In plain words
Why did they give Gaṇapati the first place? Once Pārvatī and Īśvara devised a plan to decide which was greater, Gaṇapati or Subrahmaṇya. Seating the two of them: ‘My dear sons! I am giving you a task. Complete it and come back. You are growing bigger and bigger. Growing children must be given responsibility. Otherwise tamoguṇa will grow. Whoever goes round this world of nature and comes back, to him I am giving a lordship,’ He said. The moment he heard this, Subrahmaṇya mounted his peacock. He resolved to go round the whole world. But Gaṇapati did not take even one step forward. Pārvatī and Parameśvara were astonished. ‘What! This one is right here. The prize will go to Subrahmaṇya alone; Gaṇapati will not get it,’ they thought. Seeing Subrahmaṇya, worn out, coming back from afar after going round the world, Gaṇapati went round Mother and Father and sat down right there. When asked the reason: ‘All of nature is the form of God. Viśvaṃ viṣṇu svarūpam. Once I have gone round My mother and father, I become one who has gone round all of nature,’ said Gaṇapati. He asked Īśvara, ‘Show Me a place where You are not.’ Seeing His intelligence, ‘Dear son! May you receive the first worship’: so they appointed Him leader of the gaṇas. So everything has its inner meaning.
Why did they put on this elephant's head? How ugly an elephant's head would look on a man! But Gaṇapati does not look ugly. He looks very beautiful. It is to such a principle of intelligence alone, to such power of mind alone, that they gave this place. To show this intellect to outer life and to life in the world, they gave Gaṇapati the elephant's head. They said Rāvaṇa had ten heads. Does anyone have ten heads? If anyone did, it would be laughable. Kāma, krodha, lobha, mada, mātsarya, Manas, Buddhi, citta, Ahaṅkāra. These are the ten; one who has these qualities is Rāvaṇa, they said; so if you ask who has ten heads, everyone here is a Rāvaṇa. Man today does not try to remove the faults in himself, but tries to hunt for the faults of others. Above all, in the spiritual life we must drive Ahaṅkāra away. As this Ahaṅkāra grows, desires grow too. There is no end at all to these desires. Beasts, birds and animals have no such desires. Selfishness and desire grow only in man.
We say Siddhi Vināyaka and Buddhi Vināyaka. Where does this Siddhi Vināyaka live? He lives in our own Buddhi. When our Buddhi takes a wrong road, it brings us calamity. When it follows the right ways, it gives joy. Whatever work we take up, we must do it remembering, ‘I am a man, I am a man.’