with Sri Ganesh

Can only know true surrender Through human souls…

And you, Sri Ganesh, Pace everywhere, With clean and nourishing Joy.

… A rather bizarre situation developed in the afternoon: I first got a phone call at home from Ramesh, of the Security Service, asking whether our statue of Sri Ganesh had been stolen, as he’d just been informed by the police that one had been found nearby; but when he added that it was a metal statue, it became clear it couldn’t be ours, since it is in stone. But a little while later Kumar, of Orchard, phoned me, explaining that the metal statue had been found lying in the bush right inside the fence next to the gate and that the police was now guarding it. And so I had to drive back here. And this is very odd: it is an exquisite work of art and craftsmanship, a 2 1/2’ brass figure of Ganesha dancing, his right foot raised. I tried for a moment to insist that this might be a donation to Sri Ganesh, since it was deposited inside the compound and not in a public space, but these people, a couple of police officers in civilian clothes and some of the local Tahsildar people are only interested in somehow profiting from the incident… It seems they were alerted by someone who had been eating his lunch sitting on the stone bench outside the gate and seen the statue, lying face down in the leaves and dirt under the bushes and creepers… It is a little strange that I did not see it myself while sweeping the gate area in the morning, as it is doubtful it could have been brought there in full daylight, in view of all the many people driving and walking by… To clear this situation, I just dove into the bush among the thorns and, with my hands wrapped in Kumar’s shirt and my scarf, pulled the statue up and out into the open and stood it under the arch of the gate and we all marveled at it; Kumar took a number of photographs with his cell phone. Then I took the officers inside to have a darshan of Sri Ganesh and walked them back out and closed the gate and drove away. At first I had a mixed feeling: I felt sad that I hadn’t seen it earlier and saved it from these people who will not be able to appreciate it and care for it and honor such a beautiful creation, as if I had failed Sri

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