Sri Ganapati-Vinayaka-Part II

Faith Mysticism

oi-Priya Devi

By Priya Devi

Friday, July 9, 2010, 12:58

Lord Ganesha has the widest mouth and the largest appetite. In Kubera's palace, He cured Kubera's vanity that in his riches he had become the 'Treasurer of the Heavens'. When Kubera offered Him a dinner, He ate up all the food prepared for the dinner. Thereafter, He started eating the utensils and then the decorative pandal, and still He was not satiated. Then His Father, Lord Shiva, approached Him and gave Him a handful of "puffed rice". Eating this up He became satisfied.

The above story narrated in the Puranas is very significant. A man of perfection has an endless appetite for life- he lives in the 'Consciousness' and to him every experience, good or bad, is only a play of the infinite through him. Lord Shiva, the teacher, alone can satisfy the hunger of such sincere students by giving them a handful of "roasted rice", representing the "baked vasanas", burnt in the fire of knowledge'. When one's vasanas are burnt up, the inordinate enthusiasm for experiencing life is also quietened.

A man of perfection must have a bigh belly to stomach peacefully, as it were, all the experiences of life, auspicious and inauspicious. When such a master-mind sits dangling his foot down, it is again significant, in the symbolism of the Puranas. Generally we move about in the world through the corridors of our experiences on our two feet, or the inner subtle body, the mind and the intellect. A perfect man of wisdom has integrated them both to such an extent that they have become one in him - an intellect into which the mind has folded and has become completely subservient.

At such a great Yogi's feet are the endless eatables of life - meaning the enjoyable glories of physical existence. All powers come to serve Him, the entire world of cosmic forces are, thereafter, His obedient servants, seeking their shelter at His feet; the whole world and its environment are waiting at His feet for His pleasure and command.

To be continued