Ganesh Chaturthi

 


Lord Ganesha is also known as ‘Vignaharta’ or “Vinayaka”, meaning the Lord of obstacles. Lord Ganesha is also considered as the God of knowledge and wisdom. It is believed that one can get great wisdom and become wise enough to know good from bad by remembering and praying to Lord Ganesha. On Ganesh Chaturthi think of Vinayaka and pray to him so that he showers his blessings on all of us. In the Hindu mythology, it is a belief and ritual to start any work or task by chanting Ganesha Mantra and remembering Vighna Vinashak.
The Mantra:
||Vakratunda Mahakay Suryakoti Samaprabha
NirVighnam Kuru Me Deva SarvaKarye shu Sarvada||
Translation:
· Vakratunda – Curved trunk
· Mahakaya – Huge form
· Surya – Sun
· Koti – Billion
· Sama – Equal
· Prabha – Splendor
· Nirvighnam – No obstacles
· Kurume – Give me
· Deva – God
· Sarva – All
· Kaaryeshu – Endeavours
· Sarvada – Always
Meaning:
Meaning:
||O Lord Ganesha of the curved trunk and massive body, the one whose splendor is equal to millions of Suns, please bless me so that I do not face any obstacles in my endeavors.||
Legendary Tales:
Our Hindu mythology has numerous stories related with the birth of Lord Ganesha.
We all very well know Lord Ganesha, the son of Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva, was crafted by Goddess Parvati from the sandalwood paste, which she used for bathing. After the formation of a child like idol, Goddess Parvati respired life in the structure. Goddess Parvati, went to take bath and instructed Ganesha to guard the door. As advised, Ganesha guarded the door. When Lord Shiva returned and asked the child to let him go inside and open the door, Vinayak refused as he was not aware who Lord Shiva was.
Various other gods requested Ganesha to allow Lord Shiva inside, but Ganesha denied. This resulted in the battle between gods and Ganesha. With this, Lord Shiva became angry and cut off the head of Ganesha. Hearing this, Goddess Parvati became very annoyed and asked Lord Shiva to restore the life of her son Vinayaka. On this, Lord Shiva with the help of other Gods replaced the head of Lord Ganesha with an elephant’s head. Since then, we all know and remember Lord Ganesha as an Elephant Headed God.

Goddess Parvati was not happy with the elephant head so to calm her anger Lord Brahma along with other Gods blessed Vinayak by telling him he will be the first God to be worshiped before every good work begins. Hence, even today Vinayaka or the Elephant Headed God is worshiped with a lot of devotion, enthusiasm and dedication before any good work begins to ward of all obstacles by his devotees.
Historical Legend:
The Ganesh Utsav has been an event of celebration since the time of the Marathas & the Peshwas. During the rule of Chhatrapati Shivaji, Ganesh Chaturthi was celebrated as a public event but slowly it turned into a family affair. Social reformer Lokmanya Tilak once again changed the festival celebration from family affair to a festival of masses. The reason behind the celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi as signified in the history was to bridge the gap between “Brahmins” and “Non Brahmins”, as Vinayak or Lord Ganesha was considered to be the God of Everybody. Since then, the festival became a 10 day affair where large Pandals were organised and the idol of Lord Ganesha was established. Various musical events, songs, dance and prayers were offered to Lord Ganesha. Post the celebration, the idol of Lord Ganesha was submerged in water.
Thus, the Elephant Headed God Ganesha, who loves Modaks, Laddu and whose Vaahan (vehicle) is Mooshak (rat), is being worshiped since ages.
Celebrations:
It is celebrated with great zeal, enthusiasm, love and devotion all over the world especially in Mumbai and Southern part of India specially in Pune. The Ganesha Utsav witnesses the idols of Lord Ganesha in various forms. Vinayaka or Lord Ganesha will be taken home and devotees will worship him day and night by offering sweets (Modaks, Laddu, etc.), flowers and Durva (grass), just to name a few. The Pandals are set and priests offer special prayers to Vinayak or Lord Ganesh during this 10 days of Ganesh Utsav celebration. On the last day of Ganesh Utsav, Lord Ganesha or Vinayak Visarjan will take place.
The celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi lasts for a period of 10 days and ends on Anant Chaturdashi (the tenth day), where the idol of the Lord is submerged in water. This ritual of immersing the idol in water is known as Ganesh Visarjan. The ritual takes place with a huge procession along with music and dancing take the idol to the nearest water body, for immersion. Ganesh Visarjan and the complete Ganesh Utsav is an eye catching event especially in Mumbai, India. People from all over the country gather to witness this spectacular event.
May Lord Ganesh bless each one of us and remove all the obstacles from our lives.