My spiritual life started with Ganesha🔗

My spiritual life started with Ganesha; Ganesha eating the food I offered is the first spiritual experience that happened in My life. And I can say, My spiritual journey was successful and unfolded with all its glory, beauty and depth after that. It was Ganesha who inaugurated My spiritual life.

When all these truths get into your own system when you are a kid…when you are fresh and about to start life… nothing like it! It gets into your very bio-memory! I tell you, it gets into your very bio-memory!

This whole revival of deity worship of Sanatana Hindu Dharma, which I am doing now, started just with one small Ganesha gifted to Me when I was the age of three. If that same Ganesha or even a bigger Ganesha was gifted to Me when I was eighteen, I don't think this revival would have happened. Just that one Ganesha at the age of three got into My very bio-memory, became an experience! That is why I could transmit that experience to tons and tons of people, and this whole Sanatana Hindu Dharma is revived!

My first encounter with wealth

I remember the first incident related to wealth that happened in My life soon after I received the Ganesha. In Hindu villages, during festivals, the uncles and aunts would give money to the kids. My brothers and I were given some coins by My uncles. I asked My father, "What should I do with this?" My father said, "You can buy whatever you want." I said, "I wanted a Ganesha and I already got it; now what should I do?" My father said, "You can give it to anyone you like." I thought, "Okay, what is there in this? I can use it if I want; if not, I can give it away." So I called My cousin and he just grabbed all the coins from Me! This is the first memory I have of wealth, and I still live by it. I have not created any relationship with wealth; I have neither created any joy nor created any suffering in My relationship with wealth. I just know that wealth is always living with Me.

Ganesha - the most loved God!

I can say, the most worshiped deity in Bharat is Ganesha. Almost every street has a Ganesha temple! You don't need a big ritualistic puja for him. A village lady, after her bath in the river, comes and offers water to the Ganesha deity on the banks of the river, worships him and goes away. You cannot worship any other god like this, without much ritual.

Ganesha is the most beloved and friendly God from the Hindu tradition. His very form is so nice! You can relate to him in any way you want. He is unassuming and non-demanding. He is the most easily accessible - bhole baba! He is so easily pleased – ashutosha! He is a powerful, divine being, pleased just by the offering of a coconut. Ganesha is still the sweetheart of Hindu children, especially school-going children who are writing exams. From the time I remember, all my examinations were written only by Ganesha!

Ganesha outlives all philosophies. He feels all philosophies are boredom. He is like a modern day teenage kid who eats left and right, sits with Facebook all the time and does not bother about any serious philosophy, but who has all the powers! He doesn't come under any rule or regulation, but he has all the powers and is the embodiment of satchitananda auspiciousness, intelligence and energy. Above all, he is a being close to our hearts. There cannot be any philosophical explanation about him. He is just a part of us, that's all!

Whether it is Vyasa, the first master, or a more recent master, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, all of them have to start their work bowing to Ganesha! Whether they are going to sing a stotra or give a teaching…even if they have to teach the enlightenment science which says 'God is formless', they have to start with Ganesha! Even if they have to express that 'God is nirguna bramhan (beyond the three basic human attributes)', they first have to say, "Let me bow down to Ganesha to express these great truths properly."

I didn't just worship Ganesha - I lived with him!

When I woke up in the morning, I would wake My Ganesha up. Before I took a drink of water, I would offer water to him. After I brushed My teeth, I would use a small brush to brush his teeth. His original tusk was gone, because I used to brush it so hard - grgrgrgr! I used to think that it is a big tusk, so I have to clean it properly. Then, after I took a bath, I would give him also a bath. Once I put on My clothes, I would put on clothes and jewels for him. Once I applied the holy ash, I would apply holy ash and sandalwood paste on him. When I ate, I would feed him also - meaning, I would offer naivedyam to him.

I had not yet started school, so there was no routine for Me other than playing with Ganesha! I would make a small chariot for him, put him in that and drive him around. I would be playing with him the whole day. I even used to go to bed with him, under a small mosquito net. I was living with him; he became part of Me.

I would do puja every day to Ganesha. I would pour water on him, put a little food in front of him and offer arati: wave the lamp before him, wave the camphor before him. It was not like I was just doing a small puja or anything; I had such a strong feeling-connection with him that I felt that Ganesha was actually there…that the deity was not just a stone; it was Ganesha Himself!

If you are just doing puja for some other reason, you will never enter that place again that day. I have seen many people doing puja. In the morning, they go into the puja room, roll around with the deity and pour water or do whatever needs to be done. But once they come out, they would never even go that side again, because it would be such a heavy routine for them; they would never make the mistake of entering into that room again that day! But for Me, it was like living with him. The whole day I would be sitting with Ganesha, fanning him, or doing whatever I could. Anything given to Me, I would bring and put it in front of him. I was a small boy living with God!

Leela Dhyana - meditation on the Divine play

Many of our devotees tell Me, "Swamiji, I was cooking, washing and doing all my work, but as an undercurrent, your memory was there inside me, Swamiji! It is so sweet; I am just filled with You! I don't know why, but I am not able to forget You."

This is what we call in Sanskrit as leela dhyana, constantly being in meditation on the Divine Play! When the leela dhyana gets mature, you enter into samprajnata samadhi. That was what was happening with Me and Ganesha. I would be centered on Ganesha; whatever I did the whole day, I lived with him. Leela dhyana - meditating on or strongly feeling connected to a deity's form - starts building the right reasoning, vitarka, in your life.