g o d s - o f - i n d i a ++ GANESHA MOON CURSED ---- How Ganesha Cursed The Moon. HERE IS AN ACCOUNT OF HOW ONCE CHANDRA (THE INDIAN MOON GOD) WAS COMPREHENSIVELY CURSED BY ONE GANESHA, THE ELEPHANT TRUNKED GOD SUPREMO OF THE HINDU WORLD. The account comes from the Ganeshapurana. As the story goes, once Lord Brahma (The Oldest God of the Cosmos) was sitting with Lord Shiva when Narada made an appearance on the scene. Narada had brought a beautiful and tasty fruit with him -- it was a real one of a kind -- and Narada offered this fruit to Lord Shiva with great and loving devotion. It was a genrous and humble act -- little did Narada know that he was setting in motion a battle of the egos that would resonate through to today, and affect the lives of billions of people on Earth. Seeing such beautiful and strange fruit, both Ganesha and Ganesha's brother Kartikeya began hounding for it. You will have to remember that Ganesha has a sweet tooth! As the hounding rose in pitch, Lord Shiva (ever wise) intervened: "Lord Brahma! Both my sons want this fruit. Now I leave it to you to decide who should be given this fruit." THE GODS START STRUGGLING ---- Who Will Win The Fruit? IN HIS DIVINE WISDOM, LORD BRAHMA SAID: "Since Kartikeya is the younger of the two, it is he who should be given this fruit." And so Lord Shiva gave the fruit to Kartikeya. This made Ganesha terribly hurt, angry, and resentful. Later, when Lord Brahma returned and resumed his job of creation, Ganesha (sometimes prone to impetuous behavior) began creating mischief! For example, he suddenly materialized in front of Brahma in a most terrifying form (talk about a spoilt-brat little Elephant-Man!) But his trick worked -- seeing Ganesha in such a terrible form, Lord Brahma (the grand-daddy of all gods) actually began trembling with fear! Just at this time, another player in the story (Chandradeva, the Moon God) suddenly burst into laughter. All of Chandra's followers followed suit and soon the air was swamped with the fell sounds of mockery. Already enraged, the sounds of all this laughter punched Ganesha through the roof. He cried: "Chandra! Now you will become unworthy of being seen by anyone! Someone seeing you by any chance, shall have to reap the consequences of a sinful act." GANESHA APPEASED ---- He Is A Softy At Heart GANESHA LEFT THE PLACE AND WENT AWAY FROM THERE, LEAVING CHANDRA TO REPENT FOR HIS DEED. The fact that Chandra had been made so unworthy saddened the other gods of the cosmos. Just imagine a world where nobody was allowed to see the Moon or look up at the Moon -- that would be a sorry world indeed! The God of Fire (Agni) and Lord Indra went to Ganesha and began offering their prayers with great devotion. They pleaded with him to change his mind, to let go of his elephantine pride, and forgive the Moon! It worked! It has to be said that Ganesha is a softy at heart, and can be easily appeased. He was very happy and all buttered up hearing all these devotional prayers, and on being requested by them to extend his forgiveness to Chandra, he said: "Gods! One who sees Chandra on the fourth day of the bright half of the lunar period of the sixth month of the Hindu year, knowingly or unknowingly, will be cursed. He will undergo many difficulties!" Then the gods went to Chandra and gave him a one-word mantra and advised him to silently chant it again and again in order to win Ganesha's forgiveness. Chandra moved to the southern bank of Jahnavi and began leading a life of austerity and penance. Ganesha was pleased to receive the worships and mantras of Chandra. Finally, he said: "Chandradeva! You will regain your earlier status. People observing the fast on the fourth day of the dark half of the lunar month, shall have to offer their worship to both you and I. They also must be able to see you on that day, else they will be deprived of any benefit and virtue of observing the said fast. I allow you to remain on my forehead with a fraction of your existence and you will be saluted by everyone on the second day of every month." And thus Chandradeva regained his former status! THUS THE MOON IS CURSED ---- And Also All Those Who Look Upon Her... For One Night a Month At Least! AS A CONSEQUENCE OF LORD GANESHA'S CURSE: It has been said that anyone who looks at the moon on the night of the Ganesh Chaturthi will be falsely charged with theft or a similar crime. If someone inadvertently sees the moon on this night, he/she may remedy the situation by listening to (or reciting) the story of the Syamantaka Jewel. For Hindu novices out there, the story can be found in the Bhagavata and the Vishnu. Briefly, Satrajit, who secured a jewel syamantaka from Surya, did not part with it even when Krishna the Lord of Dvaraka, asked for it saying it would be safe with Him. Prasena, the brother of Satrajit went out hunting wearing the jewel but was killed by a lion. Jambavan of Ramayana fame killed the lion and gave it to his son to play with. When Prasena did not return, Satrajit falsely accused Krishna of killing Prasena for the sake of the jewel. Krishna, in order to remove the stain on His reputation, set out in search of the jewel and found it in Jambavan's cave, with his child. Jambavan attacked Krishna thinking Him to be an intruder who had come to take away the jewel. They fought each other for 28 days, when Jambavan, his whole body terribly weakened from the hammering of Krishna's fists, finally recognised Him as Rama. Origin of Ganesha | Eight Incarnations of Lord Ganesha | Symbolism of Ganesha's Body | How the Mouse Became Ganesha's Vehicle | Moon Cursed by Ganesha | Ganesha Consciousness Contact the author Rob Sullivan at bunyarra@hotmail.com. Anticopyright September 2009.