Ganesha The Car
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For a long time, I was inspired to create an art-car with Sanskrit writing all over it. In 1999, I took part in a performance in which there was another person, Don Ehlen, who drove an art car. During rehearsals, I asked Don about how he made his car. Unfortunately, at the time, I couldn't get it together, didn't have all of the proper materials (mainly paint and brushes), and was involved in so many other things that it never happened, as much as I would have liked it to. Years, and cars, came and went, but I still maintained almost an obsession with creating my art-car. I purchased a vanity license plate that said GANESHA, that rode around on at least 2 different cars, and finally ended up on a white 1996 Mazda Protegé which I got when my Subaru Legacy lost its second gear. I had owned the Protegé for about a year, and, being white already, it made a very tempting canvas. After some research, I decided to put Sri Ganapati Sahasranamavalih on my car for a variety of reasons: Apart from the fact that I am Hindu, and Ganesha is the second most widely worshipped deity in the world (right behind Jesus), I figured it would be good to invoke The Remover of Obstacles when I was on the road, especially since I am recovering from a brain injury which occurred in 2003.
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So I started with my white, blank-canvas car and proceded to make an art-car out of it. All told, it took around 48 hours to complete what you see now, but it was completed in several stages, between which there were periods of "cooling off" and driving it around to judge the reactions. The first stage was the big, black letters. Actually, I used two different brushes, the difference between which you can see by examining the letters on the hood compared to the sides or trunk. Then, about a week or so later, I added the blue and green parts.
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I drove it around like that for about 2 months, and then I was on my way downtown when I had another inspiration, to put a Ganesha Yantra on the roof. I was on my way to a rehearsal and burning incense in the car (like I usually do), when suddenly the idea came to me, and at exactly the same time, I smelled a strong scent of sandalwood, which was odd since the incense I was burning at the time was rose. That was the first indication that I had discovered the true nature of the art-car that was to follow.
Ganesha is the elephant-faced Hindu God of Removing Obstacles, Art, Music, Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, and, basically, everything else. Ganesha is worshipped for सिद्धि - siddhi, success in undertakings, and बुद्धि - buddhi, intelligence. He is worshipped before any venture is started, being the Remover of Obstacles. He is also the God of education, knowledge and wisdom, literature, and the fine arts. The Yantra is a sacred symbol to Hindus, which is basically a 2-dimentional abstract representation of a Deity. "Yantra" literally means "Loom" or "Instrument" or even "Machine" In actual practice a Yantra is a symbolic representation of aspects of divinity. It is an interlocking matrix of geometric figures, typically circles, triangles and floral patterns that form fractal patterns of great elegance and beauty. Though drawn in two dimensions a Yantra is supposed to represent a three dimensional object. Three-dimensional Yantras are now becoming increasingly common.
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The Swastika is a sign of Lord Ganesha, and it has held a strange attraction for me for as long as I can remember. It's extremely disappointing to me that I have to include this section, but I do, so here it is: In the west, particularly in North America, it is terribly unfortunate that, during the past 80 to 100 years, the Swastika has also come to be associated with a symbol of the German national socialist party, also called "nazis". That doesn't change the ancient, sacred nature of the symbol in any way, however, and the fact that the Swastika is part of the artwork on Ganesha The Car does not indicate that I might be a supporter of the cause of nazis or "white-supremacists", in any way.
Millions of people of Indian origin live in the west, including over 2 million Indian-Americans in the United States, and Jain, Hindu and other Indian religions, festivals, marriages and ceremonies continue to use the Swastika as their main religious and cultural symbol, regardless of the ignorant people who think that "Swastika equals nazi". It doesn't. They're wrong.
Are we to rely on a relatively few, terribly misguided and under-educated people, less than 100 years ago to determine the meaning of the symbol, or should we, instead, rely on, literally, thousands of years of tradition that spans every group of people on earth? For more information, see Friends Of The Swastika, The Legend Of The Swastika, Swastika, Symbol Of Auspiciousness, and many other sites throughout the web. More pictures of Ganesha The Car are also available.