Nevada: Upset Hindus are urging Florence (Italy) based company Yogic Yantra for immediate withdrawal of yoga mat carrying image of Hindu deity Ganesh; calling it highly inappropriate.
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Lord Ganesh was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to sit on or put feet/buttocks/legs on or sweat on. Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts or symbols for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged Yogic Yantra to offer a formal apology.
Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.1 billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken frivolously. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should not be mishandled, Rajan Zed noted.
Zed further said that such trivialization of Hindu deity was disturbing to the Hindus world over. Hindus were for free artistic expression and speech as much as anybody else if not more. But faith was something sacred and attempts at trivializing it hurt the followers, Zed added.
In Hinduism, Lord Ganesh is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking.
Objectionable “Holy Ganesh Mat” by Yogic Yantra was priced at 69,00€. Described as “mat and a towel combined”, it was stated to be suitable for “all styles of yoga, including Hot Yoga” and it “will have more grip when you begin to sweat more”.
Products of Yogic Yantra; whose tagline is “Natural Tools for Your Spiritual Evolution”; include malas, yoni eggs, yoga mats.