One does not fail to invoke Ganesh before taking any important action, to ensure that obstacles will be overcome quickly as this is supposed to iron out difficulties and pave the way for you. This is why he is a symbol of new beginnings.
Ganesh’s sacred number is 21 and his favourite colours are white, blue, yellow, red and green.
To complete his portrait, here are two legends about Ganesh:
It is said that he was born with a human head. Lord Ganesh’s mother, the Goddess Parvati, carved an idol of a boy out of turmeric and breathed life into it, unbeknownst to her husband, Lord Shiva. So when Ganesh, as a five year old boy, denied Shiva entry Ito his abode because Goddess Parvati was bathing inside and had asked him to guard the door, Shiva did not know him and decapitated Ganesh’s head in anger. Parvati informed her husband of his terrible misunderstanding and asked him to bring his son back to life. He summoned his servants and asked them to bring back the head of the first living creature they encountered …it was the head of an elephant!