Courtesy:Sri.K.Muralidharan Iyengar
Dear All,
Greetings and Namaste. As Sri. Ganesh Chaturthi falls on Friday (18-Sep-2015), I am glad to attach a rare hymn on Lord Vighneshwara from Brahma Puranam, Gautami Mahatmya and Chapter 114 titled Avighna Tirtha. I presume Avighna Tirtha is one of the Tirthas along the path of Holy river Narmada - perhaps erudite scholars could perhaps pinpoint which actual it refers to in today's context. Lord Ganesha mentions that one who takes holy dip in this Tirtha and prays to him with this hymn never experiences any miseries or poverty.
Puranas extol Lord Ganesha as thus:
vAgIshAdyAH sumanasaH sarvArthAnAM upakrame | yaM natvA kRRita kRRityAsyuH taM namAmi gajAnanam|| (I pray to Lord Ganesha, who is prayed by all including Lord Brahma before starting any endeavor)
Over the last few years, we have seen that Lord Ganesha worship is all-encompassing and is seen even beyond the shores of India/Hinduism - a case in point is the face of Lord Vighneshwara in Indonesian currency IDR 20,000. In fact, the Ganesha idols carved out in sold in Indonesia (especially Bali) are quite distinct from Indian Ganesha form.
We have also seen citations from Nrusimha Puranam where it is given that King Ikshvaku (ancestor of Lord Rama) prayed to Lord Vinayaka to bestow him the permission and capacity to meditate on Lord Vishnu. We have also seen a prayer to Lord Vinyaka in Narada Pancharatram, a Vaishnavite Agama where he is extolled as Prathama Pujita (First Worshipped). We have also seen how Lord Narayana extols Lord Vinayaka in Brahma Vaivarta Puranam - where he mentions that he is incapable of explaining the greatness of Lord Vinayaka.
I recently read somewhere that Vishvaksena Samhita (another Vaishnavite Agama) praises Lord Vinayaka as a form of Lord Narayana Himself. I think this concept is mentioned elsewhere too (I vaguely remember reading some references in Cho's Hindu Maha Samudram").
Although the medieval Tamil Nadu seemed to have gone off tangent with egoistic clashes (through the extrapolation of philosophical differences between Vishishtadvaita and Advaita into Shaivite and Vaishnavite clashes leading to the purge of Shavite parivara devatas in Vishnu temples), we can still see the presence of Lord Vinayaka in many of the Vishnu Temples including 108 divya desams in Tamil Nadu (e.g. in my Kuladaiva temple, Madurai Azhakar Koil, Lord Vinayaka bears the name Thumbikkai Azhwar !).
Fortunately enough, this mindless nonsense has not spread beyond the shores of medieval Tamil Nadu. Some examples
1. In Guruvayur temple, also an important Divya Desa, Lord Vinayka/Durga/Shiva worship are prevalent with separate Sannadhis. Most of the Shiva/Vishnu temples in Kerala have both shrines.
2. Similarly in Karnataka, there are a few Vinayaka Temples which bears Vaishnavite Nama (Tripundram).
3. Sri Vadiraja was one of the greatest exponents of Dwaita Philosophy who had the Divya Darshan of Lord Hayagriva like Sri. Vedanta Deshikar of Vishishtadvaita Sampradaya. But he himself is believed to have done the Pratishta of Lord Manjunathaswamy in Dharmasthala.
4. Sri. Melpathur Narayana Bhattadiri, who is famous for composing Sri Narayaneeyam, also has composed Sripada Saptati, an exquisite prayer on Devi Bhagawathy from Mookuthala in Kerala.
5. Lord Padmanabhaswamy Temple has Shiva in the sanctum Sanctorum. There are a few temples in Tamil Nadu too.
The Lord is a Nirguna Brahman - so there is no ego clash among various forms of Gods. It is all the perversions of mankind.
May We pray To Lord Vighneshwara that He nullifies all the obstacles that lie in the way of our attaining true knowledge, wisdom and bhakti.
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