Ganesh Pictures

Ganesh Wallpaper

Ganesh Chaturthi 2010

Ganesha Chaturthi is one of the most important Hindu festival in India. It is the day on which Lord Ganesha, the son of Lord Shiva and Parvati was born. The day thus marks the auspicious birth of one of the most important Hindu God. This day is also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Vinayaka Chavithi in many parts of the country. It is celebrated on of fourth day of the waxing moon period in the month of Bhaadrapada according to the Hindu calendar. According to the Gregorian calendar, this day falls between 20 August and 15 September. The festival is celebrated with immense enthusiasm in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh for ten days. If you want to explore the origin and history of this festival, you can refer to the article given here.

Origin
According to the legend, the festival marks the auspicious day of the birth of Lord Ganesha. The story goes as follows- Lord Shiva, the Hindu God of resolution, was away from Kailash due to some work. As Parvati was alone at home, she felt the necessity of some one to guard the door to her house while she took bath. When she did not get any one, she conceived of the idea of creating a son who could guard her. She then created Ganesha out of her sandalwood paste and breathed life into the idol. She then asked him to stand on the gate and do not let any body enter until she came out. Unfortunately, Shiva returned home in the meantime. As, Ganesha did recognize him, he stopped Shiva from entering as per his mother's advice. This badly enraged Lord Shiva, who cut off Ganesha's head by his trident. When Parvati saw beheaded Ganesha, took on the form of the Goddess Kali and threatened to destruct all the three worlds.

The earth, the heaven, the nether world, all was shaken and every body ran to Shiva for solution. In order to appease Lord Parvati and save the world from destruction, Lord Shiva sent out his followers to find a child whose mother is facing another direction in negligence, cut off his head and bring it quickly. The first such child that came in the eyes of the Shiva followers was an elephant, so they brought the head of this elephant and Shiva placed it on the trunk of Parvati's son and gave life into him. Parvati was the overwhelmed with happiness and embraced her son. They named her Ganesha i.e the Lord of all Ganas (followers).

History
Though the festival is being celebrated since times immemorial, the present kind of celebrations of Ganesha Chaturthi came in fashion in 1893, Lokmanya Tilak, an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer reshaped the annual Ganesh festival from a private family celebration into a community event. The day was conceived to be the National Festival in order to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins in the society. Tilak chose this festival for this purpose because Lord Ganesh was considered to be the ' God of Everyman'. It then served as a meeting ground for people of all community and religion on a public platform. Since then the festival has served its cause of existence. Even now people irrespective of caste and community barriers celebrate this festival with great joy.

Shree Ganapatichi Aarti

Arti For Ganesha Chaturthi

Jai Ganesha Devaa

Jai ganesha jai ganesha jai ganesha devaa
Maataa jaakii paarvatii, pitaa mahaadevaa
Eka danta dayaavanta, caara bhujaa dhaarii
Maathe sinduura sohai, muuse kii savaari
Jai ganeshaa...

Andhana ko aankha deta
Korhina ko kaayaa
Baanjhana ko putra deta
Nirdhana ko maayaa
Jai ganeshaa...

Paana carhe, phuula carhe
Aura carhe mevaa
Ladduana ko bhoga lage
Santa karen sevaa
Jai ganesha...

Aarti Kare Jai Ganeshji Ki

Jai ganesh ji ki
Aarti karein hum sab ganesh ji ki

App hai swami dhukh harta
Dukhiyon ke palankarta
App hai bhagwan sukh data
Om jai jai sri gadnatha
Hum sab sharan mein hai bhagwan
O shiva gad muskhak vahan

Jai ganesh ji ki
Aarti karein hum sab ganesh ji ki

App to hai gauri nandan
App to hai maan se vandan
App to hai jansukhdayak
Kehti hai duniya Gadnayak
App ki puja ghar ghar mein
Kastnivare pal bhar mein

Jai ganesh ji ki
Aarti karein hum sab ganesh ji ki

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi 2010

Birthday of Lord Ganesha is celebrated as the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. It is believed that Lord Ganesha, son of Shiva and Parvati bestows His blessings on his devotees on this day.

Lord Ganesha is worshipped, as the God of wisdom and Ganesha Chaturthi is a festival celebrated in the honor of Lord Ganesha. To enjoy the celebrations of this festival one must visit Mumbai where the Ganesha Chaturthi celebrations start a month before the actual day.

The celebrations of this festival can be seen in advance but the most important are the last days of this occasion when the idols of Lord Ganesha is immersed in the sea. This entire occasion is made more lively by the devotional songs, dances and drum beats that are a part of the procession followed by the devotees of Lord Ganesha.

Shree Ganesh Wallpapers

Shree Ganesh

Lord Ganesh is the elephant-headed God, with one tusk. The legend of how he got his elephant head and one tusk is a fascinating one.

