In plain words
Whoever has these three is elephant-faced, has elephant wisdom! All the children of today, criticising one another: “What, Gaṇapati has an elephant's head? That is very strange. If He had an elephant's head from birth, one could put Him on show!” they argue. To show that elephant wisdom, they gave Him an elephant's face. The festivals of the people of Bhārata are all full of inner meaning, not outward. Unfortunately, with the change of the times, today people develop only the outward side of everything. No one enquires into the inner feelings or the inner meanings. Calling them conveniences, calling them customs, people sink under blind customs. What these customs are like, I shall tell you with a small example. There was an old family. They kept to the ancient tradition. It had come down as their custom to perform the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata in their house on every full-moon day. In earlier times there was plenty of wealth and grain. Every house had plenty of grain. The priest who had conducted this vrata for many years died. A new priest came. The old woman who was mistress of the house asked, “Son! Do you know how to conduct the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata?” “Mother! Born a brāhmin, do I not know how to conduct the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata? Of course I know,” he said. In those days there was no coffee, tea or tiffin when people got up in the morning. They ate their meal at 9 o'clock. Only lately have they begun, idlis, dosas, vadas. In those days there was nothing of the kind. They would begin the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata as early as 5 in the morning. They would make ready what it needed the very night before. So he wrote out a list of everything needed for the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata and gave it to the old woman. “Get all these ready! I shall come at 5 tomorrow morning,” he said. The old woman looked at it. “Sir! You have forgotten our chief tradition,” she said. “What is it, mother! What tradition is that? Tell me, I shall listen,” said the new priest. “The night before, you must catch a cat, put it under a basket and go.