We all know that Lord Ganesh is the first god we worship during auspicious occasions. Maha kavya naa takadi priyam || mushika vahana modhaka priyam – This line from Mahaganapathim certainly describes Lord Ganesh.
But, have you ever wondered How did Ganesha have Musak or a Mouse as his Vahan or vehicle?
Significance of Mouse:
Rats, Like other pests but are rodents instead, rats have a big significance concerning Human life or the lifestyle we carry. Yes, we know the greedy nature of the rats. Although they have tiny mouths they have very sharp teeth which can almost rip everything! The behavior that they have is of A Greedy Nature, for example, rats store more food than they require in a pit – sometimes they dig a pit store food, go elsewhere dig a pit and forget the one which they stored earlier! This symbolizes Human Desires.
Mouse – Link with Lord Ganesh
Ganesha symbolizes wisdom, intellect, and luck. We discussed how a rat showcases human desires and, greed, etc. Ganesha keeping rat as his vehicle gives a meaning that A wise man keeps his desires in control or submerges the desires below himself.
This means that Desires don’t drive you taking you on the wrong path, rather you are the one driving your desires based on your intellect
This is the deeper meaning of why you see Ganesha having a mouse as his vehicle Symbolically
Story of How Mushak became Ganesha’s Vehicle:
One day there was a music function going at Devraj Indra’s Place. There Krauncha, A celestial musician-god according to Ganesha Purana came here, while Krauncha was walking he accidentally stepped on Muni Vamadevas’s foot. The muni got very angry and Cursed him that Krauncha would become a Mouse.
The next day, the mouse landed up in Parashar Rishi’s Ashram and started eating the food in the ashram, making holes on clothes, biting all the pages of the books, and creating big havoc! This made Parashar rishi pray to Lord Ganesh to remove this obstacle of the threatening mouse.
Finally, Lord Ganesh arrives at his ashram and captures the rat with his intelligence and patience. The mouse surrenders in front of the Lord and pleads – Ganesha to release the rat. The mouse understands his mistakes, seeing this Lord Ganesh becomes very pleased and grants any wish the mouse wants. But! the mouse in pride says ” I don’t want a wish from you, instead you ask a wish from me” says the mouse. Saying this Ganesha told ” From today you will be my vehicle or Vahan where you shall carry me”
Agreeing to this wish, Mushak becomes The Vahan of Lord Ganesh.