02/09/2025
Namaste all, I do hope everyone is taking full advantage of this auspicious period of Ganesh Utsav...asking Bhagwan in the form of Shree Ganesh ji to remove all of our obstacles so that we may have success in our endeavors...
Today, I would like to speak about what I see happening year after year and nothing much is being done about it for the better.
Years ago my Guruji was telling us a story about how Bhagwan told 2 men ... 1 rich and 1 poor ... to go give a donation, give whatever you feel like giving...the rich man gave $500 in the donation box and the poor man gave the only 10 cent piece that he had...Bhagwan was very pleased with the poor man because although its just a 10 cent piece...that was all the wealth the poor man had so to him...he gave everything while the rich man gave but a portion of what he had...
So...what does this have to do with Ganesh Utsav?.... you may ask
My point is this ... you can make a small murti or a big one...it doesn't matter to Bhagwan...what matters is your mindset ... your fasting...your love...your sacrifice...being able to keep a peaceful mind throughout...
I don't know why spiritual leaders and devotees are preoccupied with the size of the murti? This is NOT bigger is better..In fact, the bigger the murti, the longer it takes to dissolve in the water!! And I am sure half of the people don't even know what's the purpose of the visarjan.
Our scriptures say that the murti must be dissolved so that all our problems would be dissolved in the same way...
Another thing is when I mentioned about the size of the murti...is this...countless times I saw videos where these big murtis are literally being dumped into the ocean or in deep waters and you cannot enter to gently submerge and dissolve the murti!!! How can you ask Bhagwan to be present and treat a murti that Bhagwan has touched which now has his essence and just go and dump it in like that??!!! Such a shame!!
When Shree Ram was in the forest and his brother Barat went to visit him...he asked for his slipper (sapat or paduka) to place on the throne...at no time did you see him treat the slipper with disrespect!! Similarly you must treat any murti of Bhagwan with respect...
Devotees...doing devotion for 10 days during this time is only half of it!!! The other half is the actual visarjan!! How you send off Bhagwan after is also important!!!
My advice...always do something that you can complete fully...speak with your spiritual leader and seek advice on the proper way to make your own murti...make a small one...that you can go and do the visarjan in the proper way...and believe me when I say...you WILL feel that more blessed and Ganesh ji will be very pleased with you just as the "poor man" in the story...
And to my fellow spiritual leaders please advise the devotees on doing the visarjan the proper way please and thanks...
Jai Shree Ganesh!!!
