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Sri Ganesha Charanam!

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अगजानन पद्मार्कम् गजाननम् अहर्निशम्।
अनेकदन्तम् भक्तानाम् एकदन्तम् उपास्महे॥

agajānana padmārkam gajānanam aharniśam|
anekadantam bhaktānām ekadantam upāsmahe||
 
What a beautiful verse to behold and listen! I heard it first when this verse was suggested as an invocation for our magazine Yuva Bharati by my brother a couple of years ago. (Yup! I promptly posted it on facebook - even social networks have been permeated by spirituality :-D)

A couple of months back, I had the good fortune to sit at the feet of Swami Dayananda Saraswati and learn this same verse - how to say it and its meaning. Recollecting that experience from memory, I'll try to share the beauty and the brilliance of this verse here.

ānana means face. Gajānana is the Lord who has the face of an elephant or gaja. On seeing the face of Gajānana, the face of Agaja, daughter of the king among mountains (aga), Himavan or Parvata, one who is called Himavati or Parvati, lightens up. This is so natural and open, like how a padma or lotus, opens up to the first light of arka or the sun. While the lotus opens up only during the day, Parvati is joyful all the time, aharniśam - ahar is day and niśa is night - on seeing her precious child.

Anekadantam - this has to be split as dam - giver of, aneka - many (things), tam - to us bhaktānām, his devotees. This is in contrast to ekadantam: eka - one, dantam - tooth or tusk. He is the God who bestows the many different things that his devotees pray for.

Upāsmahe - I pray to, meditate upon that God, who is the joy of Parvati, who has one tusk only but who gives many things to his devotees.


Illustration courtesy - 3dking from deviantart
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