Do You Know That There Is a Form of Ganesha Called Gunesha?

There is an aspect of Ganapathy called Gunesha, not Ganesha, Gunesha.

Lord of the Gunas—the three Gunas: Satwa, Rajas, and Tamas. Gunas exist only when the universe is in existence, that is, from creation through sustenance until dissolution. Whenever the universe is there, the Gunas are there. That means half the time they are not present. Only during Brahma's daytime, which is called a Kalpa, they exist, and during Brahma's night, they do not.

So, Gunesha is the aspect of Mahaganapathy that rules over or presides over the three Gunas or controls creation, sustenance, and dissolution, while Mahaganapathy is without beginning and without end.

We saw earlier that the Tatwas, or the components of the universe, praised the Lord at the beginning of creation. The Lord blessed them with the power to create and disappeared into his own abode, which is Swananda or Swananda Bhuvana. The Tatwas became gloomy for some time after the Lord left. But then, they had work to do; they had to create.

What happened after that was the Tatwas all mixed together, mingled, and became an egg. You may have heard different versions of this. Don't get confused; they all talk about the same phenomenon. Only the names are slightly different. They are not contradictions; they are all the same. Just like how a building has different drawings—elevation, floor plan, cross-section, and 3D view—they all describe the same thing but from different angles.

An engineer will not be able to make out anything unless he sees these multiple views. Just with an elevation, you will not know the size of each room. Just with a floor plan, you will not know the height of the roof or how the building would look when fully built. So, a floor plan and an elevation view do not contradict each other; they complement each other.

So, don't get stuck to one scripture or one cult. If you want to grow, you should listen to multiple views. After some time, you will realize that they all talk about the same thing. This realization will come to you by itself as you progress. If you start cherry-picking and say, 'This book says Shiva is great, this book says Vishnu is great; they contradict each other,'—No, they do not. They are simply different views, like floor plans and elevations. Without these multiple views, you will not be able to capture the whole picture, whatever little the mind can capture. That is what I am talking about. Only then comes that which cannot be captured by the mind.

I would also say that these apparent contradictions have been deliberately placed so that we start inquiring and asking questions. Because it is an error, a mistake, a fault that catches our attention fast. Then we start looking for answers, and these answers do not come from books. They have to come to you by themselves. They are your own answers, your own realizations. For that, you alone have to walk the path. Nobody will do it for you; nobody can do it for you.

So, all the components of creation merged together and became an egg. And in that egg emerged Gunesha, or you can even say that in that egg came into existence Gunesha, the controller of the Satwa, Rajas, and Tamo Gunas.

After some time, the egg broke open, and Gunesha emerged, as brilliant as an infinite number of suns, with an infinite number of heads, eyes, trunks, hands, legs, and bellies, spread out in all directions. Can you visualize that? No matter from which direction you look at him, you will see an infinite number of hands, legs, trunks, eyes, and tusks. Spread out so vast that you cannot see the limit; you cannot see the end.

It is not just that he is colossal; he is also as minute as an atom, present everywhere, small enough to penetrate through every pore of the skin. His size is so enormous that the universes stuck to his clothes like pollen from flowers.

Then Gunesha swung into action. He created water, cosmic water, and slept on it, making Adishesha his bed. He came to be known as Narayana. He started creating in units of three—space as Swarga, Bhumi, and Pathala; time as past, present, and future. This aspect of Gunesha became known as Brahma. And Gunesha, as the controller of time, the determiner of time—when everything should end, when everyone should reap the results of their karma—became known as Mahadeva.

See here—Brahma, Narayana, and Mahadeva are limited aspects of Gunesha, and Gunesha himself is a limited aspect of Mahaganapathy. We have very limited knowledge. We look at Ganesha as the son of Shiva and Parvathy, and with Bal Ganesh cartoons, we have started believing that he is a small child.

Surya is one aspect of Gunesha. Surya is the source of all energy, of all living beings. Through photosynthesis, this energy becomes food in the form of plants, grains, and vegetables. We consume food and get energy from it. Surya is called the Preraka Shakti; Surya is behind all actions in the universe—Surya or Suryas. Surya is one limited aspect of Gunesha.

He is the creator of the creator. He is the protector of the protector. He is the annihilator of the annihilator. The cause of all causes. His left side is Rajoguna, his right side is Tamoguna, and his middle is Satwaguna—Gunesha.

Now, Gunesha himself didn't know what was happening. He himself was in Maya, in ignorance. He didn't know who he was or why he was there. He is Adideva, Gunesha, yet he was in delusion. And we have some people around us who consider themselves realized beings, super gurus.

So, Gunesha, who was in ignorance, started observing Tapas:

अज्ञानेनावृतो यस्मात्तेन वै तपसि स्थितः

And this Tapas—whom was Gunesha meditating upon, praying for knowledge?

सोऽतप् तप उग्रं तु हृदि ध्यात्वा गजाननम्

He started praying to Gajanana, Mahaganapathy, a higher aspect of himself. The highest among everything, the greatest among everything, the most complete supreme truth.

He became pleased and appeared before Gunesha. The relation between Mahaganapathy and Gunesha is described as that between a cow and her calf:

आगतो देवदेवेशो धेनुर्वत्समिवादरात्

And he said, 'I am happy with your Upasana of my Ekakshara Mantra and your Tapas. Ask for whatever you want.'

Gunesha said, 'You have given me Darshana. What more do I need? But if at all you want to give me something, give me Achanchala Bhakti upon you.'

Bhakti—because Bhakti alone can remove Ajnana, Bhakti alone can clear all confusion and all doubts. See the importance of Bhakti—Gunesha himself is the creator, sustainer, and annihilator. Yet, he was in delusion. He observed Ugra Tapas, he got Darshana of Mahaganapathy, and he asked for the boon: 'Give me Bhakti in you, because Bhakti alone can give Jnana.'

He didn't ask for realization, Brahma Jnana, because Gunesha knew that Jnana without Bhakti will not survive. If there is Bhakti, Jnana will come on its own.

So, Gunesha asked for Bhakti. Lord Mahaganapathy blessed him with Achanchala Bhakti and also success in his venture ahead—that is, creation, sustenance, and dissolution.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi