Skip to main content

Featured Post

2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with

Farewell to Ganesha...

After 10 days of celebrations, its time to bid farewell to the Lord, for this year.... All around us, we can hear the shouts of "Ganpati Bappa Morya! Pudchya Varshi Laukar Yaa!" (Long Live Ganesha! Come early next year!) It is indeed a fond farewell, as crowds gather to see Him off. When I was a kid, I remember going to see the immersion at the lake in Thane, where we could see the big Ganeshas coming from all over the city. Today, the TV has taken over, and we are busy seeing the huge idols on their way to either Girgaum or Dadar Chaowpatty, or Juhu Beach! Much easier and more comfortable in all ways, especially on the ears. 

However, it is time for our colony Ganesha to be on his way, and we can hear the crowds from way off. He tours the entire colony, giving each one of us the chance to bid him goodbye. The whole building gathers at the gates, from kids to their grandparents...... and here He is, at last.....

Here are the flag bearers - heralding His advent......


...and lighting firecrackers to make sure everyone knows He is on His way!


They are followed by the drummers.... whether they are creating a ruckus or making music, is something that depends on your mood... but the beats make you sway, and make you wish to join them!


And finally, the decorated truck bearing Him arrives.....


...giving us a final look at Him, a chance to bid goodbye......


...just for the year.... For we know He will be back again, next year!!!

As I return home, back to the TV and my computer, dissociating myself from the crowds, the sounds and the chaos, I wonder... Do I really want to dissociate myself like this? Do I really want to be peaceful within the confines of my home? There is something within me that wants to go out into the crowd, join them.........

I know I will not, the reasons being many, most of them related to the pollution they cause and the mess they leave behind for others to clean, but which no one bothers about..... and of course, the fact that I hate crowds and tend to avoid them whenever possible.... But I wish it was different, and wish I could join the celebration too..without any twinges of conscience.... Will such a time ever come? I wonder.... The Lord is leaving, but he is leaving me with many, many questions.......

This has been an introspective post, not one which I planned to write..... But the words are down, and I didn't wish to change them.... So I have left them as they came... straight from the heart.... However, among all this introspection are some small twinges of satisfaction - firstly, that this year, for the very first time, I tried and managed to make a clay idol by myself.... one small step towards a betterment of the festival for me.... and secondly, I have managed to write one post everyday for the whole period of the festival! The first time I have managed to do this!! So there has been much to celebrate this year...

Comments

  1. When Ganesha leaves suddenly there's emptiness. After 10 days of celebration it is as if there is a vacuum.

    ReplyDelete
  2. although there are so many celebrations.. this is the sad part!! when the party ends..

    ReplyDelete
  3. But Anu don't you think we need a better way to say farewell to Ganesha rather than using the water bodies?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I want to be in Bombay for this atleast once!! but on the other hand, i wonder if God would want us to create so much noise and tamasha in the pretext of dunking Him in the water/ocean....!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey anu! I came here searching for Golu ideas. Your posts of last years Golu are brilliant. Infact, I got a wonderful idea after going through them.... Then I started reading your other posts. And I found you so much like minded. I can relate to all your posts. Even I hate this pollution we are causing in the name of Ganesa. No wonder its flood and mayhem everywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Chitra: so true.... it feels like a family member has just left!

    @Patty: absolutely! thank god there are more festivals to look forward to...

    @Mridula: yes, we can, but then there is a sort of finality and acceptance when we immerse the idol... and then again, in the days when they started this, there were only clay idols, no pop.. so things were better. i remember hearing that my great grandfather used to make the clay idol with his own hands and then after the puja, he used to immerse it in a bucket of water, which was then poured out into the garden.. probably the best solution... at least there is more awareness now.. and this year i have heard that there were a few huge idols also made of clay or papier mache... definitely a better idea..

    @Aarti: you should be here at least once. its indeed a wonderful festival here... as to the tamasha, this is probably the only festival that most of these people hold so dear.. for them, it is truly a celebration, when the god visits them for 10 whole days... no wonder they make so much of it!

    @Joy: thanks a lot!

    @WHatsIn aA name: welcome to my blog.... i shall look forward to seeing what you make for navaratri....yes, unfortunately i too agree with you... we are paying for all the mayhem we cause... and festivals are just one part of it...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment for me so that I will know you have been here....

Popular posts from this blog

Gokarna Part II – The Five Lingams

We continued our Gokarna trip by visiting four other Shiva temples in the vicinity, all connected to the same story of Gokarna. The story of Gokarna mentions the Mahabaleshwara Lingam as the one brought from Kailas by Ravana, and kept at this place on the ground by Ganesha. (See my earlier post- Gokarna – Pilgrimage and Pleasure). However, the story does not end here. It is believed that, in his anger, Ravana flung aside the materials which covered the lingam- the casket, its lid, the string around the lingam, and the cloth covering it. All these items became lingams as soon as they touched the ground. These four lingams, along with the main Mahabaleshwara lingam are collectively called the ‘ Panchalingams’ . These are: Mahabaleshwara – the main lingam Sajjeshwar – the casket carrying the lingam. This temple is about 35 Kms from Karwar, and is a 2 hour drive from Gokarna. Dhareshwar – the string covering the lingam. This temple is on NH17, about 45 Kms south of Gokarna. Gunavanteshw

Rama Temple, Gokarna

To my right , the waves rush to the shore, eager to merge with the sand. To my left, the same waves crash against the rocks, their spray diverting my reverie as I ponder over the beauty of nature, and wonder what first brought people here. Was it this beauty that encouraged them to build a temple here, or was it the fresh, sweet spring water flowing from the hill here that made this place special? No matter what the reason, I am glad my auto driver brought me here. We are at the Rama temple in Gokarna, just a few minutes away from the Mahabaleshwara Temple, yet offering so different a perspective.

Pandharpur Yatra 2023

The first time I visited Pandharpur was back in 2007 . The names Vitthal and Pandharpur, were just names to me. I had heard of them, but that was about it. Seeing the lord standing on the brick, hands on his hips, was memorable, but more memorable was the sight that greeted us as we walked out of the main sanctum of the temple. In the mandap just outside were a group of devotees singing abhangs , and dancing. This was the first time I had heard abhangs , and even almost 15 years later, I can remember the welling of feeling within me, listening to the songs, and how fascinated I was by the sight of the devotees dancing, lost in their love of the Lord. Over the years, as I have read more about Vitthal, and participated in Ashadi Ekadashi programmes at Puttaparthi, that first experience has stayed clear in my mind and heart. Every time I tell my Balvikas students of the saints who sang of Vitthala, it is that experience that I re-live. I visited Pandharpur again, in 2010, but that experie