This is an article series. Please read all previous articles before reading this article. The URLs for all previous articles are located in the www.special thoughts section.
Previous article was about maximizing the Punya one can earn through good Karma. This requires recalibration of one’s spiritual line of thought. Such a line of thought must be arrived at rationally by first evaluating the realities around us in this world, which is perceivable through our sensory organs, followed by extending these realities to the world that our sensory organs can’t perceive. But today, it has become somewhat of a fad or even fashionable to say that this world is an illusion… that everything is Moha-Maaya and so on. Such schools of thought are immensely popular, unfortunately, among the majority of Hindu scholars, web portals and videos. Such schools of thought are not rationalistic. Calling this wonderful creation of the Lord, which we are clearly able to experience through all our sensory organs, as a mere illusion cannot be rational. Why?
Because, by calling God’s wonderful creation as a mere illusion, we will be rejecting God’s very creation… We will be rejecting the very fact that God created this universe. Accepting the creation and rejecting the existence of its creator is the popular, straight-forward, easily comprehensible flavor of atheism. But rejecting the creation and pretending to accept the creator is a very devious, ambiguous, vague and definitely deceitful flavor of atheism which seems to stem from the nefarious idea “when you can’t convince someone about atheism, just confuse them”.
Overall, this illusion theory goes against the Bhagavad-Gita. And any line of thought that goes against the Bhagavad–Gita is reject-worthy. Worse yet, any atheistic lines of thought are EXTREMELY dear to Asura-s. So, by blindly subscribing to or accepting the illusion theory, you are submitting yourselves to Asura-s and not the Devata-s. And when Pooja is done based on such lines of thought, how can you expect any Punya? And without earning any Punya, why should one be surprised if things in your Praarabdha don’t change? Therefore, such atheistic lines of thought are reject-worthy regardless of whether they are coming from a Purohjit, a scholar, a highly popular Baba Ji, a YouTuber with a million followers, a most popular online portal or any others beyond or in between. Remember… “What is true is seldom popular; And what’s popular is seldom true”. The “illusion theory” is VERY popular. I rest my case.
Think about it… You sit in front of God and in your mind, you are thinking, “Oh God, you didn’t create any of this world. Everything is an illusion. But there are problems in my life. Yes, those problems are also illusions. But I want them gone. Can you please make them go away?” Would God appreciate such a line of thought? I’ve written this several times already. God and Devata-s are not manda-buddhi-s. All that they have to do is take off their protective hand, which they’ve placed on our head. That’s it. Then it becomes a free slapping galore by Aasuri-Shakti-s. Therefore, don’t fall prey to those who deceive you by saying that this world is an illusion, which goes against your very own personal experience. When you put honey in your mouth, you know it tastes sweet. You don’t need someone else to tell you how it tastes or that it is an illusion.
After all, the Purohit you invite home or the Jyotishi you consult or the scholar/YouTuber/Socialite you follow will NOT come to suffer your Praarabdha. You are responsible for using your God-given intellect and rationale to arrive at the correct school of thought and choose the right person to guide you through your life. Also, most people will charge you for advising you. But here at OrangeNews9 portal, you are getting this advice not because you are paying us but because we mean well for you. I pray for all my readers’ well-being. For me, your success is my success.
Therefore, I will use my best rationale before bringing my “Special Thoughts” to you. My advice, with full confidence, is… reject all devious, nefarious lines of thought (which are rooted in atheism) with full confidence. This world is NOT an illusion. Shree Krishna himself has said it very clearly in the Bhagavad-Gita. You either accept the popular scholar or pundit, or YouTuber’s claim and reject Shree Krishna or you accept Shree Krishna and reject all other popular people who confuse. It can’t be stated any simpler than that. Choice is yours.
There is a LOT to be said about how this “illusion” theory came about. It is as big and juicy as any of the scams and Ghotaalaa-s that you’ll here on the news from time to time. But we’ll reserve that topic for another day and get back to the topic we were on a couple of weeks ago.
Elaborating on the hierarchy of Devata-s, we had mentioned some of the Devata-s’ names up until hierarchical level 19. Now, let’s continue with Devata-s in level 18.
Numerology is a method that our ancestors used for precise communication. This is because, unlike words, which can be interpreted multiple ways, numbers can be interpreted in only one way. They have a certain precision associated with them. The number 1 is always 1. It is never 2 or 3 or any other number. 1+1 is precisely 2. It can’t be interpreted in any other way.
