlightened Master. They can communicate through silence. That information can be grasped by another such master only. If you remember the slokam that was written by Adishankara in praise of Dakshna Muthy, you can understand this concept.

Chitram: Chitram vatatharomulae vrudha sishya gururyuva; Gurosthu maunam vyakyanam sishya stu chinnasamsayat

What a wonder! This vision under the banyan tree! The teacher is young, the taught are old men. The teacher is silent, yet the doubts of the disciples are dissolved.

Vyasa is an Enlightened Master therefore he needs someone who can understand what he communicates through silence also. Not only that, the other person should be capable of taking that information with lightning speed. Long nose of Ganapathy will be a great help in this context. This is the reason to choose Ganapathi to write the greatest, the longest and the most interesting epic on the planet earth Mahabharatha. Ekadantha, the spontaneous and dedicative energy of Ganapathy gave such a great gift to the world, the Mahabharatha, the most admired and loved book on the earth. ( photo of ganpati writing Mahabharatham )

There is a very beautiful and sanctified area on the earth. It is the interior part of the Himalayas, around 10 km to Badrinath. Now it is popular as Vyasa Guha, where Vyasa and Ganapathi sat and completed the mighty task of writing the great epic presenting the contemporary social, political, economic and above all human values great ideas for a complete and contented life, in the form of Mahabharatha which ultimately lead man towards the state of enlightenment. The Guha(cave) looks as if the Thala Pathras (Palm leaves) piled, and its fossil became like a Guha with piles of rocks. It looks like a pile of Thalapathras. ( Photo of Vyasa Guha)

While writing Mahabharatha, suddenly the pen in the hand of Ganapathy was broken. Without waiting for a moment very spontaneously he broke his tusk and continued that work. Decision making and its execution happened without a slightest break and without causing any disturbance to Vyasa. That is the reason we do pooja to him chanting his name as Ekadantaya Namaha (Single tusk bearer, I salute you) to remember his sacrifice and spontaneity with appreciation and devotion. Meaning of this pooja is to imbibe such nature and become successful persons in our career and life.

Ganapathy, the Super Conscious State ; Do not think that Ganapathi is a form just created or a concept or a picture. No, it is not that. He is beyond all these. He lived physically and existentially like all of us and much better. He is Sarva Mangala, Sarva Kalyana, Sarvothaam Being. He is an expression of all auspiciousness, all the beautiful and superior qualities.

Ganapathi Dhyana is meditating on Ganapathy, the energy of the Supreme Conscious state. It is meditating on His great qualities. It is meditating on all auspicious qualities and supreme values expressed in His form and energy.

Take a few minutes to look deeply into the form of Ganapathi, to meditate on it. Form is created to inspire us and to help us to imbibe the supreme qualities and divine message expressed through the form of the deity.

Look at the form of Ganapathi and establish it at your root chakra, the Mooladhara Chakra. Let your Mooladhara Chakra be bright with His form. Internalize His form completely. Meditate on him, on His form with Ankusha the technique of uncluching; Pasha the emotional balance; Sweet the fruit of life; and Tusk the spontaneity and dedication. Meditate on the form that is radiating joy, ecstasy and innocence at its supreme state.

Ganapathi Astothara Sathanamavali, 108 names of Ganapathi This is chanting 108 names of Ganapathi. While chanting names of Ganapathi you can close your eyes and listen with deep connection with Him or you can open your eyes, looking at the form of Ganapathi and chant. It does not matter whether you open your eyes and chant or close your eyes and listen to the names of Ganapathi. What is important is how deeply you are connected to Him and to His Energy. A strong connection with His form is required to chant 108 names.

There are people who chant 108 or 1108 names of Gods and Goddesses every day. It is good, if they are connected to the name which they are chanting. But they chant at higher speed completely forgetting the name or the form of whose names they are chanting. After two or three minutes they check the pages they have to complete. They look at them desperately. If they hold Japamala, they roll it at higher speed. Lips chant name with the same speed, Mala rolls and the mind will be wandering somewhere. During chanting all the pending work comes to the mind. Mind will be busy in preparing agenda of the work to be done after pooja. They prepare the list of orders to be dictated to others during the Japa. As soon as they drop mala they start giving instructions, "go there to bring that, why you didn't finish this work, go to the grocery shop get these …and it goes on and on. This means that while chanting mantras or names they are completely involved in planning program of what they have to do after Japa.

NO. It should not be like that. This is not correct. While chanting names or manthra you and your being should be filled with that name and that form. After completing the chanting of names your whole being will be filled with the joy of that name and form. Your body and mind are filled with ecstasy. You radiate the joy of filling yourself with that form.

Now you do the chanting with total involvement. Your inner space should be filled with the form of Ganapathi. Form is created to inspire. The inspiration is a great push to your spiritual progress. Ganapathy's form teaches you the most essential skills for your success in the outer world and also inner world.

You need to have deep devotion. A deep devotion and its quality liberate you. Feel connected to Him. Your heart and your being need to be filled with Him. Your devotion and surrender should lead to the experience of Him. Your being should be completely immersed in Him. Do not get disturbed during chanting of 108 names of Ganapathy.

Meditate on the energy of Ganapathy, the symbol of cosmic energy. Meditate on the form which holds Ankusha, signifying the importance of unclutching, holding Pasha to show the greatness of balancing of emotions;on the other hand the tusk which remains us continuously the spontaneity and dedication and the sweet says how the life becomes a sweet if these three are in your control. Meditate on that form which is the personification of ecstasy and divine innocence. Surrender to that form and meditate. Surrender yourself to Him completely.

Let your whole being be filled with His form. Let your life be filled with His presence Let Ganapathi begin all your actions Let Him be the Lord of all your beginnings Let the Cosmic Spontaneity added to your life Let you have spontaneous visualization in your life Let the spontaneous Cosmic Energy make your life Blissful Let Ananda Ganapathy add Ananda, the Eternal Bliss to your life

Take time to establish His form in your inner space Feel connected to His energy Feel deep connection with Ganapathi Hold Ganapathi, the dhyana Ganapathi in your inner space.

Om Hreem Sri Ananda Ganapathaye Namaha

Sri Ananda Ganapathi Astothara Satha Namavali sampoornam