Ganesh Chaturthi

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>From IndiaYogi.com

 

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated on the birthday of Lord Ganesh (Ganesha),

the god of wisdom and prosperity on the fourth day of the moon's bright

fortnight, or period from new moon in the lunar month of Bhadrapada.

(Sept. 17th in 2004.) The celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi continues for

five, seven, or ten days. Some even stretch it to twenty one days, but

ten is the most popularly celebrated. In the tradition of the right hand

path the first day is the most important. In the left hand path tradition

the final day is most important.

 

Ganesha is the god of wisdom and prosperity and is invoked before the

beginning of any auspicious work by the Hindus. It is believed that for

the fulfillment of one's desires, his blessing is absolutely necessary.

 

According to the mythology, he is the son of Shiva and Parvati, brother

of Kartikeya - the general of the gods, Lakshmi - the goddess of wealth,

and Saraswati - the goddess of learning. There are numerous stories in

Hindu mythology associated with the birth of this elephant-headed god,

whose vehicle is the Mooshak or rat and who loves Modaks (droplet shaped

Indian sweets). Legend has it that 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 her bath. When her

husband, Shiva returned, the child who had never seen him stopped him.

Shiva severed the head of the child and entered his house. Parvati,

learning that her son was dead, was distraught and asked Shiva to revive

him. Shiva cut off the head of an elephant and fixed it on the body of

Ganesha.

 

Another tale tells of how one day the Gods decided to choose their leader

and a race was to be held between the brothers, Kartikeya and Ganesh.

Whoever took three rounds of the earth first would be made the

Ganaadhipati or the leader. Kartikeya, mighty-thewed and plain speaking,

seated on his peacock vehicle, started off for the test. Ganesh was given

a rat, which moved swiftly. Ganesh, with a trickster's complex mind,

realised that the test was not easy, but he would not disobey his father.

He reverently paid obeisance to his parents and went around them three

times and thus completed the test before Kartikeya. He said, " my parents

pervade the whole universe and going around them, is more than going

round the earth." Everybody was pleasantly surprised to hear Ganesha's

logic and intelligence and hence he came to be known as the Ganaadhipati

or leader, now referred to as Ganpati.

 

There is also a story behind the symbolic snake, rat and the singular

tusk. During one of his birthdays, His mother, Parvati, cooked for him

twenty-one types of delicious food and a lot of sweet porridge. Ganesha

ate so much that even his big belly could not contain it. Mounting his

little mouse, he embarked on his nightly rounds. His mouse suddenly

stumbled upon seeing a huge snake, and Ganesha's belly burst. To adjust

His belly, Ganesha tied 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 god, Chandra, mocking 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. The symbology

behind the mouse and snake and Ganesha's big belly and its relationship

to the moon on his birthday is highly philosophic. The whole cosmos is

known to be the belly of Ganesha. Parvati is the primordial energy. The

seven realms above, seven realms below and seven oceans, are inside the

cosmic belly of Ganesha, held together by the cosmic energy (kundalini )

symbolized as a huge snake which Ganesha ties around Him. The Moon rules

our instincts and habitual behaviors. The mouse is nothing but our ego.

Ganesha, using the mouse as a vehicle, exemplifies the need to control

our ego. One who has controlled the ego has Ganesha consciousness or

God-consciousness.

 

The Celebrations

The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated in the states of

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and many other

parts of India. 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. The

festival gave the Indians a feeling of unity and revived their patriotic

spirit and faith. This public festival formed the background for

political leaders who delivered speeches to inspire people against the

Western rule. The festival is so popular that the preparations begin

months in advance. 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. It is still forbidden to look at the moon on that day

as the moon had laughed at Ganesha when he fell from his vehicle, the

rat. With the immersion of the idol amidst the chanting of "Ganesh

Maharaj Ki Jai!" (Hail Lord Ganesh). The festival ends with pleas to

Ganesha to return the next year with chants of "Ganpati bappa morya,

pudcha varshi laukar ya" (Hail Lord Ganesh, return again soon next year.

 

- Anita Ramchandani

 

 

 

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