Gnapati Bappa Moraya!!

Ganapati Baappa!!!
Morayaa!!!

The city that never sleeps, goes in a trance of a kind during this time of the year...Everywhere you see, festivities and a general enthusiasm are in the air. And a day before the Ganesh Chaturthi, the city (and also the country) welcomes its beloved God, The Single-Tusked one, The Lord that removes all the obstacles from your path, The Lord of Knowledge, known as Ganpati Baappa to all its worshipers.

Ganpati Bappa/Ganesha/Vinayak/Vighnaharta, are all his names and his avataars. There are stories that talk about his birth andsing is praises, but other than that, little is known about this God. It is only the scholors and the those specialised in sanskrit and mythology, who might really know about him.

And today, just as we finished the puja and aarti, we came across a program on an Indian regional channel-Saam, wherein an eminent person was answering all those questions that I had about this Lord for so long....Isn't that really nice, than informing us about which celebrity celebrates this event and how!

For starters, does anyone know what the chant, "Ganapati Baappa!!! Moraaya!!!" means?
According to this person, a doctor, its regional accent of the marathi language....The villagers meant Mhoraa-Yaaa (come in front of me)....which over the years became Moraya!!

Also, what does the name Ganpati mean? Of course, the leader of the Gans who we might assume as worshippers? Well no, Ganpati means the one, who has conquered over the 5 forces of nature and their sub forces. There is a total of 360 natural forces (thats one reason why the circle is 360 degrees), and Ganpati is the conqueror of all. Hence the name. Well, I couldn't catch this entire interesting show and could only write about the teeny part that I could watch.

Today, after the visarjan (like a good bye), it feels that the house is missing the energy and positive vibrations that it was filled with for the past two days.

But like they say,

Ganpati Baappa !!!
Moraya!!
Pudhchya warshi (next year)!!!
Lavkar Ya (please visit us earlier)!!