Ganesh The Obstacle Remover

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By Mahiraghunathan

Ganesha offers lessons in how to be successful for devotees familiar with his incarnations as it’s faith in the elephant-headed god that propels them. The neighbourhood temple to Ganesha is where they light a lamp, break a coconut and hope fervently that the deity also known as ‘Remover of Obstacles’ will pitch in to help. This belief comes with ancient stories of his prowess, even of his mount, the rat, which can reach any corner of the world and burrow through a mountain, even.

Ganesha took many forms as visualised in the Mudgala Purana to show the path to success. Of them, eight are particularly significant. First, in his incarnation as Vakratunda or the one with a curved trunk when he vanquished the demon Matsarasura. Matsara means jealousy and the anger born thereof. His very birth is ascribed to a remiss by Indra and true to his nature the demon desired to rule all the three worlds. His boon of fearlessness from Shiva helped him and soon he was tormenting everyone, heady with power. Vakratunda cut him down to size. He comes riding a lion. He says, however well endowed you are, wisdom lies in knowing and understanding your limits.

Second, his avatar as Ekdanta or the one-tusked one was taken in order to subdue Madasura or the demon of vanity. In this avatar Ganesha stresses the need to not let illusions enter your head and intoxicate you with pride. This is possible only when you understand that you are but a part of the divine and that the divine energy is acting through you. So give up pride in the self.

Third, Ganesha as Mohadara teaches us to get rid of moha or attachment by killing the demon Moha. Fourth, as Gajanana he kills the demon Lobha or greed. Fifth, as Lambodara he overcomes krodha or the demon of anger. Lust is another demon of undoing and so sixth is Ganesha’s incarnation as a deformed Vikata who destroys the demon Kama. Seventh, as Vignaraja, he destroys the ogre of self-indulgence.

In his eigth incarnation as Dhumravarna he cuts at the root of it all, ahankara or arrogance. Brahma felt the sun, the sustainer of life, deserved the post of the minister of life actions and so appointed him as such. With this, the sun became so arrogant, that when he suddenly sneezed, the personification of arrogance, Ahantasura, was born. The terror he was wreaking and the misery he was bringing by his sheer arrogance was unimaginable. Eventually the gods prayed to Ganesha, asking him to end their suffering at the hands of Ahantasura.

Ganesha appeared as a smoke-coloured deity riding a rat. Ahantasura was overcome. Arrogance is the root of self-destruction, says Dhumravarna. Even though the sun is so powerful, his arrogance created havoc in the world.

Ganesha is elephant-faced, pot bellied and with short legs because he has no ego. And that is why the attributes which would otherwise be seen as disproportionate and strange now become endearing. We all have eight negative energies in some measure in us and we need to overcome them in order to control the ego. The ills that derive from these negative emotions manifest in a similar manner. It is divine power that makes you powerful, beautiful, desired… so do not ascribe it all to yourself, says Ganesha and that remains the most valuable lesson to success. Let the excitement of achievement be the celebration of your Muse.

You Have A Power House In You

By Kiran Bedi

I accepted the invitation from a Rotary Club recently because it was to meet with an assembly of teenagers, school going boys and girls. Also called ‘Interactors’ as a part of Rotary Charter, it’s grooming programme seeks to instill leadership qualities amongst the youth.

Here is what I told them to help them learn now, rather than later. For, every mistake we make in our lives has a cost. Awareness prevents or may reduce any resultant suffering.

I started with a visualisation: Feel your head and understand symbolically that in it is a power house comprising of several bulbs with attending switches. Each bulb when well-lit or switched on is knowledge. The brains expand with knowledge as it does by meditation, in proven research. There is no limit to our learning.

Understand now certain eternal laws of nature.

Recall when you were small. Did you not love those years when there was no home work, only toys, play and fun? Now there is lots of homework, exams and competition. If asked which time was better you would say “when we were small”. The fact is that a few years from now you will say this very school time was better than college. Later college was better than work. And so it goes on.

Why am I making you conscious of these responses? So that you remember that nothing is permanent. It’s all moving. It’s all going. All you have is the present time. Therefore do all that you can now, to say later, “I gave it all my best and got the best.” Your school, your home, siblings, elders, your parents, teachers, school books and your support systems -- whatever is before you, are all going to change over a period. So value them.

