A new beginning offers a chance to bring your deepest desires to live and to convert all your dreams and longings into reality. It bestows a chance to hold the hands of happiness and appeased to embrace prosperity. In this way, it constantly moulds the perfect shape our life with its smooth hands. It often works like a chance or a matter of luck in everyone’s life. We could only find the seeds of a new beginning with an indefinable discovery by embracing the perimeters of failure. Many people believe that this auspicious occasion would bring glory and successful to their life without failure. Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed God is considered to be the lord of the new beginning, a deity of prosperity and the remover of all obstacles. Being the son of Lord Siva and Goddess Parvathi, he is one of the five prime Hindu deities (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and Durga being the other four) whose idolatry is glorified as the “Panchayatana Pooja”.
Ganesha the elephant deity is one of the most worshipped God’s in Hindu religion. He is also called as ‘Vinayaka’, ‘Ganapathi’ or ‘Lambodara’. Lord Ganesha has an elephantine visage with big ears and a huge pot-bellied body of a human being. He is mainly worshipped as the lord of success and considered to be as the deity of education, knowledge and new beginning. The birth of this elephant-headed God is celebrated as the “Ganesh Chathurti”, “Vinayaka Chathurti” or “Vinayaka Chavithi”(Sanskrit).
People all over India celebrate Ganesha Chathurti for the purification and discarding of all the stumbling blocks from their life with full devotion and joy. Lord Ganesha is also enshrined as ‘Vighna Harta’ means remover of all obstacles for devotees and ‘Vighna Karta’ – the creator of problems for the devil. The birthday of India’s this cutest God is glorified by inviting a clay statue of Ganesha in their homes by devotees which are given high preferable to succumb the shackles of distress from their life.
History provides us with a very interesting story of Lord Ganesha’s birth. The most famous story is where goddess Parvathi used the dirt of her body to create little Ganesha to guard the door while she was bathing. Ganesha is believed to have not allowed even God Shiva from entering as he did not know who he was. This led to an angry Shiva, beheading him. Because of this goddess, Parvathi was enraged with Shiva. It was only after Shiva and the devas who went on a search for Ganesha’s head, they could only find a sleeping elephant’s head and Shiva attached it to his body and restored him to life. And Devi Parvathi was concerned, others would make fun of Ganesha with an elephant’s head. So Shiva declared that his son would be the first God to be worshipped by people undertaking any new venture even before himself.
Ganesh Chathurti or Vinayaka Chathurti is celebrated annually in the month of August or September with big enthusiasm. People give their offerings and worship him with full joy and devotion. This festival is an 11 days long celebration which starts on the Chathurti with statue installation in the home or temple and finishes on ‘ Anant Chaturdashi’ with ‘Ganesh Visarjan’. Devotees of Lord Ganesha offers prayer, offerings (especially modak which symbolizes the sweetness of Atman ) and recite a mantra, sing spiritual devotional songs and do aarti and look up for his blessings of wisdom and prosperity. Ganesh Visarjan is the most important ritual among this, it means the idol immersion into water. This Pooja is performed according to the muhurat of the Ganesh Visarjan. It is believed in the Hindu religion that when Vinayaka come to home brings lots of wisdom, prosperity, and happiness to the home. Devotees happily perform Pooja for 10 days to take away all their problems and obstacles with him. During these 10 days of Pooja, devotees follow the ritual of an offering of Durva grass, Modak, Jaggery, coconut, red flowers, red Chandan and camphor. And a huge crowd of people involve happily in the Ganesh Visarjan on the end of Pooja.
Lord Ganesha with his magnificent charm and cuteness lives in the hearts of people. They call him whenever they find tortuous and tied up in the middle of all obstacles and evil spirits. He also remains as a deity of pride and affluence, one who fills all the empty heads and bestow their hearts with the best stories of gratitude and offerings to him. It is only because of his charismatic grandeur that he remains still full of beautiful instead of hollo and gains veneration from all his devotees. He strengthens himself with his devotees’ faith that accords respect and even reverence to the sanctified beliefs of others.
By Vani Krishna
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