Date/Time
Date(s) - Sunday, September 8, 2013
All Day
Location
SV Temple and Cultural Center of Michigan
Category(ies)
Vakratunda Mahakaya Surya Koti Samaprabha
Nirvighnam Kuru Me Deva Sarva Kaaryesu Sarvada
MEANING:
O’ Lord with the curved trunk and a mighty body who has the luster of a million suns
I pray to thee O’Lord to remove obstacles from all the actions I intend to perform
PROGRAM:
- 9:00 AM to 8:30 PM: Temple is OPEN Whole Day.
- 11:00 to 1:00 PM Maha Ganapathi Abhisheka, Alankaram and Archana
- Vidhya Arambham at 7: 15 PM. Kids are allowed to bring 1 book per child to place near Lord Ganesha for a special pooja and Prarthana.
- Ganesh Bhajans are also performed by Devotees at 7:15 PM along with the Vidhya Arambham Prarthana.
SIGNIFICANCE:
Lord Ganesha is very familiar and very dear to Hindus because he is considered the remover of obstacles. He is sometimes called Vigneshwara because he removes the vigna or obstacles. His physical appearance attracts children easily. The belief that no endeavor will be successful unless Lord Ganesha is worshipped is prevalent . He is the head of the GaNas and hence also called as Ganaadhipathi (Ganapathi in Short).
Ganesha Chaturthi is the festival celebrated on the birthday (rebirth) of Lord Ganesha. This festival is celebrated in the month of Bhadrapada on the Shukla Chaturthi day . This year Ganesh Chaturthi falls on Sunday, September 8th. It is a very popular festival celebrated all over India and by all Indians living outside India, too. In some places the festival is celebrated for ten days.
The main sweet dish during the festival is the modak (modak in Marathi, modakamu or kudumu in Telugu, modaka in Kannada and modagam in Tamil). A modak is a dumpling made from rice flour/wheat flour with a stuffing of fresh or dry-grated coconut, jaggery, dry fruits and some other condiments. It is either steam-cooked or fried. Another popular sweet dish is the karanji (karjikai in Kannada) which is similar to the modak in composition and taste but has a semicircular shape.
Either a Clay Ganesh (Matti Vinayakudu in Telugu) and Turmeric Ganesh (Siddhi Vinayakudu in Telugu) are usually worshipped at homes.
Lord Ganesha is worshipped on this day by performance of Abishekams, Archana and Homa.
Devotees chant Ganesha Sahasranama and sing bhajans and kirtans on Lord Ganesha.
One unique feature about this festival is that one should avoid viewing the moon on this day. The story is that Moon laughed at Lord Ganesha when the Lord fell down from his vehicle, the mouse, and got hurt. Ganesha’s Mother Pravathi cursed that no one should look at the moon on Ganesha Chaturthi day, lest they be falsely accused. If they inadvertently see the moon on that day, they may remedy the situation by listening to “Syamantaka Puraanam.” In this story, Lord Krishna was falsely accused of the theft of the Syamantaka Mani (jewel) and later exonerated.
