The festive spirit on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi now reigning in the pilgrimage towns of Haridwar and Rishikesh, the rishikumars (students) of Veerpur, Parmarth Niketan have made eco-friendly clay Ganesha idols. They say that the mud the idols are made of would be used for tree plantation when the time comes for their immersion.
Speaking on the occasion, the head of Parmarth Niketan Swami Chidanand Saraswati said, "The body of Ganesha symbolises that no creature on earth is big or small. The little mouse is the vehicle of the Lord and Ganesha has an elephant trunk. The message is clear. All creations of God must be respected as they are emanations of God.
A young student cited an instance from the mythology related to Lord Ganesha according to which when the Lord was asked to take a round of the earth, he took a round around his mother and said he had wandered around the earth. "It signifies the supreme status a mother enjoys in the Hindu scheme of things. We should imbibe lessons from it. Respect for parents is the bedrock of our culture which is enduring through ages because of the timeless principles it is based on,” he said.
Meanwhile, a number of religious processions were taken out by the residents of the two cities accompanied with devotional music singing the glory of the Lord Ganesha before the idols were installed at the places where the God would be worshipped during the 11-day period of the festival.