Lord Ganesha is the divine manifested form of Shiva and Shakti. He is the god of intellect and wisdom. Also, He is the God of new beginnings! He is worshipped first, at the start of any rituals. It is believed that if Lord Ganesha is pleased, he blesses success, prosperity and protection against any adversity. He is the one who gives us spiritual potency and endows us with supreme intelligence.
Since Vedic times, there are rituals to worship Lord Ganesha before beginning any tasks. Based on the available scriptural references his worship dates back prior to 7,000 years ago or even earlier.
Yajurveda also mentions ‘Salutations to you Ganas and to the Lord of Ganas’. Great poems like Ramayana and Mahabharata also have multiple references where Lord Ganesha is worshiped first before any auspicious events.
To understand how it is all began, though there are multiple reasons/stories, two main stories which hold significance to why most of the rituals begin first with worshipping of Lord Ganesha.
The first story goes like this, once Goddess Parvati orders her son Lord Ganesha to guard her chambers. Following her orders, little Ganesha stops Lord Shiva from entering the chambers, which infuriated the Lord Shiva, and he ends up severing the head of Ganesha. This made Goddess Parvati very furious and she asked Lord Shiva to make her son alive again or she will destroy the whole universe. Lord Shiva asked his Ganas, to go quickly and to bring him the head of the first creature they see. The Ganas soon return with the head of an elephant. Knowing the fine attributes of this animal, Lord Shiva carefully places the elephant head on the neck of his son, and the boy instantly opens his eyes. Embracing his son lovingly, Lord Shiva declares him to be the leader of his Ganas, giving him the name Ganapati or Ganesh, "Lord of the Ganas."
Bestowing upon him many blessings, Lord Shiva proclaims that his son, Ganesh, would be renowned as one of the wisest and most learned deities in the universe and blesses him to be worshipped before anyone. The elephant clears all obstacles in its path in the forest, and makes way for other animals to move easily through dense forests. Similarly, Lord Ganesh is endowed with the ability to remove the obstacles in the path of his devotees and of all seekers so that they may attain the goal of their Sadhana.
And the second story is, once Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati asked both the brothers, Lord Ganesh and Lord Karthikeya to go around the world and whoever reaches first will be be the winner. While Lord Karthikeya actually travels around the world, Lord Ganesha just went around his parents, stating that they indeed meant the world to him. Looking at his intelligence in winning the task, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati blessed Lord Ganesh with the fruit of knowledge along with that of immortality.
Now let’s understand the spiritual significance of this ritual. According to Ganesh Atharvashirsha, Lord Ganesh resides in the Muladhara chakra in the subtle body, which is the root or foundational chakra at the base of the spine. With the grace of Lord Ganesh, who is seated in this chakra, a seeker is able to uproot and remove hindrances in their spiritual journey and continue to move toward reaching the higher self.
Also, Ganesha is said to convert normal human languages into the divine language. This is one more reasons why we worship Lord Ganesha first, so that our humble prayers can reach all the divinity and it can get fulfilled.
And, He is the ruler of the earth and ten directions or Dishas and no divine power can come to the earth without his permission. Hence, praying to Lord Ganesha will allow astral bodies to descend and bless people.
All this indicates that, our devotion towards Lord Ganesha will certainly give us not only spiritual success but also the material success. So, let’s pray to Lord Ganesha and obtain his divine blessings.