Ganeshapurana 2.40: bālacarite catvāriṃśo'dhyāyaḥ

Gṛtsamada said: / Then all the divine sages went to Kedāra at that time, / and they informed the lotus-born [Brahmā] together with Śiva, the best among all the wise.

Having bowed with their heads, all led by Vācaspati, Indra, and Agni, / the divine sages said: / "We, the gods, have fallen from our positions, and the sages from their proper conduct.

Through fear of Durāsada, O Lord, we are not even able to bathe. / By whom was a boon given to him, by virtue of which he has become lord of the world?

He has become wicked; how can his slaying be [achieved]? Let this be considered. / That by which alone the happiness of the worlds may come about should be done by the compassionate ones."

Brahmā said: / Having heard those words of theirs, the four-faced one replied: / "I shall tell you the means for his slaying, O divine sages.

When he performed severe penance for many days, / the lord, the husband of Ambikā, granted him endless boons.

There is no god in the three worlds who can kill him. / Perhaps that God of gods, who divides the three guṇas—

By whose command I, Śiva, and Viṣṇu have become threefold, / and who became renowned as Guṇeśa because of the division of the three guṇas,

The all-pervading, the possessor of Māyā, creator and destroyer of the universe, / beyond the guṇas, the lord of the guṇas, Śiva higher than the highest—

If that all-pervading Lord takes an incarnation in the womb of Pārvatī, / only then can his destruction take place, not otherwise, O best of the gods. / Therefore, let all praise that Lord who takes thought for the universe; / first make that goddess, the beloved of Śiva, pleased.

A child born of their splendour will be capable of slaying Durāsada. / Precisely such a boon was granted to him by Śaṅkara."

The sage said: / Hearing such a statement from the mouth of Brahmā, the gods rejoiced. / They praised that Bhavānī, the beloved of Śiva, who is affectionate toward her devotees.

The divine sages said: / "We bow to you, the sole cause of the universe, higher than the highest, the wondrous power of the universe, / whose form is unthinkable by all the thirty [gods], praised by all, possessing the three guṇas, the ruler of the guṇas;

To you who sustain the earth, whose form is the earth, the foundation of the moving and unmoving, / the essence of the three worlds, the source of the three guṇas, whose body is the three Vedas, whose form is the gods;

We bow to you, O goddess, granter of boons, the bewilderment of Viṣṇu, granter of status to the gods, / destroyer of the distress of devotees, giver of all aims, creator of the three worlds, protector of all matters."

When she was praised thus at that time, the goddess said to the best of gods: / "Choose your desired wish, O gods; I am pleased by this hymn.

I grant all desires that are in your minds." / Then all the gods recounted the matter stated by Brahmā.

Then the goddess said to them: "Praise the lord of the Gaṇas, / the creator of the auspicious and inauspicious, the all-pervading lord who accomplishes all Siddhis,

Who has attained all desires and aims, the father of the whole universe." / Then they all praised the lord Vināyaka with devotion.

The divine sages said: / "We are bowed before the creator of obstacles, the compassionate, the protector of all, / the cause of the entire universe, the all-pervading sovereign Lord;

Who is endowed with manifold powers, the fulfiller of all desires, / the God compassionate toward the wretched, omniscient, an ocean of mercy;

Who assumes forms according to his own will, ever intent upon manifold incarnations, / beyond the guṇas, the agitator of the guṇas, the guru of the moving and unmoving, the all-pervading Lord;

Having one tusk and having two tusks, with three eyes and ten arms, / with a face like the rod of a trunk, the destroyer of obstacles, the remover of sins;

The eternal giver of boons to devotees, the cause of creation, maintenance, and destruction, / without beginning, middle, or end, the origin of creatures, the nourisher of creatures;

The lord of the three worlds, sovereign of the gods, the crusher of wicked Dānavas, / having long ears, of great splendour, wearing serpents as ornaments, the auspicious one."

Having thus praised that god Gaṇeśa, the giver of all Siddhis, / they heard a voice from the sky: "Let there be no fever of the mind for you;

I shall kill the terrifying Durāsada of great valour." / Hearing that voice from the sky, they went again to Śaṅkara; / and seeing him established in meditation, they bowed and spoke to Pārvatī.

The gods said:
O auspicious lady, we do not know by whom this voice from the sky was uttered.
Since Hara is absorbed in meditation, what should we do, O ruler of all?

The Goddess said:
Therefore, O gods, he who [is to die] now, shall certainly die.
As she was burning with anger, sighing again and again,

from her mouth, nostrils, and eyes issued an excellent splendor,
wreathed in garlands of flames, ready as it were to burn up the universe.

With their vision blinded, all of them beheld with the eye of wisdom
the great form of Vināyaka, ten-armed, the dispeller of darkness,

wearing a diadem, possessing radiance equal to millions of suns,
with large jeweled earrings shining like lightning, and an auspicious tusk,

with divine garments, vermilion, and ten weapons,
with a musk tilaka on his forehead and a garland adorned with fruits upon his chest.

Perceiving that splendor which pervaded the universe, resembling the fire of cosmic dissolution,
and the serpent sacred thread, the gods then bowed down.

Then they prayed to the Lord, a mass of bliss:
You are seen, attainable through supreme yoga, inconceivable, imperishable, self-ruling,

free from disease, devoid of appearances, beyond conceptualisation, ageless, immortal,
the form of all, lord of all, self-luminous, comprising the universe,

unmanifest, the support of the universe, whose nature is Brahman, seeing all objects,
the primordial person, the embodiment of wisdom, beyond the reach of words.

“We are blessed, we are blessed!”—having seen him, the gods danced.
The sage said:
Just as Vināyaka, whose form is splendor, was described by the gods,

in the very same way the mother of the universe praised Gajānana:
That which is without attributes, formless, unmanifest, all-pervading, supreme,

accessible through meditation, the appearance of consciousness, the embodiment of being, consciousness, and bliss,
all-pervading, the cause of the universe—whatever has been meditated upon until today—

has today been seen with form in the manifestation of Vināyaka,
incarnated in my home to slay the demons in great numbers,

for the welfare of the worlds, to protect the universe, moving and unmoving.
Pārvatī worshipped him with devotion and gave him a lion, her own mount.

She conferred upon him the name Vakratuṇḍa, which grants all aims to human beings,
and then she prayed to him for the slaying of Durāsada

and requested the recovery of the gods’ state without rivals.

Thus ends the fortieth chapter, named “The Descent of Vināyaka” in the childhood deeds of the Krīḍākhaṇḍa of the glorious Gaṇeśapurāṇa.

Total number of verses from the beginning: 5889 45 5934