Loving Ganesha: Chapter 13 (Section 2) - Around the World -- Paribhuvanam

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Namaste all,

 

Continuing the wonderful book Loving Ganesha : ) This section is from

http://www.himalayanacademy.com/books/lg/lg_ch-13.html

 

Om Shanti,

 

Neil

 

 

The religion of the earliest known North American Indians bears many analogies

to and apparently has sprung up from the same ultimate sources as our own

venerable Sanatana Dharma, a fact that is evidenced by their rituals and

religious beliefs and symbols. One of Lord Ganesha's oldest symbols, the

swastika, was one of the central motifs used in the designs and patterns of

many American Indian tribes and is still seen today in their beautiful blankets

and pottery. So the great God Ganesha is not really new to the Western

countries, but quite old. His recent coming into prominence is more our

remembering Him in lands where He has always been. But it is in this twentieth

century, in the decades of the '70s and '80S, that Lord Ganesha has come to be

traditionally enshrined in magnificent multi-million-dollar Hindu temples. We

find Him in New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Concord, Livermore, Fremont, Denver,

Houston, Nashville, Edmonton in Canada and hundreds of other places. These

shrines have brought forth the murti, or physical image, of Ganesha as

Gajanana, the Elephant-Faced. His strong footing now in all the major Hindu

communities in the West is a great blessing and a joyous time for all.

Ganesha's presence in North America at the beginning of the growth of Agamic

Hinduism in the West ensures its success.

As Hinduism emerged in North America in the twentieth century, Ganesha led the

way. One of the first traditional temples to be built was the large Maha

Ganapati Temple in Flushing, New York. As each community sought guidance and

direction in establishing religious roots, I constantly urged the trustees of

each temple society, who came seeking guidance from Kauai's Hindu Monastery in

the Hawaiian Island chain, to first begin their congregations in the worship of

Ganesha in order for their temple to come up quickly. We would often present the

group with large or small stone images of the great God and give them the

blessings for His worship to begin. Thus, at many a new temple site, a Ganesha

image was established in a small shrine while construction and fund raising

proceeded. This occurred in Fiji, Edmonton, Livermore, Fremont, Salt Lake City,

Houston, Denver, Chicago, Lansing, Bethesda, London, Germany and elsewhere.

Priests were brought from India, devotees flocked to the shrines, the worship

began, and the funds to construct the temple began to flow. This practice has

now become a tradition in the West as Hindus have learned from experience that

once Lord Ganesha is worshiped, it is actually He who builds the temple in a

most wonderful and inspiring way, and they are His helpers.

Visions of Lord Ganesha

Lord Ganesha's vivified presence in the Western world has already culminated in

many special visions of Him by both born and formally converted Hindus living

in North and South America. In hopes of spiriting onward the worldwide

fellowship of Hindus around the globe, a few such visions will be included here

anonymously.

Lord Ganesha has been worshiped here and there in North and South America in

many small ways by devotees from India for many years since the turn of the

century. But not until events in the early 1970s brought about the building of

a large and very expensive Ganesha temple in New York did Lord Ganesha take up

a formal public residence. The sequence of events leading up to this temple

affirmed for our modern times the ancient tradition wherein the Deity Himself

decides when and where His temple is to be built. It is not a man or a woman or

a group of people who make that decision on the whim of personal inspiration.

Rather, the Deity, the God, informs us that the time has come for His temple to

come up and then we, in turn, proceed to help Him manifest it in the material

world. The message from the God containing the direction of when and where to

build His home is traditionally given by Him to holy men, gurus, swamis or

sants who are respected by the community and are in personal touch with the

Gods. Such religious leaders also have spiritual insight into the religious

progress of the community. Lord Ganesha may strengthen the instructions of such

holy men through a dream or vision to a devotee.

The Maha Ganapati Temple in Flushing, New York, began with two gentlemen from

India who had been living in New York for several years. One of these hailed

from a long line of temple builders; the other was a devout man who performed

regular religious and yoga sadhana. This man had returned to India. He had a

vision one night. He found himself soaring high above New York City until he

came above an abandoned church in an area near his former residence. He came

over the steeple, which opened as he moved down to land in front of the altar.

Lo! there on the altar was Lord Ganapati Himself, who said nothing to him but

just smiled. Immediately upon awakening, with his heart filled with love and

the vision of the Great God still fresh in his inner mind, this sant phoned the

temple builder who was then serving at the United Nations in New York. The

temple builder asked him to come to New York right away. Travel arrangements

were made, and within 24 hours the two of them were driving around the Queens

section of New York in search of Lord Ganapati's new home. They finally came

upon the old Christian church that was the very one seen in the vision and

which was for sale at the time! There could be no doubt that Lord Ganesha had

come and had shown where to put His temple. The building was subsequently

purchased. After many years of hard work, with the blessings and sanction of

Shrilashri Pandrimalaiswami, Lord Ganesha was installed and consecrated in an

orthodox shrine to receive traditional public worship. Meanwhile, nearly

halfway around the world on the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii in the

Pacific Ocean, a small murti of Lord Ganesha was being worshiped at a seashore

shrine by my Saiva Siddhanta devotees. A sixteen-year-old kumari girl who lived

nearby had been performing regular daily puja and chanting at the site. Her

devotion was blessed with several visions of the Deities Ganesha and Murugan.

During April of 1980, at the time that new murtis of Lord Ganesha and Lord

Murugan were being delivered to their temporary residence at another devotee's

home farther down the hillside, this young lady looked out from her home and

saw the Lords Ganesha and Murugan walking in a circle of blue light up toward

the seashore shrine. She described them as completely bedecked with flowers,

Ganesha dressed in white and Murugan in orange. The Murugan murti was that of

Palani, the renunciate, and this is how He appeared in the vision. She also

reported having seen Lord Ganesha on two other occasions sitting serenely at

the site of His new shrine, gazing silently at her with doe-like eyes.

Just a few months later, another of my devotees in Hawaii, an older woman who

had been doing sadhana, was sitting in meditation when her satguru appeared

before her. He started to ascend upward in this vision, and she clutched his

robes and went up with him until her strength failed and she fell back down.

Before she landed, Lord Ganesha caught her in His trunk and took her back up to

where her satguru was seated in front of two large golden doors which opened

into the world of the Gods. Lord Ganesha gently set her down on the threshold

next to her beloved guru, she said.

 

Loving Ganesha by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

 

Web sites: http://www.hindu.org/ & http://www.himalayanacademy.com/

email: contact (AT) hindu (DOT) org

Himalayan Academy Kauai's Hindu Monastery107 Kaholalele RoadKapaa, HI 96746-9304

 

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