Ganapati Bappa Moriya

My earliest memories of Ganesh Chaturthi are from Mumbai 1970-72 time frame. I was about 4-5 years old and we used to live in the 2^nd floor apartment, C block of the Badhwar Park Railway colony, Mumbai. The balcony from our flat overlooked the sea those days [before reclamation] and lorries of Bappas’ used to be brought here for immersion.

So all day long I would sit at the balcony watching the processions, the frenzied beating of the drums, the interesting dances and the familiar chants of “Ganpati Bappa Moriya Pudhchya Varshi Lavkaryaa"” which I would sometimes join in.  Each of the statues of  Ganpati Bappa was so unique...some very creatively made and some made an impact by their sheer size.

More recently while I was doing some reflection during a self development workshop I had a vision of the Ganpati “visarjan” [immersion] scene all over again and I took it as sign to explore the meaning of the festival, deity and the visargan.

Ganapati signifies the Lord of all the Ganas or all the groups of the universe...the deity who brings order in chaos .Ganesha is the energy which helps things manifest and dissolve in the universe  .He also signifies remover of obstacles especially ignorance which is removed by the light of wisdom  .

When we create a murthy of Ganapati we take great care, sift the clay, use the right amount of water and lovingly carve out the murthy just as Maa Parvati did when she created him from the dirt of her body. The elephant head …full of wisdom and insights was given to him by his father and we pray to him that we be blessed with this wisdom to overcome all obstacles both outside us and within us. We decorate and venerate this idol for a few days and then we bid it adieu in the grandest manner and send it back to Mother earth   .

Ganapati puja @Amaze 2015 

As I explore these meanings and the significance of Ganesha in my life , I experienced  a  letting go of the past and my image as what my parents and elders had created while keeping the essence of their collective wisdom and making way for sculpting new emergent me  . I feel inspired to redefine myself and to learn new skills and hone my old ones and to look at so called obstacles in my life as opportunities for learning and change.

As we create Bappa once again this year with the students  @Amaze, I experience this process once again..of creating with utmost love and care , infusing with wisdom and energy , nurturing  the growth and honing of skills overcoming challenges and actualizing ones goals , feeling the peace and satisfaction of achievement and   letting go of what is not needed or available anymore .

AMEYA the one with boundless potential ..may you be always be alive in our being .