In this edition of Storytime, Dr. Svoboda tells the stories of Ganesha.

But this is going to be mostly focused on the stories of Ganesha. If you’re interested in going deeper into Ganesha as a deity and how to work with that energy, how to learn learning more about the Earth element and how to ground, mantras for Ganesha, that kind of thing.

Then you might want to join the course that Dr. Svoboda is going to be teaching in the next week. So if you’re in the Satsanga that’s going on now, that’s going to be a part of the Satsang. So you don’t have to purchase anything extra. You’re going to get that for free. But if you are not, then you can go and purchase this course for a limited time only for only $40 using a coupon Ganesha15.

So I’m going to put that link into the chat once we get started here in case you’re interested in that. But go ahead and ask any questions you have in the Q&A and let us know where you are right now. Say hi to us in the chat. We’d love to see where you’re all coming from and please say hello and tell us why.

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Wonderful. We’re so glad you’re here. So I am going to stop my video and hopefully Dr. Svoboda’s there. I’m going to see if we can un we can start your video, Dr. Svoboda.

And unmute you. Unmute and I have to I have to stop for just a moment and go get the microphone. Be right back. Okay. Cuz I’m not where I usually am. Okay.

So we’ve already got a couple questions coming through in the Q&A. We are going to get started here soon. Just know that we might not get through all these questions, but there is a whole Q&A as part of the Ganesha course.

So if you do have questions that we don’t get through, I highly recommend just go ahead and put those questions up. We’ll take them into consideration and hopefully they’ll get answered during the course. So I’m going to mute myself and it’s all all yours, Dr. G.

Thank you. Also, if you have any questions, you can write me at info@drsvoboda. com. Okay.

That’s better. Greetings to everyone.

My subject today is Ganesha. And I probably had heard of Ganesha when I was a teenager or something.

Maybe. But certainly I got to go know Ganesha much better when I got to India. And in particular when I started teaching started studying at the Ayurveda College in Pune.

Because Maharashtra, which is where Pune and Bombay are located, is without doubt the center of Ganesha worship in India. Yes, there are Ganeshas all over.

Some of and some of them I’m quite fond of, including the one on the top of the rock fort in Tiruchirappalli, the city that is more commonly known as Trichy, home of Srirangam in Tamil Nadu.

And I’m very fond of Sakshi Gopal, which is in the Vishwanath Gali in Benares, and the Ganapati that is behind the Durga Temple at Durga Kund, also in Benares.

But certainly if you really want to get to go know Ganesha, Maharashtra is the place for you. there are many, many temples of Ganapati in Maharashtra, including Ganapatipule, which is on the seashore south of Mumbai.

Not far from the city of Ratnagiri in the Konkan, the coastal area of Maharashtra. and there are many many, many different Ganapatis in Pune. There’s a very famous one in very famous one in Mumbai, the Siddhivinayak Temple at Prabhadevi.

But there are certainly several other Ganapati temples in Maharashtra. It’s all in Mumbai itself. my two personal favorites in the city of Pune are the Dagdusheth Halwai Ganesha, which is a very new it was created by Dagdusheth.

Who was a wrestler and as many wrestlers in India do after they retire from wrestling, he became a Halwai, he became a maker of sweets. And as a part of the Ganesha festival, which is very much an ongoing annual thing in Maharashtra.

Many people create images of Ganapati, which at the end of the festival, they proceed to the sea or to a a river and immerse.

But others create an image and then preserve it for the next festival, and Dagdusheth did this. And initially, it was not at all well known even when I got there, which is now 47 years ago. it was a completely low-key affair very.

Near the city post office. Now it is a gigantic thing and you have to wait in a queue sometimes for 45 minutes or more in order to be able to stand in front of that particular Ganapati and make an offering to him.

Which is why I though I always salute Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati I prefer going to Kasba Ganesha. And Kasba Ganesha is a good example of what is called in India a Swayambhu image. It’s an image that manifested itself, in this particular case in in the trunk and upper roots of a tree.

