What we know? And What we have Leant?? The Origins of Ganesh Chaturthi Festival.... We should all know and understand why we celebrate this festival. What does Ganapati mean???? ‘Gana’ stands for collective and ‘Ganapati’ is the one who brings people together, who presides over them. He is the one who unites human society. This is in fact the true meaning of ‘devotion’. That which creates unity within individuals and with the Universal energy. Ganapati is also considered the deity of knowledge ‘jnandatri’ – the one who bestows knowledge and understanding. The beginning of Ganesh Festival can be marked to the time where most of the Indian population lived near the banks of the rivers. According to the Indian Calendar, at the end of month Jhyestha, when the constellation of Mriganakshatra is sighted, we begin to see the first signs of the rains. This is when a series of festivals begin. The first festival is the Bendur, then comes Naag Panchami and then finally arrives Ganesh Chaturthi... In ancient years people used to bathe in the rivers. In the monsoon season, the waters of the rivers are fresh and clean and the banks of the river rich with freshly deposited fertile soil. People would take this fresh sediment and worship it. This wet fresh and fertile soil was given a form by each devotee themselves. Each one of us has an artist within us and making the Ganesh idol was itself a form of worship, of experiencing and visualising the divinity in the soil. The worship of Nature, the Earth, and the species that inhabit the Earth, is the recognition of the existence of the same elements within ourselves. All living beings are made of the same five elements and these festivals recognise and acknowledge this inherent Unity. This was the beginning of Ganesh Chaturthi.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 20:52:52 +0000
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