One-on-One with Ganpati Bappa

It is Ganeshotsav time again. We have been doing Ganpati puja for many years, but this year it was special as it gave me an opportunity of a one-on-one talk with Ganpati Bappa. I will try to capture the story of the interesting encounter in this post.

My wife had been busy making preparations for the eagerly awaited event for past few weeks. Though she has a well-oiled process in place by now, yet she takes a lot of pain in the preparations for the puja. Particularly, finding the desired idol is a daunting task that takes several iterations. That’s why I was really relieved when she managed to find a beautiful idol with relative ease this year. It gave us a happy feeling that it is going to be a good puja this year.

However, on the day of puja, something was not quite right inside me. I had been feeling somewhat stressed out lately due to a number of problems and worries that were keeping my mood down. So as I sat down for the puja, I could feel heaviness in my head, a tense body and a tense mind.

My feeling of stress reduced a bit and I gradually calmed down when Panditji started the puja. He has a gentle way of chanting the mantra such that the sounds immediately soothe your mind. He also has a knack of keeping us on our feet by making us recite a mantra, or close our eyes and pray while he chants the mantras. This had a meditation like effect on me, and in less than half an hour, I started feeling much more relaxed.

A couple of hours later when the puja got over I just sat down alone looking at the beautiful face of Ganpati Bappa and saying nothing.

Then Bappa broke the silence, “Something is wrong with you today Sanjay. You do not look your usual self.”

I got startled at first to hear Bappa talk, and took a few seconds to regain my composure. It was not an everyday occurrence that you get to chat with Bappa.

I - with folded hands – “Thanks for gracing our home with your presence Ganpati Bappa. I am sorry I am bothering you with my petty worries. Things are alright with me, nothing wrong. It is just a large number of small problems that have added together to clutter my mind.”    

Bappa -  “What will be life without problems? Why feel down because of the problems?” 

I – “Yes I know and often apply this wisdom while dealing with my problems. But this time, there are too many of them”

Bappa – “Don’t worry too much. Look at the positive side of things and you will feel better.”

I – “That’s the trouble Bappa. I am trying everything I know about positive thinking. It is helpful to some extent, but the clouds of worry keep coming again and again.”

Bappa – with a smile in His eyes - “It is indeed funny to see a champion of positive mindset struggling to conquer his own worries. तूने तो सबको राह दिखाई तू अपनी मंज़िल क्यूं भूला? :)”

 I – with a touch of impatience - “You do not understand. I used to believe that since I spread the message of hope, it will come naturally to me; but this time it is really different. I am down with an onslaught of negative thoughts and despair and it does not help that I have been a champion of hope.”

Bappa – with a wider smile – “I can try to understand if you explain your problem to me.”

I – “I am worried that I may botch up on the new responsibility I have been given in the office, about our approaching old age, about the health of my parents, about the future of my kids, hundreds of nagging unfinished tasks, mounting expenses that have upset the budget, not enough savings, and many more such things.”

Bappa – “Why are you concerned so much? मैं हूँ ना. Give your burden to me. I will set everything right.” 

I – “You have millions of devotees. किस किस का बोझ उठाएगे आप? I have to learn to carry my burden myself.”

Bappa – “I agree that you should take every possible action within your circle of influence. But as far as I know, you are already doing it. Then why worry about things over which you have no control.”

I – “Bappa, I shiver to imagine the consequences if things go wrong. If you want to help, please help me overcome this fear.”

Bappa – “You keep doing what is in your circle of influence. Do not avoid or put off a required action for any reason what-so-ever. Leave the rest of the worries to me. I will do what is in my circle of influence, which as you know has infinite radius.”   

I – “Why do you take everything so lightly? I know from experience that life for us humans is not easy. If you do not walk the tight rope every day, you are sure to fall down.”

Bappa – “Good you mentioned experience. Let us go back in time. Do you remember your situation at puja 15 years back?”

I – “Let me try. That was the year 2000. There was economic uncertainty due to dot com burst. I was worried about my job, old age, kid's future, parents health, savings, finances. Oh yes, when I think of it, my situation at that time was very similar to what it is today, in fact it was much worse as I had little security.”

Bappa – looking closely in my eyes – “Try to recall what you asked me in prayer that year. Did I or did I not fulfill your wishes?”

This statement and the eye contact was His masterstroke. As I strained my memory I could recall that I prayed that year for two categories of wishes:

Must

These were the developments that I desperately wanted to happen in my life, but had no clue how to make them happen.

Nice to Have

These were wishes that were lower in priority but still important enough.

And suddenly I realized that Bappa not only fulfilled all the wishes in my Must and Nice to Have list, but He went beyond it and gave me bliss and happiness in life that were beyond my imagination. This was an eye opener and I suddenly felt a strong surge of gratitude.
I said, “मान गये गणपती बप्पा. You are truely awesome!”

I was all set to heap more praises on Bappa, but got interrupted by a loud sound of chanting of mantras. Suddenly, I woke up from my trance and opened my eyes to find myself with Pandit ji doing the puja. I felt relieved that nobody noticed my transgression. My head was feeling much lighter now, the tension had magically disappeared. I looked at Ganpati Bappa, and there was this familiar mischievous smile in his eyes.

I murmured -  “ऊँ गण गणपतेय नम:।  मान गये गणपती बप्पा. You are truly awesome!”

So, this was the story of my chat with Ganpati in my thoughts that helped me get rid of my worries. I had the itch that my chat with Ganpati Bappa got interrupted at the point when I was about to thank Him and sing praises for Him. So, I am leaving you with this vandana that I sang in His praise afterwards.