[Advaita-l] Who is Vighneshwara?

[Venkatesh Murthy]

Namaste

शुक्लाम्बरधरं विष्णुं शशिवर्णं चतुर्भुजम् ।
प्रसन्नवदनं ध्यायेत् सर्वविघ्नोपशान्तये ॥

One Srivaishnava scholar has written the Suklambara Sloka is saying
Vishnu is the destroyer of Obstacles but not Ganesha. When Siva and
Parvati were getting married there was no Ganesha at that time. The
gods prayed to Vishnu only to remove all obstacles like we are praying
to Ganesha today as Vighneshwara. Therefore there is no necessity to
worship Ganesha because Vishnu will do the job.

But there is a fault in this logic. Vishnu may be Obstacle remover
before Ganesha. When Ganesha's head was cut off and joined with
Elephant head Siva only gave a boon to Ganesha saying He will be
Prathama Poojya and Remover of Obstacles in all good works. Therefore
from that time Ganesha got the Vighneshwara status.

Because Siva has given Him that boon we have to follow it and worship
Ganesha for removing obstacles. Ganesha is Vighneshwara. Before
starting any good work we have to first worship Him. After Him we can
worship other gods.



-- 
Regards

-Venkatesh