Greetings to dear friends on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi (birth anniversary of Lord Ganesha – the Hindu God of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune). May Lord Ganesha bestow peace, happiness and prosperity to our world. from Avdhesh Shukla _______________________ When all the senses are stilled/pacified, when the mind is at rest, when the psyche does not waver — then, say the wise, the individual has reached the highest state. This calm of the senses and the mind has been defined as Yoga. He who attains it, is freed from the state of delusion/false-impression/day-dream. …..Katha Upanishad 2 (6) : 10 – 11 (400 – 500 BC; aka Kaṭhopaniṣad, also titled Death as Teacher) – regarded as number three in the hierarchy of Upanishads [aka Vedanta or the end of the Veda), it has a collection of Vedic texts which contain the earliest emergence of some of the central religious concepts of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Associated with the Charaka Katha School of the Krishna Yajurveda (1200 – 1000 BC), it is grouped with the Sutra period of Vedic Sanskrit. Central to its text is the story of Nachiketa, son of sage Vajasravasa, and his encounter with Yama (the God of Death in Hindu mythology), it helps understand as to how passage of life to death tends to teach the wisdom and philosophy of life to an individual. It may be the most widely known amongst all the Upanishads; its early Persian translations first found their way into Europe. Max Müller translated it 1879, Edwin Arnold rendered it in verse, as The Secret of Death and Ralph Waldo Emerson gave the central story at the end of his essay, ‘Immortality’. It consists of two chapters, each divided into three sections that contain between 15 and 29 verses (Shlokas) apiece. ______________________ GANESH CHATURTHI Ganesh Chaturthi (aka Vinayak Chaturthi; Vinayagar in Tamil Nadu) is celebrated on the birthday of Lord Ganesh or Ganesha (son of Shiva – the God of destruction of evil amongst the Hindu trinity of Gods – and His consort Parvati). It is also the day when Shiva declared his son Ganesh as superior to all the Gods, barring Vishnu (the God of Nourishment and Protection amongst the Hindu trinity of Gods), Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth), Shiva (Ganesha’s father) and Parvati (Ganesha’s mother). Ganesha is brother of Lord Kartikeya – the General of the Army of Gods. Ganesha is widely worshipped as the God of Wisdom, Prosperity and Good Fortune, and is invoked traditionally at the beginning of any new venture or at the start of travel by the devout Hindus. It is believed that for the fulfillment of ones desires, His blessings are absolutely necessary. Legends have it that Lord Ganesha was born on the fourth day (‘Chaturthi’ in Sanskrit) of the waxing-moon fortnight (‘increasing or brightening moon’ phase; aka ‘Shukla-paksha’ in Sanskrit) in the month of ‘Bhadrapada’ – according to the lunar-cycle-based Hindu calendar. The celebration that begin from the day of birth of Ganesha (Ganesh Chaturthi) continue for five, seven, or ten days, and are also known as Ganeshotsav (literal fusion of Ganesh + Utsav (Sanskrit word for festival) and hence = festival of Ganesha) or Vinayakotsav (Vinayak is another name of Ganesha). Some people even stretch it to twenty-one days, but ten-day-duration is most common. 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. There are numerous stories in Hindu mythology, associated with the birth of Ganesha – the elephant-headed God – whose vehicle is a mouse (‘Mooshak’ in Sanskrit) and who loves ‘Laddoo’ (a table-tennis-ball-shaped Indian sweet). According to legends, 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 Shiva stopped Him from entering. In fury, Shiva who also did not know as to who this new child-doorkeeper to His home was, 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 – on a condition that substitute head shall be that of a baby who is not sleeping in the arms of his parents ! Shiva searched long in vain, but could only find a baby-elephant sleeping unaccompanied by parents. Thus, He cut off the head of this baby-elephant, fixed it on the body of Ganesha and revived the body – resulting in the characteristic elephant-headed form ! Another tale tells of how one day the Gods decided to choose their leader and a race was organized between the brothers - Kartikeya and Ganesh. Whoever took three rounds of the earth first would be made the Ganaadhipati or the leader. Kartikeya seated on a peacock as his vehicle, started off for the test. Ganesh was given a mouse, which moved swiftly. Ganesh realized 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 Ganeshas logic and intelligence and hence he came to be known as the Ganaadhipati or the leader of masses, now referred to as Ganpati (originally a Sanskrit-word). 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. To adjust His belly, Ganesha put 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 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 symbolic logic behind the mouse and snake and Ganeshas big belly and its relationship to the moon on his birthday is highly philosophic. The whole cosmos is considered 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 mouse symbolizes ego. Ganesha, using the mouse as a vehicle, exemplifies the need to control the ego. One who has controlled the ego has Ganesha consciousness or God-consciousness. The festival of Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated widely in India, particularly in the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Goa. Outside India, it is celebrated widely in Nepal and by Hindus in the United States, Canada, Mauritius, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma and Fiji. Ganesh or Ganpati was the benevolent deity of the dynasty of Peshwas (1657 – 1819 AD) who ruled Maharashtra inculcating a special culture in the state. Started by Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja (February 19, 1630 - April 3, 1680; a Peshwa and the great Maratha ruler who is held in great reverence particularly in Maharashtra) to promote culture and nationalism, the festival was revived by the late Lokmanya Tilak (a freedom fighter in India’s freedom-struggle, who also played a pivotal role in founding Banaras Hindu University) 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 British rule. The festival is so popular that the preparations begin months in advance. During the celebrations, Ganesha-statues are 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 Ganesha 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 of celebrations. 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. Myths forbid looking at the moon on that day as the moon had laughed at Ganesha when he fell from his vehicle, the mouse. 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 lautkar ya (Hail Lord Ganesh, return again soon next year) ! _____________ By AVDHESH SHUKLA
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 17:51:22 +0000
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