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Thu, 8 Jul 2004 00:37:41 +0800
From: "Haresh Balasubramaniam" <
hareshb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <gnagraj@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: response to question on Sri Ganesha on Sri Ranga Sri

<FONT size=3>sri: srimate ramanujaya namah: srimate vendanta gurave namah: srimate rangapriya mahadesikaya namah: Dear Sri Nagaraj, Let me attempt to answer your question as best as I can : Vishwaksena is the alter-ego of Narayana.He is the commander in chief of Vishnu's army.Of moonlike complexion,he is four armed and is the destroyer of all difficulties( or obstacles).Sri Vaishnavas worship Vishwaksena in place of Lord Ganesha or Kartikeya. There are many elephant headed and horse headed soldiers with 'Sri Vishwaksena', who is the supreme controller of Paramapadam, the divine abode of Lord Vishnu. All these elephant headed soldiers, it is said, are having two tusks according to Panchara:thra Agama scriptures. It is also mentioned that there are several hundreds of such Gajananas in the battallions of Sri Vishwaksena. Contrary to a " Thumbikai Azhwar " ( Ganesh with Thiruman but carrying paasam and angusam) created by some modern day temple managers , Vishwaksena bears all the similar lakshanams to Mahavishnu such as a " human form" with four arms bearing the shankha and chakra along with a staff .The shloka describing his Thirumeni or divine form is : vishwakse:nam sakala vibudha prowdda sainya:dhi na:dham mudra: chakre: karathala yuge: sankha dande: dadha:nam | me:gha sya:mam sumani makutam pi:thavasthram subha:ngam dhya:ye:th de:vam dalitha danujam su:thravathya: same:tham || In both Vaikanasa Agama and Pancharatra Agama, Vishwaksena is accorded the first place in worship as the one who drives the negative forces away before the commencement of an auspicious event. It is also interesting to note that the Vaikanasa Sutras do speak of a " Dwara Ganapati" that is to be installed along with Nagaraja ( the form of a 5 hooded serpent with the image of nardhana krishna superimposed on it ) at the entrance of the Rajagopuram.This Ganapati is having the same form of Parvati Putra - however the representation of Dwara Ganapati serves a role similar to that of a kaval devathai ( similar to a security guard at the lobby of governement buidling) and this Ganapati's position does not supercede that of Vishwaksena - who will still have his shrine in the place where we would expect to find one of Ganesh in a Siva temple. Therefore in place of Ganesh all Sri Vaishnavas will worship Vishwaksena only.Vishwaksena is also one of the acharyas in our Acharya Parampara - the third acharya starting from Srimannarayana.This also makes Vishwaksena special to all Sri Vaishnavas.He not only removes obstacles in our material path but also in spiritual life paving the way for the divine knowledge. However there is nothing wrong in acknowledging the presence of a Ganesh deity if seen in passing- as prapannas we can only respect Ganesh as an exlated soul subservient to Bhagavan but not equal to Him.This concept - we need to keep at the forefront of out thoughts whenever we see other devatas also - like Kartikeya,Siva,etc.We are not required to offer pujas,etc to them , wear the basmam or consume the prasadam from such a shrine. Hope this clarifies your doubt. Srimannarayana Dasosmi Message: 13 Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 10:06:50 -0700 From: "nagaraj" <g_nagraj@xxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Lord Ganesha Namaskaram I would like to know why an Iyengar Should not worship Lord Ganesha/Vinayaka. Any one pl replay.I am asking the same question for 3 time but none of them have replied. Pl guide me. jai ram,</FONT>




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