From a discourse by Pt. Manideo Persad, Spiritual Leader, SWAHA Sri Raam Dhaam
Anyone who recites or hears recited the twelve names of Shri Ganesh: Sumukh, Ekadanta, Kapil, Gajakarnaa, Lambodar, Vikat, Vignanaashan, Vinayak, Dhumraketu, Ganaadhaksh, Bhaalachandra and Gajaanan, such a person does not face any hurdle or difficulty that cannot be overcome. At the start of our day and at the start of every activity, we salute and worship Ganaananji as a remover of obstacles.
I bow to the lotus feet of Ekadanta, Gajaanan Swami, Shri Ganesh, with humility and clasped hands. O Son of Shree Bhagavan, O Ganeshji, please shower your grace upon me so that my intellect may develop. Shree Ganaananji is the beloved of his mother, Shree Parvati, Gauri, we are praising you and seeking your blessings to transcend the challenges we face in our lives and that face us all as a community, as a country and as a world. Through your grace we will succeed and find peace, happiness and success in whichever form it manifests. For he who believes, no proof is necessary. For he who doesn’t believe, no amount of proof could ever be enough. Some things, such as the grace of God, the love of a mother, the majesty of the love and protection of divinity can only be understood when experienced.
Lord Ganesh, the Supreme Divinity, is worshipped throughout the Hindu world. The concept of the worship of Ganesh is as the remover of obstacles, which is why at the start of any activity, Lord Ganesh is worshipped. Ganesh Utsav is a period of celebration and worship. In terms of the festival’s development within SWAHA, at first, we created a huge murti that would visit every temple in various communities. As the celebrations developed, each of the centres themselves began making their own murtis. Attention was placed on those temples where there were no murtis so as to help them develop more. Eventually we reached the point where all our temples and centres would create the murti of Ganeshji. Then the congregations from all the temples gathered at Chaguaramas for Ganesh Visarjan.
Integral to this whole process is the use of a murti. What is a murti? A murti is a depiction of the Supreme Divinity, which, when concentrating on it, allows us to focus our love on the Divinity Himself. It is a channel through which we communicate with divinity. The murti of Shree Ganesh has various attributes. Murtis are symbolic of a great principle. They are an aid to devotion. Every human being uses images: I am communicating with you through language which is a type of image. If I speak a different language, you might not understand it. For the Hindu, the image of Ganeshji evokes love and it focuses the mind on divinity. I see represented in the murti of Ganesh all that is good and noble. He is all that I strive to be and He is the Lord who looks after me and carries me across the challenges of this world.
