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वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ ।

vakratuṇḍa mahākāya sūryakoṭisamaprabha ।

निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा ॥

nirvighnam kuru me deva sarvakāryeṣu sarvadā ॥

 

English Meaning

O Deva! One with a crooked trunk; One with a large form; One with the splendor equal to the brilliance of ten million suns; Please create a state without obstacles in all actions of mine, always.

 

पदच्छेदः - padacchedaḥ – Splitting into individual words

वक्रतुण्ड, महाकाय, सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ, निर्विघ्नम्, कुरु, मे, देव, सर्वकार्येषु, सर्वदा

vakratuṇḍa, mahākāya, sūryakoṭisamaprabha, nirvighnam, kuru, me, deva, sarvakāryeṣu, sarvadā

 

अन्वयः - anvayaḥ - Reordering as a sentence

हे देव ! वक्रतुण्ड महाकाय सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ मे सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा निर्विघ्नम् कुरु ।

O deva! vakratuṇḍa mahākāya sūryakoṭisamaprabha me sarvakāryeṣu sarvadā nirvighnam kuru ।

 

पदार्थः - padārthaḥ  - Word by word meaning

देव ! deva ! = O deva ! (Here it refers to Ganesha)

वक्रतुण्ड vakratuṇḍa = One with a crooked trunk (vakra means crooked and tunda means elephant’s trunk)

महाकाय mahākāya = One with a large form (mahā means big or huge. kāya means body or form)

सूर्यकोटिसमप्रभ sūryakoṭisamaprabha (sūryakoṭi = ten million suns. sūrya refers to the sun. koṭi literally means 10 million, but here, it figuratively refers to any large number. samaprabha = equal to the splendor of sama means equal to and prabha means splendor) 

मे सर्वकार्येषु me sarvakāryeṣu = in all actions of mine

सर्वदा sarvadā = always

निर्विघ्नम् nirvighnam = a state with obstacles removed

कुरु kuru = to do

 

Significance

Bhagavān Ganesha is known as the remover of all of our obstacles - vighnaharatā. Prior to any pūjā, we first perform the vighneshwara pūjā. Before starting on a journey, we chant the name of Ganesha. Before starting a project, we pray to Ganesha.

 

The practice of seeking Ganesha’s blessings first is common in our culture. This is the shloka that we first chant to seek blessings.

 

Ganesha is the loving god that has the most benevolent qualities. He gives us the power to face tough challenges. He provides us with strength and confidence. With this we will be able to overcome any difficulty. At the same time, Ganesha also blesses us with humility, so we do not become arrogant.

 

So, we know that we first pray to Ganesha. We also know why. Now let’s think – how do we remember anyone? We think about their physical form and certain qualities, right? Ganesha is the one with a crooked trunk and a large body. He has the radiance of millions of suns. When we remember this form of Ganesha, we know that we are equipped with everything we need to overcome obstacles.

 

Let us chant this shloka before embarking on any activity, be it a job, a homework, an exam – anything, so that we humbly seek Ganesha’s blessings to give us the self-confidence we need.

 

Story - Ganesha’s birth

Parvati Devi - Shiva’s wife, wanted to have a bodyguard just for herself. So, she created a boy and brought him alive with her powers. She instructed the boy to stand guard and not let anyone enter while she went to take a bath. Obeying his mother’s command, the little boy stood guard. Shiva returned home, but the little boy did not let him enter. A war ensued. A terrible war in which the little boy was all alone fighting against Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, all the devatas and their armies.

 

Though he was alone, the little boy was invincible. He defeated all of them. Shiva got angry and came from behind and cut off the boy’s head.

 

When Parvati saw her son in this condition, she was furious. Shiva understood that the only way to calm Parvati would be to bring her little boy back to life.

 

So, Shiva sent Brahma towards the North and asked him to bring the head of the first animal he saw.  The first animal he saw was an elephant and he brought the elephant head to Shiva. Shiva fixed the elephant head to the boy. That's how the little boy got an elephant head.

 

The boy got the name Ganesha. Ganesha is a combination of gaṇa + īsha, meaning leader of the gaṇas.

 

Then, his father Shiva blessed him saying, “Ganesha, I bless you to be worshiped first by everyone. You should be remembered and worshiped by everyone before starting any work, big or small. Praying to you will remove all obstacles and bless the devotee with luck and success in their work.”

 

One day Shiva had to go into battle. He had a very small window of time in which to kill Tripurasura - the three powerful asura brothers who were terrorizing the three worlds. In his haste, Shiva forgot to first pray to Ganesha before leaving for battle.

 

The battle began. Shiva began to face many many unexpected hurdles. Many obstacles. So, he thought to himself, “What’s happening? Why are there so many obstacles?”

 

Suddenly he realized, “Oh! I gave Ganesha the boon that he should be worshiped before starting any work and I myself forgot to pray to him.”

 

He immediately prayed to Ganesha - the remover of obstacles & resumed his mission. Soon, he destroyed Tripurasura, saved the world from their tyranny and returned victorious.