Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha meaning

When pain and problems assail us, where can we turn to?
What can help us in our difficulties?

(Pronunciation note : a dot below or bar above a letter is important, for it reveals correct pronunciation of the sacred language saṃskrta. Please read my page ‘Pronouncing the Sankrit.’)

Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha discussion

Om     Gam               Ganapataye             Namaha
om      gam               gaṇapataye             namaḥ
        Path of              transcending devotion to,
                                      troubles             commitment to.

The Song.

Sam Garrett and his girlfriend Mollie Mandoza offer a magnificent video recording of this mantra, posted in 2020 on Youtube with 7 million visits. No details of where. Available on –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU5EhhroAfk

Sam is primarily a singer song-writer, and he plays a variety of musical genres, with a preference for reggae. Yet this video shows that Sam and Mollie have great respect for kirtan. They must have learned in a specialised Yoga scene. Indeed, we can learn a lot about the essence of kirtan just watching him, in this recording.

But in four short years, Sam Garrett’s voice has become quite hoarse and strained, and no longer is clear and bright. Combined with his reggae and the long dreadlocks that he now has in 2024, this points towards too much smoking, and cannabis is likely. He still has excellent stage energy or presence and can draw yet bigger crowds, and he now has an excellent shakuhachi flute player for quite phases and excellent drummer for energetics. But the voice deterioration is quite disappointing. A leader can make mistakes, and we can all learn from this.

The Mantra Discussed.

Ganesh gaṇeśa.

The Name for Deity on this recording is Ganesh gaṇeśa. Ganesh gaṇeśa signifies our ability to rise above the troubles and pain of our lives, and overcome these obstacles. So Ganesh gaṇeśa is a popular Name for Deity in the home country of bhārata . Ganesh gaṇeśa is also significant for our spiritual practice in daily life.

Troubles might manifest as despair and doubt, or resentment and feeling badly treated, or agitation and restlessness, or anger and indignant frustration, or many other forms. Defilements come in a great variety of different forms and guises. But they all have the same flavour : suffering. They attack our spiritual Qualities bodhyaṅga, weaken them and break them up, and hide them from our experience. They block our access to our higher self ātman, and cause much needless trouble.

By reciting this Name Ganesh gaṇeśa we can remind ourselves of our True purpose in life as spiritual practitioners. We can encourage and empower ourselves to start climbing the ladder, and start this in the Now. We pull ourselves up from the murk of the cesspool, and head towards Liberation. Then we can experience real enjoyment, contentment, appreciation, and good will towards the people, pursuits and possessions in our lives.

In the traditional imagery, Ganesh gaṇeśa is represented by the elephant, or rather a short fat Being with elephant face. The elephant has immense power and strength, sufficient to haul heavy burdens when domesticated. This symbolises the immense power we need to transcend defilements kilesa. It also symbolises the great strength we need to overpower the malignant forces that attack us with defilements.

Yet the elephant does not trample things heavily underfoot, but rather treads lightly on Mother Earth. She also moves her huge bulk with much grace and equipoise. This suggests to us that our solution is not to trample down other people or obstacles, in an egocentric desire to crush them. For that will only make our problem worse.

Instead, the image of the elephants grace and equipoise suggests another tactic to us. Let us be diplomatic and perceptive of the difficulties that other people are facing, when they cause us troubles. And make allowances for their limitations, instead of demanding that they submit to our selfish will. We can apply this Principle also to the possessions we have in our life, such this Body and its health and suppleness – our most important possession.

Yet this essential effort of climbing the spiritual ladder is easier said than done. All too often, our higher self ātman seems difficult to approach. To help us in this difficulty, we can turn to another aspect of Presence of Deity. This leads us to the other Name for Deity that Sam includes in his kirtan –

Ganapati gaṇapati

Ganapati gaṇapati is related to Ganesh gaṇeśa, and could be described as another Name for Ganesh gaṇeśa. Ganapati gaṇapati helps us understand how Ganesh gaṇeśa works in our daily life. Ganapati gaṇapati helps explain the dynamics of shedding the defilements, and rising up to Liberation. It reveals the dynamics of returning to our higher self ātman, where we belong.

To elucidate the meaning and significance of Ganapati gaṇapati   for our spiritual practice, we can pull apart the Name into its constituents.

gaṇaḥ = group. This can be a group of people all pursuing a common goal or purpose, such as the people attending the Kirtan. Or it can be a group of Divinely inspired Beings. Or it can be a group of people who serve the Principles of spiritual practice, in their daily lives.

patiḥ = leader or director. Thus gaṇaḥ-pati can mean the leader or director of spiritual practitioners. Yet patiḥ can also mean close partner (literally husband or wife). Thus gaṇaḥ-pati is an essential partner to our spiritual practice. gaṇapati leads us onward and forward to Liberation or nirvāṇa. We need gaṇapati to help us overcome the difficulties of our lives, and so make gaṇeśa a practical reality. But how do we access gaṇapati ?

