Customs and traditions in Ganesh chaturthi and its spiritual meaning

When our Hindu calendar hits the month of Shravan and Bhadrapada then the series of festivals starts. One of the celebratory festivals that unites people is the Ganapati festival. It’s not just celebratory fest to show your devotion but also the customs and traditions followed on this day serves one of the main spiritual purpose of human beings. Let’s find out the purpose in this article.

Ganesh chaturthi festival falls on fourth day of waxing moon phase of Bhadrapada month. It has its own significance. Bringing Lord Ganesha made of clay to houses, worshiping it, preparing chakkuli modakas(traditiona dishes) for Ganesha’s offering, in addition to this, gathering together and worshiping the public Ganesha idol by local group of people, all these are feasts for the eyes and the mind.

In my husband’s side, this festival has got great importance. It is the biggest festival of the entire year. Today I am going to write this little blog about the speciality of Ganapati festival celebrated in our house and also the spiritual reason behind it.

Preparation for the festival.

We prepare for Ganpati festival for about a week. There would be a cleaning and beautification program like removing the weeds that have grown in front of the house, cleaning it, sweeping it, making a neat ground with cow dung and tying roof outside house with coconut leaves. Apart from that, since market is quite far from our place, the shopping of the groceries, veggies, and fruits etc needed for the festival should also be completed two days before the festival. Because on the day before the festival there is usually Upakarma, a festival where the men of the house wear holy thread.

Color and height of the idol

In the tradition of the area around our Honnavar, usually bringing either of two colored Ganesha idols to the house is in practice. While the red colored idol reminds us of its radiant energy like the rising sun, the white colored idol reminds us of the moon which symbolizes devotion and purity. In other words, the red colored idol represents the fierce form of Ganapati, and the white colored idol represents the calm form of Ganapati.

Usually the Ganapati idol is one to two feet tall.Every year the Ganapati idol is increased by one inch. If there is any death occured in the family, the idol of such house is reduced in height.

The day of Festival

Customs and traditions we follow

The Ganesha idol that we welcome in our home every year is red in color. We keep the idol for 2 days. Since from the morning of the festival day, everyone in the house starts preparing. As the cooking has to be done after taking bath without touching anyone(tradition followed by Indians to prepare food for the purpose of cleanliness), my mother-in-law first takes a bath and comes to the kitchen. We all do the rest of the house cleaning, breakfast and tea and then take the bath to get ready and help in the cooking.

Men would be busy decorating the mantapam for Lord Ganesha, tying fruit on the top of the mantapam. There is a tradition of wrapping fruits and vegetables and all the fruits grown at home. So coconuts, nuts along with fruits and vegetables, all kinds of vegetables should be tied very carefully so that they do not fall down anywhere.

When all this is going on, around 11-12 in the morning, now it’s time to welcome Lord Ganesh to home. My husband brings Ganesh inside the house and keeps inside the mantapam. And then have to decorate the idol with lots of flowers, holy grass, lights etc. when the priest comes and offers Pooja, then the idol becomes energised. Till then it’s our duty to make the idol beautiful.

During this festival usually priests would be in huge demand so they come late to our home to perform Pooja. So we would have small brunch type during 12 in the noon so that we don’t have e to wait for the lunch. Because lunch time may stretch till 6 in the evening on this day.

The cooking would continue till the arrival of the priests. After all, about 30+ items need to be prepared. Some of them are – 2-3 types of curries, tambuli, hashi (a rayata like item prepared from vegetable, coconut, buttermilk), chutney, laddus, papads, chakkuli, bonda, modaka, atirasa, payasa, khatne (a liquid made using ingredients such as black pepper, ginger, cumin, coriander, jaggery, lemon), payasam, etc to name a few along with rice and sambar. These all items should be brought to our home temple to offer to Lord.

Right at the time of completing these cooking task, the priest would arrive. All the family members, my father-in-law’s brothers and sisters who live little far, all gather together and participate in the puja and seek the blessings of Lord Ganesha. The puja is completed with sacred bells and conch sounds.

After the pooja it’s time for lunch – on this day everyone would have their lunch in banana leaf. So priests, men of the house, guests and children sit in the first row. This arrangement is because men have a custom of offering Chitrahuti before their meal. This ritual is the duty of any man wearing sacred thread. This means that a small portion of the food eaten will be offered to Chitra, Chitragupta and Yama by keeping a small portion outside plate/leaf. It means offering our food to the deities who rule the natural elements. Since women don’t wear sacred thread, this ritual can’t be done by them. So men do it by sitting in the row first.

There is a saying in Sanskrit – “Athiti devo bhava”. That means guests are gods. So the first priority should be given to the guests. Children are also like God. So after serving them it will be around 5.30-6 pm when we ladies finally sit down for dinner.

In the evening, my father-in-law or husband finishes the evening aarti to Ganesha. At this time, neighbors and relatives come and bow down to see the Lord After all this in the evening, usually we don’t feel hungry for dinner due to heavy and late evening lunch. But still for those who feel hungry they can have small snacks type dinner. The first day of Ganapati festival ends here.

These all are rituals that we follow according to our custom. Now let’s dive into the meaning and actual spiritual purpose behind these rituals.

The spiritual purpose behind the rituals

These Ganesh Chaturthi customs and traditions in some or other way serves the actual spiritual progress of the individual. In this section we will learn how it’s related to spirituality.

In Ganapati Atharvashirsha there is a line which goes like this – “Tvam Moolaadhara sthitosinityam”. Meaning Lord Ganesh dwells in Root chakra continuously. Thus we got proof from our upanishad that He is the deity who rules our root chakra.

Sitting on root chakra, Lord Ganapati guides the rest of the chakras from there. In other words, the other chakras can not be activated without the activation of the Root Chakra. Kundalini energy originates from this chakra. To rise from here the source of kundalini energy i.e. root chakra must be active. That is why Ganesha is given topmost worship in all our sacred worship on any deity. It’s just because he is the root of every thing.

The quality of one’s life depends on how strong his Root chakra is. A balanced root Chakra can give a person the family happiness, intelligence and wealth needed to live. That means to lead a good life in this world one must have a good root chakra and to have the same one needs the blessings of Ganapati.

The root Chakra is represented in red color. It is believed that Lord Ganesha is also fond of red flowers. Different types of food also stimulate our root Chakra. Every practice performed during this festival is also to stimulate and ground the root chakra. For more information on Root chakra please visit my article in this link

In addition of following your custom on celebration Ganesh festival, if you understand the purpose behind it, your life can reach a higher level very soon. Happy Gauri Ganesha festival to all in advance. Also tell us the tradition of celebrating Ganesh festival in your home in the comment box.