1. The Journey Starts with a prayer... Pratham Sumir Shri Ganesh... / Shri Ganesh Aarti.
Channel: Om Shiv Om - The Core of a Hindu
Date: 2021-01-19

It is said that we have seven main chakras or nerve points in our body. At the base of our spine is the Muladhara Chakra. This point is the base or foundation point in our body, and is responsible for the energy we feel – enthusiasm, dullness, interest, inertia and so on. Only when this point is activated do we feel enthusiasm; this energy can then be transferred upwards to the other chakras enabling wisdom, knowledge and learning to take birth within us. 

Another legend has it that there was a race between Lord Ganesha and his brother Lord Karthikeya or Murugan to determine who would get the divine fruit that Sage Narada had offered their parents, Lord Shiva and his consort Goddess Parvati. This fruit had the power of supreme knowledge and immortality. The first one to go around the world three times would be adjudged winner. Lord Karthikeya began his circumambulation around the world on his vehicle, the peacock. Lord Ganesha, on the other hand, went around his parents, stating that his parents were his world. Naturally, he won the race, and ate the divine fruit of knowledge.

That is why we pray to Lord Ganesha at the very beginning of any puja. We sing songs in His name to invoke favorable tidings, to seek His blessings for the successful start and eventual completion of any venture we undertake.