Ganesh & Om

In Vedic Hinduism, Lord Ganesha has incomparable importance among all Gods. One should never start any function without worshipping Lord Ganesha first. Even if one wishes to perform or start any God or Goddess's festival, the first God to be worshipped is Lord Ganesha. No other God is given such importance in Hinduism. One may have a query that why so much importance is given to Lord Ganesha? The reason for this is that Lord Ganesha is the symbolic form of the sound or word OMKAR, which has incomparable everlasting universal divine appearance.Before starting any function Lord Ganesha is to be worshipped. Lord Ganesha or Omkar is the basic form of the nature according to the Hindu Philosophy and it is known form of all unknown or unexpressed total universal divine knowledge. OM is infinite and formless. The syllable "Om" is described with various meanings in the Upanishads. Descriptions include "the sacred sound, the Yes!, the Vedas, the Udgitha (song of the universe), the infinite, the all encompassing, the whole world, the truth, the ultimate reality, the finest essence, the cause of the Universe, the essence of life, the Brahman, the Atman, the vehicle of deepest knowledge, and Self-knowledge". Om is a sacred sound and a spiritual symbol in Hinduism, that signifies the essence of the ultimate reality, consciousness or Atman. Om reflects the cosmological beliefs in Hinduism, as the primordial sound associated with the creation of universe from nothing. In the Atharvashirsha and Ganesh Vijay there is a reference that all matter immerged from OM.

Omkar is the original root cause of the universe and all the things of universe are the sound waves in nature. Today the power of sound is universally accepted by science and technology. It is symbol of a soul which is very bright and aloof from sins and merits. A general tendency of man is to imagine a God in the form of an ideal human being. In all religions different forms are used for worshipping. In Hinduism Omkar form is used for worshipping. But the form of OM was not satisfactory. All great sages arranged Omkar vertically . (which looks like Lord Ganesha) and made symbolic form of OM as Lord Ganesha. It means worshipping Lord Ganesha is like worshipping the incomparable everlasting total universal divine knowledge. In Puranas(mythology) of other Gods and Goddesses , they are treated with honor and praised. In those also, one can find the idea that Lord Ganesha as a symbolic form of OM. The above reference is very important which is given in Ganeshtapini Upanishada, Ganesha Puran, Shiva Puran, Devi Bhagwat. The symbolic form of worshipping OM is worshipping Lord Ganesha. With the information available in mythology and based on philosophers ideology one can say that only energy was present at the time of the beginning of the universe. This basic universal energy was infinite and formless. Energy can not be seen but one can feel it or one can see the after effects. The sound generated from this basic universal energy was like the sound one pronounces the OM. One can say that the symbolic form of basic universal sound is OM and the ideal form of the OM is nothing but Lord Ganesha. One can practice the meditation with OM.