Date/Time
Date(s) - Friday, August 29, 2014
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Location
SV Temple and Cultural Center of Michigan
Category(ies) No Categories
Vakratunda Mahakaya Surya Koti Samaprabha
Nirvighnam Kuru Me Deva Sarva Kaaryesu Sarvada
Meaning: O’ Lord with the curved trunk and a mighty body who has the luster of a million suns I pray to thee O’Lord to remove obstacles from all the actions I intend to perform
Lord Ganesha is very familiar and very dear to Hindus because he is considered the remover of obstacles. He is sometimes called Vigneshwara because he removes the vigna or obstacles. His physical appearance attracts children easily. The belief that no endeavor will be successful unless Lord Ganesha is worshipped is prevalent. He is the head of the Ganas and hence also called as Ganapathi.
Ganesha Chaturthi is the festival celebrated on the birthday (rebirth) of Lord Ganesha. This festival is celebrated in the month of Bhadrapada on the Shukla Chaturthi day. This year Ganesh Chaturthi falls on Friday August, 29th. It is a very popular festival celebrated all over India and by all Indians living outside India, too. In some places the festival is celebrated for ten days.
Lord Ganesha is worshipped on this day by performance of Abishekams, Archana and Homa. Devotees chant Ganesha Sahasranama and sing bhajans and kirtans on Lord Ganesha.The story of the birth of Lord Ganesha and the “Syamantaka Upakhyanam” from the Bhagavada puranam are read on this day.
The main sweet dish during the festival is the modak (modak in Marathi, modakam/kudumu in Telugu, modaka in Kannada and modagam in Tamil). A modak is a dumpling made from rice flour/wheat flour with a stuffing of fresh or dry-grated coconut, jaggery, dry fruits and some other condiments. It is either steam-cooked or fried. Clay Ganesh (Matti Vinayakudu in Telugu) and Turmeric Ganesh (Siddhi Vinayakudu in Tegulu) is usually worshipped at homes.
One unique feature about this festival is that one should avoid viewing the moon on this day. The story is that Moon laughed at Lord Ganesha when the Lord fell down from his vehicle, the mouse, and got hurt. Angry Lord Ganesha cursed that no one should look at the moon on Ganesha Chaturthi day, lest they be falsely accused.
If they inadvertently see the moon on that day, they may remedy the situation by listening to “Syamantaka Purana.” In this story, Lord Krishna was falsely accused of the theft of the Syamantaka jewel and later exonerated.