And it’s been worshipped for at least a couple of hundred years, maybe longer. It’s very near the chief fortification of Pune that was created by the Maratha Empire, the Peshwas in particular, since the Peshwas ruled from Pune.

And that’s called Shaniwar Wada. So it’s just opposite Shaniwar Wada. And it is still a very low-key place, very people and Vimalananda loved very much going there and hiring some Brahmins and having them repeat the Ganapati Atharvashirsha Upanishad, which is a.

A a so-called minor Upanishad. It’s minor only in the sense that it’s not one of the big ones that everybody knows about, but it’s not minor to people who worship Ganapati. and it’s still very much it’s closed in the afternoon, remember that. but if you it’s it’s very much worth a visit if you ever happen to be in that in Pune and in for that matter that part of.

Pune. but in addition there is an area or rather an area, there’s there are eight very well-known Ganapatis and I’m just I got out the got out the here it is. they’re called the Ashtavinayaka and they are.

Eight temples not all of them are in Pune district, but many of them are in Pune district and the others are very close to Pune district.

And they they took on importance because of the gentleman who originally started making Ganapati well known. He was a member of the Ganapatya.

Sampradaya, the the group who believes that Ganapati who or rather who regards Ganapati as being the supreme reality. And his name was Moraya Gosavi, and I can’t find the link, but you can certainly find him on Wikipedia also. Moraya Gosavi. He.

Lived, nobody knows 300, 500, 100 many centuries ago. And he was closely associated with at least three of the of these eight Ashtavinayaka temples with Morgaon, Ranjangaon, and with Tehur.

And they’re all excellent temples, though I have to say the first one of them I ever visited in the company of a friend of mine who was born and lived in Pune at the time and then became a monk in the Ramakrishna order.

So the first temple I ever visited of the Ashtavinayak was Tehur, and I have to say it’s continued to be my favorite temple. One should never have favorites, especially when dealing with small devatas who are have the heads of elephants and are supposed to be 8 years old, but still Tehur, which is known as officially known as Chintamani.

The wish-fulfilling gem Ganesha, Tehur is a very fine place. It’s outside Pune depending on traffic, about an hour-ish and to the east in the direction of along just off the road to Sholapur.

And it as with all these very fine other fine temples are very fine places to go. So Dagdusheth Ganapati I see has already been mentioned there. And this is the other one is Kasba Ganesha.

So I mention all of these because this is a big important part of of why why Ganesha has become so important to Maharashtrians and why Ganesha is so well known in India because he is so.

Important in the state of Maharashtra. so who is Ganesha? he’s, of course probably one of the easiest, if not the easiest Indian deity to identify because he has the head of an elephant.

He’s well known to pretty much everyone because he is always worshipped first whenever you’re going to do anything auspicious because he can either create obstacles for you or he can remove obstacles, depending on how you respond to him. And.

During the class on Ganesha I’ll talk quite a bit more about that obstacle that aspect of obstacality. but he’s he’s also extremely intelligent he’s very wise, he’s very clever and anybody who wants those qualities and also he’s the patron deity of writing. So that makes him even.

More interesting and precious and valuable to me personally because that’s something I do a lot of. So Ganesha or Ganapati, his name is very simple. Gana is a big word because it means categories of all kinds.

It means assemblies, troops collections and Isha means lord of. Pati means lord of. So, Gana Isha, Ganesha, Ganapati both mean the same thing.

He has and he has many other names like Vigna Vinayaka. He’s the remover of obstacles. and he is Some people believe that he his name appeared in the Vedas in that Gana na antwa Ganapati gang havame.

But that is that’s not agreed on by everybody. What is clear is that around 1500-ish years ago he started to become known as he is now.

As a as an elephant-headed boy. And he is popularly regarded in India at least as being the son of Shiva and Parvati.

And so that’s where we should begin. Where did he how did he get to be born? And of course Shiva and Parvati are very loving parents but they are also very non-traditional parents. they have two children, Kartikeya who was pretty much created only from Shiva and Ganapati who was according to the most popular story pretty much created.

