Ganesha Appears Before Devas on a Lion

We have been seeing how Matsarasura got a boon from Lord Shiva that he would become the emperor of the universe. Then he conquered all the worlds, including Kailasa.

Is it that Lord Shiva did not know what was going to happen? No, that is not likely. Then why did he give such a boon which would prove detrimental to himself?

A movie maker makes a script. The actors are finalized, the technicians are finalized, the scenes and places are finalized. Rooms are booked, transport is booked. Will he keep on changing the script in between? Very unlikely.

For the movie maker, it is just a story. He knows the story, he knows every single scene, what is going to happen. He knows the end of the story, how it will end. Once the project starts, he will not keep on changing. He may make minor alterations here and there, but he will not change the entire storyline just like that.

See, questions like 'How can the all-powerful almighty Lord Shiva fail? How can he be conquered? How can he be held captive?'—these questions will come only in your mind. Lord Shiva’s intention is to demolish such stupidity. He wants to get rid of this immature stupidity from your mind. If that is what he wants, why should he remove or avoid scenes in which he fails?

In some religions, such a depiction of God will be considered blasphemy. That is their level of maturity, their level of understanding. When I say level, do not think it is derogatory. That is where they have reached. They have more miles to go.

So here, Devas including Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma are all in trouble, and they are all in Kailasa. The greatest of yogis, Dattatreya, comes to Kailasa and tells them to start worshipping Lord Ganesha to come out of their problem. Each Deva, each Rishi, they all start sadhana of the Ekakshara mantra of Lord Ganesha.

Finally, after 1,000 years of sadhana, the Lord appears before them in his original form.

First, they all could see only a very, very brilliant light. Then the form of the Lord became clearer within that light. He was mounted on a lion. In Vakratundavatara, Lord Ganesha’s vehicle is not a mouse, it is a lion. The head is that of an elephant as usual.

Try to visualize as you listen to this description. Do not just listen—visualize. It helps a lot. Words can go away. Images can stay permanently in your mind and thus ensure the Lord’s presence within you.

The huge ear lobes are constantly moving. He has four hands. The upper right hand is holding the goad, the stick with the hook at the end with which mahouts control elephants. The Lord controls the whole world with this. The Lord establishes divine order with this weapon of his. He controls crime with this. Evil is natural. Crime is natural. You can only control it. If there is effort to control it, it will remain under control. If you do not do that, then evil and crime will flourish, and the world will move towards anarchy. That is why we have rulers and governments.

In the left upper hand, he holds a rope. It is with this rope that he ties together the whole world as a single unit with love and affection for each other. Even the 30 trillion cells of your own body have a bond with each other. They love each other, they share with each other, they die for each other. Where does this bond come from? It is not bondage; it is a bond of love and affection. Where does this come from? Because the Lord holds this rope in his hand. That is the source of love and affection for the world.

Love is a bond, you see. Love is a restraint. People say unconditional love—that is in terms of expectations. But love is a bond. You will not ill-treat a person if you have true love for that person. You will restrain your emotions so that the person is not hurt. So love is a bond, a restraint on your behavior.

Then the lower right hand is in Abhaya Mudra—offering protection, guaranteeing that he is there to offer protection to whoever takes refuge in him. Then the left lower hand is held in Varada Mudra—that he will fulfill every desire of yours as long as it is dharmic and reasonable.

On his left thigh is sitting Siddhi—success. On his right thigh is sitting Buddhi—intelligence. Wherever Lord Ganesha’s presence is, intelligence and success are natural. Bring Lord Ganesha into your life. Pray to him first thing in the morning. Pray to him before you start anything, even small things. You will make the right decisions. Your choices will turn out to be right, which itself will lead to success and achievement.

He was wearing the thousand-hooded Adi Shesha around his waist like a belt. He was wearing another huge serpent as his yajñopavīta. When you visualize this, you should see him at least as tall as a thousand-story skyscraper and proportionately huge. Lion means not the small lion. The lion itself will be as huge as a hundred-story building. All kinds of divine ornaments adorn his body.

The brilliance was so much that the Devas and Rishis started wondering—has Pralaya started? Is this Pralayagni coming to swallow us all? At that time, Lord Ganesha himself told them:

'Do not worry. I am the one you were meditating upon. You have never seen me before. The mantra that you chanted, the Ekakshara mantra of mine—this is my form connected with that mantra. Do not panic. I am here to protect you.'

After saying this, the Lord assumed a much smaller, softer, and gentler form, equal in size to that of the Devas and Rishis present there.

See how this is unfolding. We say Ganesha is Shiva Putra. But even Shiva has not seen his real form. We have these concepts—that a son is smaller than the father. These are limitations of the human mind. The scripture is demolishing all these limited concepts.

Here, father Shiva is chanting the son’s mantra. Father Shiva is taken aback when he sees his son’s real form. This is what scriptures do. They throw away the limitations of the mind. They make the mind vast, light, and free.

But you should also visualize, not just limit yourself to the words and their meanings.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi