Personal Narrative: How Ganesha Wins the Mango I went to South India in search of source.  Having practiced Meditation, Yoga, and Tantra in over a dozen foreign countries, I'll admit I'm on a pretty intense spiritual quest, and India holds a certain allure; a certain uncertainty. Among other miracles, India is the birthplace of Buddha.      My pilgrimage began a few months ago in Kanyakumari. It is the southernmost point of India, the meeting point of three oceans, and a significant spiritual destination for both Hindu and Christian pilgrims. We went to a temple dedicated to the youthful virgin aspect of Shiva's wife, who holds the energy of Mother Mary.      My tantra teacher instructed me to meditate on my innocence, to begin my journey with the beginners mind. But first, before I begin anything, I must always invoke the spirit of the Elephanted headed God, Lord Ganesha. Ganesha has four arms, two legs, a big round belly, an rides around town on a tiny rat.

Many know Ganesha as god of wisdom, or the remover of obstacles. I had previously experienced Ganesha as the only religious icon I can teach to young yoga students in both Catholic and public schools without getting in trouble, because his physical appearance is so absurd the authorities couldn't see a cartoon character threatening to their religion.      I had heard Ganesha was popular in India, but I didn't expect he'd be the one constant presence sitting at the entrance of all 30 temples I visited in about 30 days. One day I awoke from my meditation realizing the nature of this purification ritual. In order to truly commune with the divine energy within the temple, one must first be willing to suspend their critical mind and making peace with the cartoon-like God outside the temple. Letting go of judgment is a prerequisite to meditation. Thus, it is through Ganesha that one may transcend the mind and deepen the experience of spirit.       I asked my teacher to talk about the significance of deity, and he told me this Tantric version of an ancient myth:

One day, Mother and Father: Shiva and Parvati make sweet love and their passion produces a mango. They decide to give the fruit to one of their two sons, Lord Ganesha or Lord Muruga. However, they believe the fruit should be eaten and enjoyed in it¹s entirety, so they had to decide which son is worthy of such a gift. Shiva asks the boys to go around the earth and whoever came back first was to be the recipient of the mango. Lord Muruga climbed on his faithful peacock and flew around the earth with great strength. Lord Ganesha did not want to climb on his little mouse. He knew he couldn't win. So he meditated. And when he awoke, he walked around his parents, bowed before them and declared that his parents represented the whole world to him. After which they gifted him the mango!       The tantric interpretation of this tale is that the union of polarities, Male and Female, produced the entire world. All of life is created and touched by mother earth and father sky.  Each stone, wood or metal statue in India has its respective mythology. India is thus brimming with such magnificent stories.  Parables exquisitely designed to distract the mind, while piercing the heart with a deeper spiritual teaching.  Christ and Buddha both taught with the use of parables.

While traveling, I observed a cartoon like quality characterized many aspects of daily life: -Expensive and colorful silk sari's dragging through mud. -Complicated healing practices with painful rituals to purify the body. -Sacred animals choking on plastic trash while vegetarian sheperds go hungry.  -Paying only pennies for obscene and overwhelming amounts of flavorful food while lepers and beggars faint from hunger at the steps of our restaurant.

I also witnessed many obstacles worthy of Ganesha's removal: -Thick, debilitating smog from industry and traffic. -Deafening marching-band-like music in otherwise peaceful temples. -Long, slow waits for any/all administrative transactions. -Unspeakable kitchen and bathroom conditions. -And most of all, the devastating poverty and illness abound.

I wish this type of travel only on the very brave, or the very naive. Ultimately, the biggest lesson I learned from Ganesha is that the mind is he greatest obstacle. Instead of traveling all around the world in search of knowledge and enlightenment, I can sit still and experience that the divine gift of who I am, is eternally here, now.

This Picture was taken at the steps of a temple where Swami Vivikenanda was self-realized.The man in orange is my Tantra Teacher, the woman to his left is his partner, Michael and I are sitting on the right and our driver is in the upper left hand corner. This very spot was hit by the tsunami just a few weeks after we left.  Our Plane lifted off only two hours before the historic trajic disaster.

Don't Drink The Punch is the title of Kamala Devi's book in progress.  This edgy novel is about a spiritual seeker in perpetual pursuit of truth and pleasure (not necessarily in that order.) From the brothels of Bangkok to the Temples of India, we follow a skeptic filmmaker and his hopelessly God-drunk girlfriend through a heart-opening and health-jeapordizing spiritual odessy.  The book transends genres of self-help, memoirs, erotica and humor. If you're interested in either supporting Kamala in the process, or purchasing a copy when it's complete around New Years 2006.

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