Now Lord Ganesha on yoga mat stickers: Hindus upset

Nevada: Upset Hindus have urged Chattanooga, Tennessee area-based “My Mat My Mantra” company to immediately withdraw yoga mat stickers carrying the image of Hindu deity Ganesha calling it highly inappropriate.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada, said that Lord Ganesha is greatly revered in Hinduism and meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to lie/sit/stand/tread/walk on or put abdomen/ankles/buttocks/calves/feet/heels/hips/knees/legs/thighs/toes/etc. on or for handling your sweat. Inappropriate usage of sacred Hindu deities or concepts or symbols or icons for commercial or other agendas is not okay as it hurts the devotees.

Zed, who is President of the Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged “My Mat My Mantra” to offer a formal apology, besides withdrawing the objectionable Lord Ganesha yoga mat stickers.

Yoga products companies should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridiculing entire communities. It was deeply trivializing of the immensely venerated Hindu deity Lord Ganesha to be such displayed on a yoga mat, Rajan Zed emphasized.

Objectionable Ganesha “MantraSpot” yoga mat stickers are stated to be the “best seller” and are said to be “tested to withstand high temperatures in a hot yoga class.”

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