Ganesha
Gajananam
गजाननं भूतगणादिसेवितं कपित्थजम्बूफलचारुभक्षणम् । उमासुतं शोकविनाशकारकं नमामि विघ्नेश्वरपादपङ्कजम् ॥
Simple reading
Ga-jaa-na-nam bhoo-ta-ga-naa-di se-vi-tam, ka-pit-tha jam-boo pha-la chaa-ru bhak-sha-nam, u-maa-su-tam sho-ka vi-naa-sha kaa-ra-kam, na-maa-mi vigh-ne-shva-ra paa-da pan-ka-jam
Gajānanaṁ bhūtagaṇādi-sevitaṁ kapittha-jambū-phala-cāru-bhakṣaṇam, umāsutaṁ śoka-vināśa-kārakaṁ namāmi vighneśvara-pāda-paṅkajam
About this mantra
A widely sung vandana to the elephant-faced lord: four lines that say what he is, what he eats and whose son he is, and end at his feet.
Meaning
I bow to the lotus feet of the lord of obstacles: elephant-faced, attended by the ganas, delighting in kapittha and jambu fruits, son of Uma, destroyer of sorrow. The epithets are chosen for reassurance. He is easy to please, since plain wild fruit delights him, and he is near at hand, Uma's own child. Sorrow, the verse says, is destroyed by his remembered presence, not by force.
Learn it by heart
Say the first line until it comes without reading, then add the next line and say both, until the whole mantra comes on its own.
Line 1 of 2
गजाननं भूतगणादिसेवितं कपित्थजम्बूफलचारुभक्षणम् ।
Gajānanaṁ bhūtagaṇādi-sevitaṁ kapittha-jambū-phala-cāru-bhakṣaṇam, umāsutaṁ śoka-vināśa-kārakaṁ namāmi vighneśvara-pāda-paṅkajam
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Aim for eleven before the next line. Move on when the line comes without reading.
Progress stays on this device.
When to recite it
Sung at the opening of pujas and satsangs; its metre invites a group. Fitting before family functions, and through the Ganeshotsav days while the murti is home.
Word by word
- गजाननंgajānanaṁ
- the elephant-faced one
- भूतगणादिसेवितंbhūtagaṇādi-sevitaṁ
- served by the ganas and beings
- कपित्थजम्बूफलचारुभक्षणम्kapittha-jambū-phala-cāru-bhakṣaṇam
- who delights in eating wood-apple and jambu fruit
- उमासुतंumāsutaṁ
- son of Uma (Parvati)
- शोकविनाशकारकंśoka-vināśa-kārakaṁ
- destroyer of sorrow
- नमामिnamāmi
- I bow
- विघ्नेश्वरपादपङ्कजम्vighneśvara-pāda-paṅkajam
- to the lotus feet of the lord of obstacles
Source: Traditional Gaṇeśa vandana (prayer corpus)