Mantra Pushpanjali and Corporate Presentations

Every year, the visit of Ganesha is a huge event in my home town Pune. In our home and probably many homes, two key elements of the pooja are singing of the Ganpati Aarti (which is in Marathi) and following this, the recitation of the Mantra Pushpanjali  (which is in Sanskrit).  

The Ganpati Aarti we recite is a song in praise of the elephant-headed deity, that was originally composed by the 17th century saint Samarth Ramdas. It may have been further popularised when Lokmanya Tilak made the Ganesh festival a "sarvajanik", public celebration. 

But why the Mantra Pushpanjali? This is a Sanskrit composition that has no mention of Ganpati (except a last line recited in some places, which seems to be a subsequent bolt-on). 

The Mantra is -

ॐ यज्ञेन यज्ञमयजंत देवास्तानि धर्माणि प्रथमान्यासन्|

ते हं नाकं महिमान: सचंत यत्र पूर्वे साध्या: संति देवा:

Om Yadnyena yadnya mayajanta deva stani dharmani prathama nyasan

 te ham nakam mahimana sachanta yatra purve sadhya santi devaha

ॐ राजाधिराजाय प्रसह्ये साहिने | नमो वयं वैश्रवणाय कुर्महे

स मे कामान्कामकामाय मह्यम्| कामेश्वरो वैश्रवणो ददातु|

कुबेराय वैश्रवणाय | महाराजाय नम: ॐ स्वस्ति

साम्राज्यं भौज्यं स्वाराज्यं वैराज्यं पारमेष्ठ्यं राज्यं माहाराज्यमाधिपत्यमयं समंतपर्यायी

स्यात्सार्वभौम: सार्वायुष आंतादापरार्धात्पृथिव्यै समुद्रपर्यंता या एकराळिति

Om Rajadhirajaya prasahya sahine Namo vayam vaishhravanaya kurmahe

Sa me kaman kamaya mahyam kameshwaro Vaishravano dadatu

Kuberaya Vaisharavanaya Maharajaya Namaha 

Om Swasti Samrajyam Bhoujyam Swarajyam Vairajyam Parameshthyam Rajyam

Maharajya Madhipatya Mayan Samanta Parya Isya Sarvabhaumah Sarvayusha 

Antada Parardha Pruthivyai Samudra paryanta ya Ekarala Iti

तदप्येष श्लोकोऽभिगीतो मरुत: परिवेष्टारो मरुत्तस्यावसन्गृहे

आविक्षितस्य कामप्रेर्विश्वेदेवा: सभासद इति

Tadapesha Shloko Bhigeeto Marutaha Pariveshtaro Maruttasya Vasangruhe

Avikshitasya Kamapre Vishwedevaha Sabhasada Iti

A google search for the literal translation of this mantra gave me 3 disjointed verses. 

These may have made sense individually, but were collectively meaningless to me. Of course, there were several intrepretations by various learned individuals on what this mantra could mean. But these focus less on the literal meaning and more on the larger intent of this mantra - meaning it is an individual opinion and not necessarily the truth. I was looking for a more down-to-earth explanation. 

Here, The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute gave me a fabulous lead.  BORI researchers had worked for over four decades to compile and publish the critical edition of the Mahabharata. The polymath Bibek Debroy then translated all 10 Sanskrit volumes into English. In this English translation, I came across the story of King Marutta and his yadnya. 

The third verse of the Mantra Pushpanjali refers to this amazing story. Working backwards from the third verse, I think I've figured out the three part structure of this mantra. 

In my opinion, the Mantra Pushpanjali is structured in a very similar way to a modern corporate presentation. Replace the presenter in the boardroom with the priest conducting a yadnya and reciting this mantra - the flow will be similar. 

Verse 1 - Om Yadnyeya onwards - 

This is the initial Context Setting, which gives the listeners an overall view of the importance of the yadnya. 

