Observer observes… “Ganesha”
Ganesha, the cute tiny elephant-headed chubby boy, with a potbelly of a 50 year old baniya, sitting on the lap of his father, the ash-smeared dread bearing chillum smoking Aghori, Shiva — bolenath or the innocent god although he is the God of Destruction in the Holy-Trinity of Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh, the observer never understood this contradiction, perhaps he needs to observe this some fine afternoon.
But today is Ganesha’s Day, for today according to the wise Brahmins, sitting in the sanctum sanctorum of the grand temples fashioning the panchang-even astrology apps on their smartphones, today the divine power couple, much stronger than the what Brad & Angelina ever were, the Shiva-God of Destruction and his wife the Parvati-Goddess of Creation had a baby. No wonder with parents like that the child has to be a “Straight A” student for sure! After all, intelligence isn't genetic, it is genesis. But wait he is the Personification of Intelligence. So when God of Destruction and Goddess of Creation mate, Intelligence is born. That’s a revelation!
Tandava of Shiva is happening in the mind all the time. Funny thing, last week Observer was reading Vivekananda’s Raja Yoga — he has a funny story to tell about how hard it is to stop annoying Shiva’s dancing in our minds.
“How hard it is to control the mind! Well it has been compared to the maddened monkey.
There was a monkey, restless by its nature, as all monkeys are. As if that was not enough someone made him drink freely of wine, so that he became more restless. Then a scorpion stung him. When a scorpion stings a man, he jumps about for a whole day; so the poor monkey found his condition worse than ever. To complete his misery a demon entered into him. What language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that monkey?
The human mind is like that monkey, incessantly active by its own nature; then it becomes drunk with the wine of desires, thus increasing its turbulence. After desire takes possession comes the sting of the scorpion of jealousy at the success of the others, and last of all the demon of pride enters the mind, making it think itself of all importance. How hard it is to control such a mind!
– Swami Vivekanand”
So the tandava is on all the time! Damru’s volume is down on good days, however you can paint the walls with your brains on a particularly bad one. So thats Dad!
Mom, Parvati, what a beautiful soothing name! Observer wonders if there ever existed an evil mother with the name, Parvati. It can’t be. Nirupa Roy had the name in eight movies for crying out loud! Parvati, not much is known about the divine mother to the common devout Sanatana Dharamis. Only Gayatri Mantra, that's the end for most of them. They know Hanuman Chalisa, Shiva Aarti, Om Jai Jagdish, even little Ganesha has Jai Ganesh, Jai Ganesh, but mom is overlooked. Damn! Females don’t get their dues even in Dev Lok. Given what women do in the households, around here in India… Well, they do Laxmi Pooja annually on Diwali but still, people would be better off learning Durga and Kali Mata Aartis. Or just occasionally play Anuradha Paudwal’s Amritwani in evening while your mom is cooking, she has one for each God/Goddess it seems. All are awesome though!
George Carlin said something which then people repeated -
“He — and if there is a God, I am convinced he is a he, because no woman could or would ever fuck things up this badly.”
His words, not observers. Not yet in a Hindu Rashtra, give it a few more years.
The all-powerful divine mother, who is the ever-flowing fountainhead of love and nourishment known with different names Maa Shakti, Maa Durga, Maa Kaali, Maa Laxmi, Maa Saraswati, Maa Santoshi… they are all Parvati and Parvati is all of them. And Parvati is the mother of intelligence, mother of our beloved Ganesha.
The Shiva family could be right out of any 1950’s-60’s Bollywood film script, as in the case of 1965’s timeless classic of Manoj Kumar, Purab Aur Pashchim where father-Pran “Harnam” keeps on causing destruction, the mother-Nirupa Roy “Kaushalya — a name of Parvati” is nurturing and Son-Manoj Kumar “Bharat” is nurtured by Nirupa Roy when Pran destroys their world and leaves for London. Oh! How much miss old movies. Bholenath be kind and make Manoj Kumar young again — take Shahrukh and Salman if you want! But seriously watch the movie if you haven't; your life is a travesty without it.
So with this over empowering dad who is the personification of destruction or chaos, and mother who is the personification of creation or order, what is born is divinity, Ganesha — known to people as Ganapati, The Lord of Beginnings, The Remover of Obstacles, and The Deity of Good Fortune. Observer stumbled upon this picture of the Lord on Twitter —
and it made him wonder what exactly that picture was telling him.
So what does the Observer observe?
For the Observer, Ganesha is the personification of intelligence. For intelligence is born when Chaos meets Order when Destruction of old leads to Creation of the new when Shiva meets Parvati.
The Observer wonders What is Intelligence? What is it that we all envy? The one thing that our parents want their children to be so that they can be toppers and make something out of their life. Intelligence would solve all problems. Get a job in Google-for all the brilliant ones are there. Only intelligent ones. The ones who have worked hard. The hard workers. Monks, Sanyaasis, Tapasvis. The brilliant ones. So brilliant that their “renunciation” should be the ideal for every child. The Ayatollahs of Brilliance. The Bhuddas of Academia. The Pharaohs of Knowledge. That was Humor — awareness smiling on ignorance — or maybe for the Observer just that grapes are sour.
Intelligence is the ordering of knowledge. Intelligence is the surgical knife that is needed to cut the patient, the society — lying almost dead on the table of the world, with its guts out, bleeding its blood-Morality out down the gutter. Society. Have you seen it lately? Even an attempt to its description makes one vomit. “Society, you’re a crazy breed” indeed, Eddie Vedder — Cheers to Pearl Jam!
But one is digressing. Light is to be on Intelligence. Everything is known if a man observes. Knowledge has no role in Intelligence. Intelligence acts on knowledge, Intelligence is the tool, a necessary tool— as necessary as Cricket Bat is for a Batsman or Football is on Soccer field and numbers are to Math. It isn’t the only tool, but it is the primary one, Cricket still needs Bowlers, Football still needs Players and Math still needs Addition, Subtraction, Integration, Differentiation, Exponential… thank god for IIT. You get the idea.
The Knife of Intelligence needs the Blade of Concentration. Concentration cuts through the unnecessary like Knife cuts Butter. But if the Amul butter stick was in the freezer for too long then, you all use a hot knife — a knife that has been in the touch of the Flame of Focus. Focus is what brings Concentration in the being, Intelligence is a blunt knife for most, what is missing is the Focus.
If there is one thing you want to take from this blog — it is —
Intelligence is realized it can never be learned and Knowledge is organized it can never be acquired.
Well, that's two things, but you are intelligent enough to get it! … Do you get it?
So on this auspicious day of birth of Intelligence — the Ganesh Chaturthi, the Observer implores you to nourish your mind and not your belly. Observer wishes that Intelligence is realized by you all and the flame of Focus is employed by your Intelligence to cut through the miseries and desires of the wonderful wonderful World.
Jai Shree Ganesh!