Thoughts on Vinayak Chaturthi

Vinayak Chaturthi is the celebration of Shri Ganesha. We know him as the God with the head of an elephant. We also know him to be the Vighna Harta – the God who removes obstacles.

What you may not know is that Ganpati is not just celebrated in India. We find pictures of Ganpati in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and there also, he is the Lord of Abundance.

 You have probably been to a Ganesha temple. But it doesn’t matter. Because Ganpati temple is the first enclosure in any temple. No prayer begins until Lord Ganesha has been venerated. No Yagya begins without a prayer to the Ganpati.

Now, let me ask you a very interesting question. What if you knew someone who had a head like an elephant? Would you celebrate them like the Gods, and their followers, celebrate Ganpati?

Let that be an important question to you today.

If the Gods did not judge one with the head of an elephant, who are you and I to judge another person?

Not just Ganpati, our Gods have taken, wilfully, the forms of fish, a dwarf, a boar, a playful, naughty little boy – and all these forms of our Gods have been accepted, venerated and prayed to. What is that if not the indication that all Life, all of this world, and everything in it, is beautiful, is respectable, and deserves equal celebration.

If I was to tell you that you have to meet a person who has an unusually large head, and has a really big tooth jutting out of it, you are not likely to imagine something beautiful. Yet we have all seen beautiful images of the same person.

Look around you. Who is different? Who has hands that are different?  Legs that are a little wobbly, a rather large or small head, or just doesn’t get stuff when the rest of the class/group does? Who speaks a little differently?

The next time you want to play God and judge, remember that the Gods did not judge on these things.