An elephant's trunk has the strength to uproot a tree as well as the finesse to pick up a needle...
Ganesha's trunk symbolises the fact that the wise person has both immense strength and fine discrimination...
Ganesha has large ears. The wise person hears everything…and is kind to hear everyone...
In one hand he holds a lotus , the symbol of enlightment, on other he holds a hatchet, i.e the old karma ..the sanskars, the accumulated good and bad of past deeds- get cut when enlightment comes.
The third hand holds laddus, the round sweet-meats, the rewards of a wise life. Ganesha is never shown eating the laddus, the wise man never partakes of the rewards of his own deeds.
He is not attached to them.
The fourth hand is shown with palms spread flat, blessing people; as a noble person wishes best for all and sundry.
Ganesha has only one tusk; the other is broken..there are a lot of my childhood anecdotes when my father used to teach me a lot different things extricated from the same event….ranging from him being greedy for laddus and fell off on his face… to the fierce fight he faced once with Lord Parshuram…mom rather has more innocuous take on everything weird being ..more auspicious…yet I believe it means a lot more than that…as it’s the symbolism of a wise man’s duality.
We tend to think that we end our bodies when we end in the material world. We are the first person, all else is different. This duality is created by the mind which creates the ego to help us survive in the world, this ‘me-other’ duality is the screen keeping us from realizing our real self...the ME which we keep protecting though is beyond the body and mind..
Once we transcend this duality, we see the entire Universe as a single whole and we become aware of our true selves. The single tusk of Ganesha embodies this non-duality , the Wisdom allows us to see all us as one yet differently connected to be an integral part of the whole universe.
Ganesha is always shown sitting with one foot on the ground and the other resting on his knee, above the ground. The wise person is of this earth, yet not entirely of this earth.
Scientifically too, the rat’s tooth keep growing and it has to continuously chew something to keep these within limits. The rat is a symbol of our senses which are never satisfied. They crave new experiences, new tastes; left uncontrolled they keep growing forever. The wise person rides on his senses, he keeps them under control.
Ganesha is often shown seated in front of a tray of sweets, and a rat just in front, may be bit one side glancing at him.The wise can never be fooled, to be robbed of his assets , not even from its own people, the rat can never dare to eat in front of its own lord.
Ganesha was born out of Lord Shiva’s blood and Parvati’s, womb , the forces governing the life-forces and EARTH. This symbolises the spirit and body of the wise person.
‘Aum Ganeshaye Namah’ ….as we begin all auspicious, sane deeds…to speak to eternity.. “that in what we are about to do, let the wisdom be our guide”…
Ganesha..the elephant headed with human torso…is the mightest of all..yet among us…." MY OWN GOD… "
Ganpati Ba(papa) Mourya….
