#244 The powerful blessing and meaning of Sri Sankatanaashana Ganesha Stotram
Shri Ganesha Stotram or Sankata Nashana Ganapati Stotram is a powerful prayer to Lord Ganesha. It occurs in the Narada Purana. Rishi Narada is a devotee of Bhagavan Vishnu.
Rishi Narada has also written the Narada Bhakti Sutras, a profound text on Bhakti which I recently taught this year. Recordings are available if you are keen to learn.
Narada – the one who imparts the teachings of dharma to the human. Naaram dadhati iti Narada.
Sankatanashana Ganesha Stotram – as the name suggests, is a set of devotional verses to Lord Ganesha for sankat-naasahana, elimination of all sorts of problems and sorrows. I as well as a lot of the students have chanted this and we are amazed to see that Lord Ganesha is very quick to bless, every single time.
In the Vedic tradition we look at 3 sources of dukkha, sorrow which are experienced as problems –
Adhyatmika dukkha arising from my own body and mind e.g. health conditions, thought patterns of feeling victimised.
Adhibhautika dukkha arising from elements and elementals – different beings including bugs and people that bug me
Adhidaivika dukkha arising from phenomena occurring due to forces of nature. E.g. storm, cyclone, global warming.
Everyone wants resolution of these 3 different types of sorrow.
When? Everyday.
Why? Because everyday living involves dukkha, some sort of sorrow.
From a tooth ache to a mosquito bite to an angry boss to a demanding sister-in-law to the airconditioner breaking down to losing money in the stock market to global warming. These sankata-s or dukkha are experienced as problems by us which we do not want.
Sankatanaashana Ganesh Stotram has 8 verses which point to the power of Lord Ganesh. Briefly put, Sage Narada says that every person should bow his head and worship Lord Ganesha and ask for longevity and elimination of all problems.
Lord Ganesha’s different names should be chanted including Vakratunda, Ekdanta, Krishna Pingaksha, Gajvaktra, Lambodara, Chata Vikat, Vighnaraja, Dhumravarna, Bhalchandra, Vinayaka, Ganpati etc.
These twelve names should be worshipped at trikala sandhya, three time periods of the day. This frees a person from any sort of fear. Lord Ganesha’s worship fulfills all desires.
We look at each verse and its meaning.
श्री संकट नाशन गणेश स्तोत्र
Shri Sankat Nashanam Ganesha Stotram
नारद उवाच
Narada Uvacha:
Sage Narada told
प्रणम्य शिरसा देवं गौरीपुत्रं विनायकम् ।
भक्तावासं स्मरेन्नित्यमायुः कामार्थसिद्धये ।।1।।
Pranamya shirasaa devam Gauriputram Vinayakam.
Bhaktavaasam smaretnityamaayuh kaama-artha siddhaye ||1||
After bowing down in surrender with my head to Deva Vinayaka who is the son of Goddess Parvati and the refuge of devotees, one must remember him every day for obtaining longevity, wealth and desires. Vinayaka – Vinati iti Vinayaka – the one who takes away obstacles or Vishista nayaka – a special leader.
The next few verses are names of Ganapati which are chanted.
What is in a name? you ask.
Well, if I say your name, I invoke all of you.
The nama stands for the naami, the being. Can you think of a person without his or her name? The naama and naami are inseparable. The naama, name is a sound symbol for the being.
प्रथमं वक्रतुडं च एकदन्तं द्वितीयकम् ।
तृतीयं कृष्णपिंगाक्षं गजवक्त्रं चतुर्थकम् ।।2।।
Prathamam Vakratundam cha, Ekadantam dvitiyakam.
Tritiyam Krshna Pingaaksham,Gajavaktram Chaturthakam ||2||
First name, Vakratunda, one whose trunk is crooked or curved.
One thing to note is that the name is Vakratunda but when mentioned in the verse it is Vakratundam because of some grammatical rules.
Second name, Ekadantam one who has one tusk. Ganesha broke a part of his tusk to scribe the Mahabharata as dictated by Veda Vyasa.
Third name, Krishnapingaksham, as the one with blackish and yellowish brown eyes
Fourth name, Gajavaktra, as the one who has the mouth of an elephant.
