NEW YORK: Producers of the multimedia project 'Discovering Ganesha' hosted a fundraiser on June 26, to benefit Scojo Foundation at East West Living in the Village.Scojo Foundation works to reduce poverty and generate opportunity for the rural poor in India through the sale of affordable eye glasses. For India's poor who work with their hands - tailors, electricians, goldsmiths, mechanics and others - the loss of sight means the loss of the ability to work and support a family.

The event had a special performance by Indie- Hindi songtress Falu and a digital exhibition of photos from the Ganesha Festival in India.Part of the mission of 'Discovering Ganesha' is to celebrate and share India's artistic and spiritual contributions as well as to collaborate with an organization, which is working with poor Indians to remove some significant obstacles. The producers have chosen to support Scojo Foundation as the mission of the organization is to remove the obstacle of failing vision and allow the poor of India to return to work.

While in the West eye glasses are affordable for most people, there are 400 million people living in poverty whose productivity, self-reliance and dignity hinge on this simple tool to which they lack access. Scojo Foundation has made significant progress towards overcoming this tremendous market failure.The fundraiser was held at East West Living, which includes East West Yoga and East West Books. Recently renovated, East West's sacred space is a peaceful, nurturing haven open to all walks of life. This venue was chosen because the producers are interested in reaching out the yoga and meditation community of New York to help them to support Scojo's work.

"If anyone has benefited from some of India's greatest exports - yoga and mediation, and understands the importance of karma yoga and making a difference in the lives of others - it is us," says Shana Dressler who is one of the producers of Discovering Ganesha and a yoga and mediation practitioner for the past 14 years.Some of the New York yoga studios which are participated by holding benefit yoga classes include Bikram Yoga NYC, Chopra Center New York, East West Yoga, Go Yoga, Golden Bridge, Integral Yoga, Jennifer Brilliant Yoga, Kula Yoga Project, OM Factory, and others.Discovering Ganesha includes a multimedia exhibition, a photography book, and an educational website.

Each element of Discovering Ganesha offers a different way to learn about one of India's most intriguing deities. Revered for millennia as the Remover of Obstacles, the Lord of Beginnings and the Patron of the Arts, Ganesha is one of India's most beloved Hindu Gods and a ubiquitous presence in Indian art, philosophy and ritual.Last month, two venues - the Rotunda Gallery in Brooklyn Heights and the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, CA - booked the multimedia exhibition for 2009.