13 - The worship of Ganesha, the Stuti and kavacha 

Narayana said - Lord Vishnu together with the other gods and the sages adored the child in an auspicious time and said, "O best of gods, I have adored you first of all, therefore, О son, you will be adorable by all and will attain the position of the lord of the yogis." 

The lord also bestowed on him a garland of forest flowers, the divine knowledge which results in salvation besides all the siddhis, declaring him to be equal to himself. 

He offered beautiful materials and the sixteen types of offerings. Thereafter, he along with the gods and the sages started eulogising him. He said, "O remover of obstacles, Ganesha, Heramba, elephant faced, Lambodara, Ekdanta, Surpakama and Vinayaka; there are your eight names which bestows success. He then summoned the sages and asked them to shower their blessing on him." 

Dharma offered him a seat for success. Brahma gave him kamandalu, Shiva gave him the divine garments besides the divine knowledge of tattva which is difficult to get. 

Indra gave him the gem-studded lion-throne, the sun gave him the ear-ornaments of gems, Chandrama gave him the garland of pearls, Kubera gave him the kirita crown, Agni gave him the garments purified by fire; Varuna gave him the umbrella of jewels, the wind god gave him gem-studded finger-rings. О sage, Lakshmi gave him the anklets and armlets which were produced from the ocean of milk. 

Savitri gave him a necklace, Bharati gave him the illumining garland. Thereafter, all the gods and goddesses gave him several presents. 

Parvati and other sages gave him several types of gems and the goddess earth gave him the rat to serve as his vehicle. 

All the gods, the goddesses, sages, mountains, Gandharvas, Kinnaras, Yakshas, Manus and humans gave him several types of delicious and sweet presents with devotion. 

О Narada, wearing a serene smile on her lotus like face, Parvati the mother of the universe placed her son on the gem-studded lion-throne. 

Thereafter all the sages bathed the child Ganesha with the sacred water of all the sacred places, filled in the pitcher of gems and reciting hymns from the Vedas. Sati offered him the two garments sanctified by fire. Thereafter padya was offered of the water of Godavari and the earth from the water of Ganga besides Durvagrass, rice, flower and sandal-paste were also offered. Sending for the sanctified water from Pushkara, he was given achamana and Madhuparka besides other beverages mixed with sugar were offered in the vases of gems. Asvinikumara on his part prepared Vishnu oil for the purpose of his bathing. 

Besides other ornaments studded with gems, a hundred flowers of Parijata, Malati,¹ Champaka² and other flowers for worship besides Tulasi³ leaves, sandal-paste, aguru, kasturi and vermilion were offered to him. Several of the ornaments made of jewels besides the essence of gems were offered by all. His loving naivedya and heaps of the sea-same balls and balls of wheat, flour in heaps, delicious and pleasant fried cereals in heaps and the delicious svastika sweet in heaps, the fried paddy mixed with guda in heaps, the heaps of fried paddy, the paddy cereals on the ground stuffs in heaps and a lakh of pitchers filled with milk, a lakh of pitchers filled with curd and three lakhs of pitchers filled with sweets were offered to him. In addition to this, five lakh golden pitchers filled with ghee were offered to him with reverence. 

1. Jasmine Grandiflorum. 

2. Michelia Champaca 

3. Ocymum Album

The pomegranate, wood-apple and several other fruits including palm, rose-apple, mango, jack-fruit, banana and coconut were given in large numbers. О Narada, several other fruits were offered which were available according to the time and season and were quite delicious and sweet. All these were offered with delight. For the purpose of sipping, the sacred water of Ganga. 

Mixed with camphor was also given. О Narada, the betels containing the fragrance of camphor and a hundred golden vases filled with delicious food were offered by Himalaya and his wife, his son and the courtiers to the goddess Parvati and her son. 

By reciting this mantra, delightfully Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva made their offerings with devotion to Ganesha. This garland mantra of thirty-two letters fulfils all the desires bestowing dharma, artha, kama and moksha besides all the success. 

