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Ganesh is the
Ever-Blissful, elephant-headed deva (god) who is lovingly
worshipped
and revered by millions of people worldwide. Although Ganesh
is known through the Hindu religion, Shri Ganesh transcends
religion and is loved by many non-Hindu's. Ganapati is
worshipped by both Vaishnavas (devotees of Vishnu) and
Saivites (devotees of Shiva). It is for this Transcendent,
All-Embracing, Auspicious Lord of the Ganas, Sri Ganesh, for
whom this site is dedicated. Enjoy and much Peace to you!
The son of Shiva and Parvati, Shree Ganesh, is the God of
Good Luck and Auspiciousness and is the Dispeller of
problems and obstacles. He is also worshipped as the God of
wisdom, wealth, health, celibacy, fertility and happiness.
In the panchayatana puja, Ganesh is glorified as one of the
five prime Hindu deities (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti and
Ganesha) whose worship confers immortality and liberation.
Ganesh Chaturthi - Vinayaka Chaturthi
Devotees of Ganesha are known as 'Ganapatyas', and Ganesh
Chaturthi (also known as Ganesha Chaturthi or Vinayaka
Chaturthi) is the holy festival that celebrates His Glory
through India by all Hindu's. Vinayak Chaturthi is
celebrated on the 4th day of the bright half of Bhadrapad.
This festival is honored as the birthday of Sri Ganesh.
Ganapati transcends all sects and views and is equally
worshipped by both Saivites and Vaishnavas because Ganesh is
viewed as an Incarnation of both Vishnu and Shiva. Ganesha
is even worshipped and revered among Buddhists and Jains.
Mystery of Ganesh
Once there was neither Being nor Nonbeing. There was neither
Form nor Formlessness.
Then, That which was hidden within Itself, That One,
stirring, emerging, coming to be. From Itself to the
Formless to the Form. Immutable, changeless, everywhere,
pervading all, yet not physically such is the mystery.
Suddenly an ancient note piercing the darkness. A song whose
birth stirred the slumbering, summoning an eternal mystery
to awaken. Emerging from deep within the hidden cave, the
human heart, Ganesha's truth flows from the icecave of the
infinite. Housed within our gated dwelling, Ganesha the
guest loved and longed for. That which has no form, can take
a form. That which has no name, can take a name. From the
formless to form, and back again and again and again. The
wheel of time gathers speed, and somewhere between fact and
legend, vision and myth, we ask, "Who is Ganesha? There are
those who lovingly sing his praises. There are those who
worship and adore him. There are those who represent him in
art and literature. There are those who tell stories about
him. There are those who chant his glory. There are those
who seek his darshana. There are those who invoke and invite
his blessings. The thinkers think, the scholars
scholasticise, the devotees worship. But what is Ganesha's
hidden meaning? There is a long and hoary lineage of
seekers, scholars, sycophants, who have attempted to plumb
the mysteries of the elephant-headed one. Anthropologists,
Artists, religious Aspirants, Historians, Indologists,
Linguists, Philosophers, Religionists, Sociologists, and
contemporary devotees of Ganesha are but some of the most
recent representatives of this enquiry. Each group has
attempted, and continues to attempt, to make sense of this
enormously popular deity. Seemingly incongruous facts
simultaneously coincide. Ganesha embodies: An enormous
popularity that transcends sectarian and territorial limits;
a seemingly rather late, yet dramatic, full-blown appearance
into a religious pantheon; a confusing, conflicting, yet
interesting and intriguing mythology; and an elephant's head
atop a plump human body! To further complicate the picture
is the fact that the physical representation of Ganesha
offers more iconographic variations than does that of any
other Indian deity. Couple this with the fact that Ganesha
literature is rife with a seemingly endless number of
stories on an unexpectedly limited number of themes. O
Ganesha, who are you really? Tell the others what you want,
tell them anything, but between you and me, who are you
really?
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