Ganesha Eight Temple and 50 Priest Lakshmi Yagya
Four Day Ganesha Yagya including the two day temple program, Jan 13-14 and the 50 priest Lakshmi Yagya, Jan 15-16 ($35)
The Ashtavinayaka Temples of Maharashtra

Ganesha is known as Vigneshwara; "The Lord of Obstacles" and as such he is honored at the beginning of anything that we do in life, from the start of a yagya to undertaking any meaningful activity. In Maharastra State of India (near Mumbai) there are a series of eight temples, each dedicated to a different form of Ganesha. To visit all of them is called a "yatra" (pilgrimage) and is considered to be one of the great blessings in Hinduism.

Our special yagya program will have two priests from Pune who will undertake this 1,000 kilometer journey to perform pujas at each of the eight temples on our behalf. What a way to begin the new year!

The story of these temples is a partiicularly interesting one. Each of the murtis (statues) in the temples is considered to be "Swayambhu", meaning that is is self revealing, rather than being carved by a sculptor. With the exception of one, they were all discovered naturally in the shape that you see in the images below.

This temple is called Sri Moreshwar. The murti is covered with red sindoor and decorated nicely. If you look closely you can see that his eyes are large diamonds.

The sindoor is applied in thin layers and has cracked open in 1788 and 1872 to reveal the actual murti inside.

The next temple is called Sri Siddhivinayaka and the murti is considered to be exceptionally powerful with his trunk curved to the right, which is unusual. The temple sits on top of a hill.

The story is that Vishnu came here to acquire siddhis (powers) in order to defear the demons Madhu and Kaitabh.

The next temple is called Sri Chintamani and the murti is decorated with diamonds in his eyes and navel. Chintamani means "The Jewel of Consciousness" and pujas here enhance the development of our higher consciousness.

In this region, there was a King who had a son named Gana. One day his son stole a wish fulfilling gem from a rishi who appealed to Ganesha to get it back. Ganesha and Gana battled and predictably Ganesha won, but the rishi, seeing the trouble the gem caused did not want it and gave it to Ganesha.

 

This temple is called Sri Mahaganapati and the temple was created in the 8th or 9th century. Supposedly there is a murti with ten trunks and twenty hands which was hidden at the time of the Muslim invasion. But it is either lost or not displayed and the murti here impressive in its own right.

Shiva is believed to have worshiped here in order to obtain the pwoer to defeat the demon Tripurasura.

This temple for Sri Vigneshwara, dates back to around 1785 and the murti is decorated with emeralds in his eyes and diamonds on his forehead and navel. The temple here is the only one of the eight with a golden dome.

The demon Vighnasur was defeated by Ganesha who spared his life under the condition that he never go to any place where Ganesha worship was offered.

The demon agreed but asked that his name come before Ganesha's thus Ganesha is known as Vig (the demon) Eshwara (meaning God)....Vihnesh's God - Vigneshwara

 

This temple for Girijatmaj is up a hill with 307 steps to the top. The temple itself is located in one of 18 formerly Buddhist caves. The murti is not freestanding, but rather, emerges from the wall of the cave itself.

It is said that Parvati, Shiva's wife wanted a son and performed meditations here. Ganesha was the result.
The last temple is for Sri Ballaleswar and is named after a young man who discovered the murti a very long time ago. The murti is friendly looking with a clearly defined trunk.