MEHULENTERPRISE

Ganesha the elephant-headed god...

The origin of the concept of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, is related to the origin of the universe. The universe was not there in the beginning or if it were there then it had shrunk to a dot. Dot means point. The universe had contracted to a point. That is just its way. Now it contracts; now it expands. It is a perpetual cycle stretched over billions of human years. Expansion is creation and contraction is dissolution. In geometry, a point has position but no dimensions. The position of a thing is in relation to other things in space. Since dot is the contraction of the whole universe, of the whole time-space-mind continuum, it can have no position. Since it has no dimensions, and since it is the contraction of time-space-mind, the mind just cannot grasp it. For the three dimensional mind to grasp a thing, that thing has to be a three-dimensional. For the mind, a thing without dimensions does not exist at all. That is why the dot is beyond comprehension and equal to nothing. For the dot to burst into being again, to stretch out its withdrawn dimensions and thus to expand again, it needs a bang-start. The spark of this bang-start comes in the form of desire. The dot desired to expand again, to burst into being again, to be manifested and to multiply. Desire heated it up a fireball bursting with desire. At the extreme height of heat and pressure, it just exploded. The explosion stretched forth, well outside its withdrawn dimensions. It started to expand. It ceased to be nothing. It bounced back into being. The present three-dimension space is the volume expansion of dot. This volume expansion is called dimensioned Brahman. This dimensioned Brahman is the three-dimension of dimensionless Brahman that is the original dot. The dimensioned Brahman and the original nature are one and the same. Shiva has acknowledged their being synonymous. All that occupies the three-dimension space is its own local temporary warps. By warping itself, nature creates all. Space is nature; it is occupied by its own deformity. This, in essence, is the cosmogony and cosmology of Vedanta. The sound of the initial explosion, the bang-start of dot, was likened to the trumpeting of an elephant. Dot trumpeted like a cosmic elephant in the beginning, and the universe is the three-dimension expansion of the sound energy of that initial cosmic trumpeting. In Sanskrit, the word for the trumpeting of an elephant is Brimhita. The word Brahman is derived from this Brimhita. Dot, the space stuff, is Brahman, and Brahman is a cosmic elephant making a cosmic trumpeting to inaugurate creation. Since this cosmic elephant is the cause and lord of all Ganas, groups, bonds, and assemblages in the universe, it was called Ganesha. That is the origin of the concept of Ganesha. We are familiar with Ganesha Mandela, a diagram consisting of two transverse equilateral triangles with a point in the middle. The point in the middle is dot, the trumpeting elephant. The two transverse triangles with their six vertices represent the volume expansion of dot, the emergence of the three-dimension space, of the original nature, of creation. What expands dot into volume is its big bang, represented by the space enclosed by the transverse triangles and surrounding dot. As August and September approaches, winds of celebrations start blowing. Not only in Maharashtra but also in other Indian states and some places abroad we find people in a festive mood, preparing to welcome the lord Ganesha, who defeats all evils. In India, every state has peculiar festivals to celebrate, but the uniqueness of Ganesha festival is that it has crossed all boundaries and is also celebrated with great zeal and enthusiasm in other parts of the world. If we think of all the festivals that we celebrate and try to go in depth, one would realise that any festival celebrated has a purpose and that is primarily to express our love and care for the nature. All our festivals and celebrations are so very deeply rooted with the nature, environment, and the cosmos around that any such occasion tries to signify our nearness and keenness with the nature that nurtures us. Be it Holi or Diwali, these are but expressions of the beauty of nature as we human beings depict. Now let us look at Ganesha festival that is celebrated throughout Maharashtra. While the festival has placed Maharashtra on the world map for which Maharashtrians take pride for it. However, it is a matter of utter shame and disgust for us since we have totally forgotten the very purpose of celebrating the festival and the way we celebrate it today is leading us towards environmental degradation and increased pollution. Celebration of any Indian festival has a strong principle of nature conservation behind it but we have totally lost sight of it and our present way of celebrations bring us to a situation of feeling ashamed of ourselves. The main reason being the material used in making Ganesha idols and the decoration used. Earlier the sculptured out of mud locally called Shadu Mati but nowadays we find this being replaced by plaster of Paris. Over and above it is painted with very hazardous colours. Further, instead of offering only natural flowers, many offer plastic flowers. Most of the time, the natural garlands are further entwined with silver thread thus making it clumsier and non eco-friendly. Our cultural heritage shows all our gods and goddesses sitting in nature’s lap, but we make our dear Ganesha sit in an environment decorated by thermocole and plastics. Subsequently the idol is immersed in water bodies further spreading the pollution in the water. Little do we think that some of these water bodies provide us with drinking water? However to add to the pollution, along with the idol, we also deposit floral offerings and other decoration items into the water bodies thus aggravating the problem further. Seldom do we think of how hazardous these items are and what implications it has on the environment around us? Today the way the festivals are celebrated, they only result in pollution and environmental degradation. Needless to say that our every act of celebration leads to problems and this is obvious from the way we misuse the electricity during the festive season. Further, barring the rules and regulations set before us, we misuse the facility of loud speaker system and im¬pose injustice on our fellow citi¬zens. It is a pity and shame that we take great pride in making our beloved Ganesha suffer this pollution. Ganesha festival elevat¬ing the cultural status of Maharashtra has today be¬come a festival of utter shame and disgust due to the way it is celebrated. The very purpose of the festival and especially that behind starting the Sarvajanik Ganeshotsava by Lokmanya Tilak in 1893 has totally lost its significance. Under the pretext of festival and religion, we have been blatantly violating the regulations set by our governments thus inviting many more social problems. Take the example of the stage that is erected for the Ganeshotsava. In most of the places we observe the stage dimensions are multiplied resulting in blocking of strategic places and gullies and roads. No one ever thinks of the inconvenience that it causes while commuting, the amount of valuable time lost and also the pollution created due to the vehicular traffic jams. It is therefore most crucial to understand the true motives and purpose behind celebrating these festivals. If we continue the practice that we do now, we are for sure taking our children on a very wrong path and the generations to come will then curse us for misleading them in the wrong direction. One should at this juncture become wise and before it is too late, initiate the festival celebration in consonance with the nature and in the true spirit. Maharashtrians are born nature lovers. Our culture teaches us to respect and conserve our natural resources. If this is true, then what makes us celebrate the Ganeshotsava in such an unnatural and non eco-friendly manner? This question should bother each and every sensitive and considerate person. We celebrate festivals and then repent later on for having generated the enormous pollution, instead, let us commit ourselves and get together to celebrate the Ganeshotsava with all enthusiasm and zest in such a manner that it would prove to be a matter of real pride and appreciation in its true sense for Maharashtra and Maharashtrians as well. Our renowned saint, Sant Tukaram, has said in one of his verses that even impossible can be made possible provided we study well on the subject. Therefore let us all think on the lines of celebrating the festival in a manner that it does not cause pollution.

* Compiled by MEHUL SHAH (Various publications).