Courtesy: Freedigitalphotos.net
Lord Ganesh is the Vighnaharta which means the “remover of all obstacles”. He is a lovable Hindu God. Gautam’s first understanding of Ganesh came through “My Friend Ganesha” – an animated Hindi movie he saw on a kiddies channel. We also have a lot of Ganesh idols around the house – most of them gifts from parents and relatives. So he has seen them in our tiny temple at home. Then we went to Hyderabad for Ganesh Chaturthi this year. It is a custom to bring home a small Ganesh idol, pray and do pooja for the duration of the festival and then immerse it in a water body after a few days. It is done mostly by Maharashtrians though these days many have adopted this custom.
My mother-in-law got one this year as she thought that the kids would enjoy it. This was a small POP idol. On the third day, she put the Lord for immersion in a bucket of water in the backyard. This was done before Gautam woke up. Now since Gautam was new to this entire tradition, he would wake up every morning to see the Ganesh idol in the temple and then pluck a flower and place at the feet of the Lord, as he saw his grandma do it. This morning the idol was missing. He asked his grandma and she said that Ganesh Bhagwan is in the bucket. Now the poor, little guy was dumbfounded as to why Ganesh Bhagwan would leave his perch and sit in a bucket of water. Difficult to explain the ritual to him, we just kept up the charade :). He kept peeping through the day to see if his favorite God had moved.This image was stuck in his mind. This time once while doing puja at our home, he said that since grandma’s Ganesh Bhagwan went and sat in the bucket, we must buy her a new one but he was not willing to give anything from our own house. I nodded. When he went for Diwali, he inquired with his grandma where Ganesh Bhagwan was. Since the idol was not a clay one, it had not decomposed, so she placed the idol under the tree in the garden. She told him that the Lord went and sat under the tree. Gautam was very fascinated with how the Lord keeps shifting his position in Grandma’s house :).
Needless to say, Gautam’s favorite God is Ganesh and he screams loudly wherever he sees one!
Sweet story! In a way, Gautam is getting some great lessons about the omnipotence of Lord Ganesha…in the temple, in the water, in the nature, everywhere He is 🙂 Thanks Rachna for sharing this.
I agree, Beloo. Not only does Gautam learn but he teaches me so much through his observations. Thanks for reading! Wish you a Happy Ganesh Chaturthi.