Lord Ganesha is widely worshipped in India as the God of Wisdom and Prosperity. His legends have great significance in Hindu mythology and can teach us a lot about empathy and respect towards others.
As we prepare to welcome Ganapati Bappa, let’s take a look at some important life lessons from Lord Ganesha.
Important Life Lessons from Legends of Lord Ganesha
1. Importance of Parents in Our Lives
As a child, you may have heard about the story of a little competition between Lord Ganesha and his younger brother Lord Kartikeya.
Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati set a race between the brothers on who can circumnavigate the world thrice. The winner would receive a miraculous fruit as their award.
Kartikeya flew off on his peacock leaving Lord Ganesha wondering. An idea struck the God of Wisdom and he circumnavigated his parents thrice and returned to start position before his brother.
When asked, the young God innocently replied his parents are the world to him. Thus, circling them is equivalent to circling Earth.
This episode throws light on the importance of parents in our lives; even the God of Wisdom bows to them.
2. You Must Rest After Completing your Pending Task
We know that the great epic poet Ved Vyas approached Lord Ganesha to write Mahabharata as he narrated the verse.
Lord Ganesha agreed to do so, but on one condition. Ved Vyas must rest only after completing the entire narration. In return, Lord Ganesha promised to write the poem without a pause and would stop only when the epic ends.
Both sat down and this epic literary voyage began. However, at one point, Lord Ganesha’s pen broke. To keep his word, the God broke his tusks and continued writing.
This story emphasises the importance of resilience and determination to keep your word towards your tasks.
3. Never Stop Learning
We know Lord Ganesha is the God of Wisdom because of his endless knowledge of the Vedas, Puranas and other ancient texts.
This quality teaches us to never stop seeking knowledge. It is important to keep learning and grow our wisdom regardless of our age. Thus, this quality marks an important thing for learning from Lord Ganesha.
4. Be a Good Listener
When we picture the idol of Lord Ganesha in our mind, we see the God’s elephant head with two huge ears. These ears signify that the ″Vignaharta″ Lord Ganesha is listening to our problems and prayers.
This quality exemplifies that to be a leader or person to be looked up to, you must be a good listener first. It teaches us the importance of patience and understanding over being judgemental.
5. Forgiveness Is the Ultimate Virtue
Legend says that once Lord Ganesha cursed Chandra, the Moon God for mocking him. Losing control over his anger, the God of Wisdom cursed Chandra to disappear from the sky forever.
However, realising the gravity of this curse, the Moon God wept for forgiveness. Although the God realised he could not take his curse back, he revoked it displaying his forgiving nature. Now, the moon only disappears from the sky for just one day.
Besides these five, there are infinite instances in Lord Ganesha’s story that teaches us to be a better person. The God of Wisdom and Destroyer of Obstacles teaches us the importance of humility, sacrifice, respect and responsibility. These are the important life lessons from Lord Ganesha we must not forget.
