Ganesha

Om Namoji Adya (Jnaneshwari Mangalacharan)

Sant Jnaneshwar (Dnyaneshwar Mauli)1275–1296

ॐ नमोजी आद्या। वेद प्रतिपाद्या।
जय जय स्वसंवेद्या। आत्मरूपा॥१॥

देवा तूंचि गणेशु। सकलमति प्रकाशु।
म्हणे निवृत्ति दासु। अवधारिजो जी॥२॥

हें शब्दब्रह्म अशेष। तेचि मूर्ति सुवेष।
तेथ वर्णवपु निर्दोष। मिरवत असे॥३॥

स्मृति तेचि अवयव। देखा आंगिकभाव।
तेथ लावण्याची ठेव। अर्थशोभा॥४॥

अष्टादश पुराणें। तीचि मणिभूषणें।
पदपद्धती खेवणें। प्रमेयरत्नांचीं॥५॥

Meaning

Om, salutation to you, the Primal One, whom the Vedas describe; victory, victory to you who are known only by yourself, whose form is the Self.

Lord, you alone are Ganesha, who lights up every mind. So says Nivritti’s servant: please listen.

This whole Word-Brahman, the Veda, is your beautifully dressed form; in it the flawless body of letters shines.

The Smritis are your limbs; see their gestures and bearing. In them is the treasure of beauty, the grace of meaning.

The eighteen Puranas are your jewelled ornaments; their teachings are the gems, set in the settings of their verses.

About this bhajan

The Jnaneshwari opens with Shri Ganesh, but Jnaneshwar sees him in a new way: the whole of scripture is Ganesha’s body. The Vedas are his form, the Smritis his limbs, the Puranas his jewellery, and later ovis go on to make the six darshanas his arms and the Upanishads his flowers. These first five ovis are recited at the start of every Jnaneshwari parayan and by Marathi families at Ganesh Chaturthi.

Jnaneshwari, adhyaya 1, ovis 1–5 (Marathi Wikisource)