Scientific Analogy to Worship of Lord Ganapathi
Dr. Har Prashad
Mythological Lord Ganapathi, the public head, the king of people, as the name suggests is considered as supreme among the Gods, and any pooja/poojan starts as per the Indian system of rituals/convention with the Astuti/prayer/pooja/vandana of the Lord Ganapathi. Mythological Puranik stories are well documented regarding the appearance of Lord Ganapathi; generally most of Indians living worldwide are well aware of such stories from the Puranik literature and from their forefathers/elderly generations. But scientifically, why Lord Ganapathi with peculiar shape and size is worshipped prior to starting any pooja, in general, is not widely known. The efforts are made here to explain scientifically the purpose of such worship of Lord Ganpathi.
Basically, if we look at a person with bulging stomach, with very big nose, large ears, no body at a glance appreciates him. In turn different unpalatable comments will be passed on him. In general, it is not considered a sign of proper look. However, Lord Ganapathi, having these manifestations, has the highest regards and is considered as the head of Gana—the public, and worshipped as the Lord to obstinate/ remove the problems, issues and obstacles from unknown sources, which might come for any fresh initiated activity before it is commenced. He is also named and considered as Vigan Vinayaka.
Poojan of Lord Ganapathi in this form and shape is symbolic for perceiving the supreme qualities that a human being should possess to be the head/king of the regime. So that he should be able to control all the ambiguities coming in the path of success. Worshipping in simple words indicates that one must develop the similar qualities to which he worships so that he becomes powerful in this world as the deity of worship is. In other words, those who honor and regard the qualities of the noble human being, and desirous to be powerful in the society, worship of the demy God, Ganapathi, is the basic requisite.
The person, who is in power, the head, and ruling the people, must be very wise. His basic qualities should be to listen to the audience very patiently; to know the intentions of the people around very precisely; he must perceive inner secrets of the individuals; still he must be very calm, serene and quite and he must not express inner thoughts of his mind to any body around. With the highest listening capacity, he must have the strongest mind to store every miner detail of different individuals and must be capable to analyze them deeply. Furthermore, even after knowing the weakness of the people fully, completely getting aware of their good and bad qualities, he must be capable of handling them wisely besides helping and assisting them emotionally, materialistically and mentally.
Symbolically such a person with these qualities is depicted as if having the big stomach to have higher digestive capability so that he can digest with his immense power of digestion each and every kind of stuff without any problem. In the physiological terms, symbolically this means he should be able to keep secrets of each and every person without harming him; instead he must try to uplift individuals in all walks of life. Only then he can be the replica of Ganapathi, the head of the human society, in real terms being away from his selfish motives. That is the reason, people worship Lord Ganapathi for His blessings so that worshipper must cultivate such good qualities, and become immensely matured with strong mind and body, and may become ruler of people and able to control them knowing their secrets without exposing and black mailing them without any of his selfish motives. He must be God for them in all respects to meet their physical, mental and spiritual needs. This is the scientific analogy of having big stomach like that of Lord Ganapathi with the supreme human virtues and qualities of a head, the king.
Besides above, Lord Ganapathi is symbolically depicted as having the big ears. Big ears are the indication of having capability of distant listening and hearing precisely with concentration. Even if being whispered, big ears can easily catch the conversation of others. The leaders of any level in any walk of life must have sharp intellect, precise listening capabilities and very deep analyzing powers. The big and wide ears are the symbol of sharp, precise and concentrated listening and analysis. Devotees pray to Lord Ganapathy to cultivate these supernatural powers of precise listening to cultivate telepathic powers so as to become wise in all fields and walks of life. Listening takes the maximum mental energy and listening precisely with concentration is possible by having highest mind and intellect. In the light of this, devotees pray Lord Ganapathi for His blessing for the sharp mind and intellect. Scientific analogy of big ears of Lord is depicted for supreme mind having precise listening capabilities of a powerful head of society.
The big nose of Ganapathi depicts the power of smell. A man with big nose has power to smell the lightest odor even from a greater distance. Any conspiracy being planned and contemplated by an enemy will be felt by a person having big nose. In other words, his intellect will able to perceive being present here, the distant happenings by the power of visualization and throbbing, he receives, from a long distance. Intuition and supernatural powers are the significance features of the big nose. Lord Ganapathi is worshipped for acquiring these qualities so as to be well aware of the situation before hand. This is the scientific analogy of big ears.
Ganapathi uses the tiny mouse/rat as his vehicle for transportation. It looks very unrealistic and unusual, impracticable to even imagine that how such a big and heavy body can use mouse as his vehicle for travel. In reality, this has very deep meaning and symbolically very convincing. It is well known that mouse can go to the smallest possible concealed place in dark making a tiny hole to get the sample of the object for his master. No animal can act so sharply and precisely in place of mouse. Had the vahak/ vehicle be elephant, he cannot go to the places where mouse can easily go. The significance of the mouse is that the Lord Ganapathi has such a sharp wisdom with intuition and intellectual powers with self-enlightenment that nothing remains secret from him to know what is happening in any corner of the universe. Basically mouse is symbolically represents the sharp wisdom and intuition, that our vehicle, the our intellect can take us to accomplishing the act, after analyzing. Fine and healthy mouse/rat is compared to the powerful intellect. Devotees pray Lord Ganapathi for the self enlightenment so that through enlightenment, knowledge, he becomes fully aware of his entire present and future situation for his well being and overcoming the obstacles in the path of realm of his life long journey.
Sharp and clear eyes of Lord Ganapathi indicate the distant futuristic vision so as to choose correct path in the journey of life. Shankh, Padma in hands of Lord Ganapathi are depicted that Lord is ever ready for prayers to Almighty so as to merge with the divine force instantaneously.
Snakes on the arms of the lord Ganapathi depicts the analogy that one must keep the enemy very close to him so that he can have close watch on all his activities and his attentions. Also, other symbolic version of the snake on the arm depicts the power/strength so as to keep the harmful creatures away from him or in other words to frightened them showing the presence of powerful force.
The scientific analogy to worship of lord Ganapathi is to possess such virtues qualities so that a public leader to be intelligent and powerful, and thus he can lead a peaceful life having immense responsibilities to manage the entire reign.
On cultivating all the above qualities of Lord Ganapathi, there will not be any desire in the mind for the earthly comforts, and luxury of any kind to a devotee; every worldly luxury and possession will be at his feet as every comfort lie in the feet of the lord. One has not to struggle to accumulate the worldly pleasures; all such comforts themselves will get accumulated for such an uplifted devotee/person. He will be honored in the society, respected by all but still he will be above all theses worldly comforts and will get blessings of the Almighty just by the absorption in the Self. It is the highest achievement, which one gets by the worship of the Lord Ganapathi.
In a nutshell, Lord Ganapathi symbolically scientifically depicts the qualities, which a leader must have so that besides being becoming successful leader he should become divine personality so that he can set example for fellow beings to uplift them in all respects. He will be perfect human being with all worldly comforts; he will be a self realized soul with all subtle qualities and virtues. Scientifically, this is the reason as to why one must worship lord Ganapathi.
