Sri Rathna Garba Ganapathi - The Reformer of Lost Souls
Human life is a tussle between good and evil, between good intentions and evil proclivities,
between negative forces and positive forces. Many of us claim to be good, but few of us have
eradicated all evil from our thoughts, words and deeds. The ones who have done so are the
Siddhas. This they were able to do with the help of Sri Rathna Garba Ganapthi.
Sri Rathna Garba Ganapathi is the reformer of lost souls. He is the divine transformer
who converts evil into good. He is the one who burns away the evil in our hearts and
converts us into pure, virtuous beings. He's the Lord of those who seek to reform
their lives and those who seek purity in thought, word and deed.
For a long period of time, the worship of Sri Rathna Garba Ganapathi was known only to the Devas.
The credit for informing humans of this potent worship procedure and for consecrating Him here on earth
is due to the Maha Padma Vaasinis, also known as the Ashta Sakthi Devis.
These eight Devis are powerful angels who guard us in each of the eight directions. When the Lord
engages in tapas (penance), it's these eight Devis who stand vigil around Him and distribute
the Lord's yoga sakthi (divine power) to all beings in all parts of the universe.
These eight Devis are
Deeptha Devi,
Sookshumaiyai Devi,
Roojaavai Devi,
Badhraiyai Devi,
Viboothyai Devi,
Vimalaayai Devi,
Amogaayai Devi
and
Vidyuthaayai Devi.
How were they able to request the most exalted Lord Sri Rathna Garba Ganapathi
to be present amongst us? By their deep bakthi and sincere prayers. They stood
around Him and united Their hearts in sublime bakthi. The power of this group effort
manifested itself as a divine jothi. Sri Rathna Garba Ganapathi transformed this
divine jothi into the ninth Devi and named Her Sarvathomuki Devi.
Together these nine Devis are known as Soura Nava Sakthi Devis.
The nine Devis continued to pray and requested that the Lord appear on earth
and be present among us humans to transform us into pure, virtuous beings.
The Lord consented and has been present amongst us since then.
Thus we owe a great debt of gratitude to the nine Soura Nava Sakthi Devis for
presenting us with the Divine Reformer, Sri Rathna Garba Ganapathi.
Ratna = precious gem. Thw worship of Sri Rathna Garba Ganapathi and the nine Soura Nava Sakthi Devis
is important to all of us, but particularly to those in the jewelery business and those who wear precious gems.
They should recite the following as part of their daily worship:
- Om Sri Deeptha Devyai Namaha
- Om Sri Sookshumaiyai Devyai Namaha
- Om Sri Roojaavai Devyai Namaha
- Om Sri Badhraiyai Devyai Namaha
- Om Sri Viboothyai Devyai Namaha
- Om Sri Vimalaayai Devyai Namaha
- Om Sri Amogaayai Devyai Namaha
- Om Sri Vidyuthaayai Devyai Namaha
- Om Sri Sarvathomuki Devyai Namaha
- Om Sri Soura Nava Sakthi Vaasa Sri Rathna Garba Vinaayakaaya Namaha.
They should then perform abishekam for their precious gems using water in which vilvam or thulasi leaves
have been placed. They should wear their gems daily only after this worship. This facet of their
daily worship will help eradicate the evil in their thoughts, words and deeds over the course of time.
There are more specialized worship procedures for each of the eight directions.
We will cover these in the next part of this article.
|
| Om Salutations to Sri Rathna Garba Ganapathi |
| Om Salutations to the Soura Nava Sakthi Devis |
| Om Salutations to the Shodasa Ganapathis |
| Om Salutations to the 16 Ganapathis |
| Om Salutations to Maha Guru Sri Agasthiar |
| Om Salutations to the Agasthiar Lineage |
| Om Salutations to the Siddhas |
| 
