Ganesha is in the body of a human, with the head of an elephant. His belly is large and rounded, he has the large ears and trunk of an elephant.
I like this deity very much. I am attracted to his powerful look and his task. Ganesha stands at the beginning of every path, removing obstacles. Each path is only one of countless paths. And we must invoke Ganesha so as to deftly cross whichever of those paths. Ganesha does nothing for us.
To turn to him is to turn to one’s own attention. We need attention to give in to the path.
Many Indians keep a figure of Ganesha in their car so he can help them to e.g. successfully pass all obstacles in traffic. I am thinking of hanging a figure on my rearview mirror. With its appearance and meaning it is the type I like: a recollection of attention. For the sake of attention. Not because of a possible accident. For the sake of respecting the space in which I drive. Not because of a competition of how to get to the end goal the fastest.
I am taking a story for a walk. Nothing more.
It is easy to wear, easy to wrap up, an embroidered sari, or an imaginatively woven silk sari for weddings, parties, and other occasions! They caress and bring forth a woman’s beauty. In Out-of-India, Rue Joseph le Brix 9, 13405 there are all sorts of saris. Enough choice to get lost from one to the other and each a different told or possible story. Sari (Hindi, f., साड़ी, sāṛī), is an unsewn skirt with a one-sided wrapping on a woman’s shoulder.
And then the scarves, the materials, bright colors, all in the small space of a wooden, prefabricated house, in a garden – it is difficult to determine whether it is a store or a storage space.
One gets through the garden to the house by stepping on stone slabs arranged into a path in the grass.
Out-of-India is located in the French quarter, built and kept this way since the time of the division of Berlin – this was the part under French control.
We had to close our store – workshop – in a different location and move here; they weren’t able to wrestle the losses that Covid-19 brought.
To the question of where their interest and commitment to India comes from:
Spirituality connected us, says the owner, and the man confirms this, gesturing with his head.
I am taking a story for a walk. Nothing more.
Osho, as Chandra Mohan Jain calls himself (चन्द्र मोहन जैन; born 1931, died 1990), is an Indian philosopher, the founder of the so-called Bhagwan movement. Alvina and Jayen, the owners of this store, are his followers. They advertise their business with the slogan “Stoffe die verzaubern” (Fabrics that enchant).
To my question what is, in one sentence, the most important of Osho’s teachings. Alvina immediately, without thinking, responds with a gesture of a folded palm towards herself, her selfhood, from her chest into the depth to the center.
And with words, she dispels the possibility of orientation to external effects and an attachment to something and someone external.
The two of them learned directly from the teacher Osho, learned, they say, during their long and frequent stays in India.
I am taking a story for a walk. Nothing more.
Come with me. I invite you.
