A Prayer to Ganesha

Ganesha has been my ishta devata for as long as I can remember. In particular, the manifestation of the Siddhi-Buddhi sametha Sri Vinayaka at the Sri Vinayaka Mandir at Sarojini Nagar in Delhi (location here) is my spiritual "home", so to say. 

I had been regretting not having penned anything on the Lord so far. Maybe it took a visit to Sharadamba at Sringeri to awaken my creative senses. Here is my brief attempt at composing a verse on Lord Ganesha. I have made an attempt to use the three syllables ("ga", "NE" & "sha") as the first, second & third syllables of the first, second and third lines respectively. 

|| गणेशं भजेऽहम्  ||

गकार स्वरूपं हरज्ञानकूपं 

कणेषु क्षणेषुर्विभूत्वाच्चसर्वम् | 

महेशक्कटाक्षे बृहत्कर्णशूर्पं 

गणेशं भजेऽहं शिवासृष्ट्यरूपम् ||  

गजाम्बा सुकान्ते मदेभस्स्वरूपं  

फणीन्द्रेणब्बद्धसुलम्बोदरं तम् |

व्रजेशे प्रपूज्यं ददौ वाक्पटुत्वं 

गणेशं भजेऽहं शिवासृष्ट्यरूपम् ||  

गुडाका निवृत्तं गुणानां प्रवृद्धं 

रणे सर्वदा यः अजेयं अमेयम् |

मुनीशस्य काव्यं स्वदम्ष्ट्रेन लेखं 

गणेशं भजेऽहं शिवासृष्ट्यरूपम् ||  

गजेन्द्रस्य वक्त्रं महत्वक्रतुण्डं 

गणानां पुरोगं महाकालतेजम् |

गिरीशस्य पुत्रं स्वभक्तैकपालं 

गणेशं भजेऽहं शिवासृष्ट्यरूपम् ||  

गकारण्णकारश्शकारस्समैक्यं 

सुसिद्धिश्चबुद्धिस्समेतप्प्रकाशम् |

सरोजापुरावासि मे इष्टदेवं 

गणेशं भजेऽहं शिवासृष्ट्यरूपम् ||  


गकार स्वरूपः : of the form of the letter “ga” (the bija akshara of Ganapati is “gam” - Om gam gaNapatiyE namah)

हर अज्ञान कूप: : destroyer of the well of ignorance

कणेषु क्षणेषु विभूत्वाच्च सर्व: : who pervades all - every atom and every moment in the space-time continuum

महेशः कटाक्षे बृहत्कर्णशूर्प: : who has large winnow shaped ears due to the grace of Siva. Using "kaTAksham" despite the fact that it is Siva who beheads the boy Ganesha at first (and then gets an elephant head fixed to appease the devi) may sound strange. The inspiration, as usual, is Muttusvami Dikshitar, who uses "केशव कटाक्षैक नेत्रम्" in the kriti shrI shukra bhagavantam on shukra, to denote that shukra became one-eyed due to the "grace" of Vishnu, whereas it was Vishnu who pierced his one eye in the first place! The explanation given is that the sin that shukra had committed in trying to prevent his ward Mahabali from giving alms to Vamana actually deserved to be punished by removing both eyes; it is indeed Vishnu's grace that he was allowed to retain at least one eye! In the same way, I believe that Siva’s action of beheading the original form of Ganesha was instrumental in him gaining the position of primacy that he has today. The normal usage is shUrpakarNa, not karNashUrpa. I have just imagined the fact that it is a winnow means more than the shape of the ears; a winnow separates wheat from chaff, so he helps us hear only good things (in line with the opening benedictory prayer from the muNDakOpaniSad “भद्रं कर्णेभिः श्रुणुयाम देवा” - O Lord! May we hear auspicious things with our ears) 

गणेशं भजेऽहं : I pray to Ganesha

शिवा सृष्ट्य रूप: : whose form was created by Parvati. Parvati created Ganesha from the saffron paste she wiped off from herself to create a boy who owed his allegiance to her and her alone. Hence the usage of "created by Parvati". The term "shivA" is in the feminine and means Parvati. Adi Sankara Bhagavatpada uses this play on "shivA" & "shiva" beautifully in his ardhanArIshvara stOtram, where the refrain goes "नमः शिवायै च नमः शिवाय" (I bow to shivA & shiva).