Ganesha

A Divine Wedding

Ensures2 Comments

Today is Subramanya Shashti or Margashira Shuddha Shashti ( Shasti is the 6th day of the 14 day phase of moon, shuddha shashti is the 6th day after every full moon day).

Majestic Kukke Subrahmanya Temple Amidst Kumara Parvata
Majestic Kukke Subrahmanya Temple Amidst Kumara Parvata

Every year a famous car festival is being held in Kukke Subramanya (pilgrimage in Karnataka) on ‘Margashira Shuddha Shashti’ with special poojas to the Lord Subramanya.

Story behind it is Kukke Subrahmanya is on the bank of river Dhara. According to Hindu Mythology Lord Kumaraswamy came to this place after killing the demon rulers Taraka, Shoorapadmasura and others in a war; and the Lord washed his Shakthi Ayudha (a battle-ax of the type of a bayonet) in this river.

Presiding Deity - Lord Subrahmanya
Presiding Deity – Lord Subrahmanya

From this onwards the river is famous as Kumaradhara. After battle with the demon, Lord Kumaraswamy came to the top of Kumaraparvatha along with his brothers Lord Ganesha, Veerabahu.. He was received by Lord Indra along with other Gods; pleased by the success of the war Indra prayed the Lord to be Kind enough to marry his daughter Devasena. This was agreed upon courteously and the marriage took place on the banks of Kumaradhara on ‘Margashira Shuddha Shashti’ (The shashti is on the first half of Margashira Masa.) Lord kumaraswamy also gave a darshan to Vasuki, the head of the Nagas, who was making a penance here. Vasuki prayed the Lord to stay along with him permanently in the place and the Lord blessed Vasuki with the boon.

The Famous Car Festival (Theru) of Kukke
The Famous Car Festival (Theru) of Kukke

From that time it a believed that the Lord has made his spiritual presence in this shrine along with his wife Devasena and Vasuki.

This Piece contributed by Sindhu-ji ,  Faculty at The Art of Living and follower of HH Pujya Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

She blogs here and and tweets with @agnyaa  handle

Busting “How Shiva did not recognize his own son” Myth

Ensures4 Comments
Ganapati Idol at Home – This Ganesh Chaturthi

Verbatim reproduction of Pujya Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar Ji’s counter to a rabble rousing fugitive Islamic Scholar who mocked Shiva unable to recognise His son.

The stories in the Puranas contain many incredible and hard-to-believe occurences. But they should not be interpreted as a nursery rhyme. Their language is Shakespearean and laden with great depth and meaning. We need to interpret these stories with a very refined state of mind.

The story goes that Parvati created a boy out of dirt from her body and appointed him to guard the doorstep. The first question that comes is how could Parvati, the Goddess Herself, have so much dirt? Parvati symbolizes the triguna – sattva, rajas and tamas. The entire creation is made up of trigunas. The dosha or imperfections that originate out of the triguna is an obstruction for the functioning of Prakriti. That was the boy that Parvati created to stand guard at the door.

Shiva is Shuddha Chaitanya, pure consciousness. Like the sun does not recognize darkness and cuts through it, Shiva does not recognize dosha and slays the impurity. But Prakriti cannot stay without impurity. So Shiva replaces the dosha with the head of an elephant, which symbolizes knowledge. Through knowledge, all the doshas or obstructions of Prakriti can be taken care of. This is the spiritual and metaphysical meaning of Ganpati being slain. So worshipping Ganpati as the remover of obstacles and the giver of gyana, knowledge is the most amazing depiction of the nature of consciousness.

Going a step further, even this difference between Prakriti and Purusha is done away with. That is why, the Ganpati Upanishad says,

ajam nirvikalpam niraakaaram-ekam
niraanandam aanandam advaita poornam
param nirgunam nirvishesham nireeham
para brahma roopam ganesham bhajema

Ganesha is the only One unborn unmanifest Reality. He is nirvikalpa and advaita – the formless, undivided One. This is the play and display of consciousness within itself.

While Ganpati is certainly the nirakara Parabrahman, he is invoked and worshipped in the mud idol for a period of time for the joy of the devotees. Then the Ganpati is asked to merge back into our heart and the idol is immersed in water. This ritual is observed for the sake of devotees, not for the sake of Ganpati. He who is without form is invoked in a form and then his spirit is invoked back into one’s heart as the idol is immersed.

Ganesh Chaturthi Greetings