Lakshmi, The Goddess of Wealth

As the goddess of wealth, prosperity, good harvests,a and of love, Lakshmi is one of the most popular goddesses of the Hindus. Also called Sri, the beautiful, she is the epitome of feminine beauty. Lakshmi is the gentle and generous provider of riches and so every Hindu home has its shrine to her, as do workplaces. The presence of Lakshmi brings good fortune and wen she leaves she takes fortune with her. So the radiant Lakshmi who is easy to please is propitiated with puja and flowers everyday.

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Lord Ganesha - A Hindu Deity

Among the many deities worshiped by the Hindus, Lord Ganesha has in some ways pride of place. It is not that he is considered to be superior to the great Gods Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu, or the Goddesses, but he has a special place in the affection or people and no worship of any kind or of any other deity can begin without an initial worship to Ganesha, among whose many names is Vighneshwara, remover of obstacles.
With the rise in importance of the Ganpatya cult for whom Ganapati was the supreme God, this deity was absorbed into Hinduism as the son of Shiva and Parvati.
The assimilation was very slow as Ganapati was a folk deity of various pre-Vedic and Tantric sects. However the Ganapatya sect was very powerful and widespread and the great philosopher, Adi Shankara himself gave them importance this sect as one of the six systems of Hindu worship.
The absorption of Ganesha was achieved through legends and stories in the various Puranas which abound in stories of Ganesha. Although most of the Puranas and Up Puranas have incidents from the life of Ganesha, the main legends are in the Shiva Purana, Linga Purana, Brahmavaivarta Purana, Skanda Purana, Varaaha Purana, Matsya Purana and Padma Purana and in the two Upa Puranas, the Ganesha Purana and the Mudgala Purana.
These legends refer not only to the birth of Ganesha and his achievements and conquests but also to teh miracles by which he acquired his elephant head.

What is Hinduism?

Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world and is the faith over four-fifths of the diverse peoples of the vast sub-continent of India, of the people of Nepal and of millions of Indians who have migrated overseas.
The history of the Hindus, as we know it today, goes back 5000 years, but Hindus believe that their religion is without beginning or end and is a continuous process even preceding the existence of our earth and the many other worlds in the vast Universe.
The greatness of Hinduism is at once its complexity and its simplicity, and the fact that it permeates totally the life of every Hindu from the moment of his birth, be he a believer or non-believer, a scholar or an illiterate. It is for this reason that it is often said that Hinduism is not just a religion but a way of life.
Another quality unique to Hinduism is its tremendous tolerance of other religious faiths and beliefs. In the Bhagavad Gita, an important scripture of Hinduism, Lord Krishna, worshipped as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu himself says, "Whosoever follows any faith and worships me under steadfastness, his faith shall I indeed reinforce".
Hinduism has attracted thinkers from all over the world through the ages, and today there is a great thirst for knowledge of this faith which is practical enough to permit social change and scientific progress, yet highly philosophical and sublime, aiming at ethical perfection. However it is most unfortunate that today even educated Hindus are often unaware as to what the religion teaches or stand for, or what its fundamental beliefs are.