What Josh taught me about Ganesha

Hampi temple elephant

Few years back when I was working for another company, we had an architect from San Jose visiting our India center for a project. After the regular project discussions, we used to engage in general chat on topics of mutual interest. On the eve of his return to US, I thought of gifting him something and chose a cute Ganesha idol.

When I handed him the gift, he was visibly touched and told that he had heard the story of how Ganesha got the elephant head. Wanting to share with him something more, I narrated a story which goes like this...

Once sage Narada got a mango which was to be had in full (without dividing) and Shiva had to decide who between his two sons Ganesha and Karthikeya will have it. Shiva called both Ganesha and Karthikeya and declared that who amongst the two will make three rounds of the world and return first to the starting point, will get the mango.

As soon as he heard this, Karthikeya jumped on to his vehicle (a peacock) and started going around the world.

Now Ganesha has a little mouse as his vahana(vehicle) and knew that it was practically not possible to win the contest riding his mouse.

He thought for a few minutes, then made three rounds of his parents (Shiva and Parvati) and prostrated at their feet and said (quoting the scriptures) that ones parents occupy a status equal to that of the entire world put together and by circumambulating his parents he had circumambulated the world.

Shiva and Parvati accepted Ganesha's argument and declared him the winner. Needless to say, he got and finished off the mango even before Karthikeya returned from his world tour.

Finishing the story and as if drawing a moral I said:

"Parents occupy an exalted position for a child and deserve great respect."

Josh became silent for a few minutes and went into a deep reflective mood and when he broke his silence said this:

"What I noticed is that Ganesha's seeming limitation (mouse for a vehicle) inspired him to think laterally and come up with an unusual solution to the problem at hand. Second he didn't jump off to execution immediately as many people do but took time to think through the problem and his solution. I think this is what I want to take away from this story."

I looked at Josh with awe for he, in his typical style, yet again, had shed deeper light and insight on a subject and this time it was not about something technical, but about a story and GOD so common to my culture yet little understood.

Sakshi Vinayak temple, Varanasi

PS. Originally published on December 4, 2015 on  LinkedIn.