लम्बोदरं पंचमं च षष्ठ विकटमेव च ।
सप्तमं विघ्नराजेन्द्रं धूम्रवर्णं तथाष्टमम् ।।3।।
Lambodaram Panchamam cha, Shashtam Vikatamev cha.
Saptamam Vighnaraajam cha,Dhoomravarnam tathashtamam ||3||
Lambodara, Fifth name as the one who has a large belly,
Sixth name, Vikata, as the one who has a large form
Seventh name, Vighnaraaja as the one who lords over obstacles – who creates as well as takes them away,
Eighth, Dhoomravarna as the one who has the complexion of smoke.
नवमं भालचन्द्रं च दशमं तु विनायकम् ।
एकादशं गणपतिं द्वादशं तु गजाननम् ।।4।।
Navamam Bhalachandram cha, Dashamam tu Vinayakam.
Ekadasham Ganapatim, Dwadasham tu Gajananam ||4||
Ninth Bhalachandra as the one who has the moon on his forehead. It is also a name for Shiva
Tenth Vinayaka as the one who is the leader of remover of obstacles,
Eleventh Ganapati as the master/leader of the ganas, groups
And twelfth Gajananam as the one who has the face of an elephant
Next is the phalashruti, the results of chanting this Stotram.
द्वादशैतानि नामानि त्रिसन्ध्यं यः पठेन्नरः ।
न च विध्नभयं तस्य सर्वसिद्धिकरं प्रभो ।।5।।
Dwadashaitani namani,Trisandhyam yah pathenara.
Na cha vighna bhayam tasya Sarvasiddhi karam prabho ||5||
Whoever chants these twelve names, at dawn, noon and dusk will not have fear of obstacles and would achieve whatever s/he wants.
(Whenever fulfilment of desires is mentioned we speak of dharma avirrudha kaama, desires that are in line with Dharma)
विद्यार्थी लभते विद्यां धनार्थी लभते धनम् ।
पुत्रार्थी लभते पुत्रान्मोक्षार्थी लभते गतिम् ।।6।।
Vidhyarthi labhate Vidhyam,Danarthi labhate Dhanam.
Putrarthi labhate Putran,Moksharthi labhate Gateem ||6||
One who desires knowledge obtains knowledge. One who desires wealth will get wealth, One who desires children, will get children, And one who wants moksha will gain moksha.
(Thus all the four purusharthas, four primary life pursuits are covered)
जपेग्दणपतिस्तोत्रं षड् भिर्मासैः फ़लं लभेत् ।
संवत्सरेण सिद्धिं च लभते नात्र संशयः ।।7।।
Japet Ganapati stotram,Shadbhirmaasai phalam labhet.
Samvatsarena siddhim cha, Labhate natra samshaya ||7||
Whoever chants this Ganapati Stotram (daily) obtains the desired results within six months, and within a samvatsara, year, achieves siddhi (all wishes). And there is no doubt with regard to this.
अष्टभ्यो ब्राह्मणेभ्यश्च लिखित्वा यः समर्पयेत् ।
तस्य विद्या भवेत् सर्वा गणेशस्य प्रसादतः ।।8।।
Ashtabhyo Brahmanebhyashcha Likihitwa yh samarpayet.
Tasya Vidhya bhavetsarva Ganeshasya Prasadatah ||8||
Whosoever writes down this Stotram eight times, and offers it to eight Brahmins*, gets all knowledge from Lord Ganesha by the grace of Lord Ganesha.
(*A Brahmin is the one who does tapas and Vedic learning. )
Iti shri narada puraane sankatanashan Ganesha stotram sampuranam
Thus the Sankatanaasahan Ganesha stotram that occurs in the Narada Purana is complete.
If just hearing about the meaning of this stotram is so delightful, how much more lovely would it be, to chant this and connect with the grace of Bhagavan Ganapati.
Prayers that Ganapati fulfills what your heart desires and paves the way for all your pursuits.
llOm shree mahaganapataye namah ll
For those who want to go deeper into their understanding of Ganapati, it would be great to listen to the meaning of Ganapati Atharvasheersha Upanishad, the link of which is here.
