Lord Ganesha: symbolizing our spiritual relationship with nature
From God to elephant, and elephant to God
Ganesh Chaturthi is a lunar-calendar based celebration of Lord Ganesh, the lovable elephant-headed god of wisdom and prosperity. Ganesh or Ganesha, is one of the most popular Hindu deities. Being the enabler of prosperity, remover of obstacles, and the forebearer of good luck, Lord Ganesh is worshipped quite widely — and understandably so!
Luck and wisdom. Accomplishing any important task requires both. The proportion may vary but both need to be present, in some degree, to accomplish anything meaningful. Indeed, श्री गणेशाय नमः (Shri Ganesh-ayah namah) is uttered at the start of all prayers and important tasks.
Ganesha is the bestower of intelligence, wisdom and remover of obstacles (which translates to luck). As an elephant-headed deity, Ganesh has large head, two large ears, a trunk, a small mouth, small eyes. He’s also shown as being a plump pot-bellied boy, resembling in feature to an elephant.
Form here, matches function perfectly.
What to these features tell us? The associations follow readily: thoughtfulness (big head), focus (small eyes, as if squinting to concentrate), listening (big ears), considered speech (small mouth), versatility (trunk) and finally, digestion, in the analytical and reflective sense (pot belly).
Notice how Lord Ganesh, in addition to being the bestower of luck and wisdom, also possesses all the antecedents for success?
A person who uses sound thinking, listens carefully, thinks before acting, is versatile and persistent, is already on the right direction. Slowly, but certainly, they will build up their wisdom and in due course, luck will also follow. As philosopher Seneca has famously noted: luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
Lord Ganesh, while being the bestower of the desired outcomes, is also a symbol of the characteristics that make a person successful in both material and spiritual senses.
There is a completeness about Lord Ganesha. Function-wise, there are few better things to ask for than the combination of wisdom and prosperity. Form-wise also, the choice of elephant couldn’t have been better.
🐘Elephants, the largest animals on land, are a formidable species. There is much more to them than just their impressive size, or being very cute as baby. They are highly intelligent and demonstrate emotional astuteness, great memory and sophisticated social structures. They have an incredible sense of smell, can sense water miles away, and indeed even dig water for themselves, that other animals can use afterwards. They are also natural gardeners of nature. Their dung helps spread many seeds which promotes vegetation. Indeed, even when they dislodge trees, they create the foundation for other ecological activity. They are useful simply by virtue of their existence. Little wonder that they are a keystone species of planet Earth.
The elephant is a heritage animal in India. In a religious sense, they have a great association (with Lord Ganesh). Considered auspicious, elephants also appear in many spiritual folk tales in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions. Culturally, people relate to them intuitively, reverently and with (relatively) much greater sense of intimacy than other wild animals.
Elephants have great mental and social intelligence. Being persistent in their search for food and water, they embody the ethos of working through (removing) obstacles. Being gardeners of the eco-system, their activities benefit other creatures also. If parallels with the role of Lord Ganesh are apparent, it should not be considered a coincidence. Hinduism presents many great exemplars and natural laws via deceptively simple symbolism.
In Hinduism, life is sacred and a reflection of the Supreme Being itself. Indeed, the greeting namaste, translates loosely to “I bow to the divine in you”. To see the Divine in every living object, and in everything that supports life, is a central tenet, and also the ultimate challenge, of Hinduism.
Through Lord Ganesh, we develop a natural interest in elephants. It’s through elephants however, that we find a way to come full circle.
By appreciating elephants, we learn to appreciate the vital role of animals in sustaining natural processes. By appreciating animals, we learn to appreciate the role of flora in sustaining them. From flora, we appreciate the role of soil, rivers and mountains. We appreciate nature. We appreciate life.
We realize first-hand that all life is sacred; that we all are part of the vast system where everyone has a unique role. There is no master. There is no “resource”.
The universe is a great one-ness and every life is a reflection of the One. This one-ness then becomes the key to unlocking true prosperity in its most durable and inclusive sense. An elephant-God of prosperity and wisdom? Perhaps the form and function of Lord Ganesh is designed to transmit this very lesson.
Postscript: Unfortunately, today, elephants are highly endangered. Poaching, greed, hunting 😠 and habitat destruction has decimated their population. If you liked this post, please consider committing to wildlife rehabilitation, habitat restoration, meat-free living and ecological conservation. The route to our survival and prosperity as a planet will go through these paths.
