The colourful almanac of Sanatan Dharma offers a multitude of occasions which juxtaposes absolute gaiety and celebration with opportunities for unison with the divine. One can sit at the juncture of the summer or July/August holidays in peaceful retrospect of preceding months; and smile at the refreshing prospect of the 11-day Ganesh Festival: Sri Ganesh Utsav – one of the largest, most majestic occasions of the year. Having had a relatively long break-in-routine from the more formal observances, the end of August into September with the coming Sri Ganesh Utsav offers a unique opportunity to recollect, regroup and reenergize while we negotiate our individual paths towards the rest of the year.
While, it is extremely important, the focus of the festival is not merely only on the performance of and participation in lavish rituals; neither is it only the recitation of Sri Ganesh Pooran and the expounding of the lessons contained therein. One must remember that there is life after the lesson; therefore living the lesson. We must be able to methodically create a formula in which to implement these teachings in our daily lives. Comparative to a doctor’s prescription, when dispensed, and used in the recommended doses, we see the results which we desire – a healthier body. If we were given the medications and do not take it, then, the results wouldn’t be achieved and our health will be compromised. Similarly, the rituals prepare us for a greater state of mind as we receive the lessons of Bhagwan Sri Ganesh; these lessons are the formula to building our spiritual armour and further defining our relationship with the divine. The lessons delivered at the Yagna must contribute to the building of our spiritual and intellectual capital to take us to higher more realized states. This is exactly the hypothesis of spirituality as a societal building block.
In addition to sitting at the pooja bedi to make offerings to Bhagwan, it will be quite practical to also multiply that image of Bhagwan as our focus in our daily doings. This way everything we do can be a pooja; everyday can be a yagna. From a philosophical perspective, we can use these eleven days to practise some of the Sovereign Principles of our Dharma.
It will therefore be well worth our while to take away from this Ganesh Utsav period, not only the social bonds that we make and strengthen but also the lessons of life, the teachings of love and a recipe for enlightened spirituality. Let us seek, be and do!
