[Advaita-l] Ganapati / Brahmanaspati Tattva

[Venkata sriram P]

Dear Srikrishna,
 
brahmaNAM pati iti brahmaNaspatiH is the vyutpatti.  Here, brahma is veda / vAk.  brahmaNaspati is the pati (Lord) of veda vAngmaya in the form of chandas.  And thus He is also called “kavInAM kaviH”.   In brahmaNaspati sUkta, He is extolled as “jyEShTharAjaH”.  The term “Brihaspati” is also used for brahmaNaspati because “brihati pati iti brihaspati” and brihati also means vAk.  In Indra Sukta, Indra is also extolled as “jyEShTharAjaH”.  
 
Now, agni manifest itself in 3 folds in prithi (bhUh); antarikSha (bhuvaH) and akAsa (suvaH).  The Agni in Antariksha is vydutAgni.  This is presided by Indra who holds vajra (thunderbolt) in His hands.  This aindrAgni tattva (Indra+Agni swarupa) controls marut & vAyu tattvas.  These 2 give rise “marut gaNAs” & “vishvEdevatas”.   As “gaNa” means cluster, “marut-gaNAs” are “Cluster of Devatas” who are controlled by Indra.   Since, Indra presides over “marut-gaNAs”, He is called “gaNa-pati” in other words “marut-gaNa-pati”.  
 
This Indra combining with vAyu tattvas in the antarikSha, splits itself into 11 tattvas and spreads itself in 11 directions (10 directions + 1 at the centre).  They become 11 rudrAs (ekAdasa rudrAs). 
 
Now, Agama envisages such an Indra tattva which is non-different from brahmaNaspati to be having of the form of gaja-mukha.  The beauty of the tantra lies in “encrypting” the code from “gaja” to “jaga”.  If we are to take gaja & jaga to be of similar by jumbling the words, then it is “jaga-mukha”.  It’s meaning is that whose face is of Jagat ie., He is Jagat-swarupa.  Now, we know that entire Jagat is the by-product of the form of nAda (primordial sound) which is the gross manifestation of parA nAda.  The parA nAda originating in mUlAdhAra chakra assumes pashyanti; pashyanti nAda assumes the form of madhyamA; madhyama assumes the form of vaikhari.  This vaikhari nAda assumes the form of mAtrika varna mAla with 16 vowels & 34 consonants which is nothing but Creation.  
 
Agama defines this cluster of nAda avasthAs ie., parA, pashyanti, madhyama, vaikhari to be the gaNAs.  The tattva that controls these 4 nAda avasthAs at mUlAdhAra chakra is obviously called the “gaNa-pati”.  Now, the entire veda sAstra be it, saMhita, brahmaNa or AraNyaka bhAga, it is nothing but cluster of mAtrika varNa mAla or vaikhari nAda.  And hence, He is called brahmaNaspati / vAkpati / brihaspati / gaNa-pati.
 
BTW, i don’t recall the incident in veda but i was told the Indra showed His mAyA vigraha to the Rishi of Ganapati Sukta (Kuseedi) as “mahA-hasti swarupa”.  That form had the face of elephant and the trunk of man.  
 
Among the twin principle of Indra-Agni tattva, Agama recognizes Indra to be Ganapati Tattva and Agni to be Subramanya Tattva.  That is why, Subramanya is also called “agni-bhUH”.  His vAhana is peacock which is called “shikhI” (shikhivAhaM shaDAnanaM..”).  Another name for Agni is “shikhi”.  Since, Subramanya presides over Agni tattva, He is visualized as alighted over the peacock.  
 
Just my 2 cents...
 
Regs,
Sriram