with Sri Ganesh

Auroville, and asked whether she would be willing to look after the shrine to Sri Ganesh, which was just less than a mile away from “Promesse”, besides her other duties. Kusum had serious misgivings: firstly, being born and raised as a Jain, she had neither the knowledge not the inclination to do this ritual worship; and secondly, having come to the Mother for a spiritual life manifesting in work and progress, she could not see how to reconcile a religious activity such as the daily care of a Hindu god with her service to Auroville. Her questions and hesitations were related to the Mother who simply replied that it was alright, all she had to do was to give proper care with her heart, nothing else was asked of her. It was thus that Kusum Shah began her daily routine of attending to the shrine of Sri Ganesh; after completing her house chores, she would walk over to the temple, which had its little fenced compound, and clean and offer a few flowers and make sure everything was harmonious. Then she would walk back and join her duties at “Promesse”. This routine she followed for the rest of her life. Over the years, her relationship with Lord Ganesh developed quietly, and both the local people and a number of devotees connected to the Ashram, for whom Lord Ganesh was from childhood a living reality, seeing her simple and straightforward dedication and the care with which she tended the shrine and its tiny garden all by herself, grew fond of visiting now and then and, sometimes, they would offer a little money to help Kusum with the basic maintenance. Once a year, Kusum observed the day of Lord Ganesh, celebrated throughout the country, “Ganesh Chaturthy”, as the one concession to traditional rituals; the gate to the temple would be open to all on that particular day and Kusum would invite a singer from the Ashram who would chant some slokas to Lord Ganesh, and she would welcome everyone and distribute laddus to each and all. The community of Auroville, however, was as a rule quite uninterested, and most of us actually ignored even the existence of this shrine, distant as it was from all Auroville activities. Because it was quite isolated – the closest Auroville settlement was the Farm of Auro-Orchard, about three hundred meters away across the fields – and yet easily accessible from both the Main Road and the secondary road to Edayachavadi, there would occasionally occur some minor theft, or act of vandalism or ill-will from some drunken men from the area.

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