Only from Parvati though with a little bit of help from Shiva. Though there are many stories on this subject. Some of them even say that he was came from somewhere else and was mysteriously discovered by Shiva and Parvati.

And there’s even a story that once Parvati was bathing in Banaras and threw her bath water into the Ganga. And there happened to be an elephant-headed goddess in the Ganga who drank up that bath water, immediately became pregnant, and gave birth to a child with four arms and five elephant heads.

And then Ganga wanted to keep him as her child but Shiva said no, he is the child of Parvati because it was Parvati’s bath water and that determines whose child he is. And so Shiva took the five heads and condensed them down to one head. And then he is in the story that then he’s in the form we know him now.

But that’s not the most common story. There’s a very common story and a slightly less common story and those are the two we’re going to consider right now. So the very common story, the most common story is the one that comes from the Shiva Purana.

And Parvati, the goddess Parvati decided that she wanted to take a bath. And she wanted to have a nice I’m sure she was going to have some candles and some bath salts and some unguents and oils and so on. And so she decided definitely she didn’t want to be disturbed. She.

Wanted to enjoy her bath in great peace and calm and quiet. So she thought about it for a moment and she took some of the dirt some people say she it was she had already applied some turmeric paste and she took some of it.

But other people including Vimalananda said she took dirt because dirt relates dirt is earth element and Ganapati is the lord of the earth element. So she took some of this earth off of her skin. She made a little image out of this earth and being the queen of the universe it just took a breath from her to bring this image to life. And so she said, “I want you to.

Guard the door so that my bath is not disturbed.” So the small the small child made out of earth said “Immediately mother I shall do that.” So he positioned himself at the door and there he was and he was not going to let anyone in no matter what.

Well Shiva meanwhile had been meditating somewhere as he does all the time and after he got through meditating he thought, “Huh I will come and visit with Parvati.” So he came over and he noticed that the door to the bathroom was closed.

And he also noticed that there was a small child that he had never seen before standing outside the bathroom. And he said, “Get out of the way small child. I want to visit with my wife.”.

And the small child said “you can’t do that because mom said you have to stay out here.” And Shiva said “I don’t remember you being my son. So I don’t know what the story of this is but just get out of the way. please.

I’m not going to ask that often because I have been meditation I have something I need to share with her.” And the boy said, “not going to happen.” And Shiva said, “Yeah.” And the boy said, “Yeah.” And Shiva said, “Yeah.” And the boy said, “Yeah.” And they started to fight.

And so Shiva of course was pulling some of his punches because this is a small child and it’s not polite to immediately slaughter small children. But after a while when Shiva realized that in fact he had been imbued with all this power by Parvati he was getting very confused and Shiva has kind of a short fuse anyway.

So there came a point when during this fight Shiva thought “Best thing to do is just I shall end this and find out I will act first chop first and ask questions later.” So he chopped off the boy’s head.

And of course at this point why Parvati did not notice a fight was going outside going on outside is a good question. And for that matter why Shiva could not realize that this in fact was Parvati’s son and was he was supposed to be there is a good question other than without it there would be no story. So anyway Parvati finally noticed that her son.

Was dead and therefore he was Shiva’s extremely upset and said, “I’m so upset I’m going to destroy the entire universe because I’m very upset.” So Shiva thought, “Hmm this is not a good sign and it’s not time for the universe to be destroyed because I’m the guy who destroys the universe and clearly it is not time. Let me check the No, it’s not time.”.

So Shiva said, “Oh my dear Yes dear please don’t do that right now. It’s not time for the universe to be destroyed.” And Parvati said, “Okay, what are you going to do about it you big lummox you brute?” And so Shiva said, “Mama I’ll bring him back to life.” So Parvati said, “Okay, better hurry.” She started tapping her foot. She crossed her arms.

And then there are different versions of what happened. and but a common version is that Shiva sent out his his minions to find the first animal who was sleeping with his head into the north because in India north is the direction of death. So that would.

