Why does Lord Ganesha Have an Elephant Head?

Question

The question was — why has an elephant’s head been placed on Ganesha?

Answer

So, in the elephant’s head, there are his eyes — his large, fine eyes. What do they mean? Yes, first we must understand that Ganesha is the symbol of discernment (viveka). Ganesha is the symbol of wisdom (prajñā). Prajñā and viveka have the same meaning — whether we call it prajñā or we call it viveka.

Now we say that Ganesha is the symbol of discernment. So, if there is discernment within a person, then whatever he does, he will do it with discernment. When we act without discernment, then that action never brings good results. But if we perform our actions with discernment — meaning, thinking and understanding from experience — then in any task we will not face failure, we will have success.

So Ganesha has been made as a symbol meaning that if you first worship Ganesha, then there will be success in action. That means he is indicating that you should act with discernment. Whatever you do, do it while staying established in discernment — then success is certain.

So this was about Ganesha — that Ganesha is the symbol of discernment.

Now, an elephant’s head has been placed on Ganesha. So, we talked about this earlier — I’ll take it a bit quickly.

The fine eyes on the elephant’s head represent subtle vision. A discerning person’s vision is subtle. There is gross vision and there is subtle vision. Gross vision — even in a good thing — mixes in some defect or impurity. But subtle vision — when anything is said — does not mix any impurity into it; it connects only purity.

So a person with subtle vision — whatever is said to him, he sees the goodness within it. Subtle vision means seeing the good within.

Then secondly — the ears. The elephant’s ears are big, large. Through this it is being indicated that within us, the power of listening — our capacity to listen — should be very great. We talk too much; our capacity to listen is not there. We keep cutting people off in between. First, listen to everyone carefully. So our listening power should be good — this is a mark of a good personality. The great souls — they listen to everyone’s words attentively; then, whatever they have to say, they put it forward. So the big ears are a symbol of listening power.

Then the third thing — the elephant’s trunk. What does the trunk do? It can lift even a needle, and it can also lift big, big wooden trunks — large trees. So through the trunk it is being indicated that even the smallest, most subtle situations in life — the discerning person can handle them carefully; and the biggest, grossest matters — even if they come — the discerning person can handle them too.

Now, these things we have already talked about. What remains is this: on the elephant’s head there are two tusks. Of the two tusks, one is broken. So why is it that one tusk was broken and the other remains whole?

Because some picture has been made to show something — this picture has been made as a symbol. So, one tusk broken, one tusk whole — its meaning is this: the word danta means “tooth,” and in puranic literature danta is a symbol of a goal. Danta means goal.

So one tusk was broken, one tusk is whole — through this they are indicating that the discerning person, whenever he does anything, keeps one goal in front of him. The person who is not discerning keeps many goals together — he can complete neither one goal nor another. But the discerning person — whatever he does, in that he keeps one goal before him. When one goal is achieved, then he takes up the next. So, by breaking one tusk, they have given the signal: in your life, like a discerning person, keep one goal.

So now that was about the tusks — the elephant’s tusks.

Now this elephant’s head — why has it been placed in the picture of Ganesha? It is for showing these qualities. No other animal’s head has all these qualities. They chose very thoughtfully. See how much knowledge, how amazing the knowledge of the sages was — that among all the animals they chose the elephant’s head.

Alright — now Ganesha’s belly is very large. Very large. And seeing it, we laugh — such a big belly! So this big belly — it has been given to indicate that within a discerning person there is a very great capacity to contain.

Someone tells me something — he shares something with me, to make his heart lighter. Then, the one to whom something is shared must have the capacity to hold that thing within. The one who can hold within himself what others share — it is said of him that his “digestive power” is good. So they took the belly to represent digestion: just as digestion in the stomach can be good or bad, in the same way, within a discerning person, if someone shares a few important or personal matters, the discerning person does not go around telling them: “He said this, he said that.”

He keeps any personal matter within himself, absorbs it, digests it, and does not speak of it to anyone. So the big belly indicates: increase your power to contain. If someone has told you something personal, keep it within; don’t tell it to four people — “Do you know what he said? Do you know what he said?” That is what ordinary people do all the time.

Alright, now moving ahead — that was the big belly.

Now we come to the mouse (mūṣaka) that he sits upon. Ganesha is shown sitting on a mouse. So this mouse has two symbolic meanings. Let’s look at the word mūṣaka first. Mūṣ is a Sanskrit word, and ka means “one who does.” The word mūṣ in Sanskrit means “to lift quietly.” If you look it up in a dictionary, mūṣ means “to lift stealthily.” The one who does the act of lifting stealthily is called mūṣaka.

