Ganesha

[Giri]

On Mon, 10 Feb 1997, Anand Hudli wrote:

>    I have seen a translation and commentary by Sukthankar. Another

        The title of this book is 'Ganapatyatharvasirsopanisad.' and
gives a word-by-word translation. It is around 50 pages.

>    translation may be found in the `Saiva upanishads' published by
>    Adyar Library, Madras. (Sorry, I dont remember the year). I am sure
>    Giri knows the details. Perhaps, more accessible in the western

        There are three editions of the Saiva upanisads published by the
adyar library (afaik). The ones published in 1950, 1988 are by Mahadeva
Sastri and don't have english translations. The 1953 edition contains the
translation by T.R.Srinivas Ayyangar. The last time my friend visited the
adyar library, they did not have this edition. Maybe one can get it from
the theosophical society in US.

>    world is the translation by John Grimes (sp?), which is part of his
>    book on Ganesha. He also describes the eight centers of Ganesha worship,
>    (ashhTa-vinaayaka's), sacred to the GaaNapatyas, and narrates the
>    associated legends and symbolism of Ganesha.

        This is a good book, imho. The title of the book is
'Ganapati: Song of the Self.' and is published by the Suny Press in 1995.
The author atleast seems to exhibit devotion (maybe because of his
training in SYDA), rather than writing about Ganesha like a research paper.
The suny press published a previous book in 1991 called Ganesh: Studies
on an asian god by Robert Brown, which is a collection of over 10 research
papers.

>    The atharva shiirsha gives, among other things, an iconographic
>    description of Ganesha, the Biija (seed) mantra of Ganesha, and the
>    Ganesha Gayatri. Mainly, it describes GaNapati as Brahman.

        If someone is interested, I can post the translation and/or the
sanskrit transliteration from the above book by John A. Grimes.

        There is also a another translation i know of which is published by
Motilal B. publishers.

**
        On a side note, Lord Ganesha is not only restricted to Hinduism,
but also worshipped as an obstacle-remover in Jainism and is considered a
tantric deity in Tibetan Buddhism. One can find references to
Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, in the Tibetan Canon. A brief note on
the legends of Ganesha can be found in my home page (these were extracted
from a post by Anand couple of years back),
http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/1415/index.html
Click on Lord Ganesha. One can also find a brief description of the
gayatri mantra in this page. imho, one has to be initiated by a compotent
authority to recite vedic mantras like the gayatri mantra.

Namaste.