Why Is Ganesha Puja Done First?

In the battle between Matsarasura and Lord Ganesha in his Vakratunda Avatara, no direct battle between Matsarasura and the lord actually took place.

Many soldiers died on both sides, including the sons of Matsarasura. Matsarasura was intelligent. As he faced the lord, he realized, 'This is not a deva like those I have defeated. This is quite different.'

He surrendered but had two doubts.

First, he asked why the lord was siding with the Devas. The lord explained that he was not siding with anyone.

Then, Matsarasura asked, 'I have a boon that I cannot be defeated by any created being, any being with a body. You have a body as you are here now. How are you superior to me?'

The boon stated that he could not be defeated by anything made up of Ashtavaranas—the eight aspects of Prakriti:

• The five bhutas (elements)
• Mind
• Intelligence
• Ego

Then, the lord gave him divya drishti (divine vision) and made him aware of his real form. The form in the battlefield, seated on the lion, was only an illusion.

Matsarasura saw the Brahma Roopa of Lord Vakratunda.

Whenever we talk about an object, we compare its size to something else. An orange is bigger than a lemon but smaller than a football.

The description of Brahma Roopa is that:

• There is nothing smaller than this.
• There is nothing bigger than this.
• There is nothing equal to this in size.

In the Purusha Sukta, it is said:
Sa bhūmiṁ viśvato vṛtvā, atyatiṣṭhad daśāṅgulam

The size of the Virat Purusha is ten angulas (roughly ten inches) bigger than the universe.

Still, it is a definable size. Here, the tiniest and the biggest exist at the same time.

That means the Brahma Roopa cannot be defined. This description helps us understand that we cannot conceive the Brahma Roopa of the lord with our mind. It does not fit into the mind’s capacity.

It is not that it can become tiny and then grow into the biggest—it is everything at the same time.

If your power of visualization is good, you can visualize the lord to be the size of your thumb, then as big as touching the sky. But in your mind, there is a split-second gap between the two.

If you can see him as small as a thumb and as huge as touching the sky at the same time, then you are moving toward the kind of vision that Matsarasura saw.

The lord is all sizes at the same time.

What is the smallest size you know of? Probably an electron within an atom.

But in particle physics, the smallest building block of matter is currently called a preon. The lord is smaller than that.

What is the biggest thing you can think of? The galaxies—but they are like tiny dots on his body.

At the same time, he is light-years away from you and right at the middle of your chest, seated on a lotus.

I know of a family that had a collection of nearly 4,000 objects that looked like Lord Ganesha—from stones to coconuts, shells, dried cow dung, and roots.

He is in everything.

He has many shapes. He has all shapes.

He is seated on a lion.

But where is the lion standing?

It cannot find an inch of place where the lord’s presence is not there. The ground below the lion is the lord. The lion itself is the lord.

The lord has the body of a human and the head of an elephant.

They are together, and this has a meaning:

• The lower body is the Saguna Swaroopa (manifested form).
• The elephant head is the Nirguna Swaroopa (unmanifested form).

देहं सगुणरूपं च निर्गुणं मस्तकं मुने

They are separate but together. He is Nirguna and Saguna at the same time.

Had he taken a fully human form, it would have been only Saguna.

He discarded the human head and adopted the elephant head to show us that Saguna and Nirguna are not different from each other—they are together. One cannot exist without the other.

• Nirguna contains Saguna.
• Saguna contains Nirguna.
• Saguna, like the trunk, supports Nirguna.
• Nirguna, like the head, controls Saguna.

To make us understand this, the lord assumed this elephant-headed form.

If you think Nirguna is something superior and somewhere else, here is the clarification:

• Nirguna is just an extension of Saguna.
• Saguna is part of Nirguna.

तयोर्योगकरः साक्षात् वक्रतुण्डः प्रतापवान्

That is his greatness.

He has made it this way—you cannot discard Saguna if you want to achieve Nirguna.

If Saguna disappears, Nirguna also ceases to exist—they are parts of the same body.

This is what the lord is showing and teaching.

You cannot discard the world and try to progress spiritually.

You can avoid obsessions, but you cannot discard the world altogether.

There is no spirit without the body.

You have to function within the world to progress.

Even sanyasis, whose only goal is spiritual emancipation, still have to eat, drink, and sleep.

So, this doubt was also cleared by the lord—how he is Parabrahma Swaroopi and Saguna Swaroopi at the same time.

Matsarasura then sang a stotra praising the lord.

Pleased, the lord asked him, 'Ask for a boon.'

Matsarasura said, 'Give me bhakti at your feet. I want to be your servant. Please assign me a job.'

The lord said, 'Yes, you will have achala bhakti in me. You will protect my devotees, particularly those who worship my idol at the beginning of everything.'

So, for any important task, murti puja must be done at the beginning. This is specified.

For small things, you can simply remember and pray to him.

But for anything new and important, you must worship his idol or photo before starting.

Then Matsarasura will protect you.

Otherwise, he has permission to take away all the benefits that would come from it.

If you do not worship Lord Ganesha at the beginning, Matsarasura is also given the right to enter your mind and guide you in the asuri way, eventually leading to destruction.

This is why we do Ganesha Puja at the beginning of everything.

Otherwise, Matsarasura will take over, run things in the asuri way, and take away all the benefits as well.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi