Stories of Ganesha that prove he is much more than the god of beginnings

Stories of Ganesha that prove he is much more than the god of beginnings

All of us know that Ganesha is the god of joy and happiness who removes all the obstacles from our life. But there are many mysterious things about his life that are not known to many.Ganesha curses the moonOne day Lord Ganesha was travelling happily through the world on his vehicle – the rat. He had eaten lots and lots of Modaks (his favourite sweet). His stomach was full and he was enjoying the ride. Suddenly the rat saw a snake and stumbled.Lord Ganesha toppled and fell flat on the ground. His stomach burst open and all the Modaks scattered around. Lord Ganesha gathered all the Modaks and stuffed them back into his stomach. In the gust of anger and frustration he caught the snake that caused his rat to stumble and tied it around his belly. Seeing this sight, the moon started laughing and made fun of lord Ganesha’s big belly. The otherwise calm and cool Ganesha became furious and pulled out one of his tusks and threw it towards the moon with great force.Lord Ganesha cursed the moon on its arrogance and beauty. He said to Moon the same qualities will become his suffering. Ganesha cursed moon that whoever sees you on the fourth day of Bhaadrapada month, i.e. on Ganesh Chaturthi (the birthday of lord Ganesha) and nine days afterit, would receive bad repute.Listening to this curse the moon realized his mistake and begged for forgiveness.

Lord Ganesha calmed down and told the moon that thecurse cannot be taken back. The moon that was proud of his appearance and laughed at Lord Ganesha just because of his big belly and his appearance also had to bow down to the Lord.Ganesha outwits KartikeyaOn an occasion, Shiva and Parvati had been given a fruit by the gods and both the sons Ganesh and Murugan (Kartikeya or Skanda or Kumara Swamy) wanted it. Some legends claim the dispute was about who was elder of the two. Anyway, the parents then suggested that the one who circled the world three times and came back first would get it as a prize.Kartikeya got on the peacock, his vahana, and flew around the world stopping at all sacred spots on the way and offering his prayers. But at every major stop, he would find Ganesha ahead of him and was perplexed. Ganesha understood that his vehicle, the mouse, would not be able to compete with Skanda's peacock and he could never beat Kartikeya.But he thought for a while and came up with a solution. He walked around his parents, Shiva and Parvati, three times, with great devotion. When his parents asked him why he was not circling the globe, he answered that his parents are the whole world.

I need go no further to travel the whole world.Skanda on returning back learned of this, and accepted the superiority of Ganesha, and bowed to him.How did a mouse become Ganesha’s VahanaThe story of mouse that became the carrier of Vigneshwara is very interesting. Once this rodent was a terrific demon called ‘Gajamughasur’ who performed a tough penance to please Lord Shiva and secure boons. This made him amazingly powerful and after that he started troubling other sub-gods in the heaven.These disturbances forced them to approach LordMahadeva who then authorized his son Ganesha to control Gajamughasur. With numerous divine weapons Lord Ganesh attacked the demon. Because of miraculous powers the Gajamughasur remained undefeated.So, Ganesha broke his own right tusk and transformed the same as his new weapon. At this instant the demon was disguised as a mouse andtrying to flee off. But Vigneshwar sat on the creature quickly and asked it to be his vehicle thereafter. Thus, he saved the sub-gods and heaven.Ganesha killed Kubera’s prideKubera, the God of Wealth, was quite proud of the fact that he was the richest God. One day, he held a lavish dinner and invited many popular guests, among them were Lord Shiva and Parvati. As the Divine couple could not attend the dinner, they sent their son, Ganesha who was a small child.

Ganesha began to devour all the food and soon there was no food available in the venue. He then began to eat all the vessels, dishes, furniture and other things at Alakapuri, Kubera’s city. Ganesha then proceeded to swallow the host of the dinner and the terrified Kubera ran to Lord Shiva’s abode and sought his help.Lord Shiva handed a cup of roasted cereals to Ganesha and his hunger for food ceased immediately.Lord Kubera realized his mistake and sought forgiveness for his pride.Lord Ganesha creates flowing riverOnce upon a time, Sage Agastya wished to create flowing river in a suitable location to offer water to the southern lands. The Gods, listening to his prayers, had his kamandalu filled with sacred water.The Sage then reached the Coorg Mountains. On his way, he spotted a small boy and requested him to take good care of his pot containing water as he needed to go to toilet. The small boy was none other than Ganesha and he placed the smallpot on the ground as he felt that location was perfect for a river.Then a crow landed on this pot and Sage Agastyashooed off the bird. The crow flew off tipping the pot to the ground and spilled off some water.This water formed River Kaveri and is considered as a sacred river.

ByDailybhaskar.com