Another variant emphasizes Ganesha's ambivalent, liminal character as a doorkeeper. The gods complained to Shiva that by granting boons to demons to become his devotees, he was making it impossible for the gods to conquer the demons; they asked him, therefore, to create obstacles for the demons. Shiva then created Ganesha as the Lord of Obstacles (Vighnesha) to create obstacles for evil people (like demons) and to remove obstacles in the way of good people (like gods). The elephant is well suited as a remover of obstacles, as his vehicle, the rat, who can gnaw through any obstacles to reach food or find his way out of any maze. Ganesha is worshiped at the beginning of any undertaking and so is appropriately stationed near the periphery of the Elephanta complex.

In a recent paper abstracted from his forthcoming major book about Ganesha, Paul Courtright has advanced a useful hypothesis that is highly relevant to the present discussion. He suggests that the myth of Ganesha's creation by his mother and painful sundering from her, and his restoration by his father, represents the enactment of the ritual of initiation in which the child leaves the mother, and after a painful initial confrontation, becomes with his father or guru. This further combines the theme of familial conflict with Ganesha's role as god of undertakings, of which initiation is the archetype. One might further suggest that the head which is "replaced" upon Ganesha's neck is in fact his true head, unknown to him until he receives it in the initiation ceremony (as many initiates first receive their true name) just as Dadyhyanch receives the horse-head that is truly his own only after he has entered into a sacrificial agreement with the gods.

I get shaky scared before every time myself. I just take the plunge, that's it. But I load up 15 mils at a time until I am where I want to be. I am always glad when I am there and especially glad when I come back. Glad you finally made it.

Thanks man, I just wish I had a better scale casue the one I have keeps changing the numbers when I lay some spice on it like it will go from 0.04 then jumps to 0.09 or jumps to 0.00

Same thing here, My scale is nutters but it seems more accurate with a little more weight. Try putting some low weight item (i use a tiny piece of tin foil) and adjust the tare.