That said, the number 18 precisely denotes Paramaatma. This has been summarized in precisely the first 18 verses of the Bhagavad-Gita, Chapter 15. Also, the total number of chapters in the Bhagavad-Gita is 18. The total number of Sarga-s in the epic Mahabharata is also 18. The total number of battle army units (referred to as Akshohini) in the Kurukshetra battle is 7+11=18 (7 Akshohini on Paandava side and 11 Akshohini on the Kaurava side). The total number of verses in Shreemad Bhagavata Purana is precisely 18 thousand.
Why 18? This is because the Jeevaatma has 15 fences around it. The Jeevaatma, which is fenced in, is the 16th. The Kootastha, who binds the sentient Jeevaatma inside the 15 insentient fences, is the 17th. The ultimate, infinite, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent Paramaatma who is superior to all of the above, is the 18th.
That said, the Jeevaatma’s pursuit to reach/merge with Paramaatma too begins with worship of a Devata in the 18th level, i.e., Ganapati. Why though? Also, some people are of the belief that Ganapati is at the topmost Devata. So, what is correct? Is Ganapati the topmost? Or is he one of the Devata-s in level 18? What if Ganapati is the topmost, and we worship him as a Devata in level 18 or vice versa? What are the consequences? Well, one thing is for sure. Everyone worships Ganapati as Vighna-Harta. But why worship Ganapati first when we are assembled to do, say, Satyanaaraayana Pooja? We are already assembled and are sitting down. What obstacles do we expect? Do these sound like valid questions to you? To comprehend the above, we need to first take a step back and digress a little bit.
Back in our school days, we were taught that all things around us are made of molecules. Molecules can be further broken down into atoms. And atoms can be further broken down into protons, neutrons, electrons etc. And that’s it. That’s how deep it went. Is that it? What are protons, neutrons, and electrons made of? The Vedic Shaastras tell us that subatomic particles are made of the 5 basic elements i.e., Pancha-Bhoota-s. The Pancha-Bhoota-s, their corresponding Tanmaatra-s, and Jnyaanedriya-s are listed below:
The equivalent English terms used don’t quite do justice to the translation. Perhaps we can think of them as below:
- Pruthvi, Aapa and Vaayu pertain to the solid, liquid, and gaseous properties of primordial matter.
- Agni aids in the transition between the above three states, and
- Aakaasha is the space where primordial matter exists in the above three states.
At the time of the creation of this universe, it is the Aakaasha (space) that gets created first. How are we to understand creation of Aakaasha (space)? Does it make sense at all? Yes, it does. It’s not hard to comprehend that space is infinite because, if we were to say that space is finite then the next question would be how big is this space and what’s beyond that? And that is a valid question… because something has to exist beyond its boundaries. Correct? So, the space is really infinite. This infinite space is called “Avyaakruta Aakaasha”, which basically means undistorted space. At the time of creation of this universe, a finite space gets created within the above said infinite, undistorted Avyaakruta Aakaasha. This finite space is filled with 3 types of energies: Satva, Raja, and Tama. This finite space is called Bhootaakaasha. And the Abhimaani for this Bhootaakaasha is Ganapati.
This explains how our ancestors depicted Ganapati with a huge belly. Usually, everyone considers Ganapati as simply fat or obese. That’s really unfortunate. Think about it. Would you like it if someone called you Obese? If not, then how do you expect Ganapati to be pleased if you think of him as obese? And if start your Pooja thinking of Ganapati as obese, what would be the outcome of your Pooja? Would you be surprised if your life situation does not smooth out? You shouldn’t be.
There is a better line of thought will most likely please Ganapati. Other than obesity, where else do you see a big belly? A Garbhavati woman has a big belly, doesn’t she? And what is inside her Garbha? A little unborn baby that she is nurturing. And that is not something to joke about. Therefore, looking at Ganapati’s big belly, one ought to think that the infinite God is present everywhere in the infinite undistorted Avyaakruta Aakaasha. And the finite Bhootaakaasha is like Paramaatma’s Garbha. We praise Paramaatma as “tvameva maataa cha…”. Thus, spiritual pursuit should begin with Ganapati Upaasana keeping in mind that the entire universe is like Paramaatma’s Garbha… and a Bhakta’s Bhaavanaa should be like that of an unborn child towards its mother, filled with utmost gratitude for the Vaatsalya we experience through a mother. How’s this line of thought in comparison with thinking of Ganapati as obese? Which line of thought might please Ganapati? Isn’t this a very important and basic quality that a Bhakta should embody before any spiritual activity? Does this help you understand why we do Ganapati Pooja before any activity? On the other hand, how would it benefit anyone if he/she were to think of Ganapati as obese before starting any activity? Does this make sense?
