In plain words
To reach God one has to give up everything. Nārada proclaimed to the world this boundless principle of Bhakti.
All the holy days of the sacred people of Bhārata are spiritual observances filled with inner meanings. They have always looked on every holy day as filled with God. On that day they clean their bodies and their homes too, perform special worship, break coconuts, and make good use of the day through many kinds of sacred acts. Many people describe the secret of today's festival in many ways. Can an elephant's head be set on a man's head? There is an inner meaning in it. Because He is supremely intelligent, they gave Gaṇapati an elephant's head. We use the phrase ‘elephant intelligence’. That is why we call Gaṇapati Buddhi Vināyaka and Siddhi Vināyaka. Vināyaka means the leader who gets wondrous deeds done. He is one endowed with great intelligence. He is the leader of all the gaṇas. He stood as leader of the Rudragaṇas, the Bhadragaṇas and many more gaṇas besides. That is why they called Him Gaṇanāyaka and Gaṇapati.
Gaṇapati means one who is purely the very form of intelligence. Before writing the Mahābhārata, Vyāsa prayed to Gaṇapati. Then Gaṇapati: ‘Whatever you say, I will write. But if you waste time in the middle, I will give it up,’ He said. Vyāsa went on dictating. Gaṇapati was writing it all down in an instant. To keep Him satisfied, Vyāsa went on adding ślokas of many kinds. Vyāsa, intent on giving Gaṇapati a pause, and Gaṇapati, intent on leaving Vyāsa nothing more to say, each held firm. He wrote this Bhārata as a hundred crore ślokas. When it was finished and they looked at it, they knew it was no ordinary work. It is the fifth Veda. Wondrous and unfathomable matters were put into it. Humans, gods and demons prayed that they might enjoy this sacred Bhārata. When these hundred crore ślokas were shared equally among them all, one śloka was left over. This śloka has thirty-two syllables. To each he gave ten syllables. Two syllables were still left. Gaṇapati said that these two syllables are Hari, Hara, Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, Sāi. The two syllables that were left remained as the Name of God.
Why should we worship this sacred principle of Gaṇapati? Man meets many obstacles. People pray to Gaṇapati to remove such troubles and hindrances and keep them free of obstacles. The very first worship is Gaṇapati's.