By reciting this mantra five lakhs of times, one meets with success and whosoever meets with such a success, is equated with Vishnu in the land of Bharata. 

By the mere reciting of his name, the obstructions disappear and he himself becomes a great orator, meets with great success and becomes Mahasiddha. 

He surely becomes equivalent to Bruhaspati, best of the poets, the teacher of the learned people and the teacher of teachers. 

The gods adoring Ganesha with the reciting of the mantra were filled with ecstasy and played on several musical instruments. 

They distributed food to the Brahmanas, enjoyed festivities and also distributed charity to the Brahmanas and the bards. 

Narayana said - Thereafter lord Vishnu adored Ganesha the lord of ganas in the presence of all the courtiers and started eulogising him.

Vishnu said - О lord, I intend to offer prayers to you. You happen to be the eternal flame and eternal also. Therefore, I cannot spell out from glory because you are beyond desire. 

You are the best of all the gods, teacher of all the siddhas and yogis, the form of everything, the lord of everything, the ocean of knowledge, invisible, indestructible, eternal, truthful, form of self, unattached like the wind, the witness for all and the ship for crossing the ocean of the universe. Being a divine sailor, you bestow your compassion on your devotees. 

You are the best of all, bestower of the boons, the lord of boons and siddha besides the form of success, bestower of success, source of success, beyond comprehension, adorable, difficult for adoration, quite religious, form of dharma, wellversed in dharma, the one who bestows the reward of dharma and adharma, the seed of the tree of the universe, its branches and the sprouting of it, the women, the men and impotent, beyond the organ of the senses, the foremost of all, the foremost for adorable by all, virtuous, complete, BrShmana visible at will and Brahmana invisible at will. You yourself are the form of Prakruti, you are Prakruti and beyond Prakruti. Therefore, even Ananta is unable to recite your glory with a thousand of his mouths. 

Similarly, Shiva with five faces, Brahma with four faces, Sarasvati and myself cannot recite your glory. Even the four Vedas are unable to do so, what to speak of those well-versed in the Vedas. 

Thus the lord of the gods, Vishnu the husband of Rama, after offering prayers to Ganesha with the gods and the sages kept quiet. 

O sage, whosoever recites the stotra of Ganesha composed by Vishnu in the morning, noon and evening, all his obstructions vanish at the instance of lord Ganesha. There is an all-round increase in the welfare of such a person and he always meets with prosperity. The one who recites the stotra with devotion during the journey, always meets with success. There is no doubt about it. 

The bad dreams witnessed by him turn into good dreams and he never suffers from pain in the household.

O sage, whosoever recites the stotra of Ganesha composed by Vishnu in the morning, noon and evening, all his obstructions vanish at the instance of lord Ganesha. There is an all-round increase in the welfare of such a person and he always meets with prosperity. The one who recites the stotra with devotion during the journey, always meets with success. There is no doubt about it. 

The bad dreams witnessed by him turn into good dreams and he never suffers from pain in the household. 

The enemies are destroyed. There is always an increase in the good relations, the obstructions are always destroyed and there is an increase in wealth. 

Fortune always prevails in the house and there is an increase in the sons and grandsons. Such a person enjoying all the pleasures in this world proceeds on to the abode of Vishnu. 

With the grace of Ganesha he achieves the merit of visiting all the sacred places, performing of the yajnas and all the charities undoubtedly. 

Narada said - We have listened to the stotra of Ganesha and the method of his adoration. I would now like to listen to the kavacha of Ganesha which redeems everyone from the ocean of the universe. 

Narayana said - After the completion of the worship, Saturn spoke to Vishnu, the teacher of the universe. 

Saturn said - О best of those well-versed in the Vedas, you kindly enlighten us about the kavacha of Ganesha which removes all the obstructions, removes pain and destroys sins. 

