and wins the race. Ganesha is also said to have
written down the MAHABHARATA epic as quickly as
its reciter VYA S A was able to tell it. For this Gane-
sha broke off one of his tusks to use as a stylus. In
South India Ganesha is known as a bachelor, but in
other parts of India he is seen as married.
Iconographically Ganesha appears in many
poses and forms, but he is most often sitting,
accompanied by the rat, with one tusk broken. Most
often he is shown with two arms, but he is also
depicted with several pairs. In his hands are sweets,
his tusk, an axe, a noose, or an elephant goad.
After his popularity had been well established
in the Brahminical tradition, Ganesha appeared
in Jain tradition as well (see JAINISM), in which he
was seen as a remover of obstacles. Outside India
Ganesha is found in Buddhist contexts as a TA N-
TRIC deity, with sometimes unbenign characteris-
tics. He is found in Southeast Asian art, in Tibet,
in China, and even in Japan.
The cult of Ganesha is probably quite old,
originating in the worship of the elephant, but its
actual origin is difficult to determine. The cult is
visible in extant sources dating from the fourth
century C.E. He is not mentioned at all in earlier
texts such as the Mahabharata or the RAMAYANA, in
which Shiva and VISHNU and their emerging cults
are developing.
Further reading: Robert L. Brown, ed., Ganesh: Studies
of an Asian God (Albany: State University of New York
Press, 1991; Paul Courtright, Ganesha: Lord of Obsta-
cles, Lord of Beginnings (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1985); Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, Lov-
ing Ganesha, Hinduism’s Endearing Elephant-Faced God
(Kapaa, Hawaii: Himalayan Academy, 1996).
Gangaji (1942– ) teacher of advaita Vedanta
The American-born Gangaji is a popular interna-
tional teacher of VEDANTA in the tradition of Sri
Harilal POONJA.
Antoinette Robertson Palmer was born on
June 11, 1942, in Mississippi and graduated the
University of Mississippi. She married Eli Jackson
Bear, himself a spiritual teacher, and began a quest
for spiritual fulfillment. She moved in 1972 to San
Francisco, where she participated in several forms
of Buddhist practice. She practiced Japanese Zen
Buddhism and South Asian vipassana (insight)
MEDITATION and helped manage a Tibetan Buddhist
meditation center. She also took the bodhisattva
pledge, in which a person vows to help human-
ity until all people reach enlightenment. Later
she studied acupuncture and became a licensed
acupuncturist.
Still on a quest to find a deeper level of being,
Palmer went with her husband to meet the
teacher of enlightenment POONJAJI in Haridwar
on the GANGES River in northern India. There she
found realization of the Self in the presence of her
teacher, a fulfillment that he confirmed. He gave
her the spiritual name Ganga, for the Hindu god-
dess of the Ganges River. Poonjaji asked her to
introduce his teachings to the West.
As a popular teacher of ADVAITA (non-dualist)
Vedanta, Gangaji does not base her teachings on
any specific scriptures, but on her own experience
of the Self. She holds regular satsangs (teachings)
at her center in northern California and appears
weekly on public access television. She travels
widely and gives retreats in many places around
the world. Her foundation’s Prison Program pro-
vides books, audiotapes, and videotapes and orga-
nizes visits to prisons by volunteers.Further reading: Gangaji, Freedom and Resolve: The
Living Edge of Surrender (Ashland, Ore.: Gangaji Foun-
dation, 1999); ———, Just Like You: An Autobiography
(Mendocino, Calif.: D.O., 2003); ——— You Are That!
Satsang with Gangaji (Boulder, Colo.: Satsang Press,
1995).Ganges (Ganga)
The Ganges or Ganga is India’s most sacred river.
It is 1,557 miles long and sweeps a valley or basin
200 to 400 miles wide. Its scientific source is inK 162 Gangaji