There was a question on – whether the ‘Visarjan’ of the Moortis of Bhagwan Ganapati, in water is necessary or not – thus this detailed answer. I will use Sanskrit language principles from Yaskaacharya to Panini and the core principle of Vedas ie Shri Vidya.. 

Devbhasha Samskrutam is the foundation of the Vedas. The Vedas are written in Sanskrit. But today 99% followers of Vedic Dharma do not understand Sanskrit. If you claim to be a follower of the Vedic Dharma then you must take some effort to understand Sanskrit. At least buy a Sanskrit dictionary and refer to it.

In traditional homes, a special puja of Shri Ganapati is performed twice a year – on Bhadrapad Shukla Chaturthi and on Maagha Shukla Chaturthi. We use Moorti / Vigraha made of soil for this special puja. And all over Bharat, we have always made ‘temporary’ moortis of the Devatas for short term pujas. Eg during Naagpanchami, Haratalika, Parthiv Shivlinga puja, Navrati Devi pujas etc we use moortis made of soil. We take the purest soil of the termitoria, fashion a crude moorti of the Devata, then do its puja for 1 – 10 days. Then we do the Visarjan of this moorti in the nearest well, lake, river or the sea, ie in water.

The energy concept of ‘Visarjan’ is this – The soil used for the moorti is the purest termitoria soil. This soil has absorbed the puja /mantra / intention energy. The function of water is to magnify. And as the moorti is Visarjit / ‘dissolved’ in the water, it infinitely magnifies the power of the pujas/ intentions/ mantras which then spread all over the place/earth.

But to really understand ‘Visarjan’ we have to use the core of the Ved, ie Shri Vidya/Tantra. Visarjan is the same thing as the Visarga. Visarga is the ‘ah’ the ‘:’ the forceful emission of air from the chest/back of the throat. Visarga and Visarjan are both formed from the same root – Vi + root √sṛj. 

• The root √sṛj means – to let go, to release, to emit, to expand, to emanate, to pervade, to flow, to create, to send forth etc.
• Adding the prefix ‘vi’ makes this action ‘special’ – It indicates specialness, difference, dispersion, distribution, division, differentiation, specification etc.

Now lets understand the two words ‘Visarga’ and ‘Visarjan’. Visarga is the concept of creation and Visarjan is the practical physical action which creates.

• Visarga is an abstract noun – a bhava vachak shabda – it is used to define an abstract state, condition, quality, principle, state or general process. It is linked to the concept, the idea. It is the timeless principle.
• Visarjan is an action noun – a kriya vachak shabda – is used to define an actual action, a specific act. It is used to actually do something, perform something. It is linked to the actual action, which is bound by time, space and doership.

So Visarjan is a general action word which means – to specially let go, specially emit, specially expand, specially flow, specially create etc. The one undifferentiated power has now been made to flow / expand etc in a very special way, as per the purpose/ intention /desire. We use the power of Visarjan to expand our intention and distribute it all over the earth. It is the supreme principle of Vishishta Srujan ‘differentiated creation’ in action. Visarga is the seeming differentiated creation, where non-duality actively projects itself as a seeming duality.

Shri Ganapati utsav begins from Bhadrapad Shukla chaturthi to Anant Chaturdashi, for 10days. And in this time, his mother Devi Gauri is also worshipped. Moortis of Devi Gauri and her Sakhi/friend, are made on Gauri Ashtami and worshipped for 3 days then Visarjan is done. This Gauri Ashtami night is extremely powerful and we do not sleep on this night.

And in Kumaon, Uttarakhand, on this same Gauri Ashtami, they make a very powerful moorti of Devi Parvati and her Sakhi, here they are named as Devi Nanda and Sunanda. Incredibly these Moorti are made from the stem of the banana plant! The local people do their pujas with great devotion and then these moortis are also immersed in the water, rivers, lakes. Visarjan is a very uniform practice followed all over Bharat. We all worship the same Dev Devi and with the same pure intention and joy. Visarga and the Visarjan!

We can also understand ‘Visarjan’ philosophically as the concept of returning to the source. It is through Visarjan that we understand that the Devata is universal, and can never be confined to a moorti. We can temporarily invoke him in a moorti form but ultimately we have to accept that he is universal. Similarly we also have to understand that we are also temporarily in this human form but our real form is also universal. As followers of Vedic dharma, we are all expected to dissolve our limited ego into the Eternal Self/ Parameshwar. This is Visarjan – completion/ fulfilment through a controlled return to a universal pervasiveness. Here Visarjan signifies the dissolution of this imaginative projection of the Eternal self on a temporary form.

So yes, we have to do the Visarjan of the Shri Ganapati Moorti in the waters. This is the physical action which we do every year, repeatedly. And every year we intend, that we be able to understand and assimilate the power of the Visarga in our consciousness. Expand..

Dr. Tejaswini Arvind Patil.