Sitting Ganesha & its Benefits

Sitting Ganesha & its Benefits

 Lord Ganesha occupies a place of distinction in the Hindu pantheon." Ganesha or Vignaharta shows humanity its goal not only with his teachings, but also his physical appearance.

There is a deeper meaning to the form of Lord Ganesha that can be understood when we dwell a little on the symbolism. To contemplate on the formless and transcendental essence, some of us need an idol that can be seen and worshipped. Thus the idol represents an ideal, a medium for us to get in touch with our spirituality. So let's take a look at Ganesha's symbolic representation in our scriptures and what they mean to us.

 Our ancient seers or rishis discovered a basic unity or harmony underlying all of life and its forms despite the apparent chaos Life has three stages of evolution, according to Vedantic thought: Birth, growth and death - the trinity, a continuous chain taking place again and again, with progress achieved in each scale of evolution. And one supreme power controls and guides this.

His name is invoked before starting any new venture. He is called Vighneswara, the lord who is the remover obstacles. He is also called Ganapati, the leader of Shiva's servants or ganas Vinayaka, the supreme leader. He is the master of knowledge or vidya, and the champion of worldly achievement, avidya.

 Ganesha is depicted generally in a seated pose. It signifies that in him the mind and intellect are totally integrated. The entire world is at his feet, waiting for his command. The pose also resembles that first primeval cosmic sound in Sanskrit – OM – the beginning of creation itself. He has a bulky body, symbolic of the entire cosmos.  This big belly symbolizes space. The mastermind has to digest all experiences of life. The snake around his expansive waist is like a girdle. It symbolises energy in all forms.

 "In Hindu mythological literature Ganesha is described as having a human form with an elephant's head. An elephant's head on a human body indicates supreme wisdom. The two main steps of spiritual education are sravana, which means listening to the eternal truths of Vedanta and manana, which is reflection upon those truths. And the large ears and head of Ganesha indicate that He has acquired spiritual wisdom through both the steps.
ganesha represents, "The perfect wisdom of a fully realised vedantin a follower, or student of Vedanta. He is the highest and the best that has ever been given in our scriptures". Ganesha has an important position because he is invoked not only by Hindus at the beginning of any work, but even the other gods in the Hindu pantheon pray to him, according to the puranas.