Siddhivinayak

Believers, (like me and my mother) are always thrilled to get darshan (divine vision) of God in natural phenomena, rocks, mountains, lakes and the like. Lord Shiva and his family are well-known to present themselves in the play of light and in the crevices of the slopes of Kailash and on the lake Mansarovar. My mother was amazed to be able to get such a vision of Siddhivinayaka one night on the walls of the huge Siddhivinayak temple at Prabhadevi, Mumbai.

Here is the temple in question:

Now if you will notice from the two separate pictures of murtis of Siddhivinayak, the first from one of the Ashtavinayak temples at Siddhatek, the second inside the temple in Mumbai, the temple appears to have been made in the general shape of the Siddhivinayak! The murti has ears that fan out and a proportionate trunk. The top has a mukut (crown) like the deity and the longer middle ridge represents the trunk. The stand with a crowned top could serve as the tip of the trunk curving right (for the Siddhivinayak form of Ganpati, the trunk is always curved right, instead of left as the regular Ganpatis are). When it's lit up at night, the windows in the furrows on the building could serve as eyes. So with the play of light and shadows, one could easily get a darshan of God. No wonder it's a tourist attraction in Mumbai! Talk about man-made miracles! This architect must have been inspired.

(A not-so-good picture of the temple at night). If you want to know about the Siddhivinayak temple at Prabhadevi, this is the official website.

For the story of the origin of Siddhivinayaka, click here. I love mythology!

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OKAY, so for those NOT well-versed in Hinduism, the figures in the above link need some explanation.

Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are the Divine Trinity, the forces representing creation, preservation through manifestation, and destruction respectively. Brahma has started creating the world only after praying to Ganesh/Ganpati, the God one must pray to first as he is the God of good omens etc. and will see your task through. Vishnu was sleeping because, since the world was not created, he had nothing to preserve! Nidradevi is probably the Goddess of sleep. The Gandharvas are the Hindu equivalents of the Muses of Greek Mythology if you will, divine beings accomplished in the arts. Devotional music, dance and song propitiate the Gods. The Veena is an instrument held by the Goddess Saraswati, and is said to be able to create the divine sound of creation.

YES freakoid separatists, here is enough proof that even GODS pray to each other!

I am just blown away by architecture. Yay! That's one of the reasons I loved The Fountainhead!