Ganesha Chaturthi

[Guest guest]

We celebrated Ganesha Chaturthi at the M.A. Center on 9/10/02. since

I'm fairly new, I don't know if this festival is usually celebrated

by Amma's children. I love Lord Ganesha and have delighted in

Ganesh Chathurthi and Visarjana which the Hindu Community in the Bay

Area has been celebrating since 1990 at San Francisco's Baker Beach.

 

As many of you know, Lord Ganehsa is the one in charge of placing and

removing obstacles. He even kept Lord Shiva from visiting Parvati at

one time, they say. Hindus pray to him before staring anything so

that obstacels to success will be removed. As many of you also know

he is the son of the goddess, created by her thoughts alone, to guard

her apartment so that she could have some quiet uninterrupted time.

Many mothers can understand that desire on the part of Ganesha's

divine mother.

 

Many devotees were able to make their own little Ganesha out of clay

the weekend before 9/10. I had to be away at a retreat with people

in my college department but previously I had playfully made three

prints of Lord Ganesha. Devotees each did their own little puja

either to the clay Ganesha, or to a tunmeric cone representing him. I

gave two of my little prints away and used one myself for puja. We

each were given kumkum, sandal paste and flower petals. Some people

also had a small lamp and incense.

 

Br. Dayamrita performed the Ganesha Puja on the platform while Swami

Ramakrishnananda led us in mental worship and read the 108 names of

Lord Ganeshe which I was hearing again happily after a long time. We

each offered flower petals or incense or the light, imagining

offering whatever we might not have had. Afterward, many Ganesha

bhajans were sung and everyone felt happy. Someone had made sweets

for Ganesha and we enjoyed them as prasad.

 

The next day was 9/11, and the media was abuzz will remembrances.

When I went to work, I received two telephone calls one after the

other. Both were telling news indicating the removal of huge

obstacles. I have been doing my best regarding an apparently unfair

action in my workplace. Stated simply, about 80 coworkers and I were

brought into a labor union with no say in the matter. One calls told

me that the National Labor Relations Board agrees that a complaint be

filed against my company and the union involved.

 

There is more. The regional board has sent the case to Washington, DC

and has recommended that we receive injunctive relief. Apparently,

this is an extremely rare move. If a federal injunction is issued,

all changes which made us union members would have to be reversed

(dues repaid, benefits changed back) pending an administative law

judge's decision that the change was lawful. While the Bush

appointee has not issued injunctions requested, perhaps this one will

appeal to him/her since it costs the company less than those which

require rehiring thousnads of workers.

 

Jaya Ganesha!

 

Aikya