The Eight Forms of Lord Ganesha Stories from Mudgala Purana - Swami Tathagatananda

According to Mudgala Purana, there are eight important avatars of Lord Ganesha, each having a particular significance. The rishis have provided eight channels of contemplation as it were, in the form of stories of the incarnation of the Lord, to draw upon His grace in overcoming the tyranny of the powerful enemies within. The six enemies, viz., kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya and their root cause aham and mama, the ‘I’ and ‘mine’, are the demons vanquished by the Lord, in these stories. Their symbolism and the sequence in which they are taken up can yield rich results upon deep thinking.

Vakratunda

A demon named Matsara was born out of the pramaada (heedlessness) of Indra, the king of gods. This demon performed severe penance and invoked the grace of Lord Siva, and obtained the boon of fearlessness from Him. Having obtained the boon, he went about conquering all the three worlds. He was coronated as the king of the asuras by their preceptor Sukracharya. The defeated gods went to Kailasa and prayed to Lord Siva for their protection. On hearing the mission of the gods, Matsara went to Kailas and vanquished Lord Siva also. When the gods were at their wit’s end to know what to do next, Lord Dattatreya came there. He advised the gods to invoke the grace of Lord Vakratunda and imparted to them the secret of the monosyllable mantra ‘Gam.’ All the gods including Siva did penance accordingly and at last Lord Vakratunda appeared and assured them that he would subdue the demon. The demon was so terrified at the sight of Vakratunda that he surrendered to Him and sought refuge at His feet. The Lord forgave him, and restored the lost glory and kingdoms to the gods, and to the various kings on earth.

© "Tapovan Prasad" (August, 2001) published by Chinmaya Mission, # 2, 13th Avenue, Harrington Road, Chetput, Chennai 600 031. Website: chinmayatapovan.com. Reprinted with permission.

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