Universal God's birthday

Who is Ganesha? Why does he have so many names? Why an elephant head? Why does he have devotees in so many countries? Why does the idea of Ganesh or Vignanayaka travel so fast? Why does trading community love him? What about his parents, wives and children, what do they represent? What can I reflect, on his birthday? Here is a take on Ganesha, by an atheist/agnostic philosopher who happens to be born in a Hindu family. There is a lot of value in Indian or rather any mythology which can help in reflecting and finding solution to problems around us. The gods and stories you believe in, shape your worldview and thus your attitude towards different situations.

Let's first dig up the history of Ganesha, it has something interesting to offer! We have a puzzle to solve. How did he pop up out of nowhere- sudden rise of a universal god? We have lots of evidence of Ganesha idols in the 1st century AD or so, we see them in different parts of the world, but we do not find any antecedents of Ganesh. Elephants were an integral part of Indian civilization, but no elephant gods were found except for a few Tibetan and Afghanistan evidences of Ganesha idols. Few archaeologists guess that Ganesh is probably not Vedic or Dravidian but he may have his roots in indigenous cultures of India which predate both Vedic and Agamic traditions.

How and why did the idea of Ganesha travel so fast? Ideas travel with people, but who are the people who keep traveling? Missionaries and messengers travel, but which community travels and settles down? Can missionaries carry cultures as effectively as traders who settle down? Why do certain cults of Buddhism have Ganesha appearing both as a god and a demon? Why do few Jain communities worship Ganesha even though he is not present in their scriptures? Why would trade ties with Hindu trader community lead to Jain community accepting Ganesha? Well, traders were definitely not the most powerful people and so Ganesha's popularity and universal appeal cannot be attributed to them alone.

While traders did carry the idea of Ganesha to different places, why does the idea stick? People celebrate Ganesha as the remover of obstacles, so do people see value in beating procrastination? Or do we have other implicit reasons which don't meet the eye? Is Ganesha a happy go lucky god? Does his smile and humility get him more acceptance? My riding a mouse does he send a message of humility and universality? This takes us to another very interesting question- what does Ganesha actually represent? The answer is probably within his genealogy? What do we know about his parents, wives and children?

Ganesha was born the destroyer God (Shiva) and the goddess of Power (Parvati), his maternal grandfather(Daksha) is the god of rules and his maternal great grandfather(Brahma) is the god of creation. Creator needs rules which don't get along with the rebel or destroyer, but gel along with the help of power. So we see the need for a go-getter to get through the obstacles or rules and progress. So what happens when we master this. Well, he has three wives - buddhi (wisdom), siddhi(superpowers), riddhi (prosperity). Conjunction of these three powers with the ability to overcome obstacles gives three children - Ksema/Shubh (happiness/security) , Labha (profit) and Santoshima (satisfaction).

In Hindu Philosophy, Gods personify different ideas and as you can see a lot of realities of life can be understood by exploring the relationships between the deities. There is heavy usage of metaphor and masses could pick up a bit of life-philosophy by accepting the gods. However, it is a good or probably godly idea to choose reason over faith, as advised by Swami Vivekananda. Chanting mantras religiously, without understanding them, could be equivalent to rote-learning. Can we rather ask some questions and imbibe the ideas which Hindu Philosophers wanted to propagate through the idea of Ganesha? Maybe! Happy Ganesha Chaturthi to the theists, agnostics and atheists out there, happy birthday to the universal god! May you break the ice, may you overcome the obstacles, may the force be with you!