What do the devotees of Ganesha believe?

[Sirona]

Namaste,

these days I saw a nice Ganesha statue on Ebay and I figured out that I know nothing about the beliefs of Ganesha devotees. The only thing I know from a Bhagavad Gita edition is that allegedly, there is a sect of Ganesha followers who read a Ganesha Gita with Krishna's name replaced. Please give me some further information about Ganesha worship.

 

[Shantanu]

Namaste,

these days I saw a nice Ganesha statue on Ebay and I figured out that I know nothing about the beliefs of Ganesha devotees. The only thing I know from a Bhagavad Gita edition is that allegedly, there is a sect of Ganesha followers who read a Ganesha Gita with Krishna's name replaced. Please give me some further information about Ganesha worship.

Ganesh is worshipped as the remover of obstacles. That is also what Sri Krishna worship results in.

 

[Terese]

From what i know, Ganesha is the son of Lord Siva, and is the god of fortune and moving obstacles.

 

[Vinayaka]

There are two 'schools' here that are noteworthy. The first is the Ganapatyans, who see Ganesha as Supreme. So just like Vaishnavites have Vishnu (or Krishna) doing it all, so too would Ganesha be doing it all. But as far as I know, the sect is small, perhaps even non-existant today in it's pure form.

The second is Saivites or Smartans who just put a real emphasis on Ganesha worship. I fall into that category, sort of, but certainly some people are more adamant with their adoration of Ganesha than I am.

Part of the reason it's so common, esoterically, is that He's easy to contact, or get in tune with. He's close, like some older brother, a close friend, a confidant. He's right there, so to speak. An analogy for other Gods (for within Saivism) might be that they are more like a king ... harder to get in touch with.

So ordinary folk, without doing a ton of worship, a ton of penance, etc, can find Him easily. And his role is to work with the mundane. Tasks like driving a car, for instance. That's why you see Ganesha on dashboards, in doorways, in roadside small shrines.