To access gaṇapati we need to access the Source of healing. We can visualise or imagine this Source as being located above us, as puruṣa or savitri, shining down on us. We visualise this healing energy entering our Being thru the crown of the head or sahasrāra.   We make effort to consciously draw this energy into our head space, down thru the throat and then into the chest space, gradually and sequentially. Then we draw more and more energy in, until we are overflowing with it. We also straighten the spine, or rather we change the natural thoracic and cervical curves into a less cramped shape. This opens the chest, and allows the healing energy of the breath or prāna to flow freely through our Being.

Then we can radiate śrī it out thru our heart portal or anāhata, to the people, pursuits and possessions in our lives. Or we can retain it within our heart region or anāhata, and make effort to maintain and protect it for as long as we can.

When we succeed, then we can be lead or drawn towards our higher self or ātman. When this strategy succeeds, then gaṇaḥ-pati is active and effective in our Being and in our experience. This is really the activation of gaṇapati, or the access to gaṇapati.

Now we can see why the Name nāma of gaṇeśa is connected with the Name nāma of gaṇapati. One Name needs the other Name for the kirtan process to succeed, when we are not in a big Kirtan gathering lead by an exceptional leader.

In the traditional storey telling (the Purana scriptures purāṇa,) Ganapati gaṇapati is a son of Shiva śiva, appointed to be the chief of the gaṇas (servants). So he is called gaṇapati.

Shiva śiva is a powerful Deity in the home country of bhārata. So let us imagine gaṇapati as a powerful assistance or helper, in our efforts to rise up. Then we can return to our higher self ātman, where we belong.

Let us not be deterred by the persistence and insistence of the defilements kilesa, nor by the powerful forces that cause them to invade our consciousness. We CAN transcend, if we persist with diligent purposeful determination. We need to use the wisdom that is innate to our Being, that resides deep within us, as vasudeva.

Dative Case sampradāna.

However, the Name Ganapati gaṇapati occurs in a different form, in the first mantra that Sam uses in this kirtan. We recite the Name as Ganapataye gaṇapataye. This is the dative case, just as om namah Shivaya om namaḥ śivāya is in dative case. What we call ‘dative’ is called ‘sampradāna’ in Sanskrit saṃskrta.

When reciting our mantra in daily life, gaṇapati is really the Goal we are heading towards. It is not necessarily an accurate description of our state of mind citta in this moment. So the dative case is quite useful to us in mantra. gaṇapataye can mean –

let us move towards gaṇapati, or
let us attract gaṇapati towards us, or
gaṇapati is our Goal, or
may gaṇapati be bestowed upon us, perhaps from above.

This can be a heartfelt wish or prayer, or an aspiration or affirmation, for our spiritual practice. sampra = Divine, perfect and dāna = gift.

gam gaṇapataye.

This leads us to the word that immediately precedes Ganapataye gaṇapataye in our mantra. This is gam, which can have two quite different interpretations. It can play two quite different roles in our mantra –

gam can mean ‘movement’ either towards or away from, and
gama can mean the ‘path or road’ we take in spiritual practice. Or
gam can just be a seed bīja sound in our mantra, that goes with the sound of gaṇapataye. Something that gaṇapati grows out of.

Sharana śaraṇa.

Sharana śaraṇa = refuge, sanctuary or safe place. Sharana śaraṇa is especially important to us in our spiritual practice, for we need to be building this refuge every day in our life, or at least protecting it from harm. This sharana śaraṇa is a feeling and experience of safety, and being at ease and content. It comes from being confident because we are doing what we are competent at, and because we have cultivated a sense of trust and respect in our relationships to the people and pursuits in our life.

So Sam uses the mantra Ganesha sharanam gaṇeśa śaraṇam. sharanam śaraṇam is in the accusative case, so –

gaṇeśa śaraṇam can mean ‘gaṇeśa is our refuge.’

This can be an aspiration or affirmation that we recite to ourselves, to bolster our efforts to rise up, and transcend the defilements.

om Ganesha gaṇeśa om Ganapati gaṇapati.

This is the second pair of mantras that Sam uses in this kirtan. It brings the two related Names for Deity together. But this time, both Names are in the vocative form, another very useful case in mantra. When a noun like gaṇeśa is in the vocative case, it can mean –

we are called upon to seek gaṇeśa and cultivate the Qualities of gaṇeśa, as our vocation in life, or
let us invoke and bring forth the Qualities of gaṇeśa, or
we call upon gaṇeśa for assistance.

Indeed, this is how Mollie presents the mantras, at the very beginning. She describes the kirtan as an “invocation, of that which overcomes obstacles in our life,” then she describes this dynamic.

Written in June 2024.

​Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha discussion

Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha discussion