🐘 Ganapathi Habba: Wisdom for a World in Chaos | Sastry On Today

🌿 From the Mantapa: Sastry on Today

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🐘 Sastry On Today: Ganapathi Habba — The Lord of Beginnings in a World of Deadlines

Every year, as clay and color come alive in the form of Ganesha, households and streets light up with a quiet joy.

It is Ganapathi Habba — a festival of beginnings, remover of obstacles, and patron of wisdom.

But beyond the modakas and the music, what does this elephant-headed philosopher say to a world drowning in deadlines, disputes, and data?

Ganesha, after all, is not just a local deity of India.

He is a global metaphor.

His elephant head reminds us to think big, not small.

His large ears remind us to listen more in a world addicted to shouting.

His tiny eyes remind us to focus, when distraction has become a pandemic.

And that mischievous pot belly?

A reminder to digest life’s sweet and sour with equal ease.

Nationally, Ganesh Chaturthi has always been more than a festival.

Lokmanya Tilak once used it as a stage for unity and collective strength.

Even today, when politics slices and dices society into fragments, the festival whispers a subtler message: wisdom unites, ego divides.

Internationally, in times of war, climate change, economic chaos, and cultural anxieties, the world could borrow a leaf from Ganesha’s notebook.

Before rushing to conquer, can we pause to listen? Before piling up more “progress,” can we first remove the obstacles of greed and arrogance?

The immersion of Ganesha idols is perhaps the most poignant lesson.

After all the pomp, the clay returns to water, the colors fade, the songs fall silent.

It is life’s soft reminder that form is temporary, essence eternal.

So today, as you fold your hands before the elephant-headed Lord, remember this:

Ganapathi doesn’t remove obstacles by magic — he teaches us how to walk through them.

And as Sastry might add with a smile, “If the world had ears as large as Ganesha’s, perhaps half its conflicts would dissolve before the first bullet was fired.”