Steps to Worship Lord Ganesha - (11 Steps)

According to a special request of one of my facebook fan of my page www.facebook.com/sriganeshaa I am going to present how to worship Ganesha in easy 11 steps in correct way. This is for a beginner and after practicing worship we can do more and more poojas like 108 pooja and Chant Special Mantras.

Steps

• 1 - Buy a photograph or an idol of Lord Ganesha from any nearby religious store.
• 2- Arrange for Ladoos, some hibiscus flowers, garlands ,incense sticks, oil lamps , incense sticks.
• 3-  Before worship you have to fresh up yourself with having a bath. (Especially ladies should never worship God during period days)
  4-Begin your Puja by lighting the lamp, incense sticks, flowers.
• 5-First of all chant Mool Manthra    3 times.
  6-Then you can sing any other Manthra, sloka , Bhajan or any devotional songs for Ganesh
  ( you can find powerful Mantras  in MANTRA Tab here)
• 7- Now offer the Garland
• 8- Offer Tasty sweets for Lord Ganesh which you have made especially for god. (Lord Ganesha's most favourite food are sweets like Ladoo, Modak, Milk rice with Jaggery,etc)
  9- Now very important to memorize your good deeds and give merits to Lord Ganesha because it will make most happier Ganesh ever more than other offerings.
  10- Next if you offer Red Thilak powder, you can first keep Thilak for Ganesh and then for you. (This is not essential)
• 11- You can remove the Ganesh Pooja after 15-20 minutes and can eat with devotion. It is better if you can give it to birds and animals too.

Ganesh Secrets of Success (14- Part 4) ~ Get your Luck with OM

Write "OM" Everywhere

On your special occasions such as in educational,official or in any document related tasks, remember to write "OM" first. When you do this remind Lord Ganesha.

 If you feel like it is not suitable to write "OM" in your document, write it in another piece of paper. For an instance, you are instructed to submit an assignment (written) , then it is not suitable to write any other letters on assignment. Therefore you can write OM in another paper before you are going to start to write the assignment.

Ganesh Secrets of Success (14 - Part 3 ) ~ Get your Luck with OM

How to Win Exams With OM

Before write something special, you can write " OM " first. Whatever document it is whenever you write , whatever the purpose, it will become a success. Because it is the Letter of Lord Ganesh. Especially for the students this will be a good news. They can write "OM" letter on the top of their examination paper and no doubt! can obtain best results ever. This is a most used method and SECRET by Tamil students to get best results in their exams.

How to write OM Step by Step

Ganesh Secrets of Success (14- Part 2 ) ~ Get your Luck with OM

Get your Luck with OM

OM is .......... 

• The most powerful Letter in the world
• The Letter of God
• Owner of this letter - Lord Ganesha
• This is a Holly Word

All these facts are very important to you. Hence, please remember these facts to remind the power of OM.

Results

If you sing loudly or write or keep the letter "OM" with you, so many benefits can be obtained. The benefits are like this.

• You can do your best each and every work
• You will be luckier than earlier
• You can make your dreams come true

Ganesh Secrets of Success (14) ~ Get your Luck with OM

Get your Luck with OM

"OM" sound initially started with the creation of our earth. It is said that this OM sound contains mystical power, thus this sound has been used in lot of Manthra and Sloka. The owner of this mystic letter is " Lord Ganesha". ( in Tamil language "OM" is referred to a hanging tusk)

Hindu OM

Tamil OM

OM is the word of all God and Godess according to the old Hindu books. Following are some information obtained from old hindu books on letter om.

• This sound symbolizes power and sacredness.
• Among glorious things, OM is the most glorious.
• Anyone who has got a clear understanding and keeps this letter with him/her, will definitely obtain what he or she wishes!

There are more and more things have been written on Indian books and they were all written to reveal the true power of letter OM to the whole world!

The Nature of Lord Ganesha

• TRIAD OF THREE GREAT PILLARS have held Hinduism high, century after century:the sat gurus, the temples and the scriptures.Together they echo the greatness of the loving God Ganesha, the Lord of Dharma, son of Siva. For untold millennia our rishis and sages have proclaimed the profound depths of the mind, assuring us that we, too, can and must come to know God and the Gods. It is the living presence of these satgurus and their spoken teachings which has brought to life the traditional practices and philosophy of the Sanâtana Dharma. Now we shall delve into the nature of Lord Ganesha, what He is like, what functions this great God performs and find out how each seeker can make Him a vital part of daily life’s path of experience.

