LAST Thursday New York (NY) Guyanese Hindus observed the auspicious festival of Ganesh Jayanti which marked the appearance of Lord Ganesh, son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. Temples were packed during evening services as Lord Ganesh is one of the most revered Gods in the Hindu religion. Hindus consider Lord Ganesh as one of the most important deities in the religion because he is the remover of obstacles in one’s path.
It is not surprising to find Ganesha murthis at the entrances of homes, businesses and mandirs. Hence, their worship of him daily and especially on his birth anniversary and before they undertake any project as well as at the start of a business day.
Lord Ganesh’s birthday is a public holiday in India accompanied by eleven days of a massive Ganesh street festival and celebrations all over the country.  I witnessed the festival a few times during visits to India where there are street processions and on the final day, murthis are immersed into the rivers or ocean.  It is a sight to behold and to experience – a spiritual hair-raising experience.  Mandirs are beautifully decorated and streets swept clean as processions with multi-coloured electronic lights and tassa music make their way to the water front. People dance in celebration.
In Hinduism, as is the case in other religions, there is only one God, but He takes the names of different deities (such as Lord Krishna, Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, Goddess Lakshmi, etc.) when he (she) makes his (her) appearance on earth. He could appear as a God or as a Goddess (Durga, Latchmie, Parvatie, etc.), because Hinduism does not discriminate between the genders. For each God, there is a corresponding Goddess and each came into the world to perform specific tasks showing people how to live their lives. There is a lot of symbolism in the worship of Gods and Goddesses. Lord Ganesh made his appearance to symbolically offer protection to people. He demonstrated great courage and honesty in standing up against powerful forces and was richly rewarded for his duty. People pray to Lord Ganesh also called Ganapati to remove obstacles in their paths.
The Hindu scriptures glorify the Supreme Almighty who has the sole power to remove all obstacles on the path of the spiritual seeker towards the attainment of Godhead. This seems to be a part of the meaning hidden behind the holy worship of Ganapati. The reason  Hindus worship Ganesh is they were instructed to do so by Lord Shiva who in order to please his angry wife, Parvati, who was angry because Shiva inadvertently killed her son. Shiva wanted to make up for his wrongful killing of his son by creating Ganapati, the elephant God, and ordering that Ganapati be worshipped first in all prayers to appease Parvati. Worshippers do not wish to defy Shiva as dread enters their minds when they think of His name on account of the feeling that any displeasure on His part may be a doom to them. So they pray to Ganesha first and then to Parvati and finally Shiva to watch over them.
With Lord Ganesha being known as the remover of obstacles, NY-based Guyanese turned out in massive numbers at the temples listening to the pandit’s katha, make offerings, sing bhajan, and partake in bhojan.