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I was given a beautiful green stone ganesh statue for my birthday (yes I am a year older) and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what he/she (?) means in Hindu philosophy? I know that Ganesh is an elephant god and he's supposed to bring good fortune but that's about it. Also how did he come into existence? Help would be welcome.

Lucky you! I really like Ganesha, he's my favorite of all the Hindu deities. He is the Lord of success and destroyer of evils and obstacles. He is also worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth.

I love Ganesh too!!!
A dear friend of mine who lived in India for ages told me that people usually put a Ganesh statue or picture above the main door of the house to prevent any obstacles from entering their home. Lovely, isn't it?

OM Gam Ganapataye Namaha

The imagery surrounding Lord Ganesh is beautiful, elephants are strong, dependable, never forget, don't give up, have a tendency to let their trunk wander...

Ever wonder why statues of Ganesh have one tusk broken?

The story I heard goes like this... Sage Viyasa (the author of the Mahabarat) was searching for a scribe, for someone to write the epic story of the Mahabarat down as he, in his meditative trance, dictated it. He had been searching for some time when he came across Ganesh, now when he asked Ganesh to help him out, Ganesh was thrilled to help, however, he felt that to simply write as Viyasa dictated was not challenge enough for him. He put it to Sage Viyasa that he would only help, if they could write this epic in one session, in order to not disrupt the flow of Viyasa's words. Viyasa accepted, thinking that this was one task that was too much, even for the great Lord Ganesh.

So the hour came for the task to begin, Viyasa was dictating, and Ganesha was writing, and this went on for days... and weeks... and months went by, and it came to the stage that Viyasa was becoming tired, he was only halfway through, and Ganesh was still going strong... the sage thought "Ganesh isn't going to stop, and it'll take months more at this rate, and I'm getting hungry! I know, I'll speed up - one way or the other, that'll get this finished" so, his words begin to flow faster, and Ganesh, duly, keeps his pace, verse upon verse, pouring forth from the lips of the great sage, almost indistinguishable from each other, and Ganesh still keeps up with the Sage. Viyasa is becoming very tired by now, so fatigued & hungry, he redoubles his effort, his lips moving faster than the eye can see, Ganesh matches the sages words with the frantic scribbling of his quill, so much that suddenly, smoke begins to pour from the page, and with a flash, the quill spontaneously combusts and turns to ash!

Without even missing one heartbeat Ganesha reaches to his tusk, snaps it from his jaw, dips it in the ink, and carries on as if nothing has happened...

Namaste Reuben, a great story. But my statue has 2 tusks, maybe just some have one broken one? How does that work?

BTW - what does OM Gam Ganapataye Namaha mean?

oo err... are you sure one isn't shorter than the other?

Om gam Ganapataye namaha is the Lord Ganesh mantra,

A very loose translation might be:
Om = Salutations! Everyone wake up!
Gam = The secret power sound of Ganesh. It is his "seed syllable" or bija mantra.
Ganapataye = Another name of Ganesh, the breaker of obstacles.
Namaha = Yo! Ganesh! You da God!

The pronunciation is also pretty easy:
Om = ohm or aum
Gam = Somewhere between "gahm" and "gum". In some dialects it is "guhng".
Ganapataye = gah-nah-paht-ah-yeh
Namaha - nah-mah-hah

no, they are both the same I checked! Any ideas?

cool explanation of Ganeshe's mantra (I particularly liked your namaha translation ) thanks Reuben.

maybe you got a statue of Ganesh before that story happened...