Worship of Lord Ganesha

[Vivek Anand Ganesan]

!AUM!
Eka dantAya vidmahe
vakratundAya dhImahi
tanno danta prachodayat


Hello all :

    Today is Ganesh Chaturthi ( in the US ). Greetings to
one and all on this festive occassion and may Lord Ganesha
shower his blessings upon us. Lord Ganesha is vighna harta
- one who removes obstacles in life. We can pray to Him to
remove obstacles in our personal/professional lives. Or
better still, we can pray to Him to remove obstacles in our
spiritual lives. May He grant us the wisdom to see Him.

I have a few questions which I hope that the learned
members
would clarify.

1) Is the worship of Lord Ganesh mentioned in the vedas?
   I am aware of an upanishad that mentions gaNapati but
   are there vedic mantras? From where does the mantra
   that starts as "gaNaNAm gaNapatim mahA have..." come
   from?

2) How did Lord Ganesha become a "minor" deity within
   the Saiva religion? It seems that Lord Ganesh has
   a tradition of worship that equates Him as the Supreme
   Lord ( in Maharashtra and even parts of Tamil Nadu ) but
   now a days he is only widely known as the "son of shiva"
   - the tamil word is "pillaiyar", literally "the son".
   Also, He is only worshipped as remover of obstacles and
   not as para brahman. Even the advaita home page lists
   the gaNapati Upanishad as a Saiva Upanishad. Why?

3) Finally, what is the significance of the trunk twisted
   to the right? ( Usually it is twited to the left ).

Thanks,

-Vivek.

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