Friday, July 30, 2010

Reminiscences

It is foolishness  to say ‘God does not bring good Fortune”

A man had married for the second time after his first wife died. When he met ShriMaharaj the day before Ganeshchaturthi* he said, 'At our home we do not follow the practice of installing annually the idol of Lord Ganesh, as He does not bring us good luck.' ShriMaharaj asked him, 'What makes you feel that He does not bring you good fortune?' He explained that on some earlier oc­casion, the idol of Lord Ganesh was installed and some-


one died soon afterwards. Since then the family had discontinued the practice of installing the idol of Lord Ganesh. Upon this ShriMaharaj said, 'God not being beneficial is an utterly incompatible thing. Saying that God does not bring good fortune is as ridiculous as, or even more so than, saying that one placed one's hand on ice and that it got burnt. Your first wife died. Thereafter you entered into a second marriage without imagining that a wife does not bring good fortune to you. It is foolish to say that God has been angry if someone dies. By all means do install this year the idol of Lord Ganesh in your home so as to  get rid of this belief.'
* Ganesh Chaturihi  : the fourth day of the light half of Bhadrapada, the sixth month in the Hindu calendar. In Maharashtra, and some other parts of India, the day is the beginning of the ten-day Ganesh Festival.