Why is it important to offer Durva and Modak to Lord Ganesha?
By offering 3 or 5 bales of Durva (a type of grass) to Lord Ganesha, he becomes quickly pleased and grants the desired results to the devotees. That is why the importance of offering Durva to them has been mentioned in the scriptures. Regarding this, a story is mentioned in the Purana – “Once upon a time, a demon named Analasur had created a terrible havoc on the earth. His atrocities started spreading to heaven and hell along with the earth. He used to swallow alive the sages and innocent people who worshiped God and worshiped God. Devraj Indra fought with him many times, but he was always defeated. After sunset from Analasura, all the gods went to Lord Shiva. He told that only Ganesha can kill him, because he has a big stomach so he will swallow him whole. On this the gods pleased Ganesha by praising him. Ganesha chased Analasur and swallowed him. Due to this he started having a lot of burning sensation in his stomach. Many measures were taken, but the flame was not quelled. When sage Kashyap came to know about this, he immediately went to Kailash and After collecting Durva, he prepared a lump and fed it to Ganesha, which immediately calmed down the burning sensation in his stomach.
Modak i.e. Laddus is very dear to Ganeshji. Without these, the worship of Lord Ganesha is considered incomplete. Goswami Tulsidas has a car in Vinay Patrika
guieye ganapati jagwandan .
shankar suvan bhavaani nandan.
siddhi-sadan gaj badan vinaayak .
krpa-sindhu sundar sab laayak .
shankar suvan bhavaanee nandan.
Modak Priya Mud Mangal Data.
Vidya Varidhi Buddhi Vidhata ॥
In this too, his love for money is displayed. Devotees of Maharashtra usually offer Modak to Lord Ganesha. It is noteworthy that Modaks are made by mixing rava, sugar and mawa in a flour shell. Whereas he also likes laddus made from mawa and motichoor. Those devotees who offer modak or laddu to Lord Ganesha with full devotion, the Lord becomes pleased and fulfills their wishes.
The word Modak has been formed by considering the literal meaning of ‘Mod’ meaning pleasure and ‘K’ as a small part, which means feeling pleasure just by holding it in the hand. When such Prasad is offered to Lord Ganesha, it is natural to feel happiness. According to another explanation, just as the symbol of knowledge is Modak i.e. sweet, similarly the Prasad of knowledge is also sweet.
It is written in Ganpati Atharvashirsha
Yo Durvankurairyajati Sa Vaishravanopamo Bhavati.
Yo Lajairyajati se Yashovan Bhavati se Meghavan Bhavati ॥
Yo modak sahasren yajati sa vanghchhit falamvaprapnoti ॥
That is, the one who offers Durva to God becomes like Kubera. The one who offers lajo (rice flour) becomes successful and intelligent and the one who offers one thousand laddus to Lord Ganesha gets the desired results.
Ganeshji also loves jaggery. There is a story in Padmapuran regarding his love for Modak. Once the gods became very happy after seeing Gajanan and Kartikeya. He offered a divine laddu to Goddess Parvati. Both the children started asking for this laddu. Then Mother Parvati told the qualities of laddu – immortality is achieved only by the smell of this modak. Undoubtedly, the one who smells or eats it becomes an expert in all the scriptures, an expert in all the systems, a writer, a painter, a scholar, an expert in knowledge and science and is omniscient. Then he further said – “The one who proves his superiority among you both through religious conduct first will be entitled to get this divine modak.”
After getting the permission of Mother Parvati, Karthik mounted his fast vehicle Peacock and set out on a pilgrimage to Trilok and within a short period of time, he visited all the holy places and took bath. Here, Ganeshji circumambulated the parents with utmost devotion and stood in front of them with folded hands and said that visiting pilgrimage places, places of worship, performing rituals and observing all types of fasts also fulfills the sixteenth part of worshiping the parents. One cannot attain virtue equal to that of a person, hence I am entitled to receive Modak. After listening to Ganesha’s logical answer, Mother Parvati became happy and gave Modak to Ganesha and said that due to the devotion of his parents, Ganesha will be worshiped everywhere in all the auspicious activities like Yagya.