This verse explains the importance of conducting yadnyas  and making sacrifice/offerings  to the almighty. It says that even the gods themselves attained divinity by doing yadnyas.

Verse 2 - Om Rajadhirajaya... is the Main Body of the mantra.
While the priest is conducting the yadnya, the priest is asking the almighty for good things to happen to the sponsor or the 'yajman', the host for whom the yadnya is being conducted.

In this verse, you can see mentions of many good things such as the wealth of Kubera, the kingdom stretching across the earth to the ocean and so forth. 

Verse 3 - Tadapesha Shloko... is the Case Study - every good corporate presentation or pitch must have a few case studies. And this mantra has a wonderful story to tell - the story of a a very successful and famous yadnya that was conducted in ancient times; and this is what I was able to understand thanks to BORI and Bibek Debroy.  

The story goes like this - King Avikshit was the most powerful king on earth, and his royal priest was Brihaspati. With time, Avikshit passed away and his son Marutta ascended to the throne. King Marutta wanted to conduct a yadnya, and accordingly he requested Brihaspati to officiate.

But there was a problem. And here is an event that we see often in the corporate world - Brihaspati, had in the meantime been ‘head-hunted’ by Indra, and he now had taken up the more prestigious role of being priest of the gods. Brihsapati thought it beneath him to officiate at a ceremony for a mere human - and so he declined  King Marutta’s request.

King Marutta was in a fix. However, there was a potential way out - the divine bard Narada came to him and informed him that Brihaspati had a brother, Samvarta, who was as capable as Brihaspati. Only, Samvarta was living in disguise in Varanasi, having left his brother after a tiff, and had stopped being a priest. Marutta would need to go to Varanasi, find Samvarta and convince him to officiate at the yadnya.

King Marutta accordingly made his way to Varanasi, and located Samvarta after much efforts and some smart thinking. After much cajoling by Marutta, Samvarta finally consented to conduct the yadnya. Preparations for the yadnya commenced. Marutta being the most powerful king of the time, this was “the” event of the year - everyone who was anyone, was looking forward to attend it.

Seeing the publicity and preparations for the yadnya, Brihaspati was now extremely jealous, foreseeing that his brother Samvarta would now be as famous or even more famous than him. Seeing his key staff member with a morose face, Indra like any good leader, probed Brihaspati on the issue. And after understanding Brihaspati's problem,  Indra came up with an ingenious solution. The first offering in a yadnya is always made to Agni, the god of fire. Indra told Brihaspati that “We will send the god Agni in person to accept the offering, and you can then take over officiating the yadnya from that point, as the priest of the gods”

The yadnya started. The first offering was made by Samvarta to the sacrificial fire - and the god of fire Agni himself appeared! The audience was thrilled. Agni appreciated the wonderfully organised yadnya and said that “as a mark of how pleased he is with you, Lord Indra is now going to send the priest of the gods Brihaspati to take over yadnya from this point.”
King Marutta respectfully declined the offer - “Thank you but no thank you, we have a perfectly capable priest here in the form of Samvarta.”

Agni tried to push his point, at which point an irritated Samvarta asked him to be gone. Samvarta mentioned to Agni “I have the power to burn fire itself” - at which point Agni made a hasty retreat, returned to Indra’s abode and gave a full report of the situation. 

Lord Indra realised that it would be wrong to substitute the priests or to obstruct the yadnya. This was a wonderful yadnya organised by a very capable priest and great king. And so Indra now instructed that not just Agni, all 24 gods, the “Vishwa-Devas” would go down to earth immediately and join the yadnya in person, as “sabha-sads”. And Indra’s personal attendants, the Maruts, would also join in and assist King Marutta with the yadnya.

And this is the story that is described in the last verse of the Mantra Pushpanjali. 

It is indeed a beautiful mantra. But why was this mantra - which has nothing to do with Ganpati - made an integral part of the Ganesh festival? I have no answer as yet - this will require more research and more luck.