Lord Ganesha's birth⁸

Lord Shiva had quite a few guards — Nandi, Bhringi and others. He also had many assistants. His consort, Parvati, had a few friends who were very dear to her. These friends became very, very jealous of Lord Shiva.

Parvati's friends used to tell her, “We feel so sorry for you that you do not have any bodyguards.”

Then Parvati protested, “I do not need bodyguards, I do not need them!”

“But you do need them!” they insisted. “Why should everybody only appreciate Shiva?”

Parvati answered, “When people appreciate Shiva, I feel they are appreciating me as well.”

Her friends said, “No, no, no! Your name is not Shiva; your name is Parvati. These guards never mention Shiva and Parvati. For them, it is all Shiva, Shiva. Please allow us to do something about this matter. We would like to have some bodyguards, some assistants, for you.”

Once more Parvati said, “No, I do not need assistants, I do not need them. When people appreciate Shiva, admire him and adore him, I feel that they adore me and love me also. So I do not need assistants.”

But her friends were not convinced. They said, “There shall come a time when you will also need bodyguards and helpers and so forth. One day you will realise this.”

Alas, it happened that one day Parvati was taking a shower and inadvertently Shiva came into the room. Parvati was very embarrassed. She said, “Why did you come here? I am taking a shower.”

Shiva began to say, “I came here — ”

Before he could complete the sentence, Parvati started shouting and screaming at him. Shiva said he would never embarrass her again. He was very upset. Then he went far away.

Parvati was now alone. One day she was taking a shower and from her body, while she was using her soap, some dust and dirt dropped. This dust and dirt became a little four or five-year-old boy. That was her son. She gave that little boy all kinds of occult power and spiritual power. The little boy became very, very powerful.

When he was six or seven years old, his father had still not returned. Another six years went by and Lord Shiva wanted to come back home. Parvati had told her son that, without her permission, nobody would be allowed to enter her home. The little boy was all the time guarding, guarding, guarding his mother. When Lord Shiva came, the little boy did not know who he was, and so he did not allow his father to enter.

Lord Shiva said, “It is beneath my dignity to fight this little boy!” He sent Nandi and Bhringi, his guards, to fight with the child. Alas, the little boy defeated them badly! Then more Cosmic Gods arrived to help Shiva, but they met with the same fate. Finally, Brahma and Vishnu came. They also lost to the little boy. They could not believe how powerful the little boy was. One by one, they all lost to him. Then they begged Shiva himself to come and fight.

Lord Shiva came, and for a long time he fought with the little boy. At last, Shiva became furious. He said, “I cannot go on like this. Now the only thing I can do is cut off his head. I will kill him. It will not be right for me to win by foul means, but what can I do? I have to kill him.” Then Shiva cut off the little boy’s head and threw it away.

When Parvati came to know that her son had been killed, she was deeply upset and grief-stricken. She was crying and lamenting so pitifully and, at the same time, she was so angry that she wanted to kill all the Cosmic Gods. She kept repeating, “My son, my son!” She was so fond of her little child.

Vishnu, as usual, became the mediator. Vishnu went to Parvati and tried to console her. Alas, there was no consolation. She said, “No, I do not want your philosophy! My son has to get back his life.”

Then Vishnu went to Shiva and begged him, “Please, please, use your occult power. With occult power, bring his life back.”

Shiva used his occult power and brought life back to the body of the little boy, but the head was still somewhere else. Now Parvati said, “What shall I do with a living body without a head? He must have a head. Then only he will be perfect. Otherwise, without a head, how will people recognise him?”

Parvati was still furious with her husband. Then Shiva said, “All right. Tomorrow morning the Cosmic Gods will go out. The first person or living being they see, I will tell them to cut off his head and bring it to me, and I will put it on this little boy.”

When the Cosmic Gods went out the next morning, the first thing they saw was an elephant, not a human being! And the elephant had only one tusk. Shiva had told them, “You have to bring the head of the first living being.” The first living being happened to be an elephant, so they cut off the elephant’s head and brought it back to Shiva. Then Shiva put it on the body of the little boy.

Parvati was very, very happy. She did not care whether it was a human head or the head of an elephant. She was happy that her son had been restored to her. Then Shiva said, “I really admire this little boy. I take him as my own son.” And he lifted the little boy up on his shoulders and started showing him all affection and love.

Shiva said to his son, “Brahma, Vishnu and I, we three Cosmic Gods, are always worshipped first. But now I am changing the order. From now on, my son will be worshipped first. His name will be Ganesha. He has to be worshipped first, and only then the devotees will worship us.”

This made Parvati extremely happy, and Shiva was also very, very happy. Shiva said, “He is my dearest, fondest child.” Everybody was supremely happy. This is how the story ends.

Since that time, Lord Ganesha has been worshipped before any other Cosmic God or Goddess.