Ganesha: The Lord of Success and destroyer of Evils
Compiled By Ajay Joshi
Academic Misportrayals of Lord Ganesha
Courtesy: The Hindu American Foundation
Lord Ganesha or “Gajanana” (the deity with the head of an elephant) is one of the commonest mnemonics for anything associated with Hinduism. This not only suggests the importance of Lord Ganesha, but also shows how popular and pervasive he is in the minds of the masses.
The son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati,
Lord Ganesha has a curved trunk and big ears, and a huge pot-bellied
body of a human being. He is the Lord of success and destroyer of
evils and obstacles. He is also worshipped as the god of education,
knowledge, wisdom and wealth. In fact, Ganesha
is one of the five prime Hindu deities (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and
Durga being the other four) whose icon is
glorified as the panchayatana
puja.
The
devotees of Ganesha are known as 'Ganapatyas',
and the festival to celebrate and glorify his birth is called Ganesh Chaturthi (Chaturthi signifies the 4th day of the month).
A recent online petition generated by a group of Hindu students [belonging to the Hindu Students Council, HSC] at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette (U.S.A.), set in motion a succession of events that continue to galvanize the Hindu-American community to an unprecedented extent. The successful petition objected to a series of profane and slanderous interpretations of Lord Ganesha, a beloved Hindu manifestation of the Divine, which were published by Dr. Paul Courtright, Professor and Interim Chairman of the Department of Religion, Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.), in his book, Ganesa: Lord of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings (reissued 2001, Motilal Banarasidas).
Renowned scholars have rejected Freudian psychoanalytic paradigms for their inadequacy to interpret faith and mysticism. Yet Prof. Courtright used those very techniques in his obscene misinterpretation of Lord Ganesha.
This desecration—that compelled the students to action— was first exposed to a larger audience by the epochal work of Rajiv Malhotra. In an essay entitled, RISA Lila-1: Wendy’s Child Syndrome, and published on the Indian webzine Sulekha, Mr. Malhotra published his exposé of the misrepresentations and misinterpretations of Indic religious traditions that have acquired legitimacy in Western academia for a variety of reasons. It was in that essay that Mr. Malhotra adopted the role of a whistleblower of sorts, called the bluff of these sloppy academics, and surveyed the asymmetries in power, knowledge manufacturing, and distribution that have allowed a small group of self-declared Hinduism “experts” to serve as gatekeepers for interpretation of Hinduism in the West. They diminish various manifestations of God, as worshiped by Hindus, into laughable mythical caricatures; they assail the sanctity of the Bhagavad Gita as nothing more than a violent call to arms; they assault the morality of Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, two of the most prominent Hindu saints of the 19th century as pedophilic homosexuals.MORE
Recipe of "Modak" : Sweet Steamed Dumplings
by Lavanya Deshmukh
Lord Ganesh's favorite sweet is the Modak. These are like sweet steamed rice (flour) dumplings. It is customary to make these on the very first day of this festival. They are very delicate and tender.
The above shape is called a "modak" shape. Many pedhas too are shaped like this and sold at this time in many Indian sweet stores. It does take practice to make this delicate dessert. The inside is filled with a coconut and jaggery filling. First these special sweets are prepared and offered to god as "naivedya" and then distributed as "prasad" to family and friends.
Prepare the filling first.
For the filling
2 cup shredded
fresh coconut
1 cup jaggery or sugar
1/2 cup a mixture of unsalted pistachios and unsalted cashews.
1/2 cup Milk
1/2 a pinch of cardamom powder
To prepare the
filling, mix the coconut, milk & jaggery or sugar together and
cook on a medium flame. Stir continuously until they are mixed properly.
If you are using sugar the mixture will start to caramelize and
bubble. Add the cashews and pistachios. Cook for another minute.
Lastly ad the cardamom powder. Mix well. Let it cool.
Set aside.
For the outer cover
1 cup rice flour
1 cup water
1 teaspoon ghee
1/2 teaspoon salt
Boil 1 cup of water. When it has reached a steady boil, add ghee, salt and oil. Now immediately add the rice flour and stir quickly so as to remove all lumps. Cover with a lid for some time. Remove the lid & stir again & again, cover again.
Note : The dough should be neither too sticky nor too dry.
Now remove pan from the heat. Take off all the mixture on a flat plate. Knead it thoroughly while hot. Make a soft dough. Keep covered aside.
To make the modaks
It is best to make the modaks when the dough is slightly warm.Grease the palms of your hands well. Take a ball of dough. Flatten the dough to form a cup shape. Place about 3/4th teaspoon coconut filling into this cup. Dip thumb & index finger in the oil & make 5-6 small pinches side by side on the outside edges of the cup. Bring them together on top and join to form a peak. Your modak is complete. This should look like a whole garlic pod. . Place the modak on a pre greased plate.
Make the rest of the modaks. Place them on a pre-greased plate. Steam for about 15 minutes. Serve with ghee.
Pakistan: The Footprints of Terror
By K.P.S. Gill
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September 7: An Al Qaeda-linked Saudi terrorist, identified as Abdullah, is arrested from a house at Shakas village in the Jamrud district, about 25 kilometers west of Peshawar. According to Dawn, he had lived in the area for many years and that he had been arrested once before, in the late 1990s. September 1: The security agencies are reported to have arrested two foreigners, including a man believed to be a senior Al Qaeda operative, during a raid in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, said official sources. The suspects, an Egyptian identified as Sharif Al Misri and Saudi national Abdul Hakeem, were arrested on August 29 from the Ghausabad area of Quetta. August 30: Two Arabs were reportedly arrested from the Hayatabad area in Peshawar on suspicion of being Al Qaeda operatives.
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August 23: Security forces are reported to have killed four Uzbek terrorists during an encounter in the Miranshah area of North Waziristan. August 22: President Pervez Musharraf discloses that a Libyan Al Qaeda suspect masterminded the two assassination attempts on him during December 2003. He is "the mastermind behind the two plots," Gen. Musharraf said this in an interview to the Time magazine, to be published on Aug 30. August 17: Security agencies in Lahore have reportedly arrested two more Al Qaeda suspects for their alleged involvement in a suicide attack on Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz. Muhammad Shafiq is suspected to be Taliban chief Mulla Mohammed Omar’s close aide while Abu Hamza is an Al Qaeda operative from Myanmar. MORE.
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