Hari Aum.
Om Sri Ganeshaya Namah.
I would like to write a brief post on Lord Ganesha today. I recently completed my first ever performance of Bharatanatyam dance on stage with my dance classmates and it was a beautiful (though slightly nerve wracking!) experience.
This piece was dedicated to Lord Ganesha, the beloved older son of Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati, the One who is worshipped as the embodiment of wisdom and remover of obstacles.
In the Vedic tradition, Ganesha is always worshipped first, before any other form of the Divine (though they are all equal and One). He is worshipped before the performance of any significant or auspicious event, be it for a material or spiritual purpose, because He embodies that aspect of the Divine which removes all obstacles to success. Every important activity in the yogic or Vedic tradition begins with invoking and honouring Ganesha.
He has the head of an elephant, symbolising great intelligence. In each of His four hands, He holds an object symbolising divine grace and protection.
In His upper right and left hands, He holds divine weapons (the axe and the rope), respectively symbolising the destruction of material desires and binding of the lower ego.
In His left lower hand, He holds a bowl of delicious sweets (known as 'modaka' in Sanskrit) which symbolises Divine grace and auspiciousness (the sweetness of life, both material and spiritual).
His right lower hand is held in 'abhaya mudra' or the gesture of blessing and granting protection/fearlessness. This gesture symbolises His commitment to protect His devotees and grant blessings, both material and spiritual, including the great spiritual goal of Self-realisation.
I have been worshipping Lord Ganesha a bit more in the past couple of months since my dance teacher announced that He wanted our class to perform a piece dedicated to Him (the performance was to be part of a cultural programme including a Christmas celebration). This was a 'Ganesha vandana' including a 'pushpanjali' (worship of Ganesha with symbolic offering of flowers).
As mentioned previously in October, I had no plans to perform in public anytime soon and was quite nervous at the idea of appearing on stage this month. As our first ever dance performance would be dedicated to Lord Ganesha, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to develop a closer bond with this form of the Divine.
I have always recited the mantra of Ganesha before conducting any worship of any other deity, including Narayana, but I have never before undertaken a specific tapas or spiritual practice dedicated to Him.
To invoke the blessings and protection of Ganesha, to request Him to bless me that I may be able to perform this dance without any obstacles, I started to recite His mantra (Om Gum Ganapataye Namah) on certain days (in the past week or two, I recited a mini-mala of 27 recitations daily along with my usual japa sadhana, and did a puja for Ganesha).
The interesting thing is that there were plenty of obstacles in the path of my dance practice in the past six weeks-- some expected and some completely unexpected! These did create some stress but I felt that, due to the grace of God, particularly as Ganesha, I was able to cope relatively well and managed to do some regular dance practice despite it all!
My dance classmates too would have had their own share of challenges as they come from various backgrounds (many are working women like me and also have families, and some are students)-- but we all managed to practice and learn the dance to a reasonable level by the grace of God. We certainly needed divine grace as our dance Guru tweaked and changed bits of the choreography right until the eve of the performance!
And, finally, when the day of our performance arrived earlier this month, I felt nervous but as ready as I felt as I could be (for a beginner!). The preparation for the performance, the repeated training over and over again (both in class and at home), the sheer effort involved (our teacher is quite tough in a good way and pushed us to our limits!), felt like a tapas or spiritual practice in itself. It felt like both the preparation and the performance itself were a form of worship of the Divine (and not merely a form of entertainment).
I have enjoyed watching Bharatanatyam so many times, and this felt like a beautiful opportunity to be on the other side of the fence-- to share the beauty of this dance with the audience who would be watching, to depict the beauty and glory of Lord Ganesha and hopefully provide spiritual inspiration (even as I have been inspired so many times when I have watched dance performances).
Before entering the stage, I mentally invoked Ganesha, my Guru Sivananda, Shiva/Nataraja, Durga, Sarasvati, Radha and Krishna/Narayana and dedicated the dance to the Divine in all these forms. I asked Sivananda especially to be present with me throughout the performance and I have no doubt that it was he who helped me stay (relatively!) calm and do my best on the day.
Our class had performed a lovely group puja to Lord Nataraja just before the performance. This is an ancient tradition-- we offer worship to God and honour our dance Guru before our first ever performance by offering our dancing/ankle bells to the Divine. This was a lovely and very calming ritual but, by the time we were waiting in the wings to enter the stage, we were all a bit nervous again, and it was helpful to have another round of mantra chanting and divine invocations to calm down!
The actual event itself went off relatively smoothly and we felt very grateful to receive some positive and encouraging feedback from the audience afterwards. Our teacher also said he was satisfied on the whole with our performance (but of course, in true Guru-style, declared that he wanted us to continue to improve and build upon our skills--as we still have a some more years of training to undergo before we can hope to be really good dancers!).
I will conclude this post by quoting the main sloka or prayer upon which our dance was based:
"Mooshika vahana, modaka hasta,
Chamara karna, vilambita sutra,
Vamana rupa, Maheshvara putra,
Vighna vinayaka, pada namaste".
This means:
"To the One who has the mouse as His divine vehicle (the mouse represents the ego that has been brought under control by Ganesha),
To Him who holds sweets in His hand (symbolising divine blessings and grace),
To the One who has large ears (of an elephant, symbolising His willingness to lend a compassionate listening ear to His devotees),
To the One who wears the sacred thread (symbolising spiritual wisdom/Divine intelligence),
To the One who has the form of an adorable young child,
Who is the beloved son of Lord Shiva (Maheshvara),
Who is the destroyer of all obstacles,
To His holy feet, I offer worship."
This is a music video of the sloka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoiBNxlgc8k
Om Sri Ganeshaya Namah.
I wish all readers a very happy Christmas and New Year. Let us continue to recite mantras and prayers for inner peace and world peace.
Om Namo Narayanaya.
Hari Aum Tat Sat.
