Lord Ganesha and the Moon

There are many stories of the loved and popular Lord Ganesha, but one particularly connected with the day of Ganesh Chaturthi (this year September 1st) is a favourite with many. The story goes thus:

Lord Ganesha is very fond of Modakas which are sweet balls made of rice. One Ganesh Chaturthi day, the Lord visited the homes of his devotees accepting their offerings of Modakas. After having eaten a large number of Modakas, the Lord set out that night for his home riding his vahana the mouse.

Seeing a snake, the mouse got afraid and stumbled, resulting in Ganesha falling down, his stomach bursting open and the sweet Modakas rolling out. The Elephant God gathered the fallen Modakas and stuffed them back into his stomach, and catching the snake that had caused the mouse to stumble, tied it round His belly.

Seeing all this, the moon in the sky laughed heartily. The Lord furious at the behaviour of the moon, pulled out one of His tusks and hurled it at the moon and cursed that no one should look at the moon on the day of Ganesha Chaturthi (this year September 1st) and that if anyone looks at it on that day, the person would earn censure and ill repute.

The moral of this tale is that the moon who behaved unbecomingly towards the Lord is a metaphor that we should avoid the company of those who have no faith in God or in the Guru.