Ganesh Chaturthi 2021: The festival is widely known and is celebrated as the birth anniversary of Lord Ganesha. This year it is celebrated on September 10, 2021. On this day, the devotees bring idols of Lord Ganesha to their homes and worship him.
One of the most popular Hindu deities in the Hindu religion is Lord Ganesha. He is also referred to as Ganapati and Vinayaka. He is the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati and therefore the brother of Lord Kartikeya.
Lord Ganesha's Family
He is the embodiment of three virtues, namely Buddhi, Siddhi, and Riddhi, called wisdom, spirituality, and prosperity respectively. He is the personification of Buddhi himself. The other two virtues are considered to be the consorts of Lord Ganesha.
It is believed that Riddhi and Siddhi were daughters of Lord Brahma, who himself conducted the wedding ceremony of Lord Ganesha. According to the Shiva Purana, Lord Ganesha had two sons namely Shubh and Labh. Goddess Riddhi's son was Shubh and Goddess Siddhi's son was Labh.
There are different stories and opinions on the marital status of Lord Ganesha. As per one opinion, Lord Ganesha is an unmarried Brahmachari, whereas Mudgala and Shiva Purana talks about the marital status of Lord Ganesha.
Lord Ganesha: Memorable and lesser-known stories
1. The story of Lord Ganesha's birth
There are several stories that revolve around the birth of Lord Ganesha, but one of the most popular is:
Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati used to live at Mount Kailash, making it their abode. One day, Goddess Parvati wanted to take a bath, but there was nobody to protect or guard her door, and so she made a structure of a turmeric paste with which she used to clean her body and infused life into it. She instructed him to not let anybody in until she completed the bath. When Lord Shiva returned, the child who had never seen Lord Shiva before did not allow him to enter and stopped him.
Lord Shiva severed the head of the child in anger. When Parvati came out and saw the dead body of her creation, she came into anger and her fury knew no bounds. She threatened to destroy the whole universe as a consequence of those actions.
After realising the mistake, Lord Shiva advised his troops to go into the forest and get the head of the first animal they spot. Incidentally, they found an elephant and brought back his head. This was placed on the body and brought back to life by Lord Shiva, and accepted him as his own son. This is how Ganesha was born as per one legend and is now worshipped as the god of gods.
Moral of the story
As the story talks about birth, it teaches an important lesson that how anger can cause harm to our close ones, and it is necessary to rectify our mistakes as soon as we can.
2. The story of Lord Ganesha's wisdom
As we know that Lord Ganesha is known as the god of knowledge and wisdom. There is a story related to it.
Kartikeya was a younger brother of Ganesha. Just like other siblings, they also used to argue and fight. One such day, Ganesha and Kartikeya received a special fruit and refused to share it with each other, and started claiming the fruit for themselves.
Lord Shiva proposed a challenge, for getting the fruit. He asked both Ganesha and Kartikeya to circumvent their world 3 times, that is, who would go around the world three times would get this fruit.
Kartikeya climbed on his Peacock and set off, but here Ganesha took the wise decision and took permission from his parents to revolve around them because he considered them as his universe. His parents were touched and impressed by the wisdom of Ganesha. Hence, Ganesha won the fruit.
Moral of the story
The story teaches a lesson that parents should be given the respect and love that they deserve. Also, on the other hand, the story teaches us that we can use wisdom smartly to resolve a situation.
3. The story of Lord Ganesha's one Tusk
The two legends about Lord Ganesha's one tusk are:
As per one legend, one day, Lord Ganesha was guarding the door of Lord Shiva and sage Parshuram came to meet him. Ganesha denied him enter; he got angry and started fighting with Ganesha. As a result, he lost his tusk while fighting with the sage Parshuram and came to be known as Ekdant (one with a single tooth).
Another legend, when Ved Vyasa the creator of Mahabharata, approached Ganesha to write down Mahabharata for him, then he agreed but kept a condition that he had to narrate it in one go that too without any break. When he started writing a story, at one point the quill broke down with which Ganesha was writing, and so without wasting time, he broke one of his tusks and made it into a pen to continue writing.
Moral of the story
The story teaches us that it is necessary to be disciplined and determined to complete a task once you accept to complete it.
So, these are some short stories of Lord Ganesha's life.
Also, Read
| Ganesh Chaturthi 2021: Date, Timings, History, Significance, and more | Important Days and Dates in September 2021 |