A Spectacular Immersion of God
Over six million devotees thronged the beaches of Mumbai to immerse around two lakh idols of Lord Ganesha as part of the 10-day Ganpati Visarjan festival that ended this week. A sea of emotions and millions of prayers waded into the Arabian Sea with a piquant mix of neon bulbs, Bollywood music, alcohol, fireworks and the usual entourage of non-biodegradable PoP (Plaster of Paris) idols in tow.
Ganesha Chaturthi is the Hindu festival celebrated in honour of Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed remover of obstacles and the God of beginnings and wisdom.
The festival was transformed from a private family celebration to a well-organized public event by freedom fighter and social worker Lokmanya Tilak in 1893. Tilak was the first to encourage social gathering during the British era to counter opposition to any public meetings then. He also established the practice of submerging in rivers, sea, or other pools of water all public images of the deity on the tenth day after Ganesh Chaturthi.
While it is most elaborate in Maharashtra and other parts Western and Southern India, outside India, it is celebrated widely in Terai region of Nepal and by Hindus in the United States, Canada, Mauritius, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Fiji, New Zealand, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana.
This mass assembly of people and religious fervor is seen across the world, especially during pilgrimages. It is estimated that there are over 100 million people taking pilgrimages every year.
The top pilgrimages of the world include:
1. Kumbh Mela, India – The Maha Kumbh in 2013 had 120 million people attending the event.
2. Mecca, Saudi Arabia – 13 Million visitors, annually.
3. Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City-10 Million, annually.
4. Vaishno Devi Temple – 8 Million, annually.
5. Lourdes, France – 7 Million, annually.
6. Vatican – 4 Million, annually.
7. Jerusalem – 2 Million
Apart from these, millions of people brave treacherous journeys to holy places like Tirupati, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamunotri or to worship the ice Shivlings at Amarnath. The west has its equivalents. There is St. Winefride’s Well in Wales, Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec, Mount Athos in Greece, Croagh Patrick in Ireland, Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina – each claiming millions of visitors.
A unique one among these is Sri Pada in Sri Lanka where the footprint near the summit is considered to be Buddha’s, Adam’s, and also Shiva’s and consequently all four religions go on a pilgrimage there.
What is common among all these?
The most striking aspect, the most important common thread across all of these is that they are so insular. In an ever-connected world, these exist in their individual silos. It is not even a question to the pilgrims that the rest of the seven billion people do not share their belief — that they are watched with incredulity, the same way that they see the others. What unites them in principle is the disbelief of all the Gods, except theirs. They are all atheists of other Gods.
By Satyajit Nair..the author of The God in the Middle, a novel that explores Atheism, for the first time in fiction, through the heroic story of two men
who start Ergoism, a modern religion based on science.
