My story:
I had a very big project over the weekend: upgrading the operating system of one of our computer systems. These computers are in the mainframe class. They run various warehouse distribution, software development, financial applications, among other things. In short, they run the business.
I put a picture of Lord Ganesha on my desk and prayed to him that it go smoothly Usually they do. I began the process, but right out of the gate it failed. It was one nightmare failure after another, to the point that at this moment it is still not running properly, even having rolled back to the previous version.
In conversations with IBM hardware and software support, I came to find out that all the upfront and background research and preparation was not done, as I thought. Guess whose responsibility it was. Why I didn't have all the preparations is typical IBM mis- and missing information. I couldn't know what information was missing or what I should know if I couldn't find anything; you don't know what you don't know. So maybe I can't be blamed.
So how do the gods enter into this? We tend to think (or I did, anyway) that Ganesha would hear my prayers and decide "yeah ok, I'll make it smooth sailing for him". After the failures my first inclination was to look at the picture and say "why? I prayed for help". Admittedly I was a bit perturbed. Then I realized he didn't have anything to do with it. He was not going to change what was already ordained to happen. What needed to be done was already set by IBM. There was no way in this case that what was set to happen was going to magically or divinely change. Karma? No, I don't believe so because this could happen to any other system administrator (and probably has).
So the point, and I do have one: we can't blame the gods for everything or expect that they'll change what may already be in place to happen. I see and read about people praying for certain things, and then getting upset with the gods when the person doesn't get what they want. I wanted a smooth project, but what I got instead [drum roll, please] ... was a learning experience. I've learned something new how to not make the same mistake for the next two systems I have to upgrade. I learned that Lord Ganesha did not ignore me or make things rough for me... maybe he wasn't even paying attention, and someone else sent me the lesson, or maybe no one. At any rate, I didn't get what I wanted, I got what I needed. But I still like to believe that was divine intervention.
I had a very big project over the weekend: upgrading the operating system of one of our computer systems. These computers are in the mainframe class. They run various warehouse distribution, software development, financial applications, among other things. In short, they run the business.
I put a picture of Lord Ganesha on my desk and prayed to him that it go smoothly Usually they do. I began the process, but right out of the gate it failed. It was one nightmare failure after another, to the point that at this moment it is still not running properly, even having rolled back to the previous version.
In conversations with IBM hardware and software support, I came to find out that all the upfront and background research and preparation was not done, as I thought. Guess whose responsibility it was. Why I didn't have all the preparations is typical IBM mis- and missing information. I couldn't know what information was missing or what I should know if I couldn't find anything; you don't know what you don't know. So maybe I can't be blamed.
So how do the gods enter into this? We tend to think (or I did, anyway) that Ganesha would hear my prayers and decide "yeah ok, I'll make it smooth sailing for him". After the failures my first inclination was to look at the picture and say "why? I prayed for help". Admittedly I was a bit perturbed. Then I realized he didn't have anything to do with it. He was not going to change what was already ordained to happen. What needed to be done was already set by IBM. There was no way in this case that what was set to happen was going to magically or divinely change. Karma? No, I don't believe so because this could happen to any other system administrator (and probably has).
So the point, and I do have one: we can't blame the gods for everything or expect that they'll change what may already be in place to happen. I see and read about people praying for certain things, and then getting upset with the gods when the person doesn't get what they want. I wanted a smooth project, but what I got instead [drum roll, please] ... was a learning experience. I've learned something new how to not make the same mistake for the next two systems I have to upgrade. I learned that Lord Ganesha did not ignore me or make things rough for me... maybe he wasn't even paying attention, and someone else sent me the lesson, or maybe no one. At any rate, I didn't get what I wanted, I got what I needed. But I still like to believe that was divine intervention.