Sep 14
The Secret of Lord Ganesha III
Shiva had granted a boon to Ganesha that before anything auspicious is begun, Ganesha’s name would be invoked… So Ganesha also represents the beginnings of anything good.
When light passes through a prism and breaks into its constituent colours, Red is the first colour visible to the human eye… The beginning! Lord Ganesha’s signature colour is red. How astonishingly scientific!
Every year, especially in the city of Mumbai, around the beginning of September, the festival of Lord Ganesha is celebrated with great reverence, enthusiasm and joy. Lakhs of idols of Ganeshji are installed for 10 days with great pomp and ceremony. Small idols find their way in various people’s houses and really giant ones (3 floors high) are installed in various colonies all over the city. Poojas and Aartis are done, Prasad is given… And everyone has a great time.
The energy and feeling of the entire city completely changes as the atmosphere gets charged with the mantras and the devotion of millions of people… It is a magical time to be there…
On the last day however, all these idols are taken and submerged into the seas off the coast of Mumbai… To the cries of “Ganapati Bappa Moriya!! Pudhcha Varshi Laukar Yaa!!!” Meaning Victory to Lord Ganesha, Come back to us quickly next year…
(By the way, this does affect the seas and the environment, but more and more people are becoming environmentally conscious and having Ganeshji’s idols made out of quickly degradable materials… I am sure soon we will see very green Ganapati Festivals in Mumbai!)
There is a great significance to this: All the Gods are within us… In every cell of our Being. During the festivals, with great reverence we ask them to manifest themselves in the idols so we can worship them and play with them… Once we are done with the celebration, the final Pooja mantras actually invite the Gods back within us… So now its just a pretty statue… And so that we can learn non attachment, all the idols are put in the sea… This is done every year, to keep reminding ourselves about our own Divinity… And of course to celebrate and enjoy this great journey called Life!
Ganapati Bappa Moriya!!
Pudhcha Varshi Laukar Yaa!!!
Jai Gurudeva!
Love
Bawa
(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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beautiful………… we are really lucky that we get such amazing knowledge
Jai gurudev
if everyone realises and accepts fully the theme of this blog there wont be any compartmentalization of religions and beliefs …. I love Guruji’s reasoning when he says that we can always choose to see the common factor among varied religons rather then focus on the differences … its just what we need today in this world.
Namaste,Bau!
As a ‘Mumbaikar’, I loved the festival, but was beginning to grow in concern about the environmental hazard that this festival posed!
Yes,the people were now much more aware about their social responsibility. But, the pace with which some caused the environmental harm outdid the ones who really bothered!
Your assurance and surety that Mumbai will see green ganesh chaturthis very soon indeed lifts up my hopes.
So be it, I’d say!
Jai Gurudev!
jgd bawa!!!!!!!!!!!!
i have no option!!! since childhood i feel a different friendliness with lord ganesha.
i love him like anything. i hug his murti; fight with him; etc . when i was not sure about guruji
and aol; i told the idol of ganesh sitting openly in front of the emphy theatre of
b’lore ashram; that whatever happens; u have to be with me. now i am clear about all.
but when i talk with him i call him as ‘ganya’,'gannu’, and many.)is it bad or wrong? my mom scolds me.i listened ashtavakra and it said about purity of speech and all. but one thing can be optional no?
its full of love calling him like that. tell me.
oh thank God you told us this,
I was always worried about the submerging of the idol in the waters !!
Ganpati Bappa Morya
Pudhcha Varshi Laukar Yaa!!!
behind every Festival has become a part of the celebrating the festival
Love
Minnie
concept of immersion is amazing… thnx for telling… jgd!
Thats a nice one. I dnt know signature of Ganesha. Its all interconnected!
Its even grt how you relate things right things at the right moment. Thats your skill
Jai Gurudev!
Love you!
Aparna
p.s: we are still waiting for dinesh bhaiyas writeup!
hey bawa .. when is the next Q n A comin up?….
along with my questions , other’s questions also answer my questions , thats why i love the q n a
Jai Gurudev Bau
That is very nicely put bau…kudos…
Bau I m frm mumbai and as u know there is sri sri ravishankar vidyamandir at dharavi….the school is in need of funds desperately so v all the south mumbai zone volunteers are collectin raddi(newspapers) frm door to door and v r gonna sell it and giv that money to the school as our yes+ contribution….v r gonna do it regularly untill the school requirements r fullfilled….yesterday we did shree ganesha to that task and we made approximately 3000 Rps in 2 hrs……so GANAPATI BAPPA MORYA
Jgd bau,
Please check my new blog and comment on the template.
http://www.indivinepresence.blogspot.com
Great work. The site has a very fresh feel to it.
Just some allignment pending.. i guess…. The topleft elements, left sidebar
and the down inspiration bar need to adjusted.
I guess the central body is too wide …. just reduce this size … i think… the rest will shrink in properly to fit into a 17inch monitor… without the horizontal scrollbar.
the concept of immersion is quite interesting …..jgd
Moriya Re Bappa Moriya Re ..Ganapathi Bappa Moriya.. Mangalmurthi Moriya..
“There is a great significance to this: All the Gods are within us… In every cell of our Being. During the festivals, with great reverence we ask them to manifest themselves in the idols so we can worship them and play with them… Once we are done with the celebration, the final Pooja mantras actually invite the Gods back within us… So now its just a pretty statue… And so that we can learn non attachment, all the idols are put in the sea… This is done every year, to keep reminding ourselves about our own Divinity… And of course to celebrate and enjoy this great journey called Life!”yup and we get tnhis feeling if we are regular in our sadhana …. i really missed all the frstivities of Ganeshs Chaturthi out here but the knowledge came at the right time…..
Its long time, i was trying to find this out( why do we immerse the idols at the end) and no one gave me a satisfactory answer. I think today, I got one!
Thanks Bawa!
-SD.
that was wonderful….
now i know why are the statues immersed in water!!!..
I have uploaded many pics of the visarjan celebrations at mumbai in my blog….
Please see them!! ( johannarora.blogspot.com )
thank you so much!
amazing knowledge…
bau the blog looks soo beautiful …especially the small details like the dates being tagged on to the sides with the paper clips .. looks as polished (if not more) as an iweb temp… fantastic
:)
You alays leav me in a state of WOW!!!
an eye-opener …indeed
Jai Gurudeva!
Nice article.
Please see the following link for my solution to save the environment:
http://gandhar.blogspot.com/2009/08/create-your-own-green-ganapati-ganesha.html
I hope you like it.
hugs!! thanks alot for sharing such wonderful stuff in very graceful manner!