Original text
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः ॥ ॥ गणपत्यथर्वशीर्ष (७) से ॥ गणादिं पूर्वमुच्चार्य वर्णादिं तदनंतरं ॥ अनुस्वारः परतरः ॥ अर्धेन्दुलसितं ॥ तारेण ऋद्धम् ॥ एतत्तव मनुस्वरूपं ॥ गकारः पूर्वरूपं ॥ अकारो मध्यमरूपं ॥ अनुस्वारश्चान्त्यरूपं ॥ बिन्दुरुत्तररूपं ॥ नादः संधानं ॥ संहितासंधिः ॥ सैषा गणेशविद्या ॥ गणकऋषिः ॥ निचृद्गायत्रीच्छंदः ॥ गणपतिर्देवता ॥ ॐ गं गणपतये नमः ॥ ७ ॥
Transliteration
Om Gam Ganapataye Namah From the Ganapati Atharvashirsha (7): Ganadim purvamuchcharya varnadim tadanantaram. Anusvarah paratarah. Ardhendulasitam. Tarena riddham. Etattava manusvarupam. Gakarah purvarupam. Akaro madhyamarupam. Anusvarashchantyarupam. Binduruttararupam. Nadah sandhanam. Samhitasandhih. Saisha ganeshavidya. Ganaka rishih. Nichridgayatrichchhandah. Ganapatirdevata. Om Gam Ganapataye Namah ||7||
A mantra with a recipe
Most mantras come down to us without instructions. This one comes with its own construction manual. The seventh section of the Ganapati Atharvashirsha, the Upanishad recited in honour of Ganesha, explains exactly how his seed syllable is put together:
- First say the first letter of gana, the sound ga.
- Then the first of all letters, the vowel a.
- Then the anusvara, the nasal hum, adorned with the half-moon (ardhendu), and joined with tara, the syllable Om.
"This is your form as mantra," the text says to Ganesha, and it maps each part onto him: ga is the first form, a the middle form, the anusvara the final form, the bindu the higher form, and the nada, the resonance, is what joins them. "This is the Ganesha-vidya." It then gives the formal details any mantra needs: its seer is the sage Ganaka, its metre nichrid gayatri, its deity Ganapati. And it ends with the full mantra: Om Gam Ganapataye Namah.
What it says
The mantra has three parts. Om is the primal sound. Gam is Ganesha's bija or seed syllable, his presence in sound. Ganapataye namah means "salutation to Ganapati, lord of the ganas". Ganas are Shiva's attendants, but the word also means any group or category, so Ganapati is the lord of every multitude, the one who keeps order among many things. Saluting him first is a way of asking that the many parts of an undertaking come together without obstruction.
Why it is said before beginnings
Ganesha is Vighnaharta, the remover of obstacles, and also Vighneshvara, the lord who places them. So Hindu practice invokes him before anything else: before other gods in a puja, before a wedding, a housewarming, a business, a book or an exam. This short mantra is the easiest way to do that. Many people say it once, or eleven times, before starting their day's work, and students write Shri Ganeshaya Namah or say this mantra at the top of an exam paper.
How to chant it
The usual practice is 108 repetitions on a mala, sitting facing east or north, ideally in the morning after bathing, with a lamp and red flowers or durva grass before an image of Ganesha. It is chanted especially on Wednesdays, on Sankashti Chaturthi (the fourth day of the waning moon) and through the ten days of Ganesh Chaturthi. Those who recite the full Atharvashirsha often chant this mantra before and after it. Because the mantra comes from the Atharvashirsha, some teachers prefer it be learned from a teacher, but it is so widely used in homes that it is effectively treated as open to all devotees.
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