with Sri Ganesh

… Unaccountably I have been very uptight and also struggling physically and the heat did not help; this tension is out of proportion with the external event, but there seems to be much more at stake, much more within it. And this is confirmed when, for instance, Arjun later needed to tell me how profoundly moved he had been when seeing Sri Ganesh and how he had nearly wept – coming from him, I can take it as a true statement… And for another instance, a lady came up to me, before leaving, to say how strong she had found the atmosphere to be and the vibration of Sri Ganesh in it and how deep must be, according to her, my “sadhana”… But, in general, I can see that everyone was happy, touched and impressed – mostly happy. Yet I feel like a wreck, wanting to sleep for a week, to bathe in milk, to be restored in a mountain source, to be fed the fruit of the Lord… … This year the inspiration was to celebrate the simple and true riches of this earth, with a prayer for human respect and care as the surest way to build humanity’s own unity. I dressed Sri Ganesh with a longi and a shawl of golden green with small quiet bursts of deep rose in it and a hem of gold, and placed a high crown of woven gold and colored stones upon his brow, a flower of Agni in the crook of his left arm and surrounded him with a bed of freshly cut darva grass upon which I laid ears of corn and rose petals and fruits green and red and large coconuts and ears of raggi and cambu millet, with a thick garland of jasmine outlining it all, punctuated by the oil lamps. There is a sort of rhythmic asymmetry that suggests a quiet whirling motion, as even the folds of his longi seem to be moving from left to right around his body… … Both Lakshmanben and Sushillaben came in, after 5 pm, with another, younger lady from the Ashram and Sushilla somehow got to reminisce on the early years and added a few gems to what I had previously heard, regarding this temple: it seems that, initially, the owner of the larger land now known as Auro Orchard had not wanted to sell this corner of it on which he, or his father, had erected the shrine to Sri Ganesh; when this was reported to You, it seems You categorically said that You wanted it, that You wanted the shrine to Sri Ganesh to be part of Auroville… This is very significant as it shows that You did not merely accept the condition laid later by the owner that daily service to Lord Ganesh

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