HINDUISM

Blessings of Lord Ganesha for peace and happiness

Chelvatamby Maniccavasagar

The Hindu temples are intended to instruct men in the art of removing the veil of attachment that covers their hearts. Thus the renowned poet “Thiyagarajah” cried in the temple of “Thirupathy,” “Remove the Veil, O! Remove the veil of attachment, the veil of pride and hatred”. Further, the temples are meant for the testing of the values of life and to awaken the divinity and humanity inducing men to believe the physical frame in which he lives is itself the house of God.

In fact, every Hindu temple has a sanctum dedicated to Lord Ganesha, Hindus bow their heads in reverence and make their offering to Lord Ganesha in all ritualistic worship. Be it pilgrimage, wedding, yaga, or house-warming Lord Ganesha is the first Deity to be worsh0.ipped at the beginning of any ceremony.

Fasting ceremony

Indeed, in every year, there is a fasting ceremony observed for 21 days by Hindus in “Ganesha” temples very meticulously in Sri Lanka and various other countries to invoke the blessings of Lord Ganesha. This observance of Fast for twenty one days purifies the body and mind and make the devotees to maintain peace, tranquility and serenity to lead a harmonious life without hatred, jealousy, envy and any other devilish thoughts which are the real pollution of the mind. During this twenty one days fast, devotees visit “Vinayagar or God Ganesha's” temples with empty stomach and worship Lord Ganesha for a better peaceful and prosperous life.

“Vinayaga”, ‘Ganapathy”, “Vigneswara” and “Pillaiyar” are some of the common appellations given to Lord Ganesha, the God with an elephant head.

The bulky body of Lord Ganesha stands for the cosmos in its entirety. The huge pot belly signifies space containing all things and beings of the world. The trunk represents the sensitive reception of stimuli and cognition. It also signifies the faculty of discrimination.

The broken tusk signifies that he has broken away from ignorance which guides the path of God. The single tusk also denotes single mindedness in action. The other tusk indicates highest knowledge.

Representations

His broad ears signify that he hears everything communicated to him. They indicate omniscience. The three eyes of Lord Ganesha represent the moon, the sun and fire which in turn indicate the three phases of creation, sustenance and destruction. The third eye is a symbol of intuitive knowledge. He has four hands which signify super natural powers. In one of his left hands he holds an “Ankusa” or the whip which denotes the destructive phase of cosmos.

The spear like weapon also indicates that he uses it to destroy ignorance in his devotees. The third hand holds a dish of Modakam. This signifies that he distributes the consequences according to the actions of the “Jeeva”, the “Modhakam” also symbolises the fullness of Brahman.

The fourth hand of Lord Ganesha represents “Abaya”. Lord Ganesha uses his little mouse as his vehicle. This shows all beings high and low, big and small are the vehicles of the divinity enshrined in the hearts. The little mouse also stands for time. God is beyond time. The mouse is the appropriate symbol of time.

Form of worship

Further, a common form of worship of Lord Ganesha is rapping at the forehead with knuckles and pulling earlobes with cross hands. This act helps in the purification of the Naadis smashing of coconut shows that the hardnut of Ego should be cracked and got rid of before God and subsequently prostrated for complete surrender. Besides, the camphor that is burnt in front of Lord Ganesha signifies that we have to burn our illusion of Ego with the fire of true knowledge and leave no residue so that we may merge with God. Lord Ganesha is also the founthead of wisdom and is believed to be the divine scribe for the sage Vyasa's writing of “Mahabharata”. It is no wonder that profusion or artistic expressions exist throughout the Indian Sub-continent and beyond.

Further God Ganesha had appeared in the form of “Nritya Ganapathi”, blowing the conch, dancing in great abandonment, swirling and whirling his movements beyond man's comprehension. God Ganesha gave the task of creation, preservation and destruction to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

As such, we the people living in this “Kali Yuga” hope and pray that Lord Ganesha showers His Universal love and compassion so that we may be bathed by His Divine glory and spiritual splendor to overcome the present agony prevailing in this country and acquire spiritual attainments, peace and happiness.

“Sri La Sri Arumuga Navalar” statue at Colombo Royal College

“The Navalar Natpanimandram” in collaboration and co-operation of “Sri La Sri Navalar Sabai erected tge statue of Sri La Sri Arumuga Navalar” at the prestigious College “Colombo Royal College” recently with the tremendous support of the College Principal Upali Gunasekara and the Deputy Principal (Tamil Section) M Kanapathipillai and all other staff of the college.

Upali Gunasekera should be highly commended for this meritorious deed he had done by way of taking all possible steps to erect the statue of Sri La Sri Arumuga Navalar statue at Royal College. Further, I may be failing in my duty if I don’t mention the effort and spontaneous support, assistance and co-operation extended by the Deputy Principal Ms Kanapathipillai to Karunai Anandan to erect this statue of Sri La Sri Arumuga Navalar who was a great patriot, Tamil and religious scholar and religious revivalist.

Indeed, former Supreme Court Judge late V Sivasubramaniam, late Meihandan Ratnasabapathy, Senator Neethirajah and Balasingham were responsible for erecting the statue of Sri La Sri Arumuga Navalar in 1969.

But, Kurunai Ananthan, who is a great social and religious worker and President of Jaffna Skandavarodaya College Old Boys Association Colombo branch and son-in-law of Meihandan Ratnasabapaty having realized the paramount importance of Sri La Sri Arumuga Navalar’s remarkable activities particularly towards the Tamil Community and religion when Sri Lanka was under the rule of foreigners for more than 400 years and the atrocities committed by them by way of destroying the Hindu Temples and converting.

Chelvatamby Maniccavasagar