Indicate indicate an animal who was moving in the direction towards death whether that animal was aware of it or not. So it happened to be an elephant. And the messengers of Shiva chopped off the head of the elephant and brought the head back and Shiva was very happy and the head was connected to the body.

And the body was brought back to life and there was the small child and he was give made leader of all the ganas. These ganas being the messengers among other things. The ganas are the messengers that Shiva had sent out to locate an animal head to put on.

His body. Why Shiva could not simply take the head of the boy and reconnect it to the body it’s also not clear unless you look at the esoteric side of things which we will do in the in the class.

So that’s the most common story. and it’s a very good story. but there is one other story that is kind of common and that has to do with the notable and very ominous planet Shani or Saturn.

And so that story is that Shiva and Parvati had a an actual child on their own. Parvati how they created it we don’t know but they had a child.

And you know as you do with your child it’s kind of like you after a certain period you invite everybody over to come and visit it. So they invited all the gods and goddesses to come visit it and they invited Saturn also. And Saturn said “I don’t think that would be a good idea because whatever I look at has trouble because that’s my job in the world.”.

And Parvati said “How dare you refuse to come and look at my child?” And Saturn said, “Well that the point is I don’t want to look at your child because that won’t be good for the child.” And Parvati said, “Well I mean the reality is of course that everybody is everybody else is coming to do it and if you don’t do it that is.

Not going to work out for us. So, Saturn thought, “Okay. I guess I have to do this.” So, he came and from a distance he looked at the child only with one eye, but that was enough for the head of the child to immediately fly off its body.

Now, Parvati was very upset, so was Shiva. And so somebody, some versions of the story say Shiva, others say Vishnu. so, let’s just say Vishnu. Vishnu jumped onto his onto Garuda, his eagle, and found a young bull elephant lying down, still alive but lying down with his head into the north, chopped the head off, brought back, put it on.

Ganesha’s body, and again he had an elephant head. there is yet another version in which Shiva killed the son of a rishi named Kashyapa and Shiva brought that boy back to life, but Kashyapa cursed Shiva anyway and said that Shiva’s son would lose his.

Head and when that happened Shiva replaced the head of Ganesha with the head of Indra’s elephant, Airavata. and there was even a story about an asura. Sometimes people translate the word asura as a a demon.

But asuras are not exactly demons. They’re they’re it’s they’re sort of like, you know, the devatas are visible light matter and the asuras are kind of like dark matter. It’s a it’s they’re they’re different astral races maintaining balance in the universe because of the way the universe is put together.

So, in any event, there was an asura and his name was Gajasura. And Gajasura, Gaja means elephant, so Gajasura had the form of an elephant.

And he wanted to please Shiva, so he sat down and did penance for Shiva for a long time. And after a while Shiva said, “Varam bruhi.” “Good. You’re very fine. You have done your job properly. What would you like?”.

And Gajasura said, “Well, hm I think I would like to have fire coming out of my body all the time, so no one can ever come near me.” So, Shiva said, “Okay. Unusual. I’m not sure where I would have asked for that, but tathastu, go ahead.”.

And so Gajasura was happy and now he had fire coming from everywhere and he thought, “You know, that works so well. I think I’ll do some more penance.” So, he did some more penance until finally he put made Shiva happy again and Shiva came and said, “Okay.

You have fire coming out of your body. What else do you want?” And Gajasura said, “I would like you to live in my stomach.” And Shiva said, “Huh. Hm okay. Sure.” And Shiva started living in the stomach of Gajasura.

And of course, if Shiva is now living in the stomach of Gajasura, he is not living in Parvati’s house anymore. So, if Shiva is not living in Parvati’s house, Parvati is wondering where Shiva went. So, Parvati looks around everywhere. Where has he gone? Where has he gone? Where has he gone? And finally she gets to Vishnu. And Vishnu says, “You know, I.

That’s an an interesting question. Let me let me meditate on it a little bit.” He meditates on it and he says, “Ah, I see the problem. this is why we call your husband Bhola.

Bhola means very innocent, very compassionate, very innocent, Bhola. So, what’s happened with Bhola, Bholenath, is that because he is willing to do anything for his devotees, he has agreed to live in the stomach of one of them.

