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Vinayaka
Chaturthi day
It is a wonderful fact that devotees
of Bhagawan Baba who belong to religions other than Hinduism have
cheerfully accepted Lord Ganesha as a Deity who ought to be
worshipped and propitiated, especially before the commencement of
any auspicious function. One can see any number of examples of
this in Prasanthi Nilayam. On Christmas Eve, there is invariably a
Carol singing program, but the first song is always about
Ganesha.Devotees coming from Iran occasionally get the blessing of
singing Bhajans before Swami. Their Bhajans are understandably
mostly about Allah; nevertheless, the first song is always about
Ganesha.So it is with Chinese, Japanese, Russians and so on, who
sing Bhajans here. In addition I have seen many, many times,
Russians, Mexicans, and so on go around the Ganesha idol near the
front gate here in Prasanthi Nilayam.
What is the
significance of all this? Who is this Ganesha and why is He so
important? One can give a detailed explanation as to who exactly
Ganesha is, in terms of folklore, but I shall not do that. Instead
I shall refer to something Swami often mentions. He reminds us
that Ganesha is VINAYAKA. Vinayaka= Vi + Nayaka. Nayaka means
Leader, and Vinayaka means one who has no leader above him. Who is
that? God, of course! Hence, when one worships Vinayaka, it simply
means that one is worshipping God.
Fine, in that case, why did not ancient Indians simply say, "Listen,
before you do anything, think of God and pray to Him."? Why did
they make a big issue of asking that prayers be especially
addressed to "an Elephant God"? Ah, all that is a matter of
psychology! Humans are generally like sheep; they follow very well
something drilled into them [but mostly fail to follow something
that is explained with logic, argument and so forth]. Knowing this,
ancient Indians said, "You shall worship Vinayaka before you start
any good work. He will confer His Grace and make your activity
fruitful." Needless to say that in order to convey the idea that
Ganesha is someone very special, a unique form was given to Him
and various explanations too about the significance of this
particular form. There is no need for me to repeat all this, since
Baba has touched upon them any number of times in His Discourses.
But the bottom line is: Vinayaka simply means God. And pray to God
we all must, whenever we start any auspicious activity. That is
the reason why Swami stresses on the worship of Vinayaka; in other
words, he is simply administering a dose of the good old
medicine.'
I shall wind up with
an anecdote, an experience of mine, if I might say so. Many years
ago I was one morning, waiting in the Mandir to make a small
prayer about something to Swami and get His approval. I don't
remember what it was, but that does not matter. Swami had gone in
for the morning session of the Interviews, and I waited near His
door on the upper veranda. After the Interview was over, Swami
came out and when all devotees trooped out of the room, He wiped
His forehead and went to the lower veranda to talk to someone
there. After about a minute or so, he came back saying, "No Buddhi!"
("No Intelligence!") He then saw me and said, "You too; no Buddhi!"
I smiled and replied, "Yes Bhagavan, that's sadly true. So, please
give me Buddhi and along with it, also Siddhi [Purity]."Siddhi and
Buddhi, some of you may know, are the two things one prays to
Ganesha for, sine He is supposed to be the custodian of these two
treasures. Swami looked at me and said, "Buddhi and Siddhi? Why
ask me? Ask Ganesha. See, I don't have any trunk!" so saying,
swami curled His arm to make it look like a trunk. I wouldn't give
in, and replied, "But, Swami, are You not Vinayaka?" Swami smiled
and did not say anything; in a matter of speaking, I had the last
word!
Source:
http://www.radiosai.org/Journals/01AUG31/Blossoms/Reflections.htm |