Informative

Ganesh Festival – The Grandeur, The Facts, and the Guidance

Ganesh Festival | The environment is filled with sounds of Ganpati Bappa Morya and people wearing white clothes with red turbans are playing drums and the breeze is refreshing and uplifting. It feels like the entire universe is celebrating the arrival of one of our favorite Gods, Shree Ganesh. This is a common sight every year, beginning on the fourth day of Bhadra month of the Hindu calendar, marking the birthday of Lord Ganesha and ending 10 days later. This festival usually falls during August or September of the English calendar. This is when Lord Ganesha leaves his abode in Mount Kailash and comes to earth to bless us, humans. 

In this blog, we will discuss some lesser known facts about Lord Ganesha and this festival,  how to welcome the Lord to our homes, worship him and bid adieu to him ten days later, only after making him promise to come back again next year. 

Interesting facts – 

The Moon and the Curse – It is said that the Moon once made fun of Lord Ganesha’s looks and was too proud of his own beauty. Lord Ganesha cursed him saying that the Moon will be invisible forever. The Moon then regretted his actions and asked for forgiveness, by now, Lord Ganesha was also calmer and came up with a solution that the Moon will grow thinner each day and become invisible once a month. This is when they say the Moon’s cycles as we know them started. It is also said that no one should look at the Moon on the day of Lord Ganesha’s birthday. 

The Lord and Insurance – The Ganesh festival is huge in India and idols at some pandals like the Lalbaug Raja in Mumbai are insured for a whooping seven hundred thousand dollars. That’s a huge amount for ten days. 

The Sheer Volume – In Mahrashtra’s Pen district, Close to 500 workshops and over 800 artisans make over seven hundred thousand idols every year, which also get exported to the UK and US.

Unfortunately due to the Covid-19 situation this year, the festival may not be celebrated in India at all, or if it does, it will be on a much smaller scale. Hence the number of people getting the Lord to their homes this year will increase remarkably, making it important to know the right way to do it. Should you plan to do the same, we have jotted down the procedure for guidance. 

Welcoming the Lord

When choosing the Ganesh Idol, ensure that you get a clay idol. It is environment friendly and since the legend says Maa Parvati created Lord Ganesha from her body, and she is also Mother Nature, it makes a lot of sense. 

When one person goes to bring the idol, ensure the other family members are waiting at home with preparations to welcome the Idol. If you live alone, ask a friend or neighbor to help you. 

The person waiting at home needs to have joss sticks and incense (called Agarbatii and Dhoop), a plate with lamps (Aarti Thali), Areca or betel nuts (Supari), Betel Leaf (Paan), vermillion (sindoor), a separate cloth for covering Ganesh Idol (the person going to bring the idol home should carry this and cover the idol with it on the way home), another piece of cloth to carry the idol and lastly sandalwood. 

When bringing the idol home, ensure that the idol is facing you throughout the journey and as soon as you reach your door, turn it around to face the house

The person in the house will remove the cloth from the idol and welcome it inside by rotating the Aartil plate in front of the idol, putting vermillion on the idol, and offering it betel leaves and nuts. 

Worship 

Once inside, place the idol on a wooden stool that is covered with a silk or velvet cloth. 

On Lord’s right place a glass filled with water, on his left sweets made of jaggery (modak – they are his favorite) and in front of him red flowers (preferably hibiscus), or you can also offer jasmine or marigold, Bermuda grass and sandalwood 

Now we infuse life in the idol. It’s called Praan Pratishtha, Praan meaning life and Pratishtha meaning infusing then establishing. 

For infusing life it’s great if you can invite a priest or a Guru but if you’re unable to, then the Mantra for infusing life can be found in the Ganesh Suktha chapter of the Rig Veda. We are mentioning the Mantra here – 

          अस्यैप्राणाः प्रतिष्ठन्तु अस्यै प्राणा क्षरन्तु च।

          अस्यै देवत्वमर्चार्यम मामेहती च कश्चन।।

          Asyaepranaha Pratishthantu Asyae Prana Kshrantu Ch

          Asyae Devatvamarcharyam Mamehati Ch Kashchan

 Now the idol has become Lord Ganesha himself.

Adorn him with beautiful flower garlands, bejeweled clothes, and nice jewelry.

Offer him food, water, and panchamrut

Do his Aarti and meditate on him

Daily, for 10 days, morning and evening you can do the Aarti, feed the Lord and meditate 

The Toughest Part

Bidding adieu to the Lord is the toughest part. Here’s how you make it easy. 

Do the Visarjan at home. Since the idol is made of clay, do a final Aarti where the Lord is seated, then take the Idol around the house, then take it in the balcony or terrace and do the Aarti again. 

After the final Aarti, place the idol in a tub full of water while shouting, Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudhcha Varshi Lavkar Ya. This means that you are making the Lord promise that he will come back again next year and he will come sooner. 

Now as the idol sits in water, the clay will melt in a two to three days

After the clay melts, you can plant it in your garden or plant pots so the Lord remains with you all year

We hope this article helped you get a better insight into celebrating the Ganesha Festival. For further queries and personal consultation on how to do the Puja, write in to us at info@chamundaswamiji.com