‘Elephant God’ - Vinayak Chathurthi

‘Elephant God’ - Vinayak Chathurthi

Any idea why Vinayak Chathurthi is celebrated by Hindus? Most Hindus would shake their heads. It is a story to drive in a lesson that “pride goes before a fall”.

Hindu mythology adopts the way of story telling to clarify a point or convey a message. Thus the moon is characterised as a handsome prince obviously because it is good looking. Similarly water (Varun - a king who can probably take many shapes for example), Air (Vayu – which can move very fast), the earth (as a mother), the sun (as a ferocious king wearing glittering ornaments or so) etc are so characterised if they are part of a story or a message to be conveyed. Now that is the way the Hindu mythological stories are explained. These are no dead entities but alive in their own way. This is the limitation of language and not actually the problem of Hindu mythology itself. So understand them that way only. Understand the message or moral of the story and leave the characters. Not the other way round as sceptics do.

One day Vinayak alias Ganapathi (Elephant God of Hindu mythology) was sitting with his two wives under a tree in a moon lit night.

Distraction. Yes. Hindu Gods do have multiple wives. Even the Hindu lord Rama’s father had three wives. Shiva has two. Krishna had 16008. How many?! Relax. It does not matter. These are not real wives, but just euphemisms to convey some message. Those who do not get the message can giggle at their risk and lose the meaning for life.

Hindus blaming Muslims for multiple wives can only be hypocrisy of the jealous Hindus ! Given a chance, Hindus may marry one extra than the Muslims. Even five star foods every day may be boring in the long run. Thattukada is cheap, I mean affordable, fresh and served hot. Chinna veedu is a safety valve.
To continue the story, while Ganapati was sitting with his wives, the handsome moon prince with all glory and charm passed by with his thousands of admiring beauties (stars). In those days the moon was always full. Now do not ask questions. Read the story first. Questions later.

Now Vinayak is not exactly a handsome figure (even though many feel amused and some females even feel divine motherhood thinking of him as an elephant headed baby !) and Moon was one indeed. The elephant head, the fat body and the round stomach (how did he take square meals ?) etc are not exactly in the lines of a Hritvik Roshan or a Sharukh Khan or a Sylvester Stallone (names just to cover major religions to avoid claims) with six pack abs.

When the handsome moon, with the fan stars dancing around, spotted Ganapati with two wives, the moon just could not help not laughing. This laugh probably meant two things.

1). Hey funny looking fat guy. Just look at my beauty!

2). If your wives accidentally see me then they might also become my admirers leaving you high and dry!

Or something similar. Not very polite I guess. Indecent for sure.

Ganapati got angry and cursed the moon.

"You are proud of your beauty. Let that vanish !"

The moon immediately lost the brightness and suddenly became a black disk ! His admirers left him and found the next brightest star (may be planet Venus) as the brightest instead of the moon who has now become invisible !

The moon was totally devastated. He became jealous of the Venus, who was nowhere near his own brightness in hey days. Everyone despised the moon. None bothered about him or could even see him let alone admire his beauty.

The moon realised the mistake and prayed to Ganapati for forgiveness. Ganapati modified the curse (Just like the Babus modify the circulars !) and said. "You caused pain to others and deserved the punishment. Now as per your prayer, you can have your full glory on one day (full moon) where you would feel proud which would lead to your gradual downfall to a total black out on another day. There you would repent and gradually regain the glory. This cycle would repeat until the vision is balanced".

So we have the moon of our times with ups and downs! Full on one day. Null on another. Part in between !

Now the moral of the story:

Do not ridicule someone by considering him as lower than oneself. If we do then we have to go through ups and downs in own life. Have a balanced vision and treat all as equal then one would be able to treat happiness and misery with equal weight. Those who do not have balanced vision try to enhance the happiness and avoid misery. Discrimination or condemnation of another individual can be on various criteria in real life. For example...

1). Better looking ones looking down upon those lacking finish.

2). Strong ones bullying weak ones.

3). Rich ones pitying poor ones.

4). Intelligent one laughing at lesser ones.

5). Middle finger laughing at the little finger.

6). Elephant which creates garbage looking down at a pig which clears garbage.

Any such extrapolation can be done based on the physical appearances and qualities. So this happens in this world even now with most people. This story was written 5000 years back but is still valid! This story is timeless. It would be valid until the last ego bows out from the planet.

Hindus fast on that day of Vinayak Chathurthi (Resentment of elephant god to moon) and do not look at the moon. The purpose of such fasting? Most do not know what they are doing! God pls do not forgive them ! No problem for fasting for one day ! Pot bellies may practice fasting on alternate days ! The deity for whom the Hindus fast, likes to eat than fast ! Any contradiction observed?

It is difficult to have a balanced vision. But it pays to practice to have one. Because that is the only way to harmonise with the universal mind and peek into God’s secret abode. And that is the lesson of Vinayak Chathurthi !

Now does some religion claim to have better stories? This is also discrimination...between teachings... unfortunately. All religions have good teachings at the core. Those who follow the core do not argue over it. Those who relish at the frills are actually scared of the core. It is comfortable for them to remain in the dark.

Isn't it plain and simple to understand?

OK. Now what does a normal Hindu do on that day?

Depending on the amount of wealth that they have (doesn't matter black, white or colour), they may arrange for the most lavish Ganapati sculpture and ceremonies. The costliest priest is flown down from Tirupati (or wherever). All these while his neighbour is starving or finding difficult to buy the books for his children or pay hospital bill. Do you think he has got the Ganesh Chathurthi balanced vision message?

He would continue to discriminate between the poor and rich because it suits his attitude to life. What creates hell? The discriminatory views of human beings. In the nature, human beings, animals, plants, insects, fishes, trees in short all living organisms when living in harmony sees everything else with the same loving eyes. God looks at the universe in that way. It is like the sun light covering all over earth the same way. This is the universal view.

If God can do so can we ! Because we are a part of God. In fact this should be our attitude towards God. As one’s dear loving dad ! Praying to some unknown entity with fear and guilt is out of fashion now. It has played out its use. That ritual was introduced by male chauvinists to scare women and weak males to submission and exploitation. If you are really worthy of a son, one can think of God as own Dad. Else as someone else’s dad. Dad all the same.

When everyone practices this balanced view, then this earth would become paradise. Earth is already a paradise. Only issue is the man creating barriers and treating some as different and looking down upon them.