*Ganesh Utsav Celebration: Join the Festival*

Ganpati Bappa Morya

Hello Friends

From 9^th of September to 18^th of September we have ganesh Utsav

So

I am here with a celebration thread

Ganesh- God of Success

Ganesha " the elephant-deity riding a mouse " has become one of the the commonest mnemonics for anything associated with Hinduism. This not only suggests the importance of Ganesha, but also shows how popular and pervasive this deity is in the minds of the masses.

The Lord of Success
The son of Shiva and Parvati, Ganesha has an elephantine countenance with a curved trunk and big ears, and a huge pot-bellied body of a human being. He is the Lord of success and destroyer of evils and obstacles. He is also worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth. In fact, Ganesha is one of the five prime Hindu deities (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga being the other four) whose idolatry is glorified as the panchayatana puja.

Significance of the Ganesha Form
Ganesha's head symbolizes the Atman or the soul, which is the ultimate supreme reality of human existence, and his human body signifies Maya or the earthly existence of human beings. The elephant head denotes wisdom and its trunk represents Om, the sound symbol of cosmic reality. In his upper right hand Ganesha holds a goad, which helps him propel mankind forward on the eternal path and remove obstacles from the way. The noose in Ganesha's left hand is a gentle implement to capture all difficulties.

The broken tusk that Ganesha holds like a pen in his lower right hand is a symbol of sacrifice, which he broke for writing the Mahabharata . The rosary in his other hand suggests that the pursuit of knowledge should be continuous. The laddoo (sweet) he holds in his trunk indicates that one must discover the sweetness of the Atman. His fan-like ears convey that he is all ears to our petition. The snake that runs round his waist represents energy in all forms. And he is humble enough to ride the lowest of creatures, a mouse.

How Ganesha Got His Head
The story of the birth of this zoomorphic deity, as depicted in the Shiva Purana, goes like this: Once goddess Parvati, while bathing, created a boy out of the dirt of her body and assigned him the task of guarding the entrance to her bathroom. When Shiva, her husband returned, he was surprised to find a stranger denying him access, and struck off the boy's head in rage. Parvati broke down in utter grief and to soothe her, Shiva sent out his squad (gana) to fetch the head of any sleeping being who was facing the north. The company found a sleeping elephant and brought back its severed head, which was then attached to the body of the boy. Shiva restored its life and made him the leader (pati) of his troops. Hence his name 'Ganapati'. Shiva also bestowed a boon that people would worship him and invoke his name before undertaking any venture.

However, there's another less popular story of his origin, found in the Brahma Vaivarta Purana: Shiva asked Parvati to observe the punyaka vrata for a year to appease Vishnu in order to have a son. When a son was born to her, all the gods and goddesses assembled to rejoice on its birth. Lord Shani, the son of Surya (Sun-God), was also present but he refused to look at the infant. Perturbed at this behaviour, Parvati asked him the reason, and Shani replied that his looking at baby would harm the newborn. However, on Parvati's insistence when Shani eyed the baby, the child's head was severed instantly. All the gods started to bemoan, whereupon Vishnu hurried to the bank of river Pushpabhadra and brought back the head of a young elephant, and joined it to the baby's body, thus reviving it.

Ganesha, the Destroyer of Pride
Ganesha is also the destroyer of vanity, selfishness and pride. He is the personification of material universe in all its various magnificent manifestations. "All Hindus worship Ganesha regardless of their sectarian belief," says D N Singh in A Study of Hinduism. "He is both the beginning of the religion and the meeting ground for all Hindus."

Ganesha Chaturthi

is theHindu festivalcelebrated on the birthday (rebirth) of Lord Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati.

It is believed that Lord Ganesh bestows his presence on earth for all his devotees during this festival. It is the day Shiva declared his son Ganesha as superior to all the gods, barring Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shiva and Parvati. Ganesha is widely worshipped as the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune and traditionally invoked at the beginning of any new venture or at the start of travel. The festival, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi("festival of Ganesha") is observed in the Hindu calendarmonth of Bhaadrapada, starting on the shukla chaturthi(fourth day of the waxing moon period). The date usually falls between 19 August and 20 September. The festival lasts for 10 days, ending on Anant Chaturdashi(fourteenth day of the waxing moon period).

While celebrated all over India, it is most elaborate inMaharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Outside India, it is celebrated widely in Nepal and by Hindus in the United States, Canada, Mauritius, Singapore,Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Fiji, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana.

Ganesh Utsav Celebrations

Ganesh Utsav is a spectacular festival, honoring Lord Ganesha. The elephant-headed god is worshiped for 10 days from Bhadrapada Shudha Chaturthi to the Ananta Chaturdashi. It is celebrated all over India, but the maximum grandeur is witnessed in Mumbai and across Maharashtra. It was Lokmanya Tilak who popularised the festival during the freedom movement and made it a community celebration. Colourfully decorated Idols of lord Ganesha are installed both at homes and in Sarvajanik Ganesh Pandals. The occasion becomes very lively and enthusiastic with the devotional songs, dances and drum beats being a part of the rituals observed by the devotees of Lord Ganesha, as part of the festivities. Pandals across Mumbai are known to thematically represent the current social issues that the city faces through tableaux, paintings and decorations. According to the local civic body, total 1, 91,000 idols were installed across the city this year of which 10,350 are at Sarvajanik Ganesh Mandals and 1,80,650 belong to local households.

The Lalbaugcha Raja in central Mumbai is the biggest draw. Although the idol in the cramped fish market remains the same each year, crores of devotees flock to this much-hyped pandal to seek boons from the wish-fulfilling deity. Over the years, offerings in gold and silver have increased in direct proportion to high-profile celebrity visits and constant media coverage. This year celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Sonu Nigam, Shilpa Shetty, Isha Koppikar and Shankar Mahadevan visited Lalbaugcha Raja to offer their prayers to lord Ganesha.

Nearby, Ganesh Galli, one of the biggest mandals of Lalbaug that has created some fantastic replicas of temples and palaces in the past, is another crowd-puller. This time the artisans have prepared a model of the Mallikarjun Jyotirling and the deity has been adorned with a 5-kg golden necklace. In a warm gesture, Ganesh Galli also hosted a special aarti for policemen and journalists to acknowledge their contribution to the festival.

Across the road lies Tejukaya, a small colony that chooses themes to reflect the reality of the middle class. This year, the theme of farmers' suicides has been crafted by idol maker Rajan Zhad, showing a 22-foot Ganesha suspended in mid-air as a farmer sounds the drum beneath.

Originally posted by: kalyani_shiva

Significance of each part of Lord Ganesha

Originally posted by: kaatayani