Ma Ganga's bidding

 

Pre-script: This one is inspired by my conversation with one of the best devotees of Ma Ganga I have come across.

Who wouldn’t like to stay longer on the banks of Ma Ganga? But She would like Her children to be active in the world as well. To me Her maternal touch is like prasad. Even the little bit of it gives a feeling of getting satiated and fulfilled that buckets of normal food won’t give. Frankly speaking dear friends, I feel blessed and happy whatever time She allows me near Her for my learning and growth. Don’t you see those who are born on Her banks and stay there since birth are even more common and worldly than those born in cities far away? I mean most of them are. Because to them Her presence is like food, not prasad. They take it for granted. The people like you, me and countless others who get Her presence like prasad now and then are really blessed. She calls us at intervals, gives lessons and new realizations, sends us away to find the meaning of life, come back again, evolve a bit more by Her touch and go back again—a real prasad in small bits. But to those who stay with Her all the time She is mere food, in abundance, and thus taken for granted. So bow down and be grateful for the loving prasad She has given you.

We go to the temples but not all of us stay in a temple to feel blessed. We can carry the spark of divinity that we get from the temple. To me She is a living temple. And whatever chance She gives to have Her darshan is prasad. I know She would love me to do my worldly role, which I do with a very balanced approach. I just told my view dear friends. I’m not saying everyone should feel like that.

Maybe She sends us away when She feels that prasad ought not to become food. Separation with an assured coming together: the loveliest subtle twine that binds the deity and the devotee. Subtle and effective, just like silence is the best language.