Lord Ganesh Symbolises

Lord Ganesh Symbolises

An elephant's trunk has the strength to uproot a tree as well as the finesse to pick up a needle.
Ganesha's trunk symbolises the fact that the wise person has both immense strength and fine discrimination. Ganesha has large ears. The wise person hears all. He has four hands. In one hand he holds a lotus, the symbol of enlightenment. In the other hand he holds a hatchet. That is, the old karma, all your sanskars, the accumulated good and bad of past deeds get cut when enlightenment comes.
The third hand holds laddus, the round sweet-meats. They are the rewards of a wise life. Ganesha is never shown eating the laddus. The wise man never partakes of the rewards of his deeds. He is not attached to them. The fourth hand is shown blessing the people. The wise man wishes the best for everyone.

Ganesha has only one tusk; the other is shown broken. There is an interesting story as to how Ganesh happened to get an elephant's head and how one tusk got broken. The symbolism of the broken tusk is that the wise person is beyond duality.
We tend to think that we end when our bodies end in the material world. We are the first person. All else is different. This duality is created by the mind which creates the ego to help us survive in this world. This 'me-other' duality is the screen keeping us from realising our real Self, which is beyond body and mind. Once we transcend this duality, we see the entire Universe as a single whole and we become aware of our true Selves. The single tusk of Ganesha symbolises this non-duality. Wisdom allows us to see all as one and ourselves an integral part of the whole.

Ganesha is shown sitting with one foot on the ground and the other resting on his knee, above the ground. The wise person is of this earth, yet not entirely of this earth.

Ganesha is shown seated on a rat. The reason for saying that Ganesha 'rides' on the rat is that the rat is among the greediest of all animals. It will keep nibbling at whatever is available, eating everything it can. Scientifically, too, the rat's teeth keep growing and it has to keep chewing on something to keep these within limits. The rat is a symbol of our senses, which are never satisfied. They crave new experiences, new tastes. Left uncontrolled, they keep growing forever. The wise person rides on his senses. He keeps them under control.

Ganesha is often shown seated in front of a tray of sweets. In these images the rat is shown sitting in front of Ganesha, perhaps a bit to one side, looking up at him. The senses of the wise person are under his control and the rat dare not eat the sweets without the permission of Ganesha.

When we say "Aum Ganeshaya Namah" before starting anything what we are saying is that "In what we are about to do, let wisdom be our guide".

Words from the "Compiler"

Yet to think of composing this article.......

The Art of Unity

Religion is not a belief, religion is that which links man to God. And what is life? It is the aspect of God, it is the aspect which enables Unity to appear as diversity, which develops harmonies out of Universal Sound, which patterns in molds of beauty mind-stuff and matter-stuff. Insight is different from perception in that perception deals with variety, insight takes one toward Unity. It is the apprehension and comprehension of Unity which leads to the understanding of life. This is a process of the heart, not of the head.

Example, when we attend a conference the speakers often have a microphone. Now if start believing that the speech is spoken by the microphone then that is my own ignorance. In context the duty of the microphone is only to portray the voice of the speaker, the actually speech is thus done by him. Similarly we tend to see ourselves as the source of action in this world and that is the moment in which conflict arises. When I see myself as superior in the sense that I contemplate myself as the doer of actions, then ego arises. And where there is ego, there is conflict, because the moment my ego is undermined by something I tend to retaliate to protect it.

That is the point in which war, hatred, greed and destruction arise. The moment when I place more significance on the 'I' in the sentence the whole image is centred around me and myself, and when I see the limelight getting away because of any conduct I tend to act hostile and try to protect my image.

In this whole article, I have used a lot of 'me' and 'I', and it is the point on which we have to stress. The minute 'I' sacrifice the 'me' and 'myself', and but thee and thine before it, then there is no scope for hatred and all of the vices that eliminate love and unity, because I am working for far nobler goals then my own satisfaction.

The point is that we have to rise above these small insignificant conflicts between ego and nobility, because when we do then there is true happiness within our life, then there can be peace and unity. When I work to comfort other, my comfort automatically is taken care off. But I have to start on myself, by surrendering myself and my ego and placing more value on the happiness of others. Like one seed in the soil leads to the growth of many plants, it is in the moment when I live for others I retain true content and peace inside my own life and then I understand what happiness is in context.

However, as a car driver is predominantly in concern with his own car, I have to only look to reform myself, because the moment I am changing the world around me will change automatically and it is peace that we want to awaken today, then we have to have peace within our life first. Let us all work for it.

Final Analysis

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone may destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you have got anyway.

*You see, in the final analysis, it is all between you and God;*

*It was never between you and them anyway.*

-----------Mother Teresa-----------

The Meaning of Peace

There was once a king who offered a prize to the artist who could paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures, but there were only two that he really liked, and he had to choose between them.
One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for the peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.
The second picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell and in which lightening played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.
But when the king looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest.... a perfect picture of peace.
Which of the pictures won the prize?
The king chose the second picture.
Do you know why?
"Because," explained the king, "peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace."
That is the REAL meaning of peace.

The Story of the Tea Cup

There was a couple who went to England to shop in a beautiful antique store. They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially tea cups. On a trip to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary they found an exceptional cup. They asked, "May we see that cup? We've never seen a tea cup quite so beautiful."
As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the tea cup spoke, "You don't understand," the cup said, "I have not always been a tea cup. There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me, pounded and patted me over and over, and I yelled out, 'Don't do that. I don't like it! Let me alone.' But the potter only smiled, and gently said, "Not yet!!"
Then, WHAM! I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. "Stop it! I'm getting so dizzy! I'm going to be sick!" I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, quietly, "Not yet." He spun me and poked and prodded and bent me out of shape to suit himself and then...Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!" I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, "Not yet." When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! Ah, this is much better, I thought. But, after I cooled, he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. "Oh, please; Stop it, Stop it!!" I cried. He only shook his head and said. "Not yet!"
Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven. Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I was convinced I would never make it. I was ready to give up. Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited... and waited, wondering what he is going to do to me next? An hour later he handed me a mirror and said, "Look at yourself," and I did. I said, "That's not me. That couldn't be me. It's beautiful... I'm beautiful!"
Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember this," he said, "I know it hurt to be rolled and patted, but had I left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened. You would not have had any color in your life. If I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you."
The moral of this story is this: God knows what He's doing in each of us. He is the potter, and we are his clay. He will mold us and make us, and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will.
So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink", try this...Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story and then...Have a little talk with the Potter. (The End)
Pain forces us to grow as human beings. Pain is our greatest teacher. Regardless of where the pain comes from, there are always lessons to be learned. Physical pain alerts you to a problem in your body that needs attention. Emotional pain does the same thing. It tells you that there is a lesson that you need to learn so you can grow stronger. God knows what he is doing. He is the potter and we are his clay. It is through our pain that he will mold us, so that eventually we can become a flawless piece of work.

Avtar Vani - Shabad

"Sikh Guru da dam dam pal pal daas hi ban ke rehenda ae
Oho kaar kamaave gursikh jo kujh Satgur kehnda ae
Lakh syaana hove gursikh par aape nu moor gine
Lakh hove sikh daulat vaala gur charna di dhoor gine
Gur dar utte aake gursikh jaano ki muk janda ae
Bhul bhulekhe vi jo bhulle saah isda sukh jaanda ae
Gursikh nu nahi ichha phaldi karm sada nishkaam kare
Kahe Avtaar eho jehe sikh da Satgur roshan naam kare"