Yoga & Science of Ganesha

There was a patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland. Alone, in his third-floor apartment, he would contemplate on nature of the Universe. One day, in one of those moments of silence, he realized a deep secret. He felt that his intuition has downloaded an unimaginable wisdom. Now, the wisdom had to be given some shape and representation so that it can be communicated to the people. He struggled, worked hard and succeeded in documenting that wisdom and bringing it out in the language of common people. The year was 1905 and the patent clerk was 24-year old Albert Einstein. Einstein became the first human, in modern times, to uncover the secret of light, energy and matter. The paper he wrote was called Special Theory of Relativity.

The Sage of Science, Sir Albert Einstein, realized the wisdom during his contemplation. His representation was in plain text physics and mathematics, the language of 20^th century scientific community. The ultimate concise code, that symbolizes and encompasses the wisdom, is his famous mathematical equation

E=mc²

You may be wondering, why I am telling this here…

Thousands of years ago, in ancient times, the Sage of Indus Valley also realized a deep Universal secret in his meditation. His representation was in prose and poetic Sanskrit mantras, the language of ancient people. The ultimate concise codes he gave are

1. The visual form of Ganesha, as we see today
2. The audio form of seed mantra (called beeja mantra in Sanskrit)

The above two are like Einstein’s E=mc².

Ganesha Belongs To Humanity

Ganesha is not just a Hindu God. He belongs to the humanity. Ganesha represents intellect, knowledge, wisdom, learning, listening, speaking, writing, clearance of obstacles, auspiciousness, and upward mobility for humanity. These critical mental and sensory faculties have made us, humans, the supreme rulers among all the species in the animal kingdom. Humans have pretty much taken over the Earth, spread over its lands, control its resources, explore deep oceans and send missions to deep space.

The gift of Ganesha, which the ancient Sage has given to humankind, allows us to learn techniques and practices to enhance our mental and sensory capabilities. For example,

How do we become better listeners?

How do we attract auspiciousness?

How do we develop intuition?

How do we become able communicators?

How do we flower compassion within us?

Decode and Demystify Ganesha

To understand the Special Theory of Relativity, E=mc² is the best place to start. The equation says everything in this Universe is just energy and it gives the relationship between what we call matter (m) and energy (E); it tells us why a star like our Sun emits light; it tells us about the nature of light with the constant c. Essentially, the concise equation is the portal, which we first understand and then dive deep into it to explore various aspects of the special theory of relativity.

On the same lines, in this series of articles, let’s decode and demystify Ganesha from the perspective of science and spirituality. First, let’s understand Ganesha’s form: know what it means and what it’s telling us. Then using Him as the portal, we’ll dive into the wisdom of Ganesha. We’ll go over the stories, knowledge, techniques and their application in our daily lives so we can enhance ourselves.

Please stay tuned…subscribe to weekly newsletter to get notified when new content gets published. Feel free to share your comments below. For each article, I usually provide an associated simple practice, which you can do during your day/week. So, here is the practice…

Practice

Take a minute and look at the photo or any art form of your favorite Saint, God, Deity, Symbol, or picture of your loved ones like parents, kids, etc. Observe the feelings (emotions) and sensations in the body. Write it down. Don’t think; just feel — emotions and body sensations. Do this anytime of the day and any number of times.

Benefits of the practice: Helps us bypass mind, feel thru heart and act genuinely. Prepares us to understand and experience deeper meanings hidden in Ganesha’s form (explained in upcoming articles)