|| Ganpati bappa morya ||

For the first time in my life I participated in carrying the Ganesha Idol, attending the puja and the elating satsang in the evening. All the volunteers of Dombivli YES!+ team contributed the ideas and funds to start the YES!+ Ganeshotsav in Dombivli. This was our first Ganesh utsav. We had a battalion of exuberant guys and gals from the July 26th, 2008 YES!+ Course who volunteered for the exciting event. Hats off to Sagar, Sai, Nikita & Harshal who took all the initiative, responsibility and the truly deserving credit to make the event, super hit. On Ganesh Chaturthi, we got a pandit to worship the idol. He was an old stoic man, who guided our friend Ram in performing the puja. He explained the meaning of the ganesh puja. He said that once we install the idol of ganesha, we are in a way putting (Breathing, you can say) life into the idol. Then we offer the beloved lord with fruits, sweets, flowers and the most delicious.... MODAKs. Just the way the lord offers us with all the goddies (and some challenges) in our lives. We then do the Aarti. Divnity, in the form of sun and moon do the same aarti to us. During the visarjan or "Uninstallation" you can say, we take the life back from the idol and dip the idol into a well or a river. And we make a promise to meet Ganesha next year. ...Ganpati Bappa Morya... pudchya varshi lawkar yaa...

Gannesh utsav pics will soon be embedded in this post.

It is really amazing how humans have evoled a unique way of playing with nature. My master, H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, has described the meaning of pooja (worship) as "Jiska janm poornata se hota hai" meaning "That which is born out of fullness or abundance". You see, one cannot worship or celebrate when there is a lack. Worship or celebration happens when there is abundance. When you realize that you yourself are truly divine then the abundance dawns. And the life becomes a celebration. The guru's job is to make you realize the divinity within you. Jai Gurudev! P.S. I took out some time and tweaked some settings in the blog. The resulting effects are changes in the background pattern and the borders of the main body of the blog. Some more changes are on the way -- O.A.K. Tree