So what does the mūṣaka do?
Let’s first understand on a physical level. The mouse, which is called mūṣaka, what does it do? The mouse quietly picks up any small thing from the house and carries it away. You don’t even realize — like in my own house, once it took away a small piece of soap and kept it somewhere. So it quietly picks things up and stores them away.

This act of quietly picking up — what does it symbolize here?
It means that the discerning person, wherever he sits, wherever he is, with whomever he is — he quietly picks up the important things that are useful for him. Quietly picking up means quietly absorbing.

If in front of him people are talking about politics, and some important point arises that is useful to him, he picks that up. If people are talking about cooking, and there is some important point there, he picks that up. So he quietly absorbs — and that’s why his wisdom increases greatly. He becomes truly wise — a mahāpuruṣa (great soul).

So Ganesha has been shown riding on the mouse for two reasons: first, because he quietly picks up important things; and second, because of another meaning of mūṣaka.

When I thought about this earlier, I asked someone: “What is the special quality of the mouse?” Someone told me, the nature of the mouse is to gnaw. The mouse gnaws, but not to destroy — not to cause damage — it gnaws to make a safe dwelling for itself. For example, it digs a hole in the ground — we think it is damaging the soil, but it’s not; it’s making a safe place to live.

So this gnawing represents reasoning (tarka). The discerning person also “gnaws,” that is, reasons — but he reasons for his own protection. The discerning person does not reason to show someone down or to hurt someone’s ego. He reasons to protect the truth.

Suppose there is some important truth he wants to explain, but the listener does not understand it — then to make it clear he will take the help of reasoning. He uses reasoning to explain a difficult, important point, to give it support, to keep it safe. Otherwise, he doesn’t argue for the sake of argument.

So the mouse symbolizes two things — one, quietly taking in important points, and two, using reasoning to protect and clarify truth.

Now, the next thing: Ganesha is shown with four hands. In one hand is an axe, in one hand a rope, in one hand the gesture of blessing, and in one hand a modaka (sweet). If we understand these four, then the meaning of Ganesha will be complete.

• The axe — the hand or arm itself is a symbol of power. Giving the axe in one hand indicates that the discerning person cuts off all vices immediately. The axe means to cut. If ever some pride arises — say, people praise him at an event, and a little ego arises — he cuts it off immediately. Or jealousy, or attachment — vices can take many forms. The discerning person does not cling to them; he cuts them off right away.
  
  

• The rope — rope means to bind. Through the rope it is being indicated: bind your virtues, keep them within. Do not display them. Most people, when they have any good quality, display it again and again before others. But the discerning person neither clings to vices nor displays his virtues. He keeps them tied within himself, uses them when needed, but does not sing his own praises.
  
  

• The gesture of blessing — this we all know: it means being filled with good wishes toward everyone. Āśīrvāda means good words, good intent. The discerning person’s attitude is of goodwill for all.
  
  

• The modaka — let’s look at the word itself: mod means happiness, and ka means the doer. So it means “the maker of joy.” Thus, discernment itself produces joy. Wherever discernment is, there joy is. Whatever the discerning person does brings happiness in life.
  
  

To “eat” the modaka — means to be joyful, to live in joy.

So wherever discernment resides, there is joy.

Thus, the picture of Ganesha that has been made — it is not that there exists a physical deity named Ganesha with such a strange form. We must always remember — as we often say here — that deva does not mean some physical god sitting somewhere, that somewhere there is Puṣā-deva, somewhere Gaṇeśa-deva sitting in the sky. Deva means power.

In this universe — in this cosmos — and in this body, which is the microcosm (piṇḍa), there exist many powers that run it. We have called these powers devas. According to the special qualities of each power, the sages have made symbolic forms for them.

So this picture of Ganesha — it represents the power of discernment (viveka-śakti). There is no such physical god called Ganesha.

When we worship Ganesha, since the image attracts us and helps us remember knowledge — seeing the picture of Ganesha, seeing the modaka, immediately we remember “bringer of joy.” Discernment is the bringer of joy.

So the image helps us reach knowledge quickly — otherwise we forget knowledge easily.

So yes, keep the image — it’s not that we shouldn’t keep a figure of Ganesha before us. But while keeping it, we must remember: I am keeping discernment before me. Whenever I am about to do any work, I should first establish the power of discernment within me, walk with discernment, act with discernment.

And when I act with discernment, success is certain. That’s why it is said that discernment is the deity of success.

But what we do is get entangled only in the external worship and forget the real meaning — and even now we are still forgetting.

Now that we have understood a little, whenever we begin any work and worship Ganesha, we should immediately feel within: “I must install discernment inside myself.”