Significance of Vinayaka Chaturthi
His very image brings a smile on a devotee's face. This is none other than Vinayaka, who commands the first spot among the pantheon of gods in temples.
Lord Siva Himself had said that whoever undertakes a task without first seeking the blessings of Vinayaka will not succeed. Siva Himself had reason to recall His words, when He forgot to propitiate Vinayaka before embarking on a mission to fight three asuras, and when His chariot axle broke, he quickly prayed to Vinayaka and everything progressed smoothly after that.
Siva Puranam delineates Vinayaka's birth as a product of Parvati's desire to fashion a child by Herself. To this end, She made a boy out of clay, on the Chaturthi day in the Tamil month of Avani. The result was so spectacular that all the devas arrived to see the child. When Saturn arrived and espied the child, the child's head fell.
Siva commanded His soldiers to fetch the head of the first being lying with its head northwards. An elephant head was brought and when affixed to the headless child, he came alive.
Thus Vinayaka enjoys the status of having been created by Parvati and given a life, again by Siva, thereby becoming 'maha' Ganapati or the mighty One. Vinayaka is also associated with gnana, since He taught the universe that parents are the first gods to one.
(From the discourse of Sri. P. Swaminathan.)
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