VINAYAGAR CHATURTHI
Part 1:
As the Vinayagar Chaturthi is approaching, I
would like to share some of the important aspects of this function and
the Concept of Vinayagar. I would like to have this as five parts. I
have learnt these from my preachers and
though it would be great if I share with my friends all families. Any
comments, corrections on the content of this blog are appreciated.
I am planning to start with Pillayar Suzhi. Its been a practice that when we start doing a Job or start creating something we would put a Pillayar suzhi on top of the sheet. Have we ever though why we do this? It seems when they start writing in Pana olai with Ezhuthani (Pen) they want to check the sharpness of the pen so they would scribble something on top of the ollai, as the day goes on it became Pillayar suzhi . This is one Story.
The actual reason is different, if you closely look in the Pillayar Suzhi there will a concentric circles followed by a single line. When the Male reproductive semen hits female egg, the vibration creates a ripple in the egg and when it enters the egg a new embryo (padaipu) is created. To represent this, before we create anything new we symbolically specify that pillayar Suzhi as the start of the creation.
I am planning to start with Pillayar Suzhi. Its been a practice that when we start doing a Job or start creating something we would put a Pillayar suzhi on top of the sheet. Have we ever though why we do this? It seems when they start writing in Pana olai with Ezhuthani (Pen) they want to check the sharpness of the pen so they would scribble something on top of the ollai, as the day goes on it became Pillayar suzhi . This is one Story.
The actual reason is different, if you closely look in the Pillayar Suzhi there will a concentric circles followed by a single line. When the Male reproductive semen hits female egg, the vibration creates a ripple in the egg and when it enters the egg a new embryo (padaipu) is created. To represent this, before we create anything new we symbolically specify that pillayar Suzhi as the start of the creation.
Part 2:
There is a thought on how vinayagar was born
and how he got his get head. Once Parvathi was about to take bath , she
wanted some one to gaurd her. She created one Son with all the dust and
sand . While she was taking her bath
lord shiva came , the son stopped him. Shiva got wild and chopped his
head. When parvathi came out she was stunned to see this and requested
shiva to give her son back . He then asked to take the head of an
elephant which is in the north direction and fix it . That's how
vinayagar was born.
Do we believe this at this point of time ? No absolutely not . Our ancestors were trying to say a message , since they couldn't say it straight . They hide the message in a story . Why would they do it?
Some times we can't tell everything to the kids right? Now a days kids are much sharper. Here is the conversation between a Grandma and a Child.
Child : How was I born ?
Grandma : ( thought for a minute ).. The Crow brought you here.
Child : How was my father born ?
Grandma : The Crane brought him here.
Child : How was my brother born ?
Grandma : The Parrot brought him here.
Child : Then No one in this house is NORMAL DELIVERY ??
Grandma Fainted.
This is what is happening now , we need to know the reason for everything . When we say such stories , we are getting question which we can't answer because we didn't search for it.
Coming back to our thought. Science says about the birth of this universe as, there was big blast and all the Dust , sand and every thing started collecting a point and it started revolving , during that revolution it started pulling all the objects towards itself and that is how the world was originated ( Big Bang Theory). To represent this or to convey this message our ancestor made up this story . So Vinayagar could be the representation of this World.
Do we believe this at this point of time ? No absolutely not . Our ancestors were trying to say a message , since they couldn't say it straight . They hide the message in a story . Why would they do it?
Some times we can't tell everything to the kids right? Now a days kids are much sharper. Here is the conversation between a Grandma and a Child.
Child : How was I born ?
Grandma : ( thought for a minute ).. The Crow brought you here.
Child : How was my father born ?
Grandma : The Crane brought him here.
Child : How was my brother born ?
Grandma : The Parrot brought him here.
Child : Then No one in this house is NORMAL DELIVERY ??
Grandma Fainted.
This is what is happening now , we need to know the reason for everything . When we say such stories , we are getting question which we can't answer because we didn't search for it.
Coming back to our thought. Science says about the birth of this universe as, there was big blast and all the Dust , sand and every thing started collecting a point and it started revolving , during that revolution it started pulling all the objects towards itself and that is how the world was originated ( Big Bang Theory). To represent this or to convey this message our ancestor made up this story . So Vinayagar could be the representation of this World.
