"O, Goddess (Parvati), your two sons, the elephant-faced one (Ganesh) & Kartikeya, who have drunk your milk, remain even today, innocent of sexual desire."
Abandoning this high-toned interpretation, many modern preachers assert that Ganesh was indeed married to Siddhi & Buddhi, (which is obviously metaphorical) & to add insult to injury, had two children, Profit & Happiness! So they have dragged down the celibate God of Spiritual Wisdom to their own level of a married man, running after profit & worldly transitory happiness!
This is as ridiculous as taking literally, the adolescent Krishna's frolicking with milkmaids, association with the older Radha & two marriages, not to speak of later 16,000 wives! If this is also taken literally, the God remains a philanderer & not a Deity!
The fact is Celibacy & Voluntary poverty are the sine qua non of any real Spiritual Journey as evinced by Jesus Christ, Sri Ramakrishna, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo, & the two Sai Babas, though the later created massive education & health care facilities, financed mostly by his foreign devotees, like his predecessor, Swami Vivekananda.
The two other religions originating in India, Buddhism & Jainism, though non-vedic in origin, stress the importance of celibacy & poverty, by having large monastic communities, like the Roman Catholic Church.
Even in the Qur'an, Surah 64, Verse 15, it says "In your spouse(s) & your children, you have enemies. Beware of them. Your wealth & your children are but a temptation; God's recompense is great.", implying family life & wealth are an obstacle to Allah.
In other religions, like the Sixth commandment in the Bible & forbidding relations in the Qur'an, men are exhorted to keep away from women (other than their wives). But Hinduism teaches its men to love all women as their blood relations, i.e., mothers, sisters or daughters so that they are protected from harm & only good is wished for them. (Rakshabandhan). Even in the Harry Potter books, Harry feels only a natural fraternal love for his close friend, Hermione, & nothing else. How many Hindu mothers are teaching this idea to their sons? Such ideas give great social stability.
The New Age gurus, having large numbers of followers, who continue to be in the rat race, have number of girl-friends, observe no food restrictions, consume alcohol can hardly be expected to give "spiritual" guidance to them.
As opposed to Spiritual Life, a religious life, commonly practised, may give purely worldly benefits like becoming a CEO, Chief Minister, good obedient progeny, accolades from people etc., After death, they may get to Heaven, where after enjoying the fruits of their good deeds, take rebirth & go through the same grind ad infinitum.
Is this real Hinduism?
