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Ganesha Display at the Canton Hindu Temple, Michigan 9/8/2013

AGAJAANANA PADMAARKAM GAJAANANAM AHARNISHAM l ANEKADAM TAM BHAKTAANAM EKADANTAM UPAASMAHE ll

अगजानन पद्मार्क म् गजाननम् अहर्ननशम ्l

अनेर्दम ्तम् भक्तानाम ्एर्दन्तम ्उपास्मह ेll

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This well-known sloka (verse), in praise of Ganesha, has an interesting play of

words. Those two words can be confounding. As we know, Ganesha is also

called Gajanana (or Gajaanana, where extra “a” is used to denote the long

vowel in the second half of the name). This is derived from Gaja = elephant

and aanana = face. But, the verse starts out with Agajaanana, which is rather

surprising at first sight.

Ganesha procession at Canton Hindu Temple, MI on 9/8/2013 (Sep 8).

Also, Ganesha is referred to as “Ekadanta”, which is derived from eka = one

and danta = tooth and so He is एर्दन्तं when the word is used to denote the

object of our worship (objective case of the noun Ekadanta). Unfortunately,

the same is also often written as एर्दतंं and this is the source of the confusion.

The elephant has two tusks, or teeth, but Ganesha with an elephant face only

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has one tooth or tusk. That is how he is usually portrayed. The second line

seems to start with the word "Ankedamtam" अनेर्दतंं intentionally written to

confuse instead of the correct form "Anekadam tam" (अनेर्द ंतं). Instead, many

think this is aneka + dantam अनेर्दन्तं which means many (aneka) teeth

(danta). One must learn how to pronounce the dot (called anuswaara) on the

top of the consonant and it is better to avoid the dot to avoid the confusion of

the “n” and the “m” sounds creates by the use of the dot.

Why is Ganesha called Ekadanta?

As the story goes, when Vyasa wanted to write the Mahabharata, he wanted

someone to act as his scribe (one who writes down the verses) while he

dictated the verses, since the Mahabharata was a very long epic and Vyasa did

not want to lose his train of thought. So, he asked Ganesha to be his scribe. The

entire Bhagavad Gita is also a part of the Mahabharata since the Gita was

preached at the start of this great war.

Ganesha agreed to be Vyasa's scribe on one condition. He said Vyasa must

dictate continuously and cannot stop. Vyasa cleverly said that Ganesha should

continue writing and anticipate his thoughts if he stopped dictating. Ganesha

smiled, broke off one of His tusks and used it as the "pen" to write as Vyasa

dictated. Thus, He became 'eka danta' or one with a single tusk (or tooth).

So, many people tend to confuse the first word of the second line read it as

anekadantam (many teeth) instead of the correct way which is anekadam tam

which means to Him (tam), the giver of many boons (anekadam) to His

devotees. The second line says that the devotee is directing his/her worship

(upasamahe) to Him who has one tooth and is the giver of many boons.

Now, what is agajaanana? This is the compounding of agajaa + aanana. As we

know aanana means face. Agajaa is one of the names of Paarvati, the mother of

Ganesha since She is considered to the daughter of the king of the Himalayas.

She was reborn as Parvati, after She self-immolated by jumping into the agni

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kundam (the huge fire pot) during the great fire sacrifice performed by

Daksha (Daksha yajna). Parvati was first born as the daughter of Daksha and

married Lord Shiva and was known as DaakshaayaNee. Daksha had 60

daughters and is one of the Prajapatis (the progenitors of mankind). His 60

daughters gave birth to all the lifeforms we see on earth, according to the

Srimad Bhagavatam.

Thus, agajaa means the daughter of (the king of) something that does NOT

move (the Himalayas), or a mountain, or Parvati, the mother of Ganesha.

There are many ways the two words agajaanana padmaarkam are interpreted.

The lotus (padma) blooms when the sun (arka) rises. In the same way, Mother

Parvati's lotus-like face lights up and blooms when She sees Her dear son

Ganesha, who was actually created by Her without any involvement of Lord

Shiva. The story goes that when Parvati was trying to take a bath one day, She

needed someone, a male, to stay outside as a guard. She had already applied

turmeric and other fragrant pastes to Her body when She and Her maids

realized that there was no male to stand guard.