• Once a psychic connection is made with Lord Ganesha—
  the Deity who manifests in several forms, including the elephant-headed Lord of Categories and Remover of Obstacles—one is brought slowly into the mysteries of the Sanâtana Dharma. Such an inner connection, which can be as subtle as a feeling, as tenuous as a dream or as bold as a personal visit, is also an entering into one’s own mûlâdhâra chakra, governed by the planet Mercury, for every opening into a new chakra is also an introduction to the Deity who governs that state of consciousness and the planet to which that chakra is connected.

• The Sanâtana Dharma, known today as Hinduism, is the only living religion on the planet that does not look to a human founder for its source of inspiration, scripture or historical beginning. It is timeless and ageless. Sanâtan Dharma, the root religion of humankind, looks inward for its origins, into the subtle, super conscious realms within the microcosm, which it calls the Kâranaloka, Sivaloka or Third World. This great religion has no single organized headquarters on the material plane. Nor does it have a one hierarchy. Who then is in charge of Hinduism? Why, it is none other than our loving Ganesha! He doesn’t live inRome, nor in Salt Lake City. Lord Ganesha lives simultaneously every where Hindus worship and pray within themselves. He doesn’t have to be reappointed from time to time, because yugas and yugas ago He was permanently and irrevocablyappointed when He was created for this work.

(E-book, Loving Ganesha, Sathyaguru Subramuniyaswami)

Meaning of Lord Ganesha's Body Parts

Lord Ganesha 

Lord Ganesha is the Hindu deity in a human form but with the head of an elephant - represents the power of the Supreme Being that removes obstacles and ensures success in human endeavors. For this reason, Hindus worship Ganesha first before beginning any religious, spiritual or worldly activity. In Hindu mythology, Lord Ganesha is the first son of Lord Shiva and the Divine Mother Parvati. Their second son is Lord Subramanya and their daughter is Jyoti. As explained below, the portrayal of Lord Ganesha as the blend of human and animal parts symbolizes the ideals of perfection as conceived by Hindu sages and illustrates some philosophical concepts of profound spiritual significance.

• Elephant head, wide mouth, and large ears: the large head of an elephant symbolizes wisdom, understanding, and a discriminating intellect that one must possess to attain perfection in life. The wide mouth represents the natural human desire to enjoy life in the world. The large ears signify that a perfect person is the one who possesses a great capacity to listen to others and assimilate ideas.
• The trunk and two tusks with the left tusk broken: there is no known human instrument that has an operating range as wide as that of an elephant's trunk. It can uproot a tree and yet lift a needle off the ground. Likewise, the human mind must be strong enough to face the ups and downs of the external world and yet delicate enough to explore the subtle realms of the inner world. The two tusks denote the two aspects of the human personality, wisdom and emotion. The right tusk represents wisdom and the left tusk represents emotion. The broken left tusk conveys the idea that one must conquer emotions with wisdom to attain perfection.
• Elephant eyes: the elephant eyes are said to possess natural deceptiveness that allows them to perceive objects to be bigger than what they really are. Thus the elephant eyes symbolize the idea that even if an individual gets "bigger and bigger" in wealth and wisdom, he should perceive others to be bigger than himself; that is, surrender one's pride and attain humility.
• The four arms and various objects in the four hands: the four arms indicate that the Lord is omnipresent and omnipotent. The left side of the body symbolizes emotion and the right side symbolizes reason. An axe in the upper left hand and a lotus in the upper right hand signify that in order to attain spiritual perfection, one should cut worldly attachments and conquer emotions. This enables one to live in the world without being affected by earthly temptations, just as a lotus remains in water but is not affected by it. A tray of Laddus (a popular snack) near the Lord denotes that He bestows wealth and prosperity upon His devotees. The lower right hand is shown in a blessing pose, which signifies that Ganesha always blesses His devotees.
• A human body with a big belly: the human body possesses a human heart, which is a symbol of kindness and compassion toward all. Ganesha's body is usually portrayed wearing red and yellow clothes. Yellow symbolizes purity, peace and truthfulness. Red symbolizes the activity in the world. These are the qualities of a perfect person who perforrns all duties in the world, with purity, peace, and truthfulness. The big belly signifies that a perfect individual must have a large capacity to face all pleasant and unpleasant experiences of the world.
• A mouse sitting near the feet of Ganesha and gazing at the tray of Laddus: a mouse symbalizes the ego that can nibble all that is good and noble in a person. A mouse sitting near the feet of Ganesha indicates that a perfect person is one who has conquered his (or her) ego. A mouse gazing at the Laddus, but not consuming them, denotes that a purified or controlled ego can live in the world without being affected by the worldly temptations. The mouse is also the vehicle of Ganesha, signifying that one must control ego in order for wisdom to shine forth.
• Right foot dangling over the left foot: as stated above, the left side of the body symbolizes emotion and the right side symbolizes reason and knowledge. The right foot dangling over the left foot illustrates that in order to live a successful life one should utilize knowledge and reason to overcome emotions.

