Why do we celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi
In India we celebrate many festivals with great devotion and joy. Ganesh Chaturthi is one among them and it is also called as Vinayaka chavithi. It is celebrated on the occasion of birthday of lord Ganesha who is god of knowledge, wealth and prosperity. He is also called as vighna hartha (who removes obstacles). This festival is observed in the month of badhrapadha on Shukla paksha Chaturthi.
Reason behind this festival:
Once there lived a demon by name gajamukhasura.He got a boon that he should be killed only by such a person who is born from women without any involvement of men. And he should be killed by his father (husband of that women) and again he should be reborn with an elephant head. In order to fulfill all this conditions lord ganesha’s birth has taken place.
Goddess Parvathi mata is creator of lord Ganesha. In the absence of lord shiva, maa Parvathi used her nalugu(haldi and chandan paste) applied to her body to create ganesha and gave life to him. Mata asked the boy (ganesha) to stand outside the house to guard and went for bathing.
In the mean while lord shiva came there to meet maa Parvathi. The boy stopped shiva from going inside according to his mother’s order. Out of anger lord shiva cut off the head of the boy. By seeing this maa Parvathi told all about her creation and cried a lot. Then lord shiva ordered his followers to get the head of any living being which is sleeping by keeping the head to north side.
The followers brought the head of an elephant which was facing the head in north direction. Then lord shiva placed the head of elephant on the body of the boy and brought him to life again. All gods blessed lord ganesh and this day was observed as ganesha Chaturthi.
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How to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi :
On this auspicious day we should place the statue of lord ganesha made out of mud and decorate him with haldi, kumkum, chandan and flowers. We should pray lord ganesha with 21 kinds of plants which is called as pathri ( it includes plants like maredu, doorva, Datura, Badari, uttareni, mangoleaves, karaveera, daanimma, Devadaaru, maruvam, sinduvara, jaaji, shami, ashwatha, Maddhi, arkapatram etc), all these plants have great medicinal values.
There is also a good social and environmental reason behind using this plants in this Pooja. That is after worshipping lord ganesha for 5days or 9 days we immerse the idol of ganesha in the water body along with this 21 plants. Generally in this maasam( month) all the water bodies will be contaminated. So when we immerse this patri in water, it purifies the water.
These plants will be available in the market or by roadside before the day of vinayaka chavithi. We should offer naivedhyam to lord like modhakas, laddu, kudumulu, undralu, payasam etc. After offering naivedhyam sit peacefully in front of the god and chant ganapathi ashtotharam, other stotras and then read or listen to story behind ganesh birth and story of shamanthakamani. Then perform arthi by singing arthi song which gives you a pleasant feeling.
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Reason behind not to see moon on this day:
Once on the day of vinayaka chavithi lord ganesha ate lots of food and was unable to bend to take blessings of his parents. By seeing this lord Chandra(moon) laughed at him.Then maa Parvathi got anger and cursed moon that whoever see moon on this day will be falsely blamed for bad deeds which one has not done (neelapaninda).
Remedy to avoid this curse:
In order to avoid this curse one should perform ganesha Pooja and should read or listen to the stories of birth of ganesha and shamantakamani and put akshintalu (rice mixed with haldi and kumkum) which are kept near god on their heads. This will protect , even if someone see the moon accidentally on this day.
Jai Ganesha
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