Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Ganapati bappa, welcome home.


Me thinks it is nothing but laziness that makes the 'religious' into 'spiritual.'

A few days back, it was Janmashtami (Krishna's birthday party). Pavan had asked me to get a baby Krishna, a small jhula (crib), etc to celebrate. I cant find the heart to refuse his religious aspirations, which , during childhood, I have really enjoyed.

That night, after the kid had slept, we went to a friends place and found a small, one month old pup there. Since the next day was a holiday, I convinced the host and the hubby to let me take home the pup for a day. I had to promise several times that we will return him next day.

We carried the small brown bundle home and I left him on Pavan's bed. As I expected, the boy was too thrilled and preoccupied the whole day to remember krishna.

I was wondering how to get out of celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi when I got a call form high command. 'Get a Ganesh idol home. Pavan will like it,' said mother dear. How could I refuse her?

Even more surprising, that Papa agreed. 'Its a family thing, lets do it.' He even came with us to buy the idol. With Papa around, we had to hunt for a non-painted, non- toxic Ganesha idol.
So Pavan got one more job, painting the dark brown God.

The next step is cleaning the temple. One computer monitor, one CPU, one black bag, two cameras and yippee! I find the umbrella too.

Pavan decks up the idol with leaves and flowers. But I cant find, for the puja thali, a major ingredient : sindoor powder. The absence of the primal beauty element tugs at my heart. We make do with lipstick and bindis.

After all the commotion is over, when the arti begins, the tears still roll, the voice cracks.

Saguna, Nirguna, Eka Govind re. ( With form, or formless, its the same)

Welcome home, Ganpati bappa.


2 comments:

DR JITESH BHATT MD said...

being spiritual means being more responsible. being spiritual never means get lazy. laziness when associated with spirituality the human being than is trying to feel lucky. activeness when associated with spirituality means human being is getting responsible.

in the subtle mode if we look all religious activities are meant to ignite the fire. as the pursuit of human life from the centuries have to live in a better way than the way it was lived.

so spirituality is accepting the real, accepting the self, and radiating the real , radiating the love.

as it is the power of love which makes any one melt.

Riti said...

Manjushree, you have a very sweet looking kid:)