Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals :Ch-7. Part -2.

 Chapter 7: Lord Ganesa – The Remover of Obstacles.

Part-2.

The quantity, the expanse and the magnitude of the opposition which comes before us in life is such that no single individual will be able to face it.

This whole world is too much for a single man, and considering the incongruous, disproportionate relationship between a single human individual and the vast world outside, there is very little hope of man's achieving anything in this world, successfully, because we cannot bail out the ocean of waters with a spoon, though our effort may be laudable.

We are, no doubt, very sincerely industrious in emptying the ocean of its waters with a little spoon or a ladle.

Notwithstanding the fact that this effort on our part is praiseworthy, it is not going to lead us to any success, and the expected result will not follow.

The ocean cannot be emptied by any amount of bailing out with a spoon.

Such seems to be the type of world into which we are born, and people who are acutely conscious of this situation become humble enough to accept that even an inch of success cannot be expected in this world without the miraculous grace of God.

So, even the little success that sometimes seems to come to us is a kind of undeserved promotion, as it were, granted to us by the mercy of the Almighty. Our efforts are only a puny child's whining and weeping with a helpless weakness of body and mind.

The traditional annual worship of God in this role, as the remover of all obstacles, as Vighna Vinayaka, is known as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Ganesa Chaturthi.

It is the day on which we offer special adoration to the Remover of obstacles.

Swami Krishnananda
To be continued  ....