Ringing in new beginnings on Ganesh Chaturthi 2019
Ganesh Chaturthi, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi, is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Hindu community. This year, it starts on September 2. Devotees celebrate the occasion as the birthday of the elephant-headed god, son of Lord Shiva and Parvati. Traditionally, the worship of Lord Ganesha is supposed to bestow a keen intellect that helps the devotee attain perfection by overcoming obstacles.
That is why Lord Ganesha is also called “Vighna Harta”. While people pray to him for the easing of worldly obstacles, his main aim is to help devotees overcome obstacles on the path of their evolution. These obstacles include lust, anger, greed, and attachment. Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated on Shukla Chaturthi of the Hindu month of Bhadra (between August and September).
Celebrations are conducted with much fanfare, especially in Maharashtra, where beautiful pandals and towering idols of Lord Ganesha are set up with devotees dancing in ecstasy. On this day, people bring Ganesha home. That is, they bring idols of Lord Ganesha at home for one day to 11 days. After prayers and supplications for the specified period, the idols are immersed in water, symbolic of bidding him farewell.
This is also done with much pomp. Worship of Lord Ganesha is believed to be very important for students, who are at an impressionable age and who need divine assistance to become erudite scholars. It is also very important for the serious spiritual seeker because Ganesha represents the first chakra – the root chakra, which is the base of all the chakras.
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Ganesha is known by hundreds and thousands of names. He is the master of the arts and sciences as well as the fountainhead of wisdom. He is worshipped at the beginning of all auspicious pujas and other undertakings as he is considered the god of beginnings.
-PTC News
