Who is Ganpati ?

While talking to an expat about Ganpati, I had to describe him as a God with elephant head but is it the right description of Ganpati or Ganesh ?? (I am purposely not using the word “Lord” because British use it to describe looters like Lord Clive).

Saint Tukaram in one of his abhang beautifully describes Ganesh as

“ ओमकार स्वरुप गणेशाचे, हे तिन्ही देवांचे जन्मस्थान”.”.

While Saint Dnyaneshwar in his great treatise on Geeta i.e Dnyaneshwari says

देवा तूंचि गणेशु । सकळमति प्रकाशु ॥

म्हणे निवृत्ति दासु । अवधारिजो जी ॥२॥

अकार चरण युगुल । उकार उदर विशाल ॥

मकार महामंडल । मस्तकाकारें ॥३॥

हे तिन्ही एकवटले । तेथें शब्दब्रम्ह कवळलें ॥

ते मियां श्रीगुरुकृपें नमिलें । आदिबीज ॥४॥

Meaning goes as follows: The word Om is composed of three characters i.e अ , उ and म. अ is represented by his feet, उ is represented by his huge stomach while म is represented by his large head. So Ganpati is manifestation of Om. But then the question arises about what is Om ?

Human body is composed of five tatva i.e Prithvi, Aap, Tejas, Vayu and Akash. A Yogi has to transcend all the five elements to achieve Mukti. While moving from Aap to Tejas, a yogi sees Lotus in his meditation and hears sound of Om. Thus Om is the manifestation of Lotus , tail is stem and remaining is flower, hence both are considered sacred in Vedic / Hindu Dharma.

Tejas is also linked to Light i.e knowledge hence Ganpati is God of knowledge and is manifestation of Tejas tatva. A yogi who believes in साकार will get darshan of Ganpati in Tejas tatva, whereas one who does nirakar sadhana will see Omkar. Shiva is manifestation of Aap, which comes before Tejas, hence Ganesh is the son of Shiva.

Now where does elephant comes from ? As an animal, elepant removes all obstacles which comes in it’s path, same way Ganesh removes all ignorance and hence is God of knowledge. We need to undestand our Vedic dharma to counter false propoganda of Zakir Naik/ Wendy Doniger or Missionaries This science is in Vedic dharma which will enlighten the world.

(Borrowed from “Sadhana and Divyanubhuti” by Yogiraj Manohar Harkare)