Parvati took off some of the turmeric paste

from Her upper hands and placed it on the

ground and shaped it with Her fingers and

said, “There! Let that be my guard” and out

came a handsome young boy. This was

Ganesha, with a human face. (Hence, we still

use turmeric powder, make a paste out of it,

and use it as Ganesha when we begin many

prayers.)

Shortly after, when Lord Shiva came to visit,

while Parvati was still bathing, Ganesha did

NOT recognize Shiva as his own father and

stopped Shiva which infuriated Shiva and

Shiva then used His trident to chop off Ganesha's head. When Parvati found

out, She was horrified and Shiva then told His ganas (followers, assistants) to

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head north and bring the head of the first being that they find. They found an

elephant and chopped off its head and brought it to Lord Shiva. This elephant

head was placed on the young boy created by Parvati and so Ganesha became

the elephant headed God. He also received a boon from Shiva that everyone

must hereafter pray to Him (Ganesha) first to remove all obstacles in their

undertakings and bless them with success.

Ganesha inside the temple after procession, Canton Hindu Temple, MI

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This is the story behind “agajaaanana” and Padmaarkam. Mother Parvati's

lotus-like face lights up and blooms when She sees Her dear Ganesha just like

a lotus that blooms when it sees the sun.

I have provided some links which tell the same story. Students of Sanskrit

learn this sloka early in their studies in order to understand how to decipher

the subtle meaning of words and how they are used in Sanskrit.

Agajaanana Padmaarkam

Gajaananam Aharnisham

Aneka Dam Tam Bhaktaanam

Eka Dantam Upasmahe

Pronounciation:

agajānana padmārkam gajānanam aharniśam

anēka dam tam bhaktānām ēkadantam upāsmahē

अगजानन पद्मार्क म् गजाननम् अहर्ननशम् l

अनेर्दम् तम् भक्तानाम् एर्दन्तम् उपास्मह ेll

http://vulimiridevotion.blogspot.com/2011/03/meaning-of-ganesha-shloka-agajanana.html

Here's another link which gives the meaning,

http://greenmesg.org/mantras_slokas/sri_ganesha-

agajanana_padmarkam.php

Agajanana Padmarkam - in sanskrit with meaning - sloka on Sri Ganesha

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This link includes two other slokas recited for Ganesha, http://hindugods.getacustomsite.com/ganesha.html

Hindu Gods - Ganesha hindugods.getacustomsite.com Hindu Gods

One more discussion of the same sloka: http://sva-rasa.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post.html

स्वरसा: अगजानन (agajAnana) ...

sva-rasa.blogspot.com Also linked to my profile is my first attempt at blogging! I recently discovered...See More

One more: http://www.vinayaka.org/Manifestation%20of%20Vinayaka.html

Untitled www.vinayaka.org

ll ॐ ग ंगणपतय ेनमः ll

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ll ॐ ग ंगणपतय ेनमः ll

For completeness I am adding the following also to this discussion. Om (ॐ) Gam (गं pronounce like gum) GaNapathaye (गणपतये) Namah (नमः) = OGGN

Yesterday (9/8/2013), during the homams performed at SVBF (Sri Vidya

Bharati Foundation) and also at Canton Hindu temple, Michigan, we chanted

this mantra (OGGN) 108 times and made offerings to the fire.

OGGN, what does it mean?

Om gam: Om, we all know and will not get it into it here. The meaning of “Om”

can fill a whole essay, if not a whole book. It is a very complex discussion. The

word “gam” comes from motion, anything that is moving. So, “gam” implies all

living beings and wherever there is motion. Even the inanimate objects are

made of atoms which are thus composed of subentities which are all in

perpetual motion.

GaNapataye refers to Ganesha. He is the Lord of all the ganas (the war

battalions of Lord Shiva). So, together it means He is the Lord and Master of

wherever there is motion (even inanimate things have atoms which are in

perpetual motion) and all living beings.

I bow to this Ganesha.

We say this repeatedly as we make offerings into the fire.

More generally, this means we are invoking the Supreme, the Lord of ALL.