Thus Spake Venkatesa Iyer: Lord Vigneswara: Part 1

I started typing this upon New Years Day (2016) and am not done yet. 

 

Edit 1: I decided to post this today (Hanuman Jayanti, 2016) and continue updating it, or it will never get done.

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A Very Happy and Prosperous 2016 to everyone. On this day, I am starting a new series titled "Thus Spake Venkatesa Iyer", based on his writings and select audio recordings. We start today with his thoughts on Lord Vigneswara, the remover of obstacles.

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 The ultimate principle of the universe from which all things have come into existence and in which they subsist and ultimately merge in it is called by various names. But this principle was forgotten and many sects and religious practices came into existence and there was mutual recrimination.So Sri Adi Shankara consolidated and regrouped them into six paths to God realization, viz., shaivam (Shiva), vaishnavam (Vishnu), shAktam (Devi), gAnApatyam (Ganesha), kaumAram (Subrahmanya/Muruga), and sauram (Surya). According to him, each form of worship represented the Ultimate Reality or Parabrahmam. By following any path with faith and devotion, one will reach the same goal. Thus, there is no question of treating any of them as inferior or superior to the others. If this principle is well understood and followed by all the Hindus in their daily life, there will be no cause for conflict and it will ensure harmony and mutual love, which is the basic principle of our religion.

Among the six systems advocated, the worship of Sri Ganesa is unique since He is worshipped by all the people irrespective of whether they are Shaivaites, Vaishnavites, Shaktas, Buddhists or Jains, and a place of worship for Him is provided in all the temples, viharas, chaityas, apart from the separate temples exclusively for Him. He is offered the first worship even when worshipping one's Ishta Devata; every religious function starts with His worship.

Temples dedicated to Lord Ganesa are a common feature at least in TamilNadu and Maharashtra (Sridhar: Mahaperiyava mentions this almost at the start of his talk on Pillaiyar, see Sri Maha Periyava's discourse on Lord Vinayaka). River Krishna has it's origin in Mahabaleshwar. Some distance from there is a town named Wai, on the banks of the Krishna (on the route to Pune). Here there are innumerable stone images of Vigneshwara, one of which (in the Dholya Ganapati temple) is about 20 ft high (internet says 10 ft high and 8 ft wide :-)

Wai Dholya Ganapati (source: www.ganeshd.com)

Our ancient Rishis were very compassionate. They thought that spiritual truths may not reach the masses in their abstruse forms. Therefore, they expounded them in the form of stories or Purana-s to enable us to slowly advance towards the highest (Sridhar: the exact same point is made by Swami Sivananda-ji here). They also prescribed various festivals and rules of conduct so that noble sentiments may take firm root in us. But they did not neglect the worldly side also. Every festival was so fashioned that it could give us some worldly enjoyment and also advance various arts and sciences. Thus they inculcated dharma, artha, kAma and mokSha in a most assimilable form. We forget the spirit behind the various festivals and attach great importance to the mere formalities, with the result that religion as now practiced has become a past time. It is our duty to enquire into the basic principles underlying the various forms of worship and correct our conduct and life accordingly.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak, one of the greatest political leaders of pre-independence India, popularized the worship of Lord Ganesa as a national festival. It is appropriate that he did so, since his name itself means the adorable son of Siva. During this festival, he arranged competitions among wrestlers, boxers, sword players etc., with a view to make the youngsters improve their physical strength, courage and skill in warfare, so that they might make themselves fit to rise in revolt against any unlawful attack and defend their Dharma. It is absolutely necessary that physical culture, moral training, and spiritual advancement should be cultivated in a systematic manner. Festivals would be the most suitable arena for their exhibition.

 (to be continued later)