So, I will solve this problem,” said Vishnu. “just Parvati, you just wait here and remain calm and I’ll be back shortly with your husband.” So, Vishnu thought about it for a moment and then Vishnu said, “Ha, this is what I will do.” So, he Shiva rides around on a bull. The bull’s name is Nandi.

So, Vishnu transformed Nandi into a dancing bull. And Vishnu sh Krishna plays a flute, so it’s Vishnu can knows how to how to play the flute, so he turned himself into a humanoid flute flautist, a flute player.

And then they went to where Gajasura was nearby and he started playing the flute and the bull started dancing. And Gajasura was very impressed because like like I and probably most of you, he had never seen a dancing bull before.

And so Gajasura was very pleased and he said, “You have pleased me and I shall give you what you desire.” And the flautist said, “Are you sure you’re going to give that to me?” And Gajasura said, “I will immediately do it. What do you think? Of course I can do it.”.

And so the flute player said, “If that’s the case, then what I want you to do is liberate Shiva from your stomach now.” So, immediately Gajasura realized that this must be Vishnu. Who else could have figured this out? And only Vishnu would come and have the guts to interact with me and try to get Shiva.

Back. So, Gajasura said, bowed down completely to Vishnu’s feet and said, “Yes, immediately I shall do that.” He liberated Shiva. Shiva was there. And then two Now that he has liberated Shiva, he asked for two more gifts.

One from Vishnu and one from Shiva because of course he did what Vishnu asked for and he since Shiva was no longer living in his stomach, that he gets credit for another gift. And Gajasura said, “I would like for everyone to remember me by adoring my head and I would like for you to wear my skin.

So that I am always next to you,” he said to Shiva. So, Shiva, it is said, wears an elephant skin. And then the head of Gajasura ended up landing on top of Shiva and Parvati’s son. So, in that way Gajasura in that according to this story, Ganesha.

Is really partly asura and partly devata also. So, Ganesha is really a chimera or a chimera. It’s a a two different worlds coming together in one place.

And that’s what makes Ganapati so unusual, but also so intelligent because he can look at things from different perspectives. He can see different ways in which things are connected that other people might not be able to see because they are.

Only looking at things from that single perspective of however it was they were who whoever it was they are, whatever category they belong to, how they were born. So, Ganesha being a young a young deity doesn’t have a lot of complicated stories connected to him.

One of the stories that is common in North India and not at all in South India is a story about the Mahabharata.

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the two epics of India. And the Mahabharata is more than a hundred thousand verses. And it’s it’s extremely complicated story.

And it is said that it was written by Vyasa or Veda Vyasa, who wrote the Puranas and rearranged the Vedas and he did a lot of work. And so it is said that when Vyasa decided he wanted to write down the Mahabharata, he realized that the, you know, the only the only person who could really.

Understand it and be able to transcribe perfectly was Ganesha, Ganapati, because he is so intelligent. So, he requested Ganapati to come and write for him.

And Ganapati said, “I will definitely do so. the only thing is that I have to write continuously. So, you can compose all the verses you want to, but I can never stop or if I stop writing, that’s going to be the end of it.”.

So, Vyasa thought about it a moment. Then he said, “Okay, but you have to understand every verse before you move on to the next one.” So, Vyasa would concoct some verses in his head, he would mention them to Ganapati, Ganapati would write them down, and then he would concoct very complicated one.

And when he did that, Ganapati would have to make sure he understood it perfectly, and that would take a little bit of time, and during that time Vyasa would be able to concoct some more verses. So, as soon as Ganapati really understood it and was ready to move on, Vyasa had some extra verses to move on with.

And they say that this is why Ganapati has only one tusk because while he was writing with his pen, his pen broke, and of course he had told Vyasa that he couldn’t stop writing, that means he couldn’t stop writing no matter what happened. So, he broke off one of his tusks and started using it as a pen.

And so, he is well-known as being Ekadanta, only having one tusk, and they say that this is one reason why he only had one tusk. another story of why he only has one tusk is because of the very powerful and extremely irritable.

