THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CHATURTHI DAY

) The Spiritual Significance of the Chaturthi Day:

Chaturthi is the fourth digital phase of the waxing moon. The spiritualists believe that Amavasya or the moonless night is the period of hibernation of this luminary. When one wakes up from the deep slumber, one gets fully conscious in the fourth stage. These are 'Swapna', 'Swaap', 'Jagaran' and 'Chetana' which can be loosely rendered as the stage of dream, hangover, awakening and consciousness. It is in the fourth stage that one is fully conscious after getting up. In this stage one sees the world as it exists, sans any imagination or dream. Hence this is the stage when one's all senses are fully conscious and alert. This is also the stage when one can fully concentrate with total devotion. It is for this reason that those who are well versed in spiritualism recommend worship of Lord Ganesh. the first god to be worshipped, on the Chaturthi Day.

The prohibition to look at the moon on this day has also its spirituo-psychological explanation. The moon, as we all know. is believed to represent one's 'Man' -the mind or self. This is the traditional belief corroborated by psychologists and astrologers both. The man is not deemed fully conscious of the environment when he is introvert or looking more towards himself than outside. As explained earlier, the day of Chaturthi represents the fully conscious-stage of the mind. And one is fully conscious when one looks outside with his all senses. Hence looking towards your 'Man' or inside your sense is not recommended on this day for this tendency is conducive to induce sleep or dreaminess or imagination. When one is fully conscious one should look at the world to assess one's real position and rise to reality. Hence it is prohibited to look at the moon on the Chaturthi Day. All the myths created around this assertion. are owing to the inherent and dominant tendency of the Aryan brain. In fact all the recommendations of the Hindu religious belief originate because of this tendency. The Aryan brain was convinced that man would not accept the secular authority unless it has an aura of the supernatural woven around it. Since the very symbol of Ganesh is the creation of such a brain, all the myths around this symbol are created to make this symbol appear logical and convincing.

In fact, suppression of 'Man' or control of it is the basic burden of all the teachings of Sanatan Dharma whether they say it by the means of Puranas or Scriptures or the great treatise on human behaviour like Gita. This prohibition to look at the moon is a small corollary to the original and basic concept.

(iii) Sankashthi Chaturthi:

Sankashthi Chaturthi or just 'Sankashthi' means that fourth day of the moon's phase which occurs in the dark fortnight in every month.

This day assumes greater importance when this Chaturthi falls on Tuesday, when it is called Angarak Chaturthi. Otherwise any Chaturthi falling on any other day is called' Sankashthi'. Alternatively it is also called Vinayaki Chaturthi in some parts of India.

According to the Pauranic dictates on this day the devotee should keep fast and should break this fast on the next day ie on Panchami. During the fast, visit to a temple of Lord Ganesh, listening to the tales connected with Lord Ganesh's worship should be listened to with full devotion.

The Ganesh Puran extols the glory of this fast and says that one who keeps fast on this day has his all obstacles removed by the grace of Lord Ganesh and gets all his desires fulfilled. There are many legends mentioned in the same Puranas to extol the virtues of keeping fasts on Sankashthi Chaturthi. Sankashthi literally means end of the afflictions or distress. Some of the tales are mentioned below:

Story:-

(a) Raja Kritveerya was a 'Shoodra' in his previous life and used to stoop to the meanest level to keep his family well-fed. One day he slayed a brahman named Sham in his attempt to extract some money from the brahman's pocket. Having killed the brahman, he returned home on the Magh (Dec.-Jan.) Chaturthi (dark half) day. As his good luck would have it, he had a son named Ganesh. Owing to his fighting with that brahman and caring for the safety of the money he had usurped, he had not eaten any thing that day. When reaching home, he called his son Ganesh. Since he was also badly wounded in his fight with the brahman, he expired as soon as he gave that money to his son. But since he had kept fast on that day out of sheer compulsion and called the name �Ganesh', his all sins were redeemed and in the next birth he got the birth in a king's house and later himself became the king Kritveerya. Although he was a powerful king in this life and had a devoted wife called Sugandha, the royal couple had one great shortcoming that they had no son. On the advice of the priests the couple performed many severe penance but in vain. Dejected, both of them had left their kingdom and repaired to jungle to waste away their life. When Narad saw them in that sorry state, he informed the king's departed father, residing in heaven, Brahmadeva who made Narad convey his message that the king should keep fast on the Sankashthi Day to get a son. The king, Kritveerya did so and had his wish fulfilled eventually.