OM - Aum and Ganesh

• Ganesha is identified with the Hindu mantra Aum or Om. The term -Om is in "his" form), when identified with Ganesha, refers to the notion that he personifies the primal sound. The
• Ganapathi Atharvashirsa attests to this association, which refers to as under (O Lord Ganapati!) You are (the Trinity) Brahma Vishnu and Maheswara. You are Indra andYou are Agni and You are the sun and the moon You are (the three worlds) Bhuloka [earth],Antariksha-loka [space], and Swargaloka [heaven]. You are Om. (That is to say, You are allthis).Some devotees see similarities between the shape of Ganesha's body in iconography and the shape of Aum in the Devanagari and Tamil scripts.

• It is said that Ganesha was born when the eternal couple contemplated on AUM. If you view Lord Ganesha sideways, then you will see the symbol AUM in sanskrit. That's why Ganesha is called Aumkara and worshipped first. AUM is Pranava. What is meant by Pranava?(Pra is short for prakriti and navam means excellent boat) That is, AUM is the way to cross the ocean of worldly existence.

 

• Look at the image on top. Lord Ganesha is both within form and beyond form. As "within form", He is most commonly depicted as a strange composite of elephant and man, generally mounted on a mouse with four arms. However as "beyond form" He represents the Pranava (AUM) which is the symbol of the Supreme Self. If you view Lord Ganesha sideways as shown above, you will see the symbol "AUM" in Sanskrit. That's why Ganesha is called "Aumkara" and worshiped first by all Hindus regardless of their belief in God with form or without form.

• Taitiriya Upanishad (1.8.1.) states: "AUM ITI BRAHMAN -AUM is God”. This further explains the practice of invoking Lord Ganesha before beginning any rite or undertaking any project.

Your Religion is Not Important

Religion is Not Important To Worship Ganesh

• Is your religion Catholic, Muslim, Buddhism or another? Whatever is your religion, that is not important to get the blessings of Lord Ganesh. If you are a Good person and you have got good qualities, Ganesh will bless you in everything.
• Lord Ganesh is very very friendly and because of that all the Dewas in heaven like God Ganesh very much. So as you better to know that if you worship Lord Ganesh more than other Dewas, they will never get angry with you. Because they like Ganesh very much.

Ganesh and Bombay

• There are plenty of Ganesh statues in every special places in Bombay, India. You can see Ganesh statues in each and every shopping complex there. Every businessman starts his or her day with keeping a red flower and a coin for Ganesh. They believe that God Ganesh is the Fortune and Luck and everything. They say that without Ganesh they will not have any luck or fortune. 
• There is a festival in August for Ganesh and they walk in the town with carrying huge statues of Ganesh about 10, 15 or 20 feet in height. Not only in shopping complex, there are a lot of Ganesh statues in Hindu schools there. And for the festival all the students make a huge Ganesh statue and then carry it each and every class in school. After a month they hold a massive oblation  and put all those huge statues into the sea.

Ganesha's Head

• The most striking feature of Ganesha is his elephant head, symbolic of auspiciousness, strength and intellectual prowess. All the qualities of the elephant are contained in the form of Ganpati. The elephant is the largest and strongest of animals of the forest. Yet he is gentle and, amazingly, a vegetarian, so that he does not kill to eat. He is very affectionate and loyal to his keeper and is greatly swayed if love and kindness are extended to him. Ganesha, though a powerful deity, is similarly loving and forgiving and moved by the affection of his devotees. But at the same time the elephant can destroy a whole forest and is a one-man army when provoked. Ganesha is similarly most powerful and can be ruthless when containing evil.

• Ganesha's large head is symbolic of the wisdom of the elephant. His large ears, like the winnow, sift the bad from the good. Although they hear everything, they retain only that which is good; they are attentive to all requests made by the devotees, be they humble or powerful.