Part 3:
In this Part I would like to cover the concept
of shape of Vinayagar. Why our ancestors have conceptualized the shape
of Vinayagar. There are lots of concepts about the Shape of the ears,
Shape of Belly, shape of eyes, etc. I am
not going to discuss about those parts now. I am going to discuss in a
very high level (not in detail). This World has Human, Animals, Rakshasa
(Bhootha) and God. Vinayagar has a body of a fat Child (kuzhandhai
Ganam), Head of an Elephant (Miruga Ganam), Feet of a Bhootha Raksha (
Rakshasa Ganam ) and the hands of God (Deiva Ganam).
When we enter any Shop we have a show case which has the sample of all the things available in that shop , so our ancestors has tried to represent the world in the form of lord Vinayagar. Since he has all the ganam (Manidha ganam ,Miruga ganam, Rakshasa ganam, Deiva ganam ) he is also known as Ganapathy. Long Story short, he is the representation / Show case of this world.
Another Importance of the Shape of Lord Vinayagar /Ganapathy is that it represents the Word “OOHM” ( as indicated in the picture). There is a lot of theory about this Letter OOHM, this is not the letter to be pronounced, it is to be raised from our internal body (இது சொல்ல வேண்டிய வார்த்தியை அல்ல, எழுப்ப வேண்டிய ஓசை). Another Theory says it is exactly same as the noise produce when the earth is revolving. Human Ear doesn’t have the capability to hear the Earth’s Revolution sound
Why Vinayagar has only half trunk on one side? What is concept behind it? We will see in the next part.
When we enter any Shop we have a show case which has the sample of all the things available in that shop , so our ancestors has tried to represent the world in the form of lord Vinayagar. Since he has all the ganam (Manidha ganam ,Miruga ganam, Rakshasa ganam, Deiva ganam ) he is also known as Ganapathy. Long Story short, he is the representation / Show case of this world.
Another Importance of the Shape of Lord Vinayagar /Ganapathy is that it represents the Word “OOHM” ( as indicated in the picture). There is a lot of theory about this Letter OOHM, this is not the letter to be pronounced, it is to be raised from our internal body (இது சொல்ல வேண்டிய வார்த்தியை அல்ல, எழுப்ப வேண்டிய ஓசை). Another Theory says it is exactly same as the noise produce when the earth is revolving. Human Ear doesn’t have the capability to hear the Earth’s Revolution sound
Why Vinayagar has only half trunk on one side? What is concept behind it? We will see in the next part.
Part 4:
Why he did that, or why our ancestor framed a story of breaking his own trunk to write an Epic. The though goes like this, in life symmetry is always beautiful e.g our body is perfectly symmetrical (in external appearance) what is on the left part of the body is on the right side too. Two eyes, ears, hands, etc. If the symmetry is lost, then beauty is lost and we become partly disabled. Then why Vinayaga broke his trunk and became asymmetrical ? He is ready to lose his beauty to give a good epic (message to the world). In Tamil “தன்அழகை இழந்தாவது இந்த உலகிற்கு ஒரு நல்ல செய்தி (இதிகாசம்) சொல்ல வேண்டும் என்று தான்.” So the message is “Being useful is more important that being beautiful. “ which insists that we need to show more respect to the Soldiers who sacrifices their lives compared to the beautiful and smart commercial heroes.
Now, to the deal between Vayasar and Vinayagar. When vayasar requested Vinayagar for assisting him in writing , Vinayagar had a condition that he should not stop till the epic is completed. This is real challenge to vayasar , he thought for a while and said he can say continuously but Vinayagar should understand and write all the slogas and not blindly write them . Both agreed and started the epic, so whenever vayasar is tired he used to say a tough slogan which takes some time for vinayar to understand and write. Vayasar takes rest at that time. “வல்லவனுக்கு வல்லவன் வையகத்தில் உண்டு.”
Part 5:
As the last part of this blog, we will discuss today
about dumping Vinayagar in sea. So again,
why our ancestors did so many things to Vinayagar and finally dissolve him in a
sea.
As we all know that in this Earth, the land
area where humans, animals live is nothing but the area left out by the ocean. The
Pancha Budha (nature) is always the superior god. Some People even say that,
these Pancha budhas can’t resist the evil things happening in this earth. So at
times it shows its anger as Earth quake, Tsunami and Cyclones. We need to
respect the Mother Nature, so she takes care of us.
Though we form Vinayagar with Sand, represent
him as a show case of Word, do all the rituals to this god, at last we have the
practice of dumping in the Sea to represent that this earth belongs to the Sea
and it can take it whenever it needs.