Avatar incarnation of Vishnu called Parashurama, Rama with the axe. That was avatar number six, just before Rama, Ramachandra, avatar number seven.

So, avatar number six, Parashurama, had come one day to visit with Shiva. Parashurama is an Chiranjeevi. He is a he he’s a immortal. So, he the Rama has died, Krishna has died, but Parashurama is immortal.

So, Parashurama came to visit Shiva, but on the way, he was blocked by Ganesha. So, again, there’s this Ganesha is creating an obstacle, just like he created an obstacle for Shiva, just like So, now he’s again creating an obstacle.

And Parashurama, of course, was always ready to chop at things with his axe, so he chopped at Ganesha with that axe. And Ganesha knew that the axe had been given to Parashurama by Shiva, and so he allowed himself, because of the respect that he had for Shiva, his father, he allowed himself to be struck by the axe, because.

He could have avoided being struck by the axe, he being who he was. but he allowed himself to be struck by the axe because the axe was his father’s axe, simply in the hands of Parashurama. And then, once this happened, Shiva found out and Parashurama found out, and but by then the tusk was broken, and then the tusk was available.

For other things. So, as there is, of course, a brother to Ganesha, that’s Kartikeya.

Kartikeya is the son of Shiva, and some people say the wives of the seven or six of the seven Rishis, some people say directly from Agni, from So, there are different there are different opinions.

And it’s also the case that in northern India, most of most people are b- believe that Kartikeya was the older one and Ganesha was the younger one.

And in southern India, generally speaking, they believe that Ganesha is the older one and Kartikeya is the younger one. And so, there is a a sibling rivalry between the two.

And probably the best-known story of that sibling rivalry is happened when there was a competition, and there are different stories of what they were going to gain from the competition.

But ultimately, they were going to end It was a competition that was being managed by the parents. Probably the parents noticed that the two boys were were rivals, and they thought, “Well, we’ll give We’ll keep them busy by competing somehow.”.

So, some people say it was to marry first, some people say it was to become the commander of the celestial armies. There’s difference of agreement. In any event, the competition was the two of you start off at the same time.

And you circumambulate the entire universe, and then you come back, and whoever gets back first is going to win. And so, this at the start, Kartikeya moved forward faster because he rides on a peacock, and Ganesha, who’s a lot heavier than Kartikeya, rides.

Around on a mouse. So, Kartikeya moved forward, Ganesha moved forward, Kartikeya was a lot faster, Ganesha was a lot slower. And Ganesha was a little disturbed at this thought, and so either the celestial troublemaker Narada suggested it, or Ganesha came up with.

This idea on his own. But he thought, “Hmm. I believe that the reality of the situation is, even though the external cosmos is manifested externally, it has been manifested from my mother, Parvati.

Parvati herself, and of course, Shiva, who is the consort of Parvati, these the two of these are the parents of the universe. Therefore, they are equivalent to the universe.

So, Ganesha turned his mouse around, went back to Shiva and Parvati, circumambulated them, and Parvati said, “What are you doing?” And Ganesha said, “well, as it transpires as I’ve realized that in fact the two of you are the universe itself, and therefore I have circumambulated the two of you, and I’m back now.”.

And they were, of course, extremely pleased, and said, “Ganesha, you’re extremely intelligent, and you win the intelligence derby, and everybody is going to know that you’re very intelligent.” And of course, Kartikeya showed up later, and this did not impress him at all, and that did not solve the problem with the rivalry, though it did.

Indicate to many people that Ganesha was more of brains, and Kartikeya was more of brawn. And in fact, Kartikeya went on to be the generalissimo of the celestial armies, and so he was much more of a martial kind of character.

And true to this true to this dichotomy between the brothers, it is in some places, they say that Ganesha is married, and Kartikeya is unmarried. And.

And especially in southern India, and they say that Kartikeya is married and Ganesha is unmarried. So, there’s, again, a difference of opinion, according to which tradition you’re part of and is going on.