Make Ganesh happy and then get the blessings

Make Ganesha Happy

Before get the blessings of God Ganapati first of all you have to make Ganesh happy. If you make Ganesh happy you will be able to get,

• Wealth
• Success
• Prosperity
• Free from poverty
• Discard obstacles
• Develop your knowledge
• Protection from misfortune
• Instant understanding the facts
• Ability to predict
• Good memory

I will describe about seven (7)  ways to make Ganesha happy one by one in SECRET tab of my blog.

Old Traders and Ganesh

Old Traders

• Ganapati was introduced by old traders for the foreign countries while they were going to trade in those countries. In 10th century there was a trading network and created a monetary system. In that period, the main God who had connected with money and business was Lord Ganapati. Before worship other Dewas, they used to worship Ganapati first and request blessings.

• Indian people who went for trading for the Malay islands, spread about the worshiping God Ganesh. Thus there are huge amount of Ganapti statues can be seen all over there even today. Not only Malaysia, but also Thailand, Burma and Cambodia are the countries that added new statues of Lord Ganapati and added some new elements. Ganapati was most populest among Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand as the God of avoiding all obstructions and the God of all success (victory). So as, at present there were some evidence received that in Japan and china also believed in God Ganapati in the ancient time period.

Sacred Books About Ganesh

Sacred Books

• The oldest sacred books about Ganesh are Ganesh Puran, Ganapati Atharvasheersha and Mudgala Puran. Among those Ganesh Puran and Mudgala Puran were written in 10s, 11s.Ganapati Atharvasheersha was written in 16s , 17s.

Sacred Places of Ganesh

 Sacred Places

• There are eight sacred places of Ganesh in Mumbai, Maharashta, India. They are enacted as "Ashta Vinayak". Ganesh poojas are specified for each sacred place. Except those places there are so many other places all over the world. Ashta Vinayak is shown in above image.

Celebrations for Ganesh

                                               

 

Celebrations

• There is a celebration called Vinayake Chathurthi (Ganesh Chathurthi) among Indians. It is held in August and September. So as Ganesh Jayanthi, birthday of Ganesh is held in January and February. Although all the Indians celebrate this occasions in a cheerful way, most richest city Mumbai celebrates it in high level.

Lot of Names

Names of Ganesh

There are a lot of names to introduce Ganesh. Ganesh, Ganapati, Vigneshvara, Vinayake, are some of these names. Tamils introduce Ganesh as Pilleyar (Pulleyar). Thai people call ganesh as Pra pikenet, Pra pikanesuwan. People in Myanmar call Ganesh as Peyinne and it comes from Vinayake described in Pali.

GANAPATI

Ganapati

God Ganesh have got a great knowledge about religion and religious books. Before offer the Puja for the other Gods, first of all they worship Ganesh as a custom. Because then the selected Puja for a particular God will be successful and will be received their help for our purpose. Although the name "Ganesh" is very popular in European countries, Indians call Ganesh as "Ganapati".

Birth of Lord Ganesh

 Birth of Lord Ganesh

• There are two legends about how Ganesh get the elephant shaped face and birth of Lord Ganesh.

• According to an old legend, Shiva - father of Ganesh went to the woods for meditation and Parvathi - mother of Ganesh got ready to have a bath. Parvathi didn't expect that Shiva's arrival on the same day. So before went to have a bath, she warned Ganesh by saying. " Don't allow anyone to enter my room. Protect it. But after sometime Shiva came and Ganesh didn't allow him to enter the room. Then the tempered Shiva cut Ganesha's head. However Shiva promised that he will make it right. He said " If we get the person's head we meet first on next day and fitting that to Ganesha's body will give his life back. But on the next day they met an elephant at first, so Shiva cut the head of the elephant and settled it on Ganesha's body. Then Ganesh got his life back.

• Next story is as follows. Parvathi got an attractive son and all Gods came to see this cute baby except only one. He is Shani. There was a reason behind it because at that period Shani was under a spell that everything he watch turn in ti ash. Though Parvathi said shani has to come to see her child. Accordingly, just after Shani look at Ganesh, his head turned in to ash. Then Parvathi blamed Shani and cursed him. Then Maha Brahma came and said "If you get the person's head that you meet first on next day and fitting that to Ganesha's body will give his life back. Lord Vishnu went out and first met an elephant and he seperated its head from the body and settled on Ganesha's body.