One day parents will have gone, family spread out, teachers retired, friends forgotten, health not as good as it is today, home changed, and so on. Therefore, understand that when nothing is permanent, all that is in your hands is to give your best to what is before you rather than regret that you didn’t, later.

Another law of nature which is infallible is that you will reap as you sow in the form of habits. These will form your character, naturally. You sow integrity, spirit of hard work, respect, gratitude, giving and discipline; these shall all come back to you as you grow up to be young adults. You will not need transformational leadership courses then. You will use trainings to enhance your personal and professional skills further and not have to do root repairs. Therefore ensure being good gardeners of your own orchard. Feed your saplings of habits daily with right nutrition. All these will flower and yield good fruit. They determine your responses.

Finally grow up with a personal goal as well as higher purpose, which is the real meaning of life! Earn your wealth and comforts the ethical way and grow up to share alongside. Living only for yourself will not give you real happiness. This is what all research establishes. Why not make this habit a part of your life now as students when you learn to share with family and the needy whatever you can? It does not have to be big. It’s all about being sensitive and conscientious, the hall marks of good, noble person.

So light up your brain bulbs. Keep them charged daily, by switching them on through right nutrition, till they get solar charged even when you are asleep.

What Divides Us

By Ashok Vohra
In the Mahabharata, when the Yaksha asks, ‘What is the greatest wonder of all?’ Yudhishthra replies, “Day after day countless creatures are going to the abode of Yama, yet those that remain behind believe themselves to be immortal. What can be more wonderful than this?” This narrative illustrates our attitude towards others in our workday life. We believe that what happens to others will not happen to us. We apply different standards to evaluate our own behaviour and that of others in all fields of activity.
The ‘other’, across cultures, has been seen variously as a friend – an extension of oneself – or as a foe posing a threat to one’s freedom. The other has been seen by some as deserving our concern or respect, by some as an opportunity for solidarity or mutual transformation, and by some typically as an unwelcome practical, political or cultural limitation. The other can be the ethnic other, the cultural other, the religious other, the national other or simply the other gender.
Sartre sees the other as obstruction to an individual’s freedom. So much so that he considers the other as hell.Some authors in the Indic tradition (Manu and Kautilaya, for example) prescribe different awards and punishments both in terms of quality and quantity for identical action to different classes. It is hard to see how such a differential treatment could be justified in the present day world, which lays great emphasis on equality.
The question of how far the demand for equality is justified without ensuring equity in resources distribution becomes equally significant. In the above context, the question whether preferential treatment to a part of the community can at all be justified also arises. Our hostile attitude towards other races and castes is based on the fear that they undeservedly take a part of what rightfully belongs to us.
Like the Buddha, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan believed that our attitude towards the other is the result of our ignorance of his ways of thinking and living. He argued that “When we do not know other, we become frightened, angry, even hysterical”.
To remove our ignorance of the other and to increase understanding of the other Radhakrishnan advocated “living together, working together” with them. By doing so, he felt that “we get to understand one another and bridge the gulf that separates us in feeling and imagination”. By living together we come to “know them, appreciate them, make allowance for their weaknesses (or strengths) and accept them”. We get rid of fear of the other. The other thus is amalgamated into ‘we’and becomes us.
The possibility of amalgamation is there in a bad person but not in an alien. Recognising this Radhakrishnan upheld that“A ‘bad’ citizen is all right because he belongs to our state; a good alien cannot be all right because he doesn’t (belong to our state)”. The other, however ‘bad’ he may be, has the inherent potential of becoming us because like us, he is Brahmn.
Radhakrishnan argued that we divide the world into us and them “due to persistent cussedness in human nature; a moral blindness, a spiritual affliction”. We can easily tame the beast in us by educating ourselves about our true nature. It can be done by inner spiritual development. Then we see the whole of human family as one.
Once the diversity of races, classes and castes are fused into one, we could together “strive for the great ideals of economic justice, social equality and political freedom”. This essential oneness of humankind ‘transcends human-made barriers.
The author is professor of Philosophy, Delhi University