Bigger India
The Dark And Comical Side Of Americans’ Fascination With Indian Spiritualism
The New Age community’s disenchantment with the mainstream can have funny and, at times, grim consequences.
A bookish, bespectacled man in his forties with a fedora on his head walked onto a neon-lit stage decorated with fluorescent tapestries of Ganesha, Shiva, Vishnu, Lakshmi and Kali and started rapping. The staccato rhythm of the lyrics was punctuated by his propulsive body language: “Ganesh is so fresh chillin on his throne / surrounded by incense fruit and gold / With a heap of sweets piled in his bowl / he guards the gate and protects the threshold / When your blessed by Ganesh than you can travel / on a sacred journey to an inner temple / He paves the path that leads to the soul / & he’s known for removing all obstacles / Now some may think it’s illogical / a myth or it’s just philosophical / But Ganesh makes everything possible / because elephant power’s unstoppable.”