So, according to those people who believe that Ganesha was married, he has two sons, and those sons sometimes are called Shubha and Labha.

And in this case, his wives are called Riddhi and Siddhi. Riddhi meaning sort of a generalized prosperity, and Siddhi meaning accomplishment. Siddhi is more for non-physical things, and Riddhi is more for physical things, but that’s not a hard and fast rule.

One thing that I find very, very interesting, and this is particularly the case because I saw this spectacle unfold in front of me in 1975, there was a very famous Hindi film.

Hindi film called Jai Santoshi Ma. And Santoshi Ma, Ma meaning mother. she is a goddess and Santosh means satisfaction.

It’s like in the Yoga Sutras, Santosh. You should be should feel satisfied. You should feel content. Santosh means content. So, Santoshi Ma, she gives you contentment.

And So, in this film, the story is that Ganesha that this Santoshi Ma is the daughter of Ganesha. Now, in the Puranas, these are the famous classical books of of the stories of the gods and the goddesses, there’s no mention of Santoshi Ma.

Period, much less Santoshi Ma being a child of Ganapati. But since that time, and I remember in ’75, I mean, San Jai Santoshi Ma was a gigantic hit and I mean, ladies would go in and do Aarti and to the screen when she was there and.

Throw money at the It was It was a giant spectacle. And ever since that time, now all around India are temples of Santoshi Ma. Even though she didn’t exist earlier, she now exists. Even though she not only didn’t exist, she was Ganesha hadn’t had a daughter earlier, now Ganesha has a daughter. And so.

There’s Ganesha is continuing to evolve. the goddess is continuing to evolve. All these devatas and devis are continuing to evolve. And I just seems to me very interesting to see how this evolution takes place. So, the the we haven’t come to the end of the.

Stories of Ganapati yet. time will tell what happens next. So, there is there’s one last story that I would like to share with you and it’s in two parts.

And the first part is an example and this has been told in a slightly different way about Hanumanji Anjaneya also about what a big appetite both of them have that can only be satisfied by devotion in some way.

And in the case of Ganapati, the story is about Kubera. Kubera is the god of wealth. And Kubera went to have darshan of Shiva. Shiva is Shiva’s sort of like Kubera’s boss. And Kubera like many people who are rich was proud of his riches. He was vain.

Vanity was the problem with Kubera. So, Kubera came to Kailash and Shiva doesn’t care about things like that. He wears an elephant skin and the ash from cremated bodies and he lies around, consumes intoxicants and is always connected to the supreme reality.

And so, Kubera said, “Oh, Lord Shiva, I have a beautiful city. It’s called Alkapuri and I have all these great cooks. Why don’t you come and have dinner with me?” And Shiva said, “I don’t think so. But you can are free to invite my son, Ganesha. You can definitely come and invite Ganesha.”.

And so, Kubera said, “Of course, I will definitely invite Ganapati.” And so, Ganapati was invited. And sh Before Kubera left, Shiva said to Kubera, “Now, you should know.

That my son has quite an appetite. He does have an elephant head after all, so just be prepared.” “Oh, don’t worry,” said Kubera, “we have all kinds of food.” And then Ganesha came there and along with Kubera because he was a small boy, so he had to travel along with some companions and so, Kubera took care of him and.

And made him very comfortable and so on. And then there was the feast. And during the feast, Ganesha started to eat. And he ate everything. All the other guests were watching in amazement because he ate everything. Then he started to eat the plates and then he started to eat the decorations.

Then he started to eat the furniture. And about this time, Kubera started to get alarmed. And so, he rushed back to Mount Kailash and started to tell Shiva all that was going on. And Shiva said, “I believe I warned you about this.”.

And Shiva said, “Here, take this handful of roasted rice. That’s all you need to do provided that if you offer it to him with humility and love, that will solve the problem completely. He will be satisfied. He will feel Santosh.”.

And so, Kubera immediately fled back to his city and Ganesha had eaten most of the city by this point. And Kubera handed him the rice with humility and devotional love and Ganesha ate it and was satisfied and was calmed down.

