Swamiji highlights the Supreme glory of Lord Ganesha as OM Itself. Disc 146 track 2a.

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Narada says a student acquires education, knowledge. A man who desires money, gains wealth. One who seeks a son – in other words, children – gets a son. And an aspirer of salvation – moksha – reaches his goal. Now, who will not worship a deity like this? That gives you knowledge and brahmacharya, and [if you’re a ] householder, gives you wealth. And as a householder gives you children who can do your Pinda. Who, after you are gone, will spread your lineage. And which yogi is such a foolish man that will not worship him when he knows that Ganapati Bhagavan – he is the Giver of moksha itself? So Ganapati Bhagavan is that deity that fulfils all the wishes of again I say, not man only, but God and other deities that you find in between. [Indistinct patch on the recording].

This Ganapati Bhagavan is not only in India, he is everywhere. Just like Vishnu Bhagavan. Vishnu Bhagavan up until today, nobody saw Vishnu. I don’t think anybody will ever see Vishnu Bhagavan but we have seen the avataras [incarnations] of Lord Vishnu Bhagavan in the form of Sri Krishna, Buddha, Rama, Ramakrishna. These are the avataras, the Incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Many people make the mistake, in the Bhagavatam it is written that Krishna Bhagavan says that Vishnu Bhagavan is ‘a manifestation of myself.’ So a lot of people say Krishna Bhagavan is even greater than Vishnu Bhagavan.

But every Purana you take, if it’s the Shiva Purana, it will make Shiva the highest. If it’s the Devi Purana, it makes Devi the highest. Similarly, in Vishnu’s Purana, [indistinct…] here because Krishna Bhagavan has manifested, they make Krishna Bhagavan the highest. But all these are the manifestation of Lord Vishnu himself.

You will find Kapila in the Bhagavatam, whilst teaching his mother – imparting a lesson, said, ‘Ma, you do this, Ma, you do that’. He said you worship me and you will come to me, you must meditate on me. Slowly while talking, he went into a superconscious state [samadhi]. He was identified with God himself.  [Indistinct….] But Kapila… and I see Kapila with my five senses. Now, is that Supreme Being. The body and everything, intellect, mind and the body, and the spirit the formless, the nameless, the attribute-less is God himself.

Now this part you must know. He takes all these forms, he takes all these names, but he is beyond these names and forms. Sri Ramakrishna when Dayanand Saraswati asked him, ‘Thakur [master] is God with form or without form?’ Sri Ramakrishna kept quiet. Dayanand prompted him again. Ramakrishna kept quiet. Then Dayanand Saraswati again [indistinct…] something forward… Ramakrishna looked at him in [from a state of] samadhi and said, ‘Look here, God is with form, without form and God is beyond that – [only] God himself knows. Dayanand Saraswati maharaj  prostrated to Sri Ramakrishna.

So you find again that Ganapati as you see him, make no mistake, he is the manifestation of the Supreme and in this case we say, OM. The manifestation of OM. And OM in the Upanishads, says ‘What is OM? That which exists in waking state, that which exists in dream state, that which exists in deep sleep state and that which exists beyond these three states, is OM.‘ And that which you identify as infinite, God himself. And here you find that Sri Ganapati Bhagavan is nothing else but that Supreme Being called OM. He manifests himself in every age, in different names and forms. Let us see how we can come to that conclusion.

To be continued in post of Disc 146 – 2b.

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These recordings were made from the 1970s onward, by Mother Radha, a close devotee of Swamiji’s and edited for uploading here by our gurubhai and her son, Brother Tim. Please be mindful that what Swamiji was saying may have been specific to an individual or a group of people with him, at the time.