4 Ganesha
Lord Vinayaka is considered as the first god in Hinduism. Among the Holy texts of Hinduism, Sri Vinayaka Purana is considered to be an auspicious one. Vinayaka Purana covers about the details of Lord Vinayaka about his birth and his wonderful plays. Apart from that, some wonderful stories are also mentioned in the Purana, and those stories are to be considered as real incidents which might have happened before several millions of years ago!
STORY NO.1
According to Vinayaka Purana, Mahorkada Vinayagar was born as the son of Rishi Kashyapa and his consort Mata Adithi during the Treta Yuga. He was mainly born to kill the cruel demons, since they have got lot of boons from Lord Shiva, and they could not be defeated by anybody, except by Lord Ganesha. He destroyed Dhumakethu, Sindhoorasura, Durmugan and many other demons, in order to protect the demi gods in the heaven, to protect the people in the earth and to maintain peace and prosperity in the entire universe.
During his avatar as Mahorkada, he performed childhood plays similar to Lord Krishna and he also performed many miracles, and used to steal and eat lot of Mothakams prepared by his mother Adhithi. Once while he was eating food at his father Kashyapa’s ashram along with Kasirajan, the then king of Kasi, apart from the regular food items, some more items were found in his plantain leaf. Kasirajan had enquired about it to Lord Mahorkada, and he replied that his great devotee Purushundi had offered some sweets and fruits to him at his ashram, and due to his sincere devotion, he had accepted his offering.
Mahorkada Vinayaka also removed the ego of Lord Chandra, by making him to expand and reduce his size on certain days in the month.Once he has shown his full form (Viswaroopa Darshan) to Lord Indra, in order to destroy his ego. He also mingled with other ashram boys and used to play games with them in the streets. Mahorkada also used to frequently visit the houses of his neighbours and used to eat the food items in their house. Everyone in the region liked the divine boy Mahorkada, and they have forgotten their sorrows and lived peacefully by having the darshan of Lord Mahorkada.
STORY NO.2
Purusundi was an ancient sage who lived during the Treta Yuga. His birth name was Vipradhan and he was a hunter, before attaining the status of the divine sage.
Hunter Vipradhan was used to hunt the animals and through that he had earned for his livelihood. Once, there occurred a severe drought in his place, he suffered from poverty, and hence started doing robbery. Once he tried to take the belongings of a great rishi Sree Mukkala Munivar, and due to his kind approach and through his advice, he stopped doing sinful acts, and he had started doing severe penance on Lord Vinayaka. After several years, Lord Vinayaka appeared in front of him and granted him a wish fulfilling tree and also blessed him. Due to the blessing of Lord Vinayaka, Sage Purusundi’s appearance had been changed to that of Lord Vinayaka.
Once a newly married couple laughed at him and commented his appearance, and he immediately cursed them to become a tree. And as per their request, he felt pity on them, and granted them the boon of becoming holy trees, and also Lord Vinayaka will dwell between the trees, and people will worship the holy trees, while worshipping Lord Vinayaka.
Lord Indra was attracted by the divine tree, and approached sage purusundi and asked for the divine wish fulfilling tree, KALPAKAVRIKSHA in order to take it to the swarkaloka. And immediately, Purusundi gave him the divine tree and continued his penance on Lord Vinayaka.
Seeing his noble act, Lord Vinayaka had granted him salvation.
STORY NO.3
Several centuries back, there lived a pious Brahmin boy along with his family at a village in Tamil Nadu. His name was Vallalan. He was mentioned in the Vinayaka Purana. He was an ardent devotee of Lord Vinayaka, and used to offer regular prayers to him at his home, and in the temples. Though he has studied well, his father was not pleased with his performance in the studies, and put more pressure on him, with regard to his studies.
The young Vallalan after finishing his school, daily would take his friends at the Vinayaka Idol which was seated under a fig tree. He would collect flowers from the nearby flower gardens, and also gather the fruits which were fallen out from the trees, and use it for performing the puja for Vinayaka idol. His father was not aware of that. One day, while his father was passing by that side, he suddenly saw his son performing the puja to the idol of Vinayaka. He got very angry with his son, and hit him hardly with a stick. The young boy was injured and got fainted and fell down on the floor. Even after that, his father could not control his anger, and started hitting him hardly again and again with the stick. Due to that, he was very much wounded and laid in an unconscious state.
After some time, his father, has went home, and narrated the entire incident to his wife. She was very much upset, and went to the temple of Vinayaka, and given first aid to her son, and took him to a village physician. After some time, Vallalan got relieved from his pains, and become normal. But his father could not raise his hands, and the bones of his right hand were broken automatically. He realized his mistake, and asked his son to apologize him, and also prayed to Lord Vinayaka.
The young vallalan also felt pity on his father, and asked him to chant the Ganesha Mantra “OM SRI VINAYAKAYA NAMAHA”, his father has chanted the mantra, and miraculously his bone got attached, and he was healed through the help of his son the great Vinayaka Devotee Sri Vallalan. Then the entire family were become sincere devotees of Lord Vinayaka. After his death, he reached the divine abode of Lord Vinayaka, the Ganesha Loka.
“OM SRI VINAYAKAYA NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR