Ganesha

Ganesha, Ganesh, Vinayaka... Among his many titles, Ganesh is called the 'Remover of Obstacles' and also 'The God of Beginnings'.
It is at the beginning of any journeym venture or life change - however great or small - that HIS guidance, protection and blessing is sought.

Ganesha appears in many forms, signifying the diversity of human destiny. In South Indian traditions, he is unmarried and fully devoted to his mother, Parvati. In the North, Ganesh is a householder with two consorts, Siddhi and Buddhi, known as Achievement and Wisdom. As Bala Ganesh, the divine child, he is curious and full of folly. He is playful and loving. The modhak, he accepts from his beloved devotees is representative not only of his innonence but of the pearls of his wisdom. As the dancing god, Ganesha balances out the severity of every step we take, inspiring realization of the divine behind all of life's circumstances and the joy of living life in concert with the whole. In other forms, Ganesha embodies wisdom and judgement. In still others, he is the overseer of Karma.
Ganesha reigns over both the divine and the demonic and everywhere in between. His powers affect both gods and demons alike, as well as each of us. Ganesha teaches us what it is to be truly human. He shows us that the experience of living demands a dynamic search for truth, a daring move from our familiar, and sometimes dangerous, habits and perceptions to a more spontaneous and sincere path - our path to the Divine.

THE REMOVER OF OBSTACLES:
For Hindus, as well as many Jains and Buddhists, Ganesha is known as Vigheshvar, the Remover of Obstacles. Hindu devotees worship him for protection during journeys, for the successful performance of their duties, for auspicious benedictions in business matters, as well as many other basic concerns - for all obstacles they will no doubt face along the way. Appealing to Ganesha assures that the road will be smooth. Ganesha offers gifts of health and prosperity, connecting one with creation's abundance. He inspires us to understand between our worldly experience and that which is spiritual.
Ganesha not only has the power to remove obstacles, but also to put them there in the first place so that we might learn a much needed lesson. What may initially appear as an obstacle can ultimately be seen as a source of strength and a tool for self-exploration and understanding. Ganesha confronts us through the mask of our challenging life circumstances so that we may move about conscientiously with honesh intentions.

THE LORD OF THRESHOLDS:
Ganesha is also known as the Lord of Thresholds. In India, statues of Ganesha are placed at the inner gates of many temples symbolizing his role as a keeper of sacred spaces. It is this symbolic presence at the entrance of our most holy places that makes Ganesha such a vital figure in our lives. Stationed at the threshold of sacredness and awareness, mediating between the possibility of the profound and our often habitual, mundane perception of the world, Ganesha is the guiding force behind this very moment of experience - where our human desire meets possibility. In another sense, Ganesha stands at the threshold of old and new, the sacred and the profane - he is a bridge connecting a truthful way of living, or Dharma, from the distant past to the present.

BLESSINGS FROM GANESHA:
Ganesha - in all his forms - impresses upon us the idea of an honest and complete human life. Aware of the passions that uphold the human spirit and the truth that brings relevance and harmony, Ganesha offers a beginning, a path of faith - a positive and intentional approach to living. It is a path that moves in spontaneity: beyond personality and impersonality, and beyond dogma and disobedience. It is neither the ascetic path nor that of the aesthete. It is an inner following and an honest joyfulness, an undefined way of the heart flowing from the depth of Being.