The Mahabharata is one of the longest poems in the world. The Bhagavad Gita is one small part of it. It was told by a wise sage named Vyasa. But a poem that long needed someone to write it down.

The god Brahma told Vyasa to ask Ganesha. Ganesha agreed, with one condition: "My pen must never stop, not even for a moment."

Vyasa was clever. He gave his own condition back: "Then you must understand every verse before you write it down." Ganesha said "Om" to show he agreed, and they began.

Whenever Vyasa needed time to think, he spoke a verse so deep and tangled that even Ganesha had to stop and work out what it meant. While Ganesha was thinking, Vyasa composed the next part. That is how the great story was written.

In many tellings, Ganesha's pen broke partway through. So he snapped off one of his own tusks and kept writing with it. That's why pictures of Ganesha often show him with one broken tusk.

The story teaches two things. Good work needs both speed and understanding: Ganesha would not write what he did not understand. And when your tools fail, a determined person finds a way to keep going.