And that was a very valuable lesson for Kubera. And this is the second part now.

And this is to my mind an unusual story and one that has been concocted in my personal opinion for the purpose of explaining a a a particular practice that is performed on at on the night of the beginning of the Ganesha.

Festival. So, Kubera I mean, Ganesha is coming back from Kubera’s palace riding on his mouse. And it was on a full moon night. And the mouse saw a snake and become became afraid and ran off with Ganapati on top of him. And of course, this is an interesting.

This itself is an interesting turn of events because the word for snake, naga, one of the words for snake, is also one of the words for elephant, naga, possibly because you know, elephants have a big snake-like trunk, possibly.

But in any event, a one naga frightened the vehicle of another naga. And so, the mouse rushed off, Ganesha toppled to the ground and broke open. And all of the food that he had eaten, which was a gigantic amount of food, landed on the ground after his stomach broke open.

And then Ganapati was of course kind of annoyed, but he decided to start putting the food back in his stomach. And the moon, the full moon was watching this and the full moon was laughing, getting a good laugh. Ha ha ha, you’re very funny.

And Ganesha said, “Hmm. What are you doing laughing at me? I’m not impressed at all.” So, he said, “Well, you think you’re very impressive. Look at you, you’re all white and shiny up there. From now on, you’re going to be black.

And that’s of course a kind of a conventional modern curse that people offer to those who wish them unwell in India. Buri nazar wale, tera muh kala. You know, if you if you’re looking at me with the evil eye, may your face become black. So, Ganesha said to the moon, you know, you’re you’re throwing your buri nazar, your.

Evil eye on me. Ga ja, your face is now black. And nobody will see you now. Ha ha ha, now who’s laughing? And then the moon became very upset and said, “Oh my god, please please please mercy mercy mercy.” And then Ganesha said, “Okay, you can be full.

You can be full one day out of the month. Otherwise, you’re going to have to wax and wane.” And of course, there are other reasons There’s another story and it involves Shiva and his previous wife Sati and Sati’s father Daksha who had cursed the moon because Daksha’s because the moon’s it was married to.

The 27 or 28 daughters of Daksha, the Nakshatras, but the moon always preferred Rohini and was always there full in Rohini and then was cursed to wax and wane. so, it’s it’s it’s that story had already been there, but now it’s being applied to Ganapati.

And then for some reason, Ganesha says, “If anyone happens to see the moon on my the first day of my festival, then that will not be good. That person will not gain liberation, moksha.”.

And of course, the first day of the Ganesha festival, which is coming up not that far from now, the first day of the Ganesha festival is not Ganesha’s birthday. Ganesha’s birthday happens Tilakund Chaturdashi. That happens in February-ish or so. And the Ganesha festival happens during at the end of Shravana at the beginning of Bhadrapada.

And which is usually in August sometime. So this is another good example of how certain certain mythic themes that in the past have been applied to other devatas as time goes on start to be applied to to other devatas, particularly younger.

Devatas, one who have just who have just appeared. So sup- this is provides a reason for and some for whatever reason, supposedly you’re not supposed to look at the moon on the fourth day of the bright half of the month of Bhadrapada. We’re on the.

We are currently on the It isn’t the Ashtami. it’s it’s Gokul Ashtami really today. It’s the day that general by my calculation, which is not necessarily everybody’s calculation, last night Krishna was born.

And then he has gotten to Gokul because he had to go away from there because his uncle was going to kill him otherwise. And etc. So this is a good day to salute Krishna as well, who was also a very small child and a very mischievous child, kind of like.

Ganapati. And so my hope is that everybody will appreciate Ganapati especially on the 22nd of August.

Which is when the Ganapati festival goes on. And it goes on until the night just before the full moon. Ananta Chaturdashi. And that’s the day when everybody who has brought a Ganesha into their home in Maharashtra will take that Ganesha to the river or to the sea. And.

Then they will say Ganapati Bappa Morya. Morya for Morya Goswami Gosavi. Pudhya Varsha Lokarya. Please come back fast next year.