We see people celebrating festivals like Durga pooja and Ganesh Chaturthi with great zeal. These celebrations are the epitome of realizing the joy of devotion. Lots of people come together, and there is a joyous display of worship where everybody is merged in Bhakti. At the end of the festivities the idols are dissolved into a body of water. Why?
Before we go further, it goes without saying that the idols have to be made of clay and only clay to ensure that the water bodies do not get contaminated.
When worshipping to Shakti, the divine mother, it is essential to understand the following point – To a mother you can ask for help with issues in worldly life as well as spiritual liberation. A nurturing mother will give everything to her child. Of course, she will reprimand the child but give everything to the child.
There is a very deep philosophy behind the worship of Ganesha too. Remember that Ganesha was created by the divine mother in her aspect of Parvathi. He also is the head of the Shiva Ganas – the attendants of shiva. The story of Ganesha has very rich symbolism.
There are very many aspects of this narrative that are not usually covered. But in the devotional aspect, he is regarded as the energy who can remove the obstacles in ones life. He is regarded as the manifestation of intellect and spiritual prowess with which one can, and should, navigate the world and eventually head towards liberation.
Coming back to the festivals. In these festival days, most of the devotees are very joyous. They celebrate life. And they also ask for the divine energy to clear obstacles in their lives. They want solutions to their worldly issues and seek the help of the deity. The devotional thought process in these days is around how to navigate life in this world. When the festival ends, why then do we dissolve these idols in flowing water?
The symbolism is this – This whole world experience is the dance of delight of the Brahman and the Ishwara. This infinite consciousness is ebbing and flowing infinitely manifesting one creative experience after another weaving this web of maya in the process. The days of revelry during the festival is a symbolism of this dance of delight.
Dissolving the idols into the flowing water is the understanding of the jnana the knowledge that underlies bhakti. The idol which is a representation of an aspect of the god energy merges with the supreme absolute infinite. We also in this process realize that we too are part of this infinite consciousness and the supreme absolute.
In fact, on the first point during Ganesh Chaturthi the symbolism is that after the Visarjan (dissolution) Ganesha returns to the above of Shiva The natural clay harvested from the rivers goes back to the river. Like the dissolution of the idols in flowing water, Liberation is the individual self the Atma becoming one with the brahman, the supreme absolute.