I have already developed a controversy with the great goddess, therefore I intend to hold the kavacha of Ganesha for the removal of obstructions. 

Lord Vishnu said - The kavacha of the Vinayaka is difficult to get in the three worlds. It is quite secret in the Puranas and is difficult to get in the scriptures. 

The kavacha of Ganesha which removes all the obstructions and is considered to be the best has been beautifully described in the kauthumi-sakha in the Samaveda.

О son of Surya, the entire kingdom can be given away, the head can be given away and even the life can be given away but the knowledge of such a kavacha cannot be imparted to anyone even when one's life is in danger. 

О so, with the influence of whose illusion, one is relieved of everything, such a Ganesha having only one tusk is eternal and this kavacha belongs to him. 

It is adored and eulogised always in such kalpa and even the sages adore it even before their birth. 

As I take to human form in every incarnation, similarly Ganesha is born from the womb of Parvati. 

In the land of Bharata, the sages are freed from life after holding this kavacha and the gods fearlessly destroy their enemies. Those who wear this kavacha, the death does not approach them feeling panicky. His life is not spent uselessly and he does not meet with any misfortune or defeat in the universe. 

By reciting this kavacha ten lakhs of times, one meets with success and whosoever gets success in the kavacha, becomes competent even to over power death. With the achieving of the success with this kavacha, a person becomes truthful, enjoys a long life and becomes victorious on earth. He gets adorable with the earring of kavacha. 

With the reciting of mula-mantra and with the holding of the auspicious kavacha all the sins of a person vanish. 

The goblins, pretas, Pisacas, Kiismandas, Brahmarakshas, Dakinis, Yoginis, Yaksha, Vetalas, Bhairavas, Balagraha, the planet, Kshetra-palas and all other evil spirits run away in panic. 

As thus snakes cannot approach Garuda, similarly fears, grief and pain do not approach such a person. 

Therefore, the knowledge of this kavacha should be imparted to a devoted pupil by the teacher but should not be imparted to a wicked pupil because, by doing so, one attracts death. 

This is a kavacha which attracts the entire universe, has Prajapati as the Rushi, Bruhati as chanda (metre), Lambodara as the god and this mantra should protect my cheeks. 

This mantra should protect my ears, this mantra should protect my shoulders, this mantra should protect my back, this mantra should protect my chest. 

The mantra which removes the obstructions should protect my hands, feet, aid all the limbs always. Lambodara should protect the eastern directions, Vighnanayaka should protect the south-east, Vighnesa should protect the south-east and should be protected by Gajanana, the western direction should be protected by the son of Parvati, the north-western direction should be protected by the complete ray of Krishna. The north-east direction should be protected by Ekadanta, the upper regions should be protected by Heramba and the lower direction should be protected by the leader of ganas. All the directions should be protected by one adorable by all and the position of sleeping or remaining awake should be protected by the teacher of the yogis. 

О son, this is quite an astonishing kavacha which attracts the universe and I have told the same to you. This is the personification of all the kavachas. 

О son of Surya, in the earlier times, in the Goloka of lord Krishna and the Rasamandala in the Vrudavana, this kavacha was given to a humble person like me, the knowledge of which I have imparted to you today. Therefore, don’t part with the same to anyone. This is the best of all, adorable by all and protects one from all the miseries. 

After adoring the teacher in a proper manner, whosoever ties this kavacha on the right arm, becomes like Vishnu, there is no doubt about it. 

О lord of the planets, the performing of a thousand Asvamedha sacrifices and a hundred Vajpeya-yajnas cannot be compared with even the sixteenth ray of this kavacha. 

Whosoever adores Ganesha without knowing about this kavacha, cannot achieve success even after reciting the same for a hundred lakh of time. 

The lord of the universe after imparting the knowledge of kavacha to Saturn, the son of Surya, the knowledge of this kavacha which could influence the entire universe, kept quiet and the gods

felt delighted.