Why did Shri Ganesh make mouse his vehicle?

Every god has a vehicle. Someone has lion, someone has Garuda and someone has bull etc. That is, all of them are special in themselves. A lion means a strong, fast-moving vehicle faster than a man and a bull means a dedicated devotee.  So it makes sense that all the Gods choose their special vehicles. But why did Ganpati Bappa make a mooshak (mouse) his vehicle?  Has this question ever come to your mind… So let's know its secret…

All the worshipers of Lord Ganpati have been surprised to see his unique vehicle as per his wonderful form. It is also natural to wonder why Lord Ganesha with such a big and heavy body chose a mouse as his vehicle from a small.

In Hinduism, there is a law to worship Lord Ganesha on Wednesday.  It is said that by worshiping him, all the sufferings of a person go away. Being the lord of the ganas, he also has a name Ganapati. Let me tell you that Lord Ganesha had chosen his vehicle as a mouse, but hardly anyone knows the secret behind it.  So today we will tell you why he chose the mouse. 

Everyone is convinced of the wisdom of Ganesha. Everyone lost in arguments by Shree Ganesha. It is his passion to get to the deep of every single thing or problem, to do it consideration and reach to conclusion.  The mouse also does not lag behind in arguments. The job of a mouse is to scrape anything, whatever the mouse sees, it rips it and analyzes its part by part.  Perhaps Ganesha may have chosen the vehicle as his own given the same characteristics of the mouse.

Ganesh as we know is the son of Shiva and Parvati. His vehicle is a mouse named Dink. Being the lord of the ganas, he also has a name Ganapati. Ganapati is the god of wisdom and learning.

But have you ever noticed that his vehicle is not according to his physical structure?  If your attention has gone towards this, then you must also have thought that his vehicle should have been a strong animal.  Then why did he choose the mouse as his vehicle? Looking for a logical answer to this, it is known that even the mouse has a lot of passion(curiosity), due to which they try to find out what is inside it by bite off everything. And Lord Ganesha also gives him wisdom, in which the curiosity has great desire. And he is equally agile and also gives the message of being aware.

But this is not the only reason, there are some interesting stories behind the mouse as the vehicle of Lord Ganesha. Today in this article we will tell you why Lord Ganesha chose a mouse as his vehicle and who he was.

First Story:------

Once upon a time, Devraj Indra was talking to all the gods in his meeting on a serious matter.  Along with the gods, Gandharvas and Apsaras were also present in his meeting.  All the other people here were listening to Devraj Indra and were also giving their valuable views. But a Gandharva named Krounch was also present in the meeting, whose attention was not visible at all in the discussion happening there. His attention was only on the Apsaras present in the meeting, as well as by flickering nature he started joking with those Apsaras.

At first Devraj Indra ignored his antics, but when his actions increased to a great extent, he explained Krounch in gestures.  But at that time the Krounch was engulfed in frenzy, he ignored his point and kept on in his antics. Enraged by his audacity, Devraj Indra cursed him to become a mouse. Due to the curse, the Krounch Gandharva turned into the mouse and as soon as the mouse was formed, it started to run around and create havoc. Devaraj Indra's anger was further aggravated by his antics, and immediately ordered to throw him out of heaven. On receiving his orders, the gatekeepers threw the mouse out of the gate of heaven.

As soon as he was thrown from there, he fell directly into the ashram of Parashar Muni, where he shattered all the grain's pot in anger.  At the same time, all the food and food items kept in the pot he started eat, after that he also destroyed all the plants of Parashar Muni's garden.  Along with this, also destroyed all clothes and religious texts of sages in ashram.

Parashar Rishi became very sad due to all the useful things of the ashram being destroyed and started cursing the deeds of his previous birth that the misdeeds have resulted in disturbing the peace of my ashram.  Now how to get rid of this mouse's terror?

Then Parashar Muni called upon Gajanan and urged him to save my ashram from the terror of this mouse.

Then Ganesh ji told Parashar ji that I just make this mouse my vehicle.  Ganesh ji threw his stunning loop, the loop followed the mouse and went to the patal loka and tied his throat and dragged him out and presented him in front of Gajanan.  The mouse fainted by the loop's grip.

As soon as his unconsciousness ended, Mouse started worshiping Ganesha and started begging for his life.  Ganesh ji was pleased with the praise of Mouse but told him that you have given a lot of trouble to Brahmins.  I have incarnated only for the destruction of the wicked and for the welfare of saintly men, but the protection of the refugee is also my ultimate dharma, so ask for whatever boon you want.

Hearing this, the arrogant of that mouse woke up and said, 'I don't want to ask for anything from you, you can plead with me.' Ganesha smiled and said, 'If your word is true then you become my vehicle.  Ganesh ji immediately mounted on him as soon as  when the mouse told so be it .

Now, under the weight of heavy Gajanan,  the mouse felt life-threatening crisis.  He then prayed to Gajanan to make his load affordable for him.  In this way Ganesh ji made him his own vehicle by destroying the pride of mouse.  In this way, this vehicle of Ganesha also indicates from the interpretation of worldly life to spiritual life.

Second Story:------

In ancient times there was an asura(demon) named Gajmukh.  Gajmukh had a dream that he should take possession of the earth and the heavens as well.  To fulfill this desire, he made a plan to please Lord Shiva one day.  He went to a dense forest where he started penance of Shiva.  Many years passed but he still stood on one leg and indulged in the penance of Shiva and kept chanting his name.

