Om Gan Ganapataye Namah: Meaning of Ganesha’s Root Mantra

Introduction

Om Gan Ganapataye Namah (ॐ गं गणपतये नमः), also written Om Gam Ganapataye Namah, is the most widely chanted mantra of Lord Ganesha. It is his mula, or root, mantra, and is also called his bija mantra, because it holds his bija, or seed, sound: Gam.

The book Loving Ganesha calls it one of the two Ganesha mantras most used in Hindu worship and meditation, beside Om Shree Ganeshaya Namah. Om Shree Ganeshaya Namah is the mantra of invocation, said at the start of a puja. Om Gam Ganapataye Namah is used for meditation, to invoke Ganesha and merge in his knowledge and peace.

The Mantra

ॐ गं गणपतये नमः

Om Gam Ganapataye Namah

In English: “Om. Gam. Salutations to Ganapati, Lord of the hosts.”

Word-by-Word Meaning

Sanskrit	Transliteration	Meaning
ॐ	Om (Aum)	the primal sound, with which every mantra begins
गं	gam	the bija, or seed sound, of Ganesha
गणपतये	ganapataye	to Ganapati, the Lord (pati) of the ganas
नमः	namah	salutations; I bow

The ganas are the hosts of beings who serve Lord Shiva, with Ganesha as their leader: Ganapati, Lord of the ganas, is the name the mantra calls him by.

Gam, the Seed Syllable

A bija is a single syllable that holds the power of a Deity the way a seed holds a tree. Ganesha’s is gam. The Ganapati Atharvashirsha teaches how it is built, as told on the page for Ekakshara Ganapati, the form of Ganesha named for this one syllable.

Gan or Gam?

They are the same. The syllable is written गं: the letter ga with a dot above it, the anusvara, which nasalises it. Before a following g, as in ganapataye, that nasal is sounded like the n in “song,” so the mantra is often written and heard as Om Gan. Either spelling points to the same mantra.

How to Chant It

The book Loving Ganesha gives clear guidance in its chapter Mantra Recitation:

• Bathe, or wash the hands and feet, before sitting.
• Take three or more slow breaths, pranayama, before beginning.
• Chant at least one full mala, 108 repetitions, counting on the beads.
• Chant at the same time each day, and in the same place.

Done regularly at a fixed hour and place for 48 days, the book says, the practice becomes an upasana, an intense meditation. It also says these Ganesha mantras do no harm if mispronounced, though they should be sounded as properly as possible.

Om Gan Ganapataye Namo Namah, Ganpati Bappa Morya

A longer chant built on this mantra is sung across Maharashtra, at home and in the great Ganesh Chaturthi processions:

ॐ गं गणपतये नमो नमः
श्री सिद्धिविनायक नमो नमः
अष्टविनायक नमो नमः
गणपती बाप्पा मोरया

Om Gan Ganapataye Namo Namah
Shree Siddhivinayak Namo Namah
Ashtavinayak Namo Namah
Ganpati Bappa Morya

In English: “Om Gam, salutations again and again to Ganapati. Salutations again and again to Shree Siddhivinayak. Salutations again and again to the eight Vinayakas. Ganpati, our father, Morya!”

Namo namah repeats the salutation for emphasis. Siddhivinayak is Ganesha as the giver of success, worshipped at the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai and at Siddhatek. Ashtavinayak names the eight Ganesha shrines of Maharashtra. Bappa is Marathi for father, and Morya recalls Morya Gosavi, the great Ganesha devotee who travelled between Chinchwad and Morgaon.

Conclusion

Om Gam Ganapataye Namah is the mantra that holds Ganesha’s own seed sound. Chanted 108 times at the same hour each day, it is a meditation on the Lord of the hosts. For the verse recited before every new beginning, see Vakratunda Mahakaya, and for Ganesha’s Gayatri, the Ganesh Gayatri Mantra.