Vighnaharak sukhakarak Ganesh made his auspicious entry in the homes of Indian household today. Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated on the 4th day of the bright half of Bhadrapad. This festival marks the birthday of Lord Ganesh. Lord Ganesha or Ganpati is one of the most popular deities in the Hindu religion. It is worshipped by both Shaivites and Vaishnavites. Even Buddhists and Jains have faith for Ganpati. He is considered to be an avatar of both Shiva and Vishnu.

The blessings of the God are needed the most in the country by many of His devotees. For last couple of months India has been undergoing many challenges. Be it the terrorist attacks in Gujarat or the flood in Bihar or the unrest in Bengal or the deadlock faced in nuclear treaty Indians need the blessings of the God.

This year the monsoon is below normal and there are problems faced by the still agrarian economy due to lower crops. Inflation is still a double digit affair though it is showing some signs of cooling off. To top the problem list, the different Gods are active. Burning Orissa and Kashmir are the cases in point.

With all this in the back of the mind of an average Indian, the advent of Ganapati is a soothing phenomenon. An average devotee is praying the God from the depth of his heart and making a wish for  prosperous and peaceful times ahead. And why he should not be doing so? After all there is little respite in the problems he is facing. Take the case of Ganesh Festival in Maharashtra. Given the backdrop of bomb blasts in the country, this Ganesh festival is being celebrated with neverbefore security measures.

The standard coconut, agarbatti, modak are also accompanied by CCTV, metal detactors and many other aids. Alone in Mumbai, there are more than 8000 sensitive spots are being identified. Not only the Ganesh Pandals but the media houses are also briefed by the security agencies about the threat to the festival. All this though call for clouds of uncertainty on one hand, it also brings out the preparations of everybody involved on the other hand hand. This year Ganapati and Ramazan are accompanying each other. This makes the job even tougher for the law and order agencies in the country.

But where there is a will there is a way out. The problems will recede. The human efforts are always backed by the divine blessings. Ganesh the God of knowledge will endow all his devotees with all constructive thoughts and encourage them to come out with their best. The warrior God will also do away with all the problems faced by devotees. But all this will never come free.

The believers must introduce new methods to contribute to the society at large. As they say the God helps them who help themselves, one must prepare himself for all times to come. There is a need to show the social binding one shares. There is also a need to keep aside the blind euphoric sentiments towards any religion. In the last and the most important,  let us care about the environment. Environment around us is the creation of God and let us respect it. It is a duty of every Ganesh devotee. A healthy environment will make us proudly say... ... Ganapati Bappa Morya!!!