Born in the heat of a passionate dialectic and an ensuing intense struggle for dominance between his parents, the goddess Parvati and god Siva. Parvati demanded inviolate time to herself and Siva demanded access to her whenever he desired. In response to this conflict Parvati fashioned the boy Ganesha from unguents and dirt scraped from her body and breathed life into him to be her son and protector to guard her door. Subsequently, Siva decapitated Ganesha in a fight to gain entrance to Parvati. Parvati as the diva of worldly existence then moved to withdraw her phenomenal energy from the universe, threatening the collapse of all creation. Siva repented and vowed to send one of his retinue bring back the head of the first being he met in order to bring Ganesha back to life. The head was that of an elephant. Ganesha, connected to his new head, was revived and Siva claimed him has his son as well. Ganesha is envisioned as having a fat childish body on top of which is his large elephant’s head. He is said to embody an earth-bound awareness that protects the divine secret from unripe minds.

So, if we want to know the secrets of this world as a manifestation of the divine we must first receive the blessings of Ganesha. Ganesha’s mount is the rat. With his elephant-like nature he can boldly forge a new path through the world. And with the aid of his rat mount, he can travel deeply into a situation, getting beneath the foundation of things, and permeate the obscure. So as he obstructs, so he also offers insight and a way past obstructions and defeat. This is why Ganesha is invoked before the beginning of any enterprise among Hindus.