Ganesha, also known as Ganapati or Vinayaka, is the son of Shiva and Parvati and is the first deity to be worshipped during any ritual, as he is considered the remover of obstacles. His huge body represents the Cosmos or Universe and his trunk the Pranava or OM, the symbol of the Brahman. His elephant’s head denote superior intelligence and the snake around his waist represents cosmic energy. The noose is to remind us that wordly attachments are a noose and the hook in his hand is to prod Man on to the path of righteousness. The rosary beads are for the pursuit of prayer and the broken tusk is symbolic of knowledge as it is with this tusk that he is believed to have acted as the… Click here to read more