Prajna,  welcome here. Our site is focused on Vaishnava bhakti. You may start here:

http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/site/newtovedictradition.htm

Hope this helps. Hare Krishna

"This Krishna Consciousness is a science to understand what is the difference between a dead body and a living body". (A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

Your servant, bh. Jan

http://www.vrindavan-dham.com

http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz

Jm8,

Thanks for the link.  I'll check it out.

Maya,

That's one thing that I found very interesting about Hinudism is the universal belief that no matter who you pray to it all goes to God.   I have two statues, one of Ganesh and the other of Nataraj, that my partner picked up for me from India. i really wanted one of Krishna and Hanuman. 

How exactly does one pray to Ganesh or the other deities.  Are there set prayers?  What is the heirarchy of Hinduism?  Or is there one?  How come there isn't really a following for Brahman?

-Namaste-

Question:   What is the heirarchy of Hinduism? Or is there one? How come there isn't really a following for Brahman?

Answer: The answer to your questions will depend on the particular darshana (point of view)  followed by the practicioner.

I follow the Advaita Vedanta darshana as explained by Sri Ramakrishna. I am posting a quote from him:

No one can say with finality that God is only 'this' and nothing else. He
is formless and again He has forms. For the bhakta He assumes forms. But He
is formless for the jnani, that is, for him who looks on the world as a mere
dream. The bhakta feels that he is one entity and the world as another.
Therefore God reveals Himself to him as a Person. But the jnani - the
Vedantist, for instance - always reasons, applying the process of 'Not this,
not this'. Through this discrimination he realizes, by his inner perception,
that the ego and the universe are both illusory, like a dream. Then the jnani
realizes Brahman in his own consciousness. He can not describe what Brahman
is.

Do you know what I mean? Think of Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss
Absolute, as a shoreless ocean. Through the cooling influence as it were, of
the bhakta's love, the water has frozen at places into blocks of ice. In
other words, God now and then assumes various forms for His lovers and reveals
Himself to them as a Person. But with the rising of the sun of knowledge,
the blocks of ice melt. Then one doesn't feel any more that God is a Person,
nor does one see God's forms. What He is can not be described. Who will
describe Him? He who would do so disappears. He cannot find his 'I' any more.

All the major Deities like Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesha ... may be thought of as frozen consciousnesses while Brahman is simply formless Consciousness.  In this view   Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesha are merely personal aspects of Brahman. One can also think of these Forms as projections of Brahman on to the mental plane. I am posting a conversation between Sri Ramakrishna and others on this point.:

Ramdayal (to Shashadhar):"The scriptures speak of Brahman's form as a
projection of mind. Who is it that projects?"

Shashadhar:"It is Brahman Itself that does so. It is no projection of
man's mind".

Pratap:"Why does Brahman project the form?"

Sri Ramakrishna:"You ask why? Brahman doesn't act in consultation with others.
It is Brahman's pleasure. Brahman is self-willed."

Only the Personal aspects of Brahman are worshipped since it is very difficult to realize Brahman. I am posting  a conversation between Sri Ramakrishna and 'M' on this point:

M: "Sir, is there no spiritual discipline leading to realization of the
Impersonal God?"

Sri Ramakrishna:"Yes, there is. But the path is extremely difficult. After
intense austerities the rishis of olden times realized God as their innermost
consciousness and experienced the real nature of Brahman. But how hard they
had to work! They went out of their dwellings in the early morning and all
day practised austerities and meditation. Returning home at nightfall, they
took a light supper of fruit and roots.

But an aspirant cannot succeed in this form of spiritual discipline if his
mind is stained with worldliness even in the slightest degree. The mind must
withdraw totally from all objects of form, taste, smell, touch and sound.
Only thus does it become pure. The Pure mind is the same as the Pure Atman.
But such a mind must be altogether free from lust and greed. When it becomes
pure, one has another experience. One realizes:'God alone is the Doer and I
am His instrument.' One does not feel oneself to be absolutely necessary to
others either in their misery or in their happiness.

The difficulty of realizing the Impersonal Reality (Brahman) gave rise to the popularity of Bhakti Yoga where a particular from of Brahman is worshipped. Sri Ramakrishna used to strongly urge Bhakti Yoga:

Bhaktiyoga is the religion for this age. But that does not mean that the lover
of God will reach one goal and the philosopher (Jnani) and worker (Karmayogi)
another. It means that if a person seeks the knowledge of Brahman he can
attain It by following the path of Bhakti too. God, who loves His devotee,
can give him the knowledge of Brahman if He so desires.

But the Bhakta wants to realize the Personal God endowed with form and talk
to Him. He seldom seeks the knowledge of Brahman. But God, who does everything
at His pleasure, can make His devotee the heir to His infinite glories if it
pleases Him. He gives His devotee both the love of God and knowledge of
Brahman. If one is able to reach Calcutta, one can see the Maidan and the
musuem and other places too. The thing is how to reach Calcutta.

Sri Ramakrishna defined Bhakti as follows:

Bhakti is to adore God with body, mind and words. 'With body' means to
serve and worship God with one's hands, go to holy places with one's feet,
hear the chanting of the name and glories of God with one's ears, and
behold the Divine Image with one's eyes. 'With mind' means to contemplate
and meditate on God constantly and to remember and think of his lila.
"With words' means to sing hymns to Him and chant His name and glories.

Gangajal

Prajna,

A prayer to Ganesh goes like this: Om Ganapataye Namaha,

You can repeat it 108 times if you want, or in sets of 9.

Ganesh is said to be especially partial to sweets.

Maya

Gangajal,

  Om Ganapataye Namaha is a mantra not a prayer. Prajna will have to take initiation from a Guru if he wants to repeat it, i.e., to do japa.

You are correct, it's a mantra not a prayer.

I have not been taught that you have to take initiation from a guru to chant mantras.

This may very from teaching to teaching.

In fact I recently took a workshop on the Ganesh mantra and there was no mention that we could not chant it without initiation.

Maya