Friends in High Places

Messages from spirit can appear from anywhere and important ones often come as gifts; so I pay special attention to what people give me. Recently, my husband surprised me with an incredible gift. An East Indian woman he knows was returning to India for a spiritual pilgrimage and planned to visit several important Hindu shrines and temples. “Will you get something for my wife?” he asked. “Sure, what would she like?” she replied. “I don’t know, she likes all this stuff, so whatever you think.” She returned with a carved sandalwood statue of Ganesh.

A few years ago I was introduced to Ganesh unexpectedly. I was meditating one day and I saw a large stone elephant statue. It was weathered and worn and looked ancient. The statue then began to move, turned into a live elephant and dropped to the ground. Then a mouse dropped down beside the elephant and they began to dance, the elephant up on his hind legs and the mouse at his feet. I asked about the meaning of the vision and was told that the elephant was a deity. I didn’t know anything about eastern philosophy at the time, but I later learned after some internet research that it was Ganesh and the mouse is known to be his "mount". After reading about this revered Hindu deity, I was astonished and humbled to have encountered him in meditation and count him as one of my most cherished spirit guardians.

Lord Ganesh has many attributes but most commonly he is worshiped as the Lord of good fortune and the remover of obstacles. Ganesh is traditionally invoked at the beginning of endeavors; and he is also the patron of writers (an association I find particularly important and personally symbolic).

I was excited to set up an altar for the sacred statue, but was leaving for a trip to China the next day. So I carefully wrapped it back up until my return. I do a lot of flying, but had never been upgraded to first class. Ganesh was about to change that. The next day at the airport, I checked in at the desk, asking the Delta staffer: “Any chance for an upgrade?” “No, sorry,” she replied. After going through security, I headed out to the gate, not looking forward to the 13 hour flight in coach. At boarding time, the gate attendant scanned my boarding pass and a small slip of paper popped out of the machine. “Oh, you’re gonna like this!” he said. “Why, what is it?” I asked “You’ll find out when you get to the plane.” My first-class seat had been reserved by Lord Ganesh himself. As I snacked on a prawn cocktail and sipped my champagne, I gave thanks to the great Ganesh, who cleared the obstacles that had previously blocked my luxury status.

© Maria Hart 2016

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