Vakratunda Mahakaya Surya Koti Samaprabha
Nirvighnam Kurume Deva Sarva Kaaryeshu Sarvada
“Oh Lord Ganesha, You have a large body, curved trunk, and you possess the light of a million suns; I pray to you to remove all obstacles from my life.”
A story every child growing up in India is told: How did Lord Ganesha become the god who is prayed to first before performing any ritual? Lord Shiva had declared that between Ganesha and Karthikeya whoever circled the world thrice and the fastest would be revered by everyone. Young Ganesha simply walked around his parents three times as they were his world and won the race.
This story signified Lord Ganesha’s intellect, wisdom, child-like innocence, and the love he had for his parents. Children share a lot of these qualities with Lord Ganesha, and perhaps that is why he is one God who has a special bond with them.
Lord Ganesha is the remover of obstacles, the bestower of wisdom, and is the god who can grant the boon that all our endeavors would succeed. Here are some exciting stories of Lord Ganesha that would enthrall children whilst also enriching them with morals.
Ganesha, Kubera & a bowl of cereal
Lord Kubera is the lord of wealth and riches. He was considered the wealthiest god in all creation and took great pride in it. One day, he arranged a lavish feast and invited all the gods, including Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.
Since they were unable to attend the feast, Lord Ganesha was sent on their behalf. The elephant god saw the pride with which Kubera described his possessions and riches to all the guests present there and decided to teach him a lesson. When the feast started, Lord Ganesha quickly devoured all the food before any of the other guests could even begin. Kubera looked on in surprise as Ganesha’s hunger was still not satisfied.
Lord Ganesha then started eating the different possessions that Kubera had, consuming all his gold and wealthy items in seconds. As his hunger still wasn’t satiated, Ganesha then proceeded to eat Kubera himself. Kubera ran to Mount Kailash to seek protection from Lord Shiva. Seeing the reason behind Ganesha’s antics, Lord Shiva offered a small bowl of cereal to him. Upon eating it, Lord Ganesha was immediately satiated.
In this story, we see that Lord Ganesha wasn’t impressed with the great riches and wealth and didn’t care about them. But, when offered a simple bowl of cereal with love and innocence, he was immediately gratified. It is with this innocence and simplicity that we should endeavor to live our lives.
How Ganesha wounded Goddess Parvati
Lord Ganesha is considered to be one of the most mischievous gods as he would many times create havoc around Mount Kailash. One day, while playing, he came across a cat. Ganesha picked up the cat with its tail and threw it on the ground, dragging it here and there with him. The cat meowed in agony but Ganesha failed to notice it.
He kept doing it for some time and dropped the cat when he got bored. When he reached Mount Kailash, he was shocked to see that Goddess Parvati was lying sprawled on the floor. She was crying in pain and there were bruises on her body. When he asked her who did this, Parvati replied that it was Ganesha.
It was Goddess Parvati that had taken the form of a cat and come to play with her son. But, instead of playing, Ganesha had treated the cat harshly and those actions had then impacted Goddess Parvati. Ganesha grew remorseful and apologized to his mother, vowing never to do an act like this again.
Sometimes, with a lack of awareness, we mistreat those who are less fortunate than us or even stray animals. But, this story tells us that the whole universe is one single being. You cannot mistreat even animals and expect that your benevolent actions elsewhere will please the gods.
How Lord Shiva almost failed in battle
Once Lord Shiva had to go to battle a large army of demons. He prepared his army, his ganas, and proceeded from Mount Kailash for war.
However, being completely engrossed in leaving for war, he forgot to worship Lord Ganesha first. On the way to the battle, they started facing many difficulties. Some of the ganas started getting sick on the road and at one time, the carriage containing their weapons also broke down. Lord Shiva immediately realized that this was happening because he had not prayed to Lord Ganesha before leaving.
He halted the procession and decided to do the ritual right there and then. His army made the preparations and performed the puja to Lord Ganesha. After getting the blessings, Lord Shiva and his army proceeded to the battle and easily won it.
This story shows that even Lord Shiva, the one who had given the boon to Lord Ganesha, had to perform the ritual before doing a good deed. So, if we make some rules for others, then it falls on us to follow them as well.
How Lord Vishnu got his conch back
Lord Vishnu is the lord of the entire cosmos, managing every being that lives in the universe. He was known to carry a conch at all times. One day, he noticed that the conch was missing and he couldn’t find it anywhere.
Feeling great annoyance at the missing conch, Lord Vishnu used all his powers to look for it. As he kept searching, he suddenly heard the sound of the conch coming from a distance. Moving towards the source of the sound, Lord Vishnu realized that it was coming from Mount Kailash. When he reached there, he saw that Lord Ganesha was blowing the conch merrily.
Lord Vishnu knew that Ganesha would not relent the conch easily so he beseeched Lord Shiva to request Ganesha to give back the conch. But Lord Shiva said that even he didn’t have any powers over Ganesha and the only way to get it back was to pray to Ganesha himself.
Even though he was the lord of the cosmos, Lord Vishnu immediately prayed to seek Lord Ganesha’s favor. Once the puja was done, Lord Ganesha was impressed and simply handed back the conch.
This story teaches us that if even the lord of the cosmos can bow down to the youngest god, then we surely can be humble towards everyone.
On this Ganesh Utsav, enthrall yourself with melodious bhajans adorning Lord Ganesha here. You can find many more Ganesha stories and wisdom decoded by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on the Art of Living app.
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