In clear, rehearsed voices, over a dozen priests chanted Ganapathi mul mantra for a total of 100,000 times as the Hindu Temple Society of North America, in Flushing, Queens, ceremoniously observed the annual Ganesh festival that ended last week.
The temple and its surroundings reverberated with sounds of ringing bells, thumping drums and nadaswaram, an oboe-like wind instrument from morning till night between Sept, 2 and Sept. 11 as thousands of people from New York and surrounding areas flocked to the temple to watch the celebrations.
“It was not only a religious function, but an event of tremendous joy that was infectious among the attendees. I think in a way it was a community festival more than anything else,” Uma Mysorekar, president of the temple.
She said thousands of people visited the temple everyday during the nine days of celebration which began each day at 7 in the morning and went on till 9, or 10 at night.
The largest number of visitors turned up on Sept. 5, the day of Ganesh Chaturthi and on the concluding day that coincided with Ratha Yatra. Between 10,000 and 12,00o people visited on each of the two days, she estimated.
The temple organized for some 60,000 food packets for the visitors that were distributed throughout the period of nine-day celebrations. Although food was prepared at the temple’s in-house kitchen, the decorative material for the pujas, including flowers and petals and an estimated 500 garlands, some of them very long, came from India as did a band of young musicians who gave a “very beautiful” mandolin concert.
The deity was given different decoration each day with one day being bedecked in jewelry and other days with sandalwood paste and flowers.
Each evening, smaller versions of the Ganesha idol was taken out by young people on their shoulders in a procession around the temple and its vicinity. “People consider it a blessing of the Lord to be able to lift the idol and carry it in a procession to the accompaniment of dance and music and drum beats. No wonder people waited agog for hours each day to be able to take part in the ritual,” Mysorekar said.
The festive mood also gripped people in many parts of New Jersey where the community took part in large numbers in the festivities, including in Gayatri Chetna Center in Piscataway, in Edison and in Jersey City. The Rutgers Students Association also celebrated the festival. At every event in New Jersey, the Jai Bharat Dhol Tasha Pathak USA, a nonprofit cultural group, participated, augmenting the festive mood with their drum beats and sounds of cymbals.
At the Chetna Center in Piscataway, the Ganesh Staphana or installation was attended by hundreds of devotees. The Dhol Tasha Group led the ceremony and created an amazing festive atmosphere. The group led the Visarjan or immersion procession and entertained hundreds of devotees.
The post Thousands Celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi In New York, New Jersey appeared first on News India Times.