Before starting any new venture or anything afresh, Ganesh puja is must. If one is suffering from losses, when starting a new business or investments or when one is getting married, or to remove obstacles or for celebration of your or your child's birthday, Maha Ganpathy homa is recommended.

Ganapati or Ganesha, the Lord of Ganas, the elephant faced God, represents the power of the Supreme Being that removes obstacles and ensures success in human endeavors. Ganesha is revered as the son of the Shiva and Parvati, and is always honored first in most worship services and rituals. Ganesha is also known as Ganapati, Vigneswara, Vinayaka, Gajamukha and Ainkaran. He is worshipped for siddhi, success in undertakings, and buddhi, intelligence. He is worshipped before any venture is started. He is also the God of education, knowledge and wisdom, literature, and the fine arts.

Ganesha is also one of the five Gods the worship of whom was popularised by Adi Shankaracharya; the other four are Vishnu, Shiva, Devi and Surya. The worship of these five deities is called the pancayatana puja. In some cases, a sixth God, Skanda is also worshipped. The large head of an elephant symbolizes wisdom, understanding, and a discriminating intellect that one must possess to attain perfection in life.

The wide mouth represents the natural human desire to enjoy life in the world. The large ears signify that a perfect person is the one who possesses a great capacity to listen to others and assimilate ideas. The trunk relates to the power of human mind which must be strong enough to face the ups and downs of the external world and yet delicate enough to explore the subtle realms of the inner world. The two tusks denote the two aspects of the human personality, wisdom and emotion. The right tusk represents wisdom left tusk represents emotion. The broken left tusk conveys the idea that one must conquer emotions with wisdom to attain perfection.

Performing Ganapathy Homa once every year gives prosperity, health and wealth. If any one is running Ketu dasa or bhukti or there is some dosha of Ketu in the horoscope, he shall perform Ganapathy Homa and get-relief. Ganapathy Homa should be performed in the early morning and Poornahuthi to be offered during sunrise, unless any other time is specifically mentioned to suit the particular purpose. Normally, only Vedic way of Homas are performed.