So Prithu stopped. Brihaspati and Bhrigu were rivals. They never agreed on anything. Brihaspati loved the Devas who lived in the sky. Bhrigu preferred the Asuras who lived under the earth. Brihaspati held on to the certainty of the past while Bhrigu projected into the uncertainties of the future. Brihaspati focused on what has already happened, like Venas death after hurting the earth. Bhrigu showed dreams of how the earth-cows milk could satisfy all of Prithus hunger. The two Rishis kept arguing and fighting. Torn between the two advisors, Prithu could not take any decision. Finally Prithvi told Prithu, The problem was not food. The problem was hunger. Venas hunger was like a wild elephant in heat. He destroyed everything around him to satisfy his hunger. You must have control over your hunger-elephant, so that you can ride it as Indra rides Airavata. How could Prithu do that? Prithvi told Prithu that he would find the answer if he worshipped Ganesha seven times in

Make his image in clay, make him offerings of flowers and fruits and fire, and then dissolve his image in water. Accordingly, Prithu made the image of Ganesha using clay, made offerings of flowers and fruits and flowers, and then dissolved the image in the river. It was not easy: the image kept falling apart, by the time he found fruits, the flowers had dried up, and while dissolving the image he slipped and fell and sprained his ankle. The next time, Prithu was able to make

The third time, the image was created flawlessly and the worship was meticulous. By the fourth time, the worship could be done on a grand scale. By the seventh time, Prithu realized something very important: knowledge of the past had helped him plan for the future. Brihaspati maintained records of what had happened during the previous worship and this helped Bhrigu plan the next worship even better. Past successes and failures informed future actions. Brihaspati could account for how much milk Prithu had consumed in the past, how much he had wasted, the amount of milk that satisfied his hunger and the amount that caused indigestion. Bhrigu could accordingly plan how much milk Prithu should extract from the earthcow. Brihaspati enabled hindsight. Bhrigu enabled foresight. Prithu made Brihaspati the master of accounting to organize the past and Bhrigu the master of planning to organize the future. Sh

During the rituals, Prithu had also observed that Ganesha has the head of an elephant and the body of a man. The head reminded him of the hunger-elephant inside him and the body reminded him of the mahout who tames the wild elephant. Prithu remembered that Shiva who destroyed Kama was also called Gajantaka, the destroyer of hunger-elephant. Ganesha, as son of Shiva and Parvati, established the middle path of regulating the elephant-hunger, so that we control it and it does not control us. In Ganeshas hand was an ankush, or elephant goad. The ankush had two parts: a sharp prod that pushes the elephant to move ahead and a hook that pulls the elephant back. Prithu realized the prod is Bhriguwho thinks of the future. And the hook is Brihaspatiwho thinks of the past. On their own, Brihaspati and Bhrigu were useless. The past is gone and the future is yet to come. But in the present, the hook of the past helps to create the