STORY OF HOW SHIVA CREATED THE ELEPHANT HEADED GANESHA (BIRTH OF GANESHA)
There is a beautiful story about how Ganesha was born to Goddess Parvati. One day Goddess Parvati was alone at home on Mt. Kailash, and wanted to go for bathing. She asked Nandi (Shiva’s Bull) to guard the door and not to let anybody enter.
Nandi sincerely followed the order until Shiva came. He couldn’t stop Shiva from entering the house as Nandi is most loyal to Shiva. Seeing this Parvati was angry, and decided to create Ganesha out of the turmeric paste that she had applied on her body (for bathing). After she created the body, she blew life into the body and declare him to be her loyal son, Ganesha.
During the next instance when Parvati wanted to bathe, she ordered Ganesha to guard the entrance door. In due course, when Shiva came home, Ganesha refused to allow Him to enter. Shiva became furious and tried to kill the boy through His army, but failed. Surprised by the power that the boy possesses, He decided to fight with him.
During the fight, Shiva severed Ganesha’s head, killing him instantly. When Parvati learned of this, she was so enraged and insulted that she decided to destroy the entire Creation. Lord Brahma, being the Creator, naturally had his issues with this and pleaded that she reconsider her drastic plan. She said she would, but only if two conditions were met: one, that Ganesha is brought back to life, and two, that he be forever worshipped before all the other gods.
Shiva, having cooled down by this time, and realizing his mistake agreed to Parvati’s conditions.
He sent Brahma out with orders to bring back the head of the first creature he crosses that is lying with its head facing North. Brahma soon returned with the head of a strong and powerful elephant, which Shiva placed onto Ganesha’s body. Breathing new life into him, he declared Ganesha to be his own son as well and gave him the status of being foremost among the gods, and leader of all the ganas (classes of beings), Ganapati.
Significance of the story
Ganesha was born out of the collection of dirt from Parvati’s body. ‘Parvati’ is the high energy of a celebration or festival, and they're always is some aspect of negativity in this high energy.
This is symbolized by the dirt. When this body of dirt encountered the ‘Shiva element’, the ‘Advait Tattva’, his head, that is ego, fell apart and was then replaced by the head of an elephant. The principal qualities of the elephant are wisdom and effortlessness.
Elephants don’t walk around obstacles, neither do they stop at them – they just remove them and keep walking straight on. So, when we worship Lord Ganesha, these elephant qualities within us, are kindled and we take on those qualities. The reason being that whatever you keep your attention on, you take on those qualities.
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