When Lord Ganesh Came In The Form Of A Tree

Bhubaneswar: Worshipping trees is an age-old tradition in the country. But when the tree comes in the form of Lord Ganesh there is all the more reason to do so. By doing so on Thursday, Bakul Foundation served to noble purposes: worshipping the Lord and protecting the environment.

The foundation members worshipped the tree in the form of Ganesh at the Bakul library premises here in Satya Nagar on Thursday. The tree was looking like Ganesh with eyes and trunk drawn on it.

“We always try link our culture with the trees. On occasions like Rakhi Purnima, Teachers’ Day, Diwali, Fathers’ Day, Mothers’ Day and Friendship Day etc., we try to promote gifting trees as a cultural practice,” said Bakul Foundation founder Sujit Mahapatra.

“God also has a link with the forest. Earlier, humans worshipped trees, which made life possible and brought the rains as well as trapped the rains. Lord Ganesh also connects both the animal and human worlds. With these thoughts, we took this step to worship the tree as Ganesh on the occasion,” he added.

“We also gave saplings to the people as prasad. At the end of the Puja, we organised a story-telling session. We told stories on Lord Ganesh and trees,” said Mahapatra.

To promote the idea of gifting trees, Bakul Foundation had a combo offer on Rakhi Purnima. Devotees were giving saplings and ‘Rakhis’ with seeds on it that one can sow and grow.

The foundation organised a ‘Gift a Plant’ drive under its ‘My Tree Campaign’ with its volunteers meeting passersby and requesting them to buy and gift plants to their fathers to mark the day. The campaign also carried a beautiful message, “Give your father another gift that grows. Give him a tree.”