Maha Ganapathi Mantra
ॐ श्रीं ह्रीं क्लीं ग्लौं गं गणपतये वरवरद सर्वजनं मे वशमानय स्वाहाIn Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.
Who Maha Ganapathi is
Maha Ganapathi, “the great Ganapathi”, is Ganesha worshipped as the Supreme Being himself. The Sritattvanidhi, a nineteenth-century compendium of iconography, lists him thirteenth among its thirty-two forms of Ganesha, and he is one of the most widely worshipped of them. He is red, three-eyed, with a crescent moon on his head and ten arms, which hold among other things a pomegranate, a mace, a discus, a sugarcane bow, a noose, a lotus, a sheaf of rice and his own broken tusk. His shakti sits on his knee, marking this as a form worshipped together with the goddess. Among the Ganapatyas, who hold Ganesha to be the highest god, the Maha Ganapatya school named after this form was reckoned one of their six principal schools.
The mula mantra on the Sri Vidya path
His mula mantra is oṃ śrīṃ hrīṃ klīṃ glauṃ gaṃ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṃ me vaśamānaya svāhā, twenty-eight syllables in which the seeds śrīṃ, hrīṃ, klīṃ, glauṃ and gaṃ precede his name and a petition closes it. Gaṃ and glauṃ are seeds of Ganapati himself. The mantra belongs both to Ganesha’s own worshippers, among whom the Maha Ganapatya school took its name from this form, and to the Sri Vidya tradition of the goddess Lalita. Since no rite begins without Ganapathi, many Sri Vidya lineages give this mantra near the start of the path, often together with the mantra of Bala. In that setting it comes with its seer, its metre, the deity it addresses, the placing of its syllables on the body, and the verse by which he is pictured before japa. A formal course of japa, a purashcharana, is often closed with a homa.
The mantra, in six scripts
The seed mantra, and the form most devotees chant daily. No initiation is required — it is open to anyone, including a parent chanting for a child.
- ॐ
- oṃ — the sacred syllable
- श्रीं
- śrīṃ — seed syllable of Lakshmi
- ह्रीं
- hrīṃ — seed syllable of the Goddess
- क्लीं
- klīṃ — seed syllable of attraction
- ग्लौं
- glauṃ — seed syllable of Ganapati as the earth
- गं
- gaṃ — seed syllable of Ganapati
- गणपतये
- gaṇapataye — to Ganapati
- वरवरद
- varavarada — O giver of the finest boons
- सर्वजनं
- sarvajanaṃ — all people
- मे
- me — to me
- वशमानय
- vaśamānaya — bring into accord
- स्वाहा
- svāhā — the call that closes an offering
More Maha Ganapathi mantras
Maha Ganapathi Dhyana Shloka
The verse recited to picture the deity before japa.
- हस्तीन्द्राननम्
- hastīndrānanam — with the face of the king of elephants
- इन्दुचूडम्
- inducūḍam — crowned with the moon
- अरुणच्छायं
- aruṇacchāyaṃ — red in hue
- त्रिणेत्रं
- triṇetraṃ — three-eyed
- रसात्
- rasāt — lovingly
- आश्लिष्टं
- āśliṣṭaṃ — embraced
- प्रियया
- priyayā — by his beloved
- सपद्मकरया
- sapadmakarayā — who has a lotus in her hand
- स्वाङ्कस्थया
- svāṅkasthayā — seated on his lap
- सन्ततम्
- santatam — constantly
- बीजापूरगदेक्षुकार्मुकलसच्चक्राब्जपाशोत्पलव्रीह्यग्रस्वविषाणरत्नकलशान्
- bījāpūragadekṣukārmukalasaccakrābjapāśotpalavrīhyagrasvaviṣāṇaratnakalaśān — citron, mace, sugarcane bow, shining discus, lotus, noose, blue water-lily, ear of rice, his own tusk and jewelled pot
- हस्तैः
- hastaiḥ — in his hands
- वहन्तं
- vahantaṃ — carrying
- भजे
- bhaje — I worship
Source: Śrītattvanidhi (which attributes it to the Mudgala Purāṇa), dhyāna of Maha Ganapathi, no. 13 of the 32 forms
The syllable people get wrong
In glauṃ the g and l form one cluster and the vowel is the diphthong au, so it is a single beat, glaum, not ga-laum. Each of the five seed syllables before gaṇapataye is one beat closed by the nasal ṃ, and none of them should be stretched into two.
When Maha Ganapathi is chanted
Weekday. Tuesday
Have your chart read before you decide
Chanting is yours to do, and free. But which deity your situation calls for — and whether a mantra alone is the right response — depends on your chart. Sometimes it is; sometimes it is not.
- Over 30 years in the Guru–Sishya Parampara, from the age of five
- He reads every chart himself — 60 minutes, one to one, never delegated
- Charts are read only between sunrise and sunset, following tradition
Related
How to Chant
Mala, counts, timing and the mistakes that apply to any mantra.
Ganapathi Mula Mantra
The foundational mantra. Chanted at the start of any undertaking.
Vidya Ganapathi Mantra
For study, examinations and retention of what is learned.
Ashta Dravya Maha Ganapathi Homa
The fire ritual, performed for you and telecast live.
Chanting is yours to do. Some things are performed for you.
Where a matter carries real weight, devotees sponsor the homa alongside their own practice. Performed for you and any family members you name, at our Yagna Ashram, in your name and gotra, on a muhurta calculated from your chart, and telecast live so you can watch it done for you.