May god Ganesha bless all on Ganesh Chaturti and other days too.
Well we celebrated Ganesh Chaturti as we do every year. It was meeting all family and friends and worshiping Ganpatti Bappa on his birthday. Well I always wondered on the Rituals and Worshipping techniques we Hindus have in India. Some of my search for answers gave me startling views into our culture.
What I write here is without prejudice and do not mean any disrespect to anyone. This is more of logical reasoning about why things are the way they are.
First and foremost was that the word 'Hindu' is non existent in any scriptures which we follow. Hindu is a derivative of the word River Sindhu where the civilization thrived. The westerners with their inability to pronounce simple names converted it to Indus and later our ancestors who lived in the banks of the river Sindhu were called Hindus. Now this makes all Pakistanis living along those rivers Hindus, which is not true in todays context. So the name Hindu referred to people living across the Sindhu River. But since all those people followed the'Vedas'- compilation of texts by ancient scholars, all of them were termed as Hindus.
I feel this as a very crucial point to be noted by all who call themselves Hindus. We call ourselves a name that was not even coined by people who founded it. This is very confusing to me.
Anyways the 'Name' apart, we have a host of rituals that on the face of it looks nonsensical, without any logic or reason. So coming to Ganesh Chaturti, I wondered if there is actually a reason we believe that this day is the birthday of Ganesha. So this then lead to me to wonder how did God Ganesh originate. Well, please do not get me wrong here. I am a firm believer in Lord Ganesha and cannot get by a day without praying to Him.
However if we keep faith apart and look at the concept of the God, we can have a more meaningful insight. I believe such insights help us firm our faith in Him.
My hypothesis is-
As farmers, people were at the mercy of Rains, Winds, Sun etc the Natural elements. This is represented by Lord Indra controller of Lightning and Rains. After a while when people managed crops better by using river irrigation, the next problem they faced were pests like Rats, crop damage by wild elephants and danger to life by Snakes. So a god controlling these would be represented in some form or abilites close to it these creatures. Thus I believe Ganesha was visualised by people hoping someone will protect their crops.
Imagine a farmer who has no chemicals to control rats which can destroy crops stored in the granary and on the field. Imagine his delight when he finds the snakes can efficiently control the rats. Imagine his predicament, a controller of pest that can kill him too. Imagine a farmer at the edge of the forest growing good wheat or better still sugarcane and then seeing the whole field being destroyed by a herd of elephants. At such hopeless moments he will turn to something that will give him hope. And he would have prayed to the god of elephants, rats and snakes - A god who will remove all obstacles in his path to a rich harvest.
And this is confirmed when I saw that in one particular ritual we offer Ganesh Banana, Sugarcane, Rice Puffs, coconut to appease him. All the favourite food of elephants.
Thus each one of the Gods would have originated in our society due to the necessities of its times. I can very well see a Software Code God, if there comes an uncontrollable issues repeatedly affecting software codes. But humans today has more control than earlier of the elements. Thus new gods will not be conceived in the manner they were in old days.
Now there is no doubt that God exists. Whoever has issues with the question of existence of an Almight y will eventually make peace with the fact that he cannot prove or disprove most of the religion and its beliefs with present day scientific tools. However the empirical evidence is very high that God exists.
Coming back to main topic, I find a number of rituals that are amazing and beautiful in our 'Hindu' culture. Most rituals are nothing but a set of methodology where a desired objective is to be achieved for material or spiritual gain – mostly material. The rituals are nothing but physical side of the spiritual activity.
When we would like to meditate, we would like to clear thoughts, concieve the topic of meditation, use a focussing technique and concentrate the brain thought on the singular issue to reach a state of desired mental condition. Usually people try to attain bliss.
In the ritualistic part each of these stages is converted into a physical activity. One will bathe and wear fresh clean basic clothes. Fast to clear the stomach of external bodies. Clean the area of the ritual itself. Beautify it and invite the God to occupy the place designated for Him. Offer him cleansing, perfume, water, flower, clothes, food etc. Use a form of energy to draw His energy. Make the desired prayer to him. Thank him and send him back requesting his return the next time.
No one takes the time to question the rituals we do. Therefore we say it is nothing but hocus pocus. But in understanding it, we realise the beauty in the ritual. I find it more easier to concentrate on God when I do the rituals with its underlying meanings.
Similarly most of the Holy days are based on the Lunar Calender. Now lunar calender is very accurate in predicting weather, winds etc. Thus the calender days with important events were probably converted into holy days. Most festivals have connection to crop harvest. Now south India harvest crop before north India.(this is my assumption, I have not confirmed it) because the rains start in the south and reach north after almost three weeks. Thus we see that many of our festivals are concentrated around the harvest times and The festivals starts in the south and ends in the north.
We have Onam in Kerala, Ganesh chaturti in Maharastra. We have Dussera in Karnataka followed by Diwali in North India. Nowadays all festivals are celebrated throughout India, but each festival is more significant in certain areas than the other.
Well most of these are my hypothesis and are not supported by statistics or empirical studies but rather personal experience. If I find proof will post it here.
Till such time may the Lord give me more insight into our culture.
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