Ganesh Leela - Really???

Rehanism thumbnail
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Posted: 12 years ago
Hello guys,

I don't know if this topic would be taken in right sense in this forum, or criticism is allowed here at all or not. But today I came across something, which made me rethink my understanding of divinity.

This morning, I was shuffling channels, when I had the misfortune to watch the repeat telecast of a serial by the name Ganesh Leela on Sahara One. The episode as I surmised, was about Vishnu's fight with Madu-Kaitabh. Naturally, it was a technical flaw. Vishnu killed Madhu-Kaitabh prior to the commencement of creation - that was aeons before Ganesh was even born. But still I chose to ignore it.

Next what they show is, Vishnu's Sudarshan fails to do any harm to the demons and Vishnu runs out of weapons (!) and begins to desperately cry for support from the Gods (!). Shiva is nowhere to be seen and Vishnu decides to do a Yagya to gain divine weapons (!). Apparently they tried to portray Ganesh as Supreme Being and Vishnu as his subordinate. I am still ready to digest this, as I myself don't believe in Forms and shapes.

But the thing which appalled me most is that they showed Ganesh refusing to participate in the Yagya or give 'blessings' to Vishnu, because Vishnu didn't invite him personally. He blankly refused to help the Gods who came to him after being defeated by the demons. He claims that his prestige/swabhimaan is more important to him. Later, he was pleased only when Vishnu worshiped him and offered him bhog with proper rituals and apologized for 'mistreating' him.

I am not complaining for portraying Ganesh as Supreme Being. But what kind of Supreme Being is he? One who will be pleased only when people give him royal treatment and offer him bhog? Otherwise he's gonna turn his back on the suffering mortals? A God to whom his personal prestige and ego is more important than the suffering of his subjects and the upholding of Dharma? Is he a God or a businessman? I would make an even stronger comparison - how is he different from those Government officials who won't pass files unless a 500 rupees note is slipped into his pocket? Does our parents ask for payment in return of feeding us or bringing us up? So how and why would people give such Gods a higher status than ones own parents if such crap things are shown?


So what do you think guys, is it right to show such egoism in 'Supreme' God?


PS : I know many might take this offensively, but I am not against Ganesh. I am against the TV serial which portrayed him in this fashion. May be some will feel that I am hurting others beliefs, but I have an extremely bad habit - I can't tolerate anything and everything in the name of religion and God - I do not hesitate to object things which I find repulsive. And I found this thing completely against the concept of God I had learned from Bhagwad Gita and Bible.😕

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MagadhSundari thumbnail
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Posted: 12 years ago
Interesting point that definitely deserves to be discussed - but maybe re-title it so it's safer and more accurately reflective of the topic. You don't want to target a particular form of God or demean worshipers of that form, you're going for a general critique of those portrayals which make God seem like a spiteful bhogi. So yeah, a more general title might be a better bet.

I have only seen a couple of scenes from that show, luckily they were not these 😆 The ones I saw just had brief overviews of the lives of some famous devotees in whose memory there are sites of pilgrimage today. Hard to digest that this - was in the same show 😳 It is pretty much the exact opposite of the lesson we were given through the Govardhan Leela, about worshiping God out of love and gratitude but not fear - because he doesn't expect worship in return for his love and generosity, they are unconditional. Therefore I certainly agree that any portrayal of any form of God in such a manner that undermines his unconditional love and generosity is erroneous and offensive. If they're showing him like this, they are not glorifying Ganpati Bappa but instead insulting him.
Rehanism thumbnail
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Posted: 12 years ago
See This :
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Ganesh Leela courts 'divine' controversy

Sahara One's Ganesh Leela finds itself in a controversy of divine proportions. Swamy (Dr.) Raj Baldev, a 83-year-old veteran Cosmo theorist and Hindu scholar, has sent an e-mail to the channel alleging that the show has distorted facts by projecting Lord Ganesha as the Supreme God (bigger than Vishnu too) thereby hurting sentiments of the Hindus. Baldev's allegations are based on the events shown in the two episodes on 14 and 15 September.

Dr.Baldev is the lead man of God Believers (Divine, Social, Human Rights & World Peace Mission) and President of Academy of Krishna Philosophy.

"The producer of the serial of Ganesh Leela is also creating illogical and fictitious stories to give the most exalted status of All Gods to Ganesh Ji, who is a demi God No. 1, blessed by Lord Vishnu in Hindu mythology, and was privileged to be respecting first before starting any worship just to purify the devotee," said Baldev in his e-mail.

Adding further he said, "Ganesh Leela", which is being telecast on your channel, has grave errors right from its beginning and the episodes mainly show that ultimately Lord Ganesha superseded even the Supreme God Head Lord Vishnu, His Cabinet Gods, Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva in the serial telecast on 14 and 15 September, 2009 and they were forced to worship Lord Ganesha to get their problem solved."

In the Hindu literature, the Supreme God is Lord Vishnu, He is the real God Head, the Primeval Particle, the God Particle, the beginning of everything and even He has been let down with His other two main personal cabinet Gods i.e. Lord Brahma and Lord Shiva and all of them were forced to get blessings from Lord Ganesha to kill their enemy", Baldev opined. The cosmo theorist has threatened to file a PIL in Delhi High Court and woudn't hesitate in taking the matter to Supreme Court too.

Sahara One creative director Musthaq Shiekh has refuted these allegations. "Let me very clearly and humbly state that there is no distortion of facts in our show Ganesh Leela. Dheeraj Kumar is a respected name and has to his credit, mythological shows which have never tampered with the authentic books they are derived from. And the very same can be said about Ganesh Leela with great deal of confidence."

Backing his claim, Sheikh adds, "Ganesh Leela has been derived from ancient scriptures namely Shree ganesh puran, Shree ganesh ank, Shree mudgal puran, brahma vaivart puran, shiv puran, shree ganpatyopanishad, Shree ganesh geeta, Skand puran and many more respected books and care as been taken to stick to the original text and not tamper with it whatsoever. As regard to showing any one particular God be it Ganesh, Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma we have done so with great dignity and respect. The question about showing one God more important than the other does not arise as- in Ganesh Leela will look at the sequence of events from the Ganeshji's point of view. It's his life story told as authentically with great detail of research but yes he is the protagonist and we are seeing the "saga" from his point of view."

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This Baldev guy is a Vaishnava, who was hurt as Vishnu was shown as inferior to Ganesh. That is not my problem - God is one, whichever name you might call him by. But here they showed that Vishnu and other Gods were forced to seek his blessings and please him to kill their enemies and he came to them only when he was pleased with their service. That completely kills the essence of Divinity. Shiva willingly drank the poison so that his creation can drink Amrita. Ram walked barefooted in forest and ate the leftovers of Shabri. Krishna washed the dirty feet of Sudama and drank that water. As I understand, Humility is the first sign of Divinity. Ego and arrogance can never be Godliness.



Edited by Darklord_Rehan - 12 years ago