Ganesh Chaturthi 2012: All About Ganesh Chaturthi

By Bala Mishra

ॐ वक्रतुणडय महाकाय सूर्य कोटी समप्रभा न र्विघ्नम कुरु मे देवा सर्व कर्येशु सर्वदा !
-Salutations to the curved trunked, huge bodied lord, who is lit like million Sun's, please remove our obstacles from all our undertakings

Ganesh Chaturthi is a celebration of the day on which the all Supreme Lord Ganesha is believed to have bestowed his presence on earth for his devotees all over the world. Though beyond any definition, Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, is worshipped as the supreme god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. Indeed the symbolism behind Ganesh Chaturthi is much deeper than just being the birthday of Lord Ganesha.

Hindus believe that no auspicious ceremony is complete without seeking blessings of Lord Ganesha. As he is said to fulfill ones desire and bless one with prosperity and remove every obstacle in the path of success. To know about Ganesh Chaturthi and its significance, one needs to go back to Mythology.

Birthday of Lord Ganesha

Mythology has many such Legends associated with Lord Ganesha and Ganesh Chaturthi. One such Legend explains how Ganesha was born. It says that Mata Parvati created Ganesha out of the sandalwood dough that she used for her bath and breathed life into him. Letting him stand guard at the door she went to have bath. When her husband, Shiva returned, the child who had never seen Shiva before stopped him. Shiva severed the head of the child in anger and entered his house. Parvati, learning that her son was be haeded was distraught and asked Shiva to revive him. Shiva realizing his mistake cut off the head of an elephant and fixed it on the body of Ganesha. This was the birth of elephant-headed god, Lord Ganesha whose vehicle is the Mooshak or rat and who loves Modaks (droplet shaped Indian sweet).Ganesh Chaturthi is a celebration of this day when the all Intellegent Lord Ganesha was born.

Birthday of Ganesha –The Lord of Wisdom and Intellegence

According to a popular legend goes into saying that one day Lord Shiva and Parvati decided to choose their leader and so a race was to be held between their son - Kartikeya and Ganesh. It was decided that whoever took three rounds of the earth first would be made the Ganaadhipati or the leader. Kartikeya seated on a peacock as his vehicle, started off for the test confident of winning the race knowing that Ganesha’s vehicle was a rat, which moved swiftly but could never defeat a peacock. Realizing this Ganesh thought of a way out. He reverently paid obedience to his parents and went around his parents Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati three times and thus completed the test before Kartikeya. Heexplained," my parents pervade the whole universe and going around them, is more than going round the earth." Everybody present was pleasantly surprised to hear Ganesha's use of logic and intelligence and from then onwards he came to be known as the Ganaadhipati or leader, now referred to as Ganpati.Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated to honour the all wise Ganpati.

Birthday of Ganesha -The Lord of Seven realms above and below and the seven oceans

Seeing the moon is cursed on Ganesh Chaturthi and legend explains why. It is belived that during one of Ganesha’s birthdays, his mother, Parvati, cooked for him twenty-one types of delicious food and a lot of sweet porridge. Ganesha loved the delicious preparation and ate so much that even his big belly could not contain it. Mounting on his little mouse, he embarked on his nightly rounds. His mouse suddenly stumbled upon seeing a huge snake. To adjust His belly, Ganesha put the snake on as a belt around his stomach. All of a sudden, he heard laughter emanating from the sky.He looked up, and saw the moon mocking at him. Ganesha infuriated, broke off one of his tusks and hurled it at the moon. Parvati, seeing this, immediately cursed the moon that whoever looks at it on Ganesh Chaturthi will be accused of a wrong doing. Thus the symbolic relationship between Ganesha and his big belly,the snake and the moon on his Birthday is philosophical.Lord Ganesha’s belly represents the whole cosmos, the seven realms above and below and the seven oceans are inside Ganesha’s cosmic belly. These are held together by the cosmic energy (kundalini) symbolized by the huge snake around him. The muse represents ego.Lord Ganesha using the mouse represents the need to control ego and so it’s said that one who controls his ego has Ganesha consciousness. Ganesh Chaturthi is a celebration of The Lord who controls the universe.

Ganesh Chaturthi Celebration

Though celebrated all over India, it is primarily a festival of states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Started by Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja, the great Maratha ruler, to promote culture and nationalism, the festival was revived by Lokmanya Tilak (a freedom fighter) to spread the message of freedom struggle and to defy the British who had banned public assemblies.

At places the celebration goes on for 21 days and at others 7 to 11 depending on the family tradition and commitment of each individual. Ganesha statues installed in street corners and in homes and elaborate arrangements are made for lighting, decoration, mirrors and the most common of flowers. Poojas (prayer services) are performed daily. The artists who make the idols of Ganesh compete with each other to make bigger and more magnificent and elegant idols. The relevantly larger ones are anything from 10 meters to 30 meters in height. These statues are then carried on decorated floats to be immersed in the sea after one, three, five, seven and ten days. Thousands of processions converge on the beaches to immerse the holy idols in the sea. This procession and immersion is accompanied by drum- beats, devotional songs and dancing. On the last day of worship the idol is taken out in a colourful and musical procession to be immersed traditionally at a beach.

There is no doubt that Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most popular festivals in the Country. There are several reasons for this. Ganpati is after all one of the most popular God. His blessings are invoked at most religious ceremonies as He is the one who can remove all obstacles to success. He is the giver of fortune and can help to avoid natural calamities. God of wisdom and the benevolent deity of the dynasty of Peshwas who ruled Maharashtra. Ganpati is the herald of auspicious beginnings and is the beloved deity of all.

Therefore, install the idol, worship it with infinite love, meditate and experience Lord Ganesha from within the only way to self realization. This is the symbolic essence of Ganesh Chaturti festival, to awaken the Ganesha tatva which is masked inside us and shout aloud ‘Ganpati Bappa Maurya”.