Bholenath was pleased with Gajmukh's penance and told him to ask for a boon.  In the boon, Gajmukh said that no weapon of the universe could kill me, give me such a boon.  Lord Shiva approved the boon by saying so be it.  Gajmukh was very happy after getting a boon from Lord Shiva, he started to fulfill his wish.  Soon he took possession of the Earth and Hades, after which he invaded heaven.  Lord Shiva had a boon that no any weapon could kill him. That is why he did not suffer any damage from the divine weapons of the gods.

Gajmukh drove the gods out of Devaloka, after which all the gods reached the shelter of Trideva Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh.  After listening to the problem of the Gods, Bholenath told Lord Ganesha to fight with Gajmukh.  Following the orders of Lord Shiva, Ganapati ji fought with Gajmukh.

Due to the boon of Bholenath, Lord Ganesha's weapon was not being effect on Gajmukh. So all the weapons of Ganapati also ended and became ineffective.

Meanwhile, Ganpati broke his one tooth and hit it on Gajmukh when he became unarmed for a moment.  The tooth was not really an weapon, so it was proved infallible and Gajmukh was seriously injured.  Despite this, Gajmukh did not give up. He took the form of a giant mouse from his maya(illusion) and started running towards Ganapati with full speed.  When Ganpati saw Gajmukh coming towards him, he too started running towards Gajmukh at full speed and jumped & sat on his back.  And Shri Ganesh transformed Gajmukh into a mouse for life.

Gajmukh tried his best to beat Ganpati and Ganesh also rode on his neck with full force.  Gajmukh finally gave up after a long struggle.  Even after this, Ganesh ji did not leave him.  He said that you are a wicked by nature.  That is why it would be better that you always remain my vehicle in the same way, so that I will always ride you and control your wickedness .  Gajmukh accepted his command and became the vehicle of God.

Third Story:------

There is a story in the Ganesh Purana on how Mouse became vehicle of Lord Ganesha.  Which is somewhat similar to the first story.

In ancient times, there was a very beautiful ashram of the Saubhari Rishi on the Sumeru mountain.  His very beautiful and loving wife was named Manomayi.  One day the sage went to forest to get wood and Manomayi was engaged in housework.  At the same time a wicked named Krounch Gandharva came there and was distraught when he saw amazing  pretty Manomayi. Wicked Krounch held the hand of the sage-wife.  The sage wife weeping and trembling started begging him for mercy.  At the same time Saubhari rishi came.  Due to anger,  his eyes turned into red .

He cursed Gandharva and said- 'O vicious!  You have come like a thief and have caught the hand of my wife, so you will fill your stomach by stealing under and around the earth. So you will be a mouse.

The trembling Gandharva prayed to the sage - 'O rishivar, I only touched your wife's hand due to indiscretion.  Please forgive me. '  The sage said - 'My curse will not be in vain, however Ganapati Dev Gajmukh will appear in the form of Maharishi Parashar's son in Dwapar. Then you will become his vehicle, so that the gods will also respect you.

After many year , that Krounch Gandharva becoming a mouse and started to destroy the ashram of Maharishi Parashar on earth.  That mouse was very huge and terrible like a mountain. His teeth were very big, sharp and frightening. Then his son Gajmukh grabbed that mouse by a stunning loop and started playing with him and sat on top of him.  Then mouse came to know that this is Tarnahar(Saviour) Devadhidev Prabhu Gajmukh.

Then the pride of the mouse ended and he became very small.  And he prayed that! 'O'  Lord you may be so light for me, so that I can bear your weight.  Hearing his humility, the Lord was pleased with him.  From then onwards Mooshak (mouse) started getting respect and got fame as the vehicle of Sriganesh.

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Gods chose their rides very specifically.  Their vehicles also describe their characteristics. Mouse is the vehicle of Gauri putra Ganesha.  The word Mushak(mouse) is derived from the Sanskrit Musha which means to rob or to steal. Symbolically the brain of a human is like a rat. It is surrounded by selfishness.  Ganeshji sitting on a rat is a sign that he has conquered selfishness and has awakened the sense of public welfare within himself.

People say their wish in the mouse's ear.

It is said that if you want to complete your vow or wish soon, then you can tell your complaint with Mooshak(mouse), it is believed that mouse is very close to Ganesh ji and if you tell him your wishes . Then he will quickly help you and tell all things to Ganesh ji . Ganeshji is the lord of knowledge and wisdom and is unmatched in logic, the same qualities are also in mouse.  For this reason, he is the vehicle of Ganapati and is considered very close to Ganapati.  People believe that if you say something in the ear of a mouse, it reaches Ganpati very quickly.  Ganapati does not postpone the words of mouse due to being dear and the wish is fulfilled.  This is the reason why a large idol of mouse is placed in all the big temples and people worship him.  On Ganesh Chaturthi too, some people bring a statue of Mouse with Ganpati and keep it in the house.

Ganesh Purana also describes that in every era, the vehicle of Ganesha keeps changing.  In Satyuga, the vehicle of Ganesha is Lion.  In Treta Yuga, Ganesha's vehicle is Mayur (Peacock) and in the present era i.e. Kali Yuga, his vehicle is horse. The present form of Lord Ganesha is worshiped in the form of Gajanan in the form of Parvati-Shiva son, this is the incarnation of his Dwapara era, Lord Ganesha in the Satyuga became famous as Mahotkat Vinayak, whose vehicle was lion.  In Treta Yuga, he was known as Mayureshwar, whose vehicle was Mayur (peacock).  His famous form of Dwapara Yuga is Gajanan, whose vehicle is a mouse and at the end of Kali Yuga, the Dhumraketu form of Lord Ganesha will be revealed. His vehicle will be horse. Lord Ganesha is also wealth giver.