One day Parvati, Shiva's beloved wife, instructed Shiva's attendant Nandi not to let anyone in while she was taking a bath. A little later Shiva arrived wishing to enter. Nandi was in a dilemma as how to stop his master. Shiva entered Parvati was not ready to receive him. She was upset and wondered why Nandi had not obeyed her command. She complained to Shiva but Shiva did not take the matter too seriously. He was amused to hear that Parvati had asked Nandi to stop him from entering his own home. Parvati was annoyed. She shared her feelings with her friends. They teased Parvati by saying that she had no attendant of her own. They all considered Shiva their true master.

One of Parvati's friends came up with the idea to create a person who would owe his first

allegiance to Parvati and not to Shiva. So Parvati gathered the saffron paste (used at the time of bathing), from her own body and created a boy. The boy was handsome and strong. She gave the boy life and hugged him dearly.

"You are my son, my very own son, I do not have anyone elseto call my very own" said Parvati. Then Parvati gave the boy a staff and asked him to guard the door, "Do not to allow any one to enter without my permission."

A little later Shiva arrived and wondered who the boy could be and why was he there. His attendants did not know either. As Shiva approached the door, the boy stopped him. Shiva tried to explain to the boy that he was Parvati's husband and he had the right to enter without asking any one. The boy said without hesitation, "Halt, no one enters these halls without my mother's permission." When Shiva ignored him, the boy hit him with his staff. Shiva was furious. He tried to fight the young boy to realize that he was no ordinary boy. Shiva asked his attendants to capture the boy but single-handedly, the boy defeated all of them.

News reached Parvati through her friends and she thought, "Shiva is after all my husband." But she instantly argued, "But why should he try to force himself in without giving respect to the my privacy?" So she firmly conveyed her feelings to her friend, and she took the message to the boy, "Parvati has given definite instruction as not to allow any one to enter the palace. The boy declared, "I am the son of Parvati. I will give my life to carry out my mother's orders. No one can enter the palace without my mother's permission."

The messenger returned to Shiva and humbly informed him what the boy had said. Shiva's pride was hurt. Shiva was so angry that he sent his entire army to capture the boy. Parvati called for her other powers, Kali and Durga. She asked them to stand beside her son. Shiva's army lost the battle and the attendants ran for their lives. Shiva then called Vishnu to join him in defeating the small boy. This was not a fair fight. While the boy was engaged in fighting with Vishnu, Shiva threw his Trident and beheaded the boy. After the head rolled off, Shiva realized his mistake.

When Parvati heard of the unfair fight she decided to destroy the world. Brahma humbly approached Parvati, seeking for mercy to save the world. Parvati agreed on two conditions, "My son must regain his life and he shall be worshipped before any of the other gods." By that time Shiva had calmed down and apologized for his rash behavior. He agreed to bring the boy back to life. He asked Brahma to go North and bring the head of the first creature that crossed his path. Brahma left with his party and soon brought back the head of a strong elephant. The head was then fitted to the body of the boy and Brahma sprinkled water on it. The boy came to life with an elephant's head on his shoulder. Parvati embraced her son with joy. She then turned to Brahma to fulfill her second condition. Indra and the other gods brought Shiva to Parvati. Shiva apologized for his arrogance and declared "Hence on, this valiant boy will be my son. He will be respected as any other God and will be worshipped before any other God. He will be called Ganesh, the chief of my Ganas or attendants, and also Vigneshwar, the remover of all obstacles.

Shiva and Parvati once again began to live happily in their abode at mount Kailash.

Many years later, Shiva was taking a nap when Ganesh was guarding him. At that moment Parashuram, the Brahmin warrior, came to see Shiva. Much to his dismay he was stopped by Ganesh. Parashuram was unwilling to take orders from anyone. As a result, a big fight ensued. Finally, Parashuram threw his powerful ax towards Ganesh. Ganesh stopped the ax with his tusk which broke. Thus Ganesh lost one of his tusks and began to be known as Eka-danta, or "One Toothed."

Shree Ganeshaya Namah

Shree Ganeshaya Namaha!
The Ganpati festival is here and I have been visiting the little bappa at the homes of various friends and family who have welcomed him into their homes.
Yesterday I went for one such visit. The gorgeous looking Ganesha was sitting so very comfortably on the specially designed throne. :)
A priest sat besides him to help all the visitors to perform the pooja rituals.
There was a little Kirtan session after that, everyone chanting Bhajans. And a small talk about Lord Ganesha followed that. One little angel sat there explaining the lord in simple terms.
He said " Ganesha as a whole sends out a message to us. Each part of the Lord represents something. Ganesha looks like the elephant. When you see an elephant what's the first thing you notice about him..The size..The walk.. So Royal, Unaffected, Fearless! Thats how we should be. The Big head represents knowledge. Ears big enough to cover the eyes, these represent analytical thinking. The message here is do not just judge things only by seeing them or hearing about them. Look listen and think. Then judge. The trunk represents sensitivity that one must have. Big stomach, full of joy, happiness, generosity and acceptance. There's a snake around his waist, that represents awareness. Joy and alertness need to go together, this is the art of living. Hands, One offering the the Modak(sweet) which represents happiness and one hand blessing, both together indicate the promise and assurance of happiness. The Rat, uses Logic which leads to happiness, the rat breaks up the big problems using Logic (Tark) which lead to the Modak(sweet) representing happiness"