Ganesh Chaturthi: No matter how hard the past, you can always begin

During one of my life skills session I was asked by a student, “What is the significance of this festival for us?”

Let me share the story attached to his birth:

Goddess Parvati was the creator of Ganpati. She, in the absence of Lord Shiva, used her sandalwood paste to create Ganesha and put him to guard while she had gone for bathing. While she was gone, Lord Shiva got into a fight with Ganesha as he did not allow him to enter, as per his mother’s orders. Enraged, Lord Shiva cut off Ganesha’s head. When Parvati saw this sight, she took the form of Goddess Kali and threatened to destroy the world. Shiva then ordered all his followers to immediately go and find a child whose mother has her back towards her child in negligence and bring his head. The first child seen by the followers was that of an elephant and they, as ordered, cut his head and brought to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva immediately placed the head on Ganesha’s body and brought it to life again. The rage of Maa Kali was calmed and Goddess Parvati was overwhelmed, once again. All the Lords blessed Ganesha and the day is today celebrated as he was reborn.

How often we take a pause and ask ourselves, “How well did I live? How well did I take care of others? How well did I learn to let go? How many times did I reinvent myself?

In true sense, Re-birth is not linked with any physical loss. It is about awakening and being in the moment. When we cling to things, we struggle. When we grasp at what we desire, we suffocate it. When we identify with a laundry list of accomplishments, we always fall short in the end. All the things that truly matter – beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace – arise from beyond the mind when you begin to awaken. People regret for multiple reasons and have better clarity about their purpose at the end of their life. Why can’t we have this enlightenment before in our life and career. We must taste the darkness of death before we can rise from the ashes with a strength and courage we did not even know we had. In every moment, we are given a choice. A chance to taste the fragility of life in death, and choose to re-invent ourselves through becoming re-born again and again.

Learning: Leave the past in the past and what matters most is who we are now. No matter how hard the past, you can always begin and celebrate.