Anyone who has ever looked at a lotus flower emerging from a murky pond will immediately be able to see the beauty of this superb plant. The flower always looks so clean and pure against the background of the dirty pond. Because of this the lotus flower has come to be associated with purity and beauty in the religions of Buddhism and Hinduism correspondingly; the ancient Egyptians scholars observed that in the night-time the lotus closed its flowers and sank into the water, and came up with a different association with the flower related to rebirth and the Sun; in actual fact the Lotus slowly emerges from a pond over a three day period and then blooms in the morning until mid-afternoon.
We are all like the lotus flower - many of us live in that murky water, and never make it to the surface so we can blossom. Many of us are close; we are just buds, ready and eager to feel the sunshine of life on our skin. No matter which stage of life you are on, I’m sure you can relate to this lotus and see yourself in this story. The conditions that produce beautiful life are not always ideal, but that never stops the lotus from rising through adversity, opening its petals, and blossoming in the sun.
In his four hands, Lord Ganesha holds an axe, a rope, a modak and a lotus. The axe represents the annihilation of desire with the axe of spirituality. The rope is spiritual knowledge which helps us to remove ourselves from the samsara, material world that we are rooted in. The modak symbolizes the happiness and joy a seeker derives from the spiritual pursuit. And the lotus stands for that Divine state of Self-Realization that every human being aspires for, consciously or unconsciously. The lotus sustains itself in dirty ponds but yet is above it all. Similarly, a person of Perfection can live in the world, enjoy life and yet be above it all by identifying with the Self. 
Om Shri Ganeshaya Namah ~ Shubh Prabhat!
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