Sights to see on the way to Papa's Work

This very large Ganesha sits on top of a mountain in the Sahyadri Mountains between our hotel and Rene's work.  Rene passes it everyday, but hasn't had the chance to stop and visit it.  Benjamin, Dominique and I visited it on Saturday on the way to pick Rene up from work.  Benjamin loves elephants right now, so Ganesha is a big hit with him. 

The number 9 is an important number in Hinduism.  Here are some interesting figures.  This Ganesha statue is 72 feet tall (7+2=9).  It sits on a platform that is 18 feet high (1+8=9) and 54 feet wide (5+4=9).  This statue is relatively new.  It was completed on January 17, 2009 after 2 years of work.

Just to give you an idea another feeling of how important Ganesha is to the Hindus.  There is even a fancy Ganesha under a roof on the property of Rene's plant.  Even the one at Rene's work was decorated with fresh flowers.

Benjamin & Dominique

Next, we visited a temple that worships the God, Sai Baba.  One thing that is special about this God, is that he died less than 100 years ago, in 1918.  His belief was: "I look on all with an Equal Eye."  An outstanding aspect of Sai Baba is that He is beyond distinctions of religion, caste or creed. He embodied all religions and preached the Universal religion of Love.

Inside the temple there was a statue of the God.  People would walk up to him and pray and give him flowers.  There was a man at the front that acted as somewhat of an assistant to the god.  There was a rug in front of the God Statue.  The assistant seemed to be moving the rug around...possibly to gather the flowers.  I didn't get a close enough look to see if the worshippers went up onto the rug.  Outside the temple there were balconies dressed in fresh flowers.

Worshippers walking towards the front of temple to worship Sai Baba

Statue of Sai Baba

This building, which I'm not sure if it was part of the temple, was on the same property of the temple that we went in above.  Maybe it is also a temple.  This building didn't open until later in the evening, but we did admire the detailed architecture.

 

 

Benjamin admiring what he called "Peacocks"