Lord Ganesha’s Mouse Wishes Only for Him

The Lord does not need the light of the oil lamp we have spent ten rupees to light. God has nothing to gain from us

Lord Ganesha has the whole universe in His belly. What does the big stomach symbolise? The true seeker’s unappeasable hunger to know the Truth. Ganesha’s big ears represent shraddha, the capacity of a sadhak to hear, that is to imbibe, the subtle spiritual principles.

An elephant can uproot a huge tree with its trunk, and it can also pick up a small needle. So Ganesha’s trunk signifies the sadhak’s ability to grasp both the gross and the subtle principles. Ganesha’s mouse first represents desire. Just as one small mouse can destroy an entire crop, a single desire can destroy all our virtues. But a Self-realised soul has complete mastery over the mind and desires. That is why Ganesha rides on a mouse.

At other times, the mouse sits at the feet of Ganesha, gazing intently at the Lord’s face, without touching the sweets that surround Him. This means that a Self-realised soul is the Lord of his own mind; his mind will only move at his command. Most of us are like the mouse who chases after every crumb of food we come across. Our minds are not focused on the Divine. How do we attain that same state of stillness where even a massive pile of laddus does not tempt us away from the Lord? What we need is full-time devotion. To pray for the fulfillment of a particular desire is part-time devotion. What we need is the love and devotion for God that leads to Supreme Love.

Full-time devotion is to be constantly aware that it is God who makes us do everything. In this way, we can discard the sense of ‘I,’ which is rooted in the body-mind-intellect plane, and experience ourselves as the all-pervading Consciousness.

This does not mean we should stay away from temples. There is a beautiful reverence in expressing our devotion to God while praying there. The money we offer symbolises our devotion; it helps us to cultivate the attitude of surrender. Furthermore, the atmosphere is purified by the pujas, prayers, and peace of others.

Our very eyesight is a gift from God. The Lord does not need the light of the oil lamp we have spent ten rupees to light. God has nothing to gain from us. When we take refuge in the Divine, we are the ones who benefit from it.

Ultimately, to progress on the spiritual path, our only wish should be to love God. That is all we truly need. We should see God in everything. It is God who has given us the power to pray. If God’s power were absent, we wouldn’t even be able to lift a finger.

When we lose the ‘I,’ all that remains is ‘Thou, God.’ The insignificant identity ‘I’ must be discarded. True devotion is the awareness, “You are all! You make us do everything!” In this way we attain everything, after which there is nothing left to wish for.

Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, known simply as Amma, is a spiritual master and humanitarian who has given her darshan in the form of a motherly embrace to more than 4 crore people. Listening to the cries of the suffering, Amma leads the Mata Amritanandamayi Math, an NGO that reaches across more than 50 countries, working in the areas of healthcare, disaster relief, education, gender equality, and environmental restoration; Views presented are personal.