with Sri Ganesh

Along a veering curve in the journey –

This motion of yours Could be seen as an avoidance, But it is filled and vibrant With the power of harmony And equipped with The qualities –

Courage and valor and Transparency –

And it is illumined and ruled By the loving tender fire That knows best… And thus even This unexpected movement Is in balance And At peace…

Aum.

- 18-03-11:

… Just as I am getting ready to do the Aarti, Madhu and his wife arrive at the door and enter the shrine; I greet them with a polite “Namaskar”; they sit and concentrate on my work; then Madhu offers some money, fumbles around and offers a bundle of pure white cotton yarn (in the Jain tradition) and asks to step in and touch Sri Ganesh; then they move out of the shrine and sit outside before it. When it is clear to them that I am beginning the Aarti, the wife moves and sits very close to the door, watching intently, while Madhu remains seated a short distance away on the sitting area right in front of the shrine under the Service tree. Somehow I feel undisturbed and am able to sing normally to Sri Ganesh. When I come out, I feel like giving the wife a coconut as Prasad; then she follows after me and tells me she had just wanted to know how I apply the three “bindu tilakam” on the offered coconut (three dots of vermillion paste) at Sri Ganesh’s feet.

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