Ganapati’s belly is just one aspect. Ganapati Pooja usually involves something called Anga Pooja. Anga means a certain aspect/part/limb of the body. What thoughts to keep during each aspect of Ganapati Anga Pooja? Well, what other Anga-s do you see in Ganapati? You see the 4 hands, Mooshaka Vaahana, 2 tusks, but one of them is broken, and Ganapati is holding the broken tusk in his hand and, most importantly, the elephant head.
The legend is that Paarvati created a clay idol, breathed life into it and thus Ganapati was created and tasked with guarding duty. In comes Shiva, and Ganapati doesn’t grant entry to Shiva to see Paarvati, his own consort. Instead, Ganapati was arguing a lot without knowing who he’s arguing with. So, Shiva decides to teach a lesson and severs Ganapati’s head. One might think, “Really? A father just severs his own son’s head just because he’s talking nonsense? That’s Grewsome!” Further, when Paarvati arrives and sees her son’s head severed and urges Shiva to bring her son back to life… Shiva replaces the severed head with an elephant head. Again, one might think, “when the severed head was right there, why send for another head? Why an elephant head?”.
What thoughts should we keep in mind using the above legend? This was what we were taught. The entire legend seems confusing because the thought never evolved from there at all. Firstly, we need to understand that this is symbolic. We are being taught lessons through what is referred to as symbolism. While the symbol is precise, the message taken by the observer may vary. Treating this as symbolic, what do you notice in an elephant’s head? Large ears, small eyes, a large trunk. But, when you look at it from the front, you don’t even see a mouth. What does this symbolize?
No spiritual pursuit is possible without a Spiritual Guru. What is the most basic quality a spiritual seeker should have when he/she go to a Guru? Can any progress happen when the Guru is teaching some basics, but the seeker is constantly interrupting and/or asking questions about things that he/she has not yet been made aware of, and/or arriving at irrational conclusions without knowing all the facts, and thus arguing with the Guru? Isn’t this what Ganapati did with Shiva? So, the head, which symbolized “irrational, arrogant, argumentative attitude,” was severed and replaced with an elephant head, which is larger, has larger ears, and no visible mouth – suggesting better rationale, good listening and non-argumentative towards his/her own well-wishers. If Shiva had replaced the same head, then the irrational argument would’ve continued, and, symbolically, that would not be good. Therefore, it was replaced with a much larger head indicating higher brain power, which is capable of better reasoning. Overall, this symbolism seems to suggest to us that when the Guru is teaching… one ought to use that opportunity to build rationale, recognize the Guru’s compassion, have some humility, a sense of gratitude and just “Shut-up and Listen”!!!
Moving further… as mentioned earlier, Bhootaakaasha is filled with 3 types of Guna-s or energy, i.e., Satva, Raja, and Tama. Bottom line is that everything in this universe is comprised of these 3 basic Guna-s. All 3 Guna-s are necessary for the creation to happen. We cannot do away with any of the 3 Guna-s. This is why we see that every utensil we use for pooja has 3 legs, as shown in this picture.
Satva is somewhat like uplifting energy, while Tama is downward energy, and Raja is energy that spreads/disperses. Their ratio is somewhat like 1 part Satva: 10-part Raja: 100 parts Tama. So, while I can’t wish any of the 3 Guna-s to not exist, I can wish for an increased presence of the spiritually uplifting Satva Guna in my space.
How to define “My Space”? Well, I live in this body. Therefore, I would like a higher percentage of Satva Guna in my body. I have a room in my home that’s dedicated to Pooja. I would like to ensure a higher percentage of Satva Guna in my Pooja room. For this reason, activities such as sleeping and Garbhadaana are not to be done in the Pooja room. Menstruating women are not to enter the Pooja room. Expanding further, I live in a home, and I’d like higher Saatvik energy in my home, my neighborhood, my town, my district, my state, and my country. And therefore, I request Ganapati, Abhimaani of Bhootaakaasha, to ensure a higher presence of Saatvik energy in “My Space” that’s conducive for the larger good of the world, and eventually my own spiritual upliftment. Would Ganapati consider your request if you were to think of him as obese and that the whole creation is all an illusion? Therefore, the line of thought should be rationalistic, and the request should be humble and serve a larger purpose. Does it make sense?
There is quite a bit more to think through vis-à-vis Ganapati, which we’ll get to next week.
