Personal experience with Divinity (Ganpati Festival in Sept 2010)
Ganpati festival is always an extremely special for Maharashtrian crowd and I am no exception to it. As I grew up, I remember travelling with my parents on the Ganesh Chathurthi day to Dombivali,where my uncle resides. As per tradition the Ganpati was always kept there. I used to wonder that when will the Almighty come to my place in Mulund.But immediately I used to become submissive and wiped those thoughts off as I knew that was not in my hands. I couldn’t change the tradition my grandfather started.
As soon as we entered the house,there were loads of tasks that needed to be done. Right from cooking food,calling the guests,greeting people, chanting the holy prayers called “Aarti”loudly,and of course serving the Lord who comes and blesses our family every year. House was full of modak aroma,mouth watering delicacies,colourful flowers and glittering lights. It used to be totally divine atmosphere.Each time I looked at the idol,I felt closer to God. His aura and positive vibes always touched my soul. His presence always sensitized me from within and I felt a different sense of purity within me. My negative emotions, depressing thoughts, ill feelings or anger just disappeared for those two days.
I am a very truthful devotee of Lord Ganesha and I have been wishing for many years that I serve the Lord at my residence. I lived in the hope that one day my wish would come true and I will share this joy with all my close friends and family. After around 13 years my prayers were answered. My uncle was waiting for his newly bought house to be done and finally it was decided that we will have Him at Mulund, since his house was in process of being constructed. My mother came up to me and said that “God has fulfilled your wish” and I nodded my head in ecstasy as this was the first year Ganpati was at our place since the tradition started in our family. I was very enthusiastic to do all the preparations starting from inviting guests, ordering modaks,chaklis and buying flowers from the cluttered Dadar market.
The level of exhilaration was so high that I forgot my tiredness. Finally He arrived with my father. My mom performed the rituals before He entered the house and He was then seated like a King. We had infinite guests and there was lot of chatting and laughter in my house. A picture I always imagined came true on 10th September 2010. All my friends knew that this was the most awaited moment of my life so everyone came to share my happiness. Those two days were jam packed and I was living each moment to the fullest. Finally after so much of enjoyment, the time arrived when we had to bid a goodbye to Ganpati. It has always been the most painful part of this festival. We immersed Him into a nearby artificial lake, where the arrangements were amazing. And while he was getting immersed for the third and final time, tears dropped through my cheeks. My heart was thumping.I felt heaviness in my heart. But I knew that “He went only to be back next year.”
A thought just passed through my mind, In India we get attached even to the idol we worship and that is the uniqueness of our country. We live in a world where blood ties fade away and people just move put of relationships for some materialistic greed.Moreover in some countries in the world, children do not even stay with their parents after a certain age. But we Indians preserve and maintain the smallest of the customs.
To me, Ganpati is the power who gives me strength to move on. He has the supremacy to give me peace whenever I am troubled and show me the right path whenever I am perplexed. The waiting period was too long but I think God knows the right time for everything. I got engaged in October and Ganpati gave me a perfect gift in advance. I think that was something he had planned this surprise for me. I always believed in God, but this incident totally seeped my soul into spirituality. I felt like I dipped my body into a wonderful feeling.
Thanks Bappa!Ganpati Bappa Morya.
