Ganesha: The Mighty Remover of Obstacles

Sporting Ganesha Tattoos with my new friend in Thailand - 2013

Lord Ganesha is known to most as the "Remover of Obstacles." Invoked at the beginning of new ventures, he is one of the most popular and most known of the Hindu gods by people all over the world. I became aware of Ganesha very early on in my yoga career when my first yoga teacher introduced us to him in a class. Perhaps it was because I had a lot of obstacles in my life that needed removing at the time, but he quickly became my favorite God in the Hindu pantheon.

Throughout the years I have chanted to Ganesha for fun, for new beginnings, and during difficult times. And I have always found chanting to the elephant god to be a good and positive thing. Perhaps this is why I was drawn to tattoo him on my right arm several years ago. Still as bright and beautiful as the first day I had the tattoo made, I always receive such complementary remarks about this tattoo when I travel. And the Hindi women in Dunkin' Donuts love to send him kisses when I come in for my morning Chai. At first they looked at me very surprised, inquiring, "Do you know who that is?" This tickled me, but always I gave a respectful response.

Known as Ganapati, images of him can be found all over India, Thailand, Nepal, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, and he is worshipped also by Buddhists sand Jainists as well as Hindus. But I do not believe you have to be a part of any particular religion in order to connect to this wonderful deity. His large belly and numerous symbols make him an inviting god in which to chant to.

The first story of Ganesha that I ever heard was how he received his elephant head. Now I have heard many versions of this story - all equally unpleasant, but the one I first remembered hearing from my teacher was that Lord Shiva's wife Parvati wanted a child very badly. Shiva was always away and she wanted company, so she created him from the dirt of her body while bathing. She instructed him to guard her entrance to the bathroom and not let anyone enter. So when Lord Shiva returned and Ganesha would not allow him entry to his wife's chambers, he quickly became enraged and cut off his head. Running out, Parvati asked Shiva to what he had done and he immediately sent his army out to find a suitable replacement head for his son. The first animal they came across was an elephant, and so they brought its head back, and Lord Shiva attached it to the boy. Shiva's troops or army are called "Gana" and he eventually made Ganesha leader of the troops, which is "pati." Thus, his name: Ganapati. 

I am not making this story up. It can be found in the Shiva Purana. An even more interesting and true story is that every morning when I take my shower, my lovely dog, Bodhi (enlightened one) always comes and sits in front of the shower and waits until the water stops to go back into the bedroom. I think of him as my little Ganesha every day.

The most popular chant to Lord Ganesha is "Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha." And I have chanted this mantra for many, many years. Chanting his name 108 times at first seemed daunting, but after so many years and so many repetitions, it seems to fly by in a couple of minutes. In actuality it could take 8-10 or so, depending on the speed in which I am chanting on that particular day. It has always been my go-to Ganesha mantra even though the first one that I learned was "Ganesha Sharanam." Sharanam means to take shelter in, so this is often translated as "I take refuge in Ganesha." Another lovely chant that I sometimes sing when I am in a very jovial mood and full of energy.

Before 2017 began I knew that I wanted to take my chanting practice deeper. I had felt a disconnection spiritually and wanted to dive into a practice of surrendering and honoring the different aspects of the divine. I knew that I wanted to being the year with Ganesha and began an alter to him on January 1st and chanted to him until the New Moon on February 26th. This was an extremely challenging time for me. As many already know, I had an auto accident in December and post concussion syndrome. For the entire time that I intended to chant to Ganesha, I battled with headaches, memory issues, and certain brain fog daily. I felt energetically depleted and mentally exhausted, so on days when I had to work I would come home and want to crash. But I forced myself to chant even just three times on those nights. On other days when I had more energy I would chant 108 times, and eventually changed up the chants to include a new favorite "Om Shreem Hreem Kleem Glaum Gam Ganapatayei Namaha!" This was fun and interesting on the day that I could enjoy it. Chanting 108 times and more in the car on other days made the time go by and more enjoyable. One source translates this mantra to mean the following:

‘Shrim’ invokes love and beauty; it concerns the heart and hence, both physical and emotional health. ‘Hrim’ is associated with Maya, a syllable that empowers us to see through the illusory nature of the world. ‘Klim’ is forceful, stimulating and energizing; symbolically, it is represented by a thunderbolt that destroys lowly ignorance. ‘Glaum’ is the earth element while ‘Gam’ is the primal Seed, Ganesha himself. In chanting this mantra, the devotee seeks the grace of Ganesha in his present life and all future lifetimes.

Chanting artist Girish says this mantra, "invokes the energies of abundance into our lives by clearing away all energetic obstacles and cultivating the energy of attracting our highest good."

The one thing that came to mind during this period of chanting to Ganesha was, "Careful what you wish for." I was chanting daily to the Remover of Obstacles, to clear away impurities, and energies that did not serve my spirit and highest good. Health concerns seemed to show up daily and ongoing personal issues seemed to be heightened. I wanted to quit. But I knew that I needed to see it through because I had asked for this. I had asked to be cleared, and in the process of clearing energy, it has to come up and out, doesn't it? Well, it sure was! All of it: the good, the bad, and the ugly! Well, truthfully it was mostly the bad and the ugly, but in the end it was all good!

I also taught myself the Ganesha Gayatri Mantra. Beautiful and melodic, this chant is a very powerful mantra said to facilitate the dawning of spiritual enlightenment through the grace of Ganesha. 

Om Ekadantaaya Vidmahe

Vakratundaaya Dheemahi

Tano Dantih Prachodayaat

All I can say is, "Wow." For the past few years my intentions have been to work on opening the energies in my upper chakras and make a greater connection spiritually. And although I thought that I felt depleted and disconnected during this time of chanting to Ganesha, I was actually more connected than I gave myself credit for. I was there every day in some way dedicating myself to the connection. I believe that once his Gayatri Mantra became a part of me that I was able to begin to move out of the phase that I was in, and truly clear away the obstacles at hand so that I could emerge lighter and more assured than I had been before.

Chanting to Ganesha helped prepare me for the next stage of my chanting, which turned to the Goddess Lakshmi. I am currently chanting to her daily. So when my good friend Raj returned from India with a token for me - bells with the image of both Ganesha and Lakshmi - I thought, "how perfect!" That has had a place on my alter since. 

Ganesha is the used at the beginning, and I still feel like I am at the beginning of a very deep and soulful journey...the journey of my life and quest to deeper understanding. There seems to always be a perfect time or opportunity to chant to Ganesha, but I invite those who are at a particularly difficult or challenging or a huge change in their life to begin a daily chanting practice to the Remover of Obstacles. And I would enjoy hearing about your experience.

Namaste.