Mythology Is The Divine Echo of "The Truth"

Mythology is the divine echo of “The Truth” asserted by John Ronald Reul Tolkien, who was an English writer, poet, philologist, and academic who is best known as the author of the high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien wrote that myths held fundamental things. He expressed these beliefs in his poem, Mythopoeia (circa 1931), which describes myth-making as an act of sub-creation within God’s primary creation. It is believed by many scholars all through the world that mythology is the primary component of religion. In the broader term, religion encompasses concepts that are of high importance to a certain community, making assertions related to the supernatural or sacred. In addition, every religion includes rituals. For example, Greek mythology is associated with Greek religion. If the two are disconnected with time and evolution, a myth may lose its immediate relevance and fade, only to reappear as a legend or folklore. The primary characters in myths are usually gods, demigods, or supernatural human beings. Stories of supernatural human beings are usually regarded as legends rather than myths.

According to many scholars, the world’s oldest religion is Hinduism, with customs and rituals ranging back more than 4,000 years. A famous and very popular story is of Lord Ganesha which has a mythological origin. He is the son of eternal Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati. As the story goes, once when the Goddess Parvati went to take a bath, she took some sandalwood and turmeric paste and created a human form out of it. She then breathed life into this human form and thus a boy was born. Parvati accepted the boy as her son and asked him to guard the main gate while she completed her bath. As Lord Shiva returned from his meditative wanderings, he was surprised to find a little boy standing at the entrance to his wife’s chamber. When he tried to enter, the boy blocked his path. Not knowing that the boy was his own son, Lord Shiva who was quick to anger got enraged and cut off the boy’s head. Goddess Parvati, on returning from her bath, saw her son beheaded and was overcome with grief. To appease his grief-stricken wife, Lord Shiva cut an elephant’s head and attached it to the body of the beheaded boy, and revived him. Hence, Lord Ganesha is depicted as the “Elephant-headed God” To further comfort his beloved wife, Parvati, Lord Shiva gave a special boon to Lord Ganesha that he would be worshipped first-before any other God.

What makes this mythological story a very important one is that all Hindu prayers/rituals until today start with chanting/prayers of Lord Ganesha. The statue of the elephant-headed Lord Ganesha is found at the entrance of most Hindu temples. Among the names that are attributed to Lord Ganesha, one is “Prathamesh”, which is derived from a Sanskrit word called “Pratham”. This word means “First” and a variant of this word is Prathamesh, meaning Lord Ganesha, as he is worshipped first during all Hindu prayer rituals and before starting any new project. Hence, we all also start this website with a prayer to Lord Ganesha.

“Vakratunda Mahakaya Suryakoti Samaprabha” is a Prayer to Lord Ganesha, to remove obstacles and bless with success. Lord Ganesha is prayed to at the beginning of all works as he is the deity who removes obstacles.