with Sri Ganesh

Regarding the Mother’s first direct contact with Sri Ganesh, this is how She recounted it in a letter to Madanlal: “…In 1930 we were having regular meditations in the Prosperity hall, on the significance of flowers. At one of these meditations, quite unexpectedly, Ganesh appeared suddenly to my inner view. He was of golden light and surrounded by a very luminous golden aura. His form was the usual one as on the images. It was the first time I ever saw him and I expressed some surprise over his sudden apparition. Then he told me, ‘You see I am a living being quite real and concrete – and to give you a concrete proof of my reality I shall send to you henceforth all the money you will need’. And on the promise he disappeared. He has kept his promise for years and the money was coming abundantly. Then in 1939 the second world war was started and everything got spoiled. However, the true financial difficulties started only ten years later in 1949. Since then it is a struggle… But if now you involve Ganesh sincerely, he may resume his good offices, through you. It can be tried…” Mother is also recorded to have stated the following: “Ganesh is the God of success in work and wealth. His vehicle is the mouse. What does the mouse do? It picks up everything it finds and stores it in his hole. This capacity of collecting and giving everything its value, this is what helps us to succeed in work and to enrich us. From the mouse we also learn his tireless capacity for work. These are the qualities that make a human being successful.” Sometimes I would present Kusum, on such occasions as her birthday, with a new book on Lord Ganesh, and we would look at the pictures and representations, and study a little of the texts. For some years, Kusum and I would also share some duties at Matrimandir, receiving visitors to the Inner Chamber; I presented her once with a colored drawing I had made, inspired by a concrete sense of Ganesh’s presence which had grown in me, as if he himself was standing as one of us guardians and servitors in the Chamber dedicated to the Mother’s Force: simply standing, bare torso, just a little of a belly, wearing a plain dhoti, his two arms at his side, looking

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