What Happens to the Energy of Ganesha After Visarjan?
Riya Kumari | Aug 18, 2025, 23:58 IST
Ganesha
( Image credit : Pixabay )
Highlight of the story: Visarjan looks like a farewell. The idol is carried with music, flowers, and tears. We place Him into the water and watch as He disappears. But if you stop here, you’ve only seen the ritual, not the meaning. Because the question that lingers is: what happens to the energy of Ganesha after He’s gone from our sight?
Every year, as Ganesha is brought home, He comes with the joy of arrival. And every year, as visarjan approaches, He reminds us of the truth of departure. We welcome with music, and we bid farewell with music. But the ritual is not simply a cycle of arrival and leaving, it is a lesson about the nature of divine energy itself. What happens to Ganesha’s energy after visarjan is not disappearance, but transformation.
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad says: “Eko devo sarvabhūteṣu gūḍhaḥ, sarvavyāpī sarvabhūtāntarātmā”, The One Lord dwells hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the inner self of all. The idol we worship is temporary, made of earth, water, and human hands.
But the energy we invoke into it through mantras, prayers, and devotion is eternal. When the clay dissolves, the energy does not end, it returns to its natural state, spread across creation, resting within the hearts of those who invoked it.
The Vedas describe water as a purifier, a carrier of subtle energies, and the basis of all life. “Āpohisthā mayobhuvaḥ, tā na ūrje dadhātana” (Rigveda 10.9.1) “Waters are the source of joy; may they bestow strength upon us.”
When Ganesha is immersed, His energy enters the water, and through water, it spreads into the earth and the lives it nourishes. The act reminds us that divinity cannot be owned. It flows. It belongs to all.
The Bhagavad Gita (2.20) says of the Self: “Na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin… nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo” “The soul is never born and never dies. It is eternal, everlasting, and ancient.” Visarjan is a gentle way of teaching this truth. The form of Ganesha may dissolve, but His essence remains, eternal, unchanging.
What we worshipped in clay is meant to be recognized now in formlessness: in the stillness of our mind, in the courage to begin again, in wisdom that stays when rituals end.
The Ganapati Atharvashirsha declares: “Tvam māyātvam brahmāsi, tvam viṣṇurasi, tvam rudrasi”, “You are the universe itself, You are Brahma, You are Vishnu, You are Rudra.” This is the hidden lesson: Ganesha is not only an external presence; He is within.
The visarjan is not about sending Him away, but about absorbing Him into ourselves. Until visarjan, we look at Him outside us. After visarjan, we are asked to carry Him inside us, in our patience, our clarity, our fearlessness in facing obstacles.
The Puranas describe life itself as a cycle of appearance and dissolution. Everything that takes form must dissolve, yet nothing truly ends. Visarjan reflects this eternal rhythm. It trains the heart to let go without grief, to release with faith. Not because what we love is gone, but because what is real can never leave.
After visarjan, Ganesha remains in the prayers we continue, in the wisdom we apply, in the courage we summon when obstacles arise. His energy does not sink into the water, it rises into our actions. The external clay returns to earth; the inner presence awakens in us.
Final Thought:
Visarjan is not farewell, it is a return. The clay returns to clay. The water returns to water. And Ganesha returns to the heart, where He was always meant to be. As the Chandogya Upanishad says: “Tat tvam asi”, That divine essence, you are. So, what happens to Ganesha’s energy after visarjan? It doesn’t vanish. It becomes you.
The Idol Is Clay, the Energy Is Eternal
ganesha
( Image credit : Pixabay )
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad says: “Eko devo sarvabhūteṣu gūḍhaḥ, sarvavyāpī sarvabhūtāntarātmā”, The One Lord dwells hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the inner self of all. The idol we worship is temporary, made of earth, water, and human hands.
But the energy we invoke into it through mantras, prayers, and devotion is eternal. When the clay dissolves, the energy does not end, it returns to its natural state, spread across creation, resting within the hearts of those who invoked it.
Why Immersion in Water?
Ganesh
( Image credit : Pixabay )
The Vedas describe water as a purifier, a carrier of subtle energies, and the basis of all life. “Āpohisthā mayobhuvaḥ, tā na ūrje dadhātana” (Rigveda 10.9.1) “Waters are the source of joy; may they bestow strength upon us.”
When Ganesha is immersed, His energy enters the water, and through water, it spreads into the earth and the lives it nourishes. The act reminds us that divinity cannot be owned. It flows. It belongs to all.
From Form to Formless
Ganesh
( Image credit : Pixabay )
The Bhagavad Gita (2.20) says of the Self: “Na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin… nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo” “The soul is never born and never dies. It is eternal, everlasting, and ancient.” Visarjan is a gentle way of teaching this truth. The form of Ganesha may dissolve, but His essence remains, eternal, unchanging.
What we worshipped in clay is meant to be recognized now in formlessness: in the stillness of our mind, in the courage to begin again, in wisdom that stays when rituals end.
The Inner Visarjan
Ganesh Chaturthi
( Image credit : Pixabay )
The Ganapati Atharvashirsha declares: “Tvam māyātvam brahmāsi, tvam viṣṇurasi, tvam rudrasi”, “You are the universe itself, You are Brahma, You are Vishnu, You are Rudra.” This is the hidden lesson: Ganesha is not only an external presence; He is within.
The visarjan is not about sending Him away, but about absorbing Him into ourselves. Until visarjan, we look at Him outside us. After visarjan, we are asked to carry Him inside us, in our patience, our clarity, our fearlessness in facing obstacles.
Letting Go Without Losing
Lord Ganesha
( Image credit : Pixabay )
The Puranas describe life itself as a cycle of appearance and dissolution. Everything that takes form must dissolve, yet nothing truly ends. Visarjan reflects this eternal rhythm. It trains the heart to let go without grief, to release with faith. Not because what we love is gone, but because what is real can never leave.
After visarjan, Ganesha remains in the prayers we continue, in the wisdom we apply, in the courage we summon when obstacles arise. His energy does not sink into the water, it rises into our actions. The external clay returns to earth; the inner presence awakens in us.