I am going to tell you the story of Shri Ganesha’s birth. It is very interesting. It is very symbolic.
This is Christ and he is the Omega and he is the Alpha. There is no short form of what the whole thing is. He is the first one created.
It is very symbolic: the pure power of desire to be one with the Spirit is symbolized in Gauri. The primordial Gauri is that power which has separated from her Lord.
IN PREVIOUS LIVES SHE was separated and again she was born as Parvati. She wants to be one with Shiva, who is the Spirit.
So now, the marriage has taken place in the sense that now she can meet him. The wedding kindling has to start, but she is not yet married in the sense that she is still a virgin, but married otherwise. That means she is now about to rise.
Before that, she wants to have a bath because she has to meet her Lord. So she must have the bridal bath. She is absolutely virgin and she goes for her bath. But she is afraid that anybody might come inside when she is having her bath.
Look at the delicacy of the whole thing. This desire, which is just meant for the Spirit, does not want to be exposed to anything else, any negativity coming in, anything happening like that, so she closes the door
But still, she is worried that from the back side somebody may come. She puts this scented powder, which we use in India for the bride, and rubs her body with that and she finds that a lot of it comes out. So she makes Ganesha out of that.
Now imagine how vibrated it must be. She puts that powder, which is made of camphor and all these beautiful things – which are really celestial and are completely vibrated – on her body.
She makes a Ganesha and puts him to the back of the bathroom. She is having her bath nicely.
At that time, Shiva comes suddenly and knocks at the door. She does not hear him. So he goes to the back door. There he sees Shri Ganesha sitting.
He asks Shri Ganesha, “Who are you?”
He says, “I am the son of Gauri.”
Shiva cannot understand. She is a virgin and this one is saying, “I am the son of Gauri.” See now the Immaculate Conception. Try to understand.
Shiva says, “How can she have a child? She is the Virgin.” And he thinks Shri Ganesha is bringing slander on his wife, who is a virgin, so he cuts his neck in anger and he enters into the bathroom. Gauri is ready to receive him, but she looks out and she sees her child is dead.
Shiva asks her, “What is this?”
That’s my child I created out of this mala. I’ve created him and I put him down there. How dare you kill him?”
She said. “Now what to do?” She said, “All right, what you do is to go and find the head of any animal that is available and we will put that on this trunk and he’ll be my son again.”
It is all prearranged because this child was not to grow into a human ego and superego business. It had to be the embodiment of childhood and the embodiment of childlike innocence because he is the embodiment of innocence. So they had to get the head of an
animal.
The wisest animal on this Earth is the elephant, so a mother elephant was lying down with her back towards her child. That is why in India women never sleep with their back towards their children.
So the head of that little animal was cut and he brought it and it was put for Shri Ganesh. And that is how Shri Ganesha was created.
THE ELEPHANT IS THE conveyance of Mahalakshmi. The body is from Mahakali. But the head is given by Mahalakshmi, the evolutionary power.
Now this Ganesha within us resides in the Mooladhara chakra. He is the embodiment of innocence.
SHRI GANESHA AND GAURI Puja, 4 April 1981, Sydney, Australia