"Om Shree vakratund mahakaay, surya koti
samaprabho
Nirwighnam kurumedev sarwa karyeshu sarwada Om”
And, any individual embarking on the spiritual path begins the journey with jaap of:
And
explains to them about his penance and Shiva’s boon. The story goes like this:
Nirwighnam kurumedev sarwa karyeshu sarwada Om”
There is
not one Hindu who is not aware of this mantra. And, not just Hindus, the mahima
of this mantra has seen its expansion to the nations beyond our boundaries as
well.
There is
no Hindu ritual or puja anywhere in the world that doesn’t start with this
mantra.
And, any individual embarking on the spiritual path begins the journey with jaap of:
“Gama
ganpataye namah”
These
are the two most important mantras of the Hindus, the deity of which is Ganapati-
the beloved son of Shiva. Born out of the very body of Pārbati. The divine
consort of Mahadev-the God who bestows on us the ultimate freedom from the
torturous cycle of life and death.
Now, we
all know who Shiva is. And we all know who Ganesh is. And, how they are both related
to each other.
We also
know that this cute god of ours who has the head of an elephant adorning his
cuddly body was beheaded by his own father while he tried to keep the promise
he’d given to his mother.
However,
despite knowing all this how much of the entire episode do we really know?
Why is
it that the son of this great God got the head of an elephant when he could
have got a human one?
Was it
so difficult for Shiva to give another head to his own son?
Is
anything really impossible for Shiva?
And how
is it that this kind-hearted God was brutal enough to behead his own son?
Well, to
understand the entire episode we need to delve a bit into history.
So, once
it so happened that the Sun God had his ego swollen so much so that he began to
believe that he was omnipotent and thus was naturally free to do anything and
he had no one to fear.
However,
this pride of Sun had a fall when he was killed by Shiva with his trident.
The
grief stricken father of Sun went mad in rage and cursed our Shiva.
“You
would once behead your own son with this very trident with which you’ve killed
my son. And only then,” said he, “would you know the agony of a father.”
But, Shiva
being Shiva very calmly explained to the aggrieved father-Rishi Kashyap- that it
was really necessary for him to kill Sun as his ego would be unfavorable for
the Creation but now that he was devoid of his ahankaar he would be
brought back to life as the Creation did need him. He then brought Sun back to
life.
Rishi Kashyap
was now extremely remorseful and he apologized to Shiva asking Him to make his
curse redundant. But Shiva, to honour the words of the rishi, walked away
graciously with the curse.
Now, when
after the samudra manthan Indra disgraces Ahilya the world plunged into
moral darkness and Shiva, in order to find a solution to this problem, goes
into dhyaan.
Meanwhile
Pārbati crafts a son out of the dirt scrubbed from her body and brings it to
life through her mantras. Thus was born Vinayak-the harbinger of prosperity and
joy.
When
Vinayak comes to life it’s time for Shiva to return. To welcome her husband Pārbati
goes for her bath and prayers and allots her son at the door to stop anyone
from disturbing her.
The son would
not even let a mouse pass through and thus did not pay heed to Shiva’s request
to allow him to meet his wife. Shiva thus returns to Kailās and the saints, deities
and subjects of Shiva now requests Vinayak to let Shiva meet Pārbati. But the kid
would not budge. And he even humiliated everyone.
So, now Shiva
had to come himself to reason out to his son that a promise for which he has to
show disregard to so many people is not worth keeping but the kid was blinded
by the powers granted to him by his mother. He now challenges Shiva and attacks
him. And, Shiva willy-nilly had to attack his son with the trident and chop his
head off.
The grief
stricken mother now refuses to buy any logic from Shiva and shoots on her destruction
binge, for the Creation for the good of which her son should have to be departed
from her was not worth existing.
Shiva
now on requests from saints and deities had to find a way to bring the kid back
to life. He asks Nandi and Indra to go to north and return with the head of the
being they first meet. The condition being that the creature should donate his
head out of wish and that it should be brought before sunset.
As they
set off to north they came across Gajasur, the demon elephant that had been
waiting for them. He asks them to take his head. On Nandi’s hesitation as to
how could Shiva’s son have an elephant’s head the animal very aptly replies, “because
that is niyati.”
Gajasur was
an asur in the form of elephant hence the name. Now this is literally double
trouble- an asur in the form of an animal. But this fellow made the max
of the situation. He did some serious penance and wins himself a boon from Shiva.
When
Shiva appears before him the noble creature expresses, “I wish to be the gyaanimost
creature in the entire creation. But,” he says, “since that honour is already
yours I will not take it from you; instead,” he adds, “I want you to reside in
my abdomen, by the virtue of which I shall become the gyaanimost.” The kind-
hearted Shiva grants him the boon.
However,
right then Vishnu intervenes and explains to Gajasur that if Shiva makes his
abdomen his abode then Kailās would be abandoned and it would not be possible
for Shiva to carry out his duties as a part of the Trinity.
The naïve
pachyderm honours their request and takes his boon back but expresses his wish
to be with Shiva and get gyaan from him.
Thus he
was destined to offer his head for the body of Shiva’s son. Nandi and Indra now
return to Kailās with his head and it was adorned on Ganesh’s body. Thus, Vinayak’s
original head which was full of ego, was replaced by the head of Gajasur. Ganesha,
the treasurer of gyaan, is therefore also known as Gajanan-the one with the
head of an elephant.
Gajasur
because of his gentleness and kind-heartedness thus got the honour that no one
in the entire manifested Creation had got. No saint. No human. No deity. No
demon. It was this demon animal who, with his penance, got the place of honor
of being on the body of Ganesha.
Ganesh, the
beloved son of Shiva. The one who has the honor of sleeping in his lap and
hearing lullabies from him. Of being kissed by him and loved by him. Of being
held near his heart. Of being taught by him. Now, that is what Gajasur hadn’t really
asked for but received nonetheless because of his humility. Because he trusted
Shiva and surrendered to him and for allowed him to decide what’s best for him.
Thus, a penance;
a thoughtful wish and, humility coupled with kind-heartedness helped him get to
be in the body of the God who was created with the purpose of bringing
auspiciousness to the world.
Gajasur
thus became Gajanan.
