Why Durva grass is dear to Lord Ganesha.

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One day in the city of Yama, there was a grand event held and many dancer and fairies have come to dance and entertain the Yamaraj and his guests. While the dancers were dancing, Lord Yama fell in love with one of them and a huge and scary demon took birth called Analasura.

Analasura was so terrible that the earth would tremble by his voice and his eyes used to emit fire. Wherever Analasura went he destroyed everything.

Analasura caused trouble in the heavens. He emitted fire from his eyes and destroyed whatever came in his way. The Gods frightened and asked Lord Ganesha’s help. Shree Ganesha assured them that He will finish off the demon and restore peace. In the fight with, Analasura was attacking Lord Ganesha with fire in Him. At that time Lord Ganesha took the giant form and swallowed the demon. After this, Lord Ganesha felt extremely uneasy due to the heat inside His body. So, the moon came to His help and stood on Ganesha’s head. Thus, He was named ‘Bhaalachandra’ (भालचंद्र). Lord Vishnu gave his lotus to Bal Ganesh and therefore Ganesh is also known as “Padmapani”, Lord Shiva tied His cobra around Ganesha’s belly. But nothing could cure the heat. Lord Brahma offered his daughters............Riddhi and Siddhi. Finally, a few sages came with 21 durvas and placed it on Ganesha’s head. Miraculously, the heat went off. And thus Durva grass became dear to Shree Ganesha. So Lord Ganesha declared that whoever worships Him with durva grass will forever receive His blessings.

Secondly, it is said that there was a most beautiful Apsara who devotionally loved and prayed the Lord to get married to Lord Ganesh. Lord Ganesh also used to like her.

But Mother Parvati, Lord Ganesh's mother did not like her and in anger cursed the Apsara to become a simple grass form on the earth where nobody would look at her.

Although the Durva Apsara could not marry Lord Ganesh but Durva is always near to Lord Ganesh.

Durva is a special type of grass. The word durva is derived from the words duhu and avam. Durva brings the distant pure spiritual particles (pavitraks) of God closer to the devotee.

The durva grass consists of three blades which represent the three principles of primal Shiva, primal Shakti, and primal Ganesha. Durva is said to have the highest ability to attract the Ganesha principle which explains why it is an important offering made to Lord Ganesha.

Generally, the tender shoots of durva are used in puja ritual of a deity. These tender shoots have the highest capacity to absorb principles of deities present in the dew drops fallen on their leaves. This benefits the worshipper.

If durva bears flowers, they are not used in puja rituals. Flowering plant denotes ripeness. Ripening causes decrease in the vitality of the plant. This further reduces its capacity to attract the frequencies of the deity principle.

Now, let us take a further look at how durva should be offered and know a little more about the importance of durva grass in the Hindu rituals.

How To Offer Durva?

Offer the Durva with three or five leaflets to Lord Ganesha. They are called durvankur. The middle leaflet of durvankur attracts the principle of primal Ganesha and the other two leaflets attract primal Shiva and primal Shakti principles. The minimum number of durva to be offered to Lord Ganesha is 21. Tie the durva together and offer them to Lord Ganesha after dipping into the water. The entire idol of Lord Ganesha excluding the face should be covered with durva. You should begin offering the grass from the feet of the deity and then moving on to other parts. 

Importance Of Offering The Durva

The principle of a deity is emitted in higher proportion through the feet of the idol. So, the durva offered in the beginning attracts Ganesha principle in higher proportion. This principle is then transferred to the durva offered later on.

The nirgun frequencies of principles of deities are attracted in the idol. These frequencies are then transformed into sagun frequencies in the idol and they are then emitted through the idol to the grass because of which the worshipper gets more benefit. It is due to the emission of the deity’s principle through the durva, that the adverse influence of the rajas-tamas-predominant principles in the environment is reduced. This is the reason why a person suffering from negative energies feels more positive and de-stressed when he/she comes in contact with the durva. 

यो दूर्वाङ्कुरैर्यजति स वैश्रवणोपमो भवति ।
यो लाजैर्यजति स यशोवान् भवति ।
स मेधावान् भवति ।
यो मोदकसहस्रेण यजति स वाञ्छितफलमवाप्नोति ।
यस्साज्यसमिद्भिर्यजति स सर्वं लभते स सर्वं लभते ॥१६॥

16.1: He who worships (Ganapati) with tender Durva Grass will become Prosperous like Kubera, 16.2: He who worships (Ganapati) with Parched Rice will become Glorious (i.e. will have Name and Fame), 16.3: He will (also) become Medhavan (filled with Medha or retentive capacity of the mind), 16.4: He who worships (Ganapati) with thousand Modakas (a type of Sweetmeat), he will obtain his Desired Fruits, 16.5: He who worships (Ganapati) with Twigs dipped in Ghee, he obtains Everything, he obtains Everything,---Ganapati Atharvashirsha (Ganapati Upanishad)