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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00104 Oct 2004

 
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Dear Bhagavathas,

Please see the plight of our Gods. If these westerners cannot understand our
culture, and respect it, let them shut their damn mouth, instead of resorting to
such cheap tactics, to make profits. Already all the schools in India, teach the
history of our own culture, which were distorted by the westerners who, were
unable to digest our superiority, and the richness of our culture.  If the same
had been done to Allah or Jesus, then there will be protests all over the world,
then why is it that the whole world is taking our culture for granted. The news
says, this was not deliberately done. Even if its done as a marketing strategy,
these marketing people aren?t that dumb. So this clearly shows that, this has
been done deliberately, know very well that it will hurt the sentiments of
billions of Hindus. When will we change. Alas what to say of these people when
our own men, born and brought up in our mathru bhoomi are destroying our
culture, belief, and tradition  in Thirumala, and other place, in the name of
expansion, security, etc?

Request our bhagavathas to lodge their protest to against such unscrupulous
organizations who hurt the other sentiments, for the sake of their own gains.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                                                                
 
 Hindu gods on sandals? It's marketing, stupid!                                 
 
                                                                                
 
 October 18, 2004 12:27 IST                                                     
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 Lord Ganesha and 'Aum' imprinted on the sole of flip-flop sandals, God Rama's  
 
 image on sniff tissues, lunch boxes with images of goddess Kali and Durga --   
 
 the western world seems to be stamping its fascination for Indian deities and  
 
 religious symbols on every commodity!                                          
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 Is it crass marketing or the West's enchantment for our religious symbols or   
 
 simply ignorance, which is finding a bizarre expression in the form of this    
 
 latest fad? Be it doormats, toiletries or beachwear, the moment these products 
 
 have sketches of Indian idols, they become a rage in western markets.          
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 "West's attitude is rather intriguing. On the one hand, they hold yoga, love   
 
 for peace, sexual chastity and vegetarianism in high stead. All of these are   
 
 closely associated with the Indian tradition," says Professor Anand Kumar, 
Head 
 of Sociology Department, Jawaharlal Nehru University. "However, on the other   
 
 hand, they fancy products like footwear and doormats sporting pictures of our  
 
 gods. These parallel sets of fads are paradoxical. It could well be a 
marketing 
 ploy," he adds.                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 "The western world has always been tremendously attracted to our religious     
 
 beliefs. They feel there is an element of mystery shrouded around the concept  
 
 of different gods for a single religion. And this exerts a gravitational pull  
 
 on them," says spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of      
 
 Living Foundation.                                                             
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 While there does not seem to be any deliberate intention to trivialise or      
 
 demean our religious sentiments, the West nevertheless hurts sentiments, he    
 
 adds. The trend has it that images of Indian deities have been printed on      
 
 beachwear, paper napkins and footwear, followed by protests by the Indian      
 
 community abroad.                                                              
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 Consequently, this line of products has been pulled off the shelf, but not     
 
 without making profits.                                                        
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 "An apology is issued at times, but what about the millions of hurt 
sentiments? 
 This innocuous trend of using Hindu symbols on fashion or marketing 
accessories 
 reveals the producers' insatiable greed for profits," says Sheila, an activist 
 
 working with Hindu Human Rights.                                               
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 There is a drive in the industry for new angles to selling their products to   
 
 consumers, whose appetite for consuming is jaded. The desperate designers are  
 
 roaming the world for more ideas and in the process offending sentiments, she  
 
 adds.                                                                          
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 Agni, an organisation working to check the misuse of Indian gods and sacred    
 
 signs, maintains that the main cause of misuse is the lack of knowledge, value 
 
 and importance of Indian deities.                                              
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 Marketing gimmicks hurt sentiments                                             
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 "Wibra and departmental store Bijenkorf sold undergarments printed with the    
 
 sacred symbol of Aum. Ikea traded in toiletries with image of Ganesha printed  
 
 on it and Tuinen BV put images of Lord Ram on sniff tissues," says P Ghirrao,  
 
 secretary, Committee Common Issues, Agni Corporation.                          
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 The Website of Hindu Focus, an organisation formed to curb such defamations,   
 
 alleges that a dot-com deals in lunch boxes with images of Kali, Krishna,      
 
 Ganesha and Shiva.                                                             
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 Hindu Focus alleged that this particular online retailer of lunchboxes         
 
 proclaims to have a 'fascination with Hindu culture' and it claims to "bring   
 
 beauty and mystery to your mid-day meal with the alluring but deadly Kali      
 
 lunchboxes."                                                                   
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 D J Jayasekara, managing director of this online retailer of lunchboxes,       
 
 declined producing such tiffin boxes.                                          
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 Says Prof. Kumar, "I do not detect any deliberately carved out scheme of       
 
 denigration in these products. There seems to be a definite engagement with 
the 
 'exotic' and the 'other'. It could just be a marketing ploy."                  
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 Such marketing tricks aim at shocking and then holding the probable consumer's 
 
 attention. It is a way of jolting the consumer by providing him the forbidden. 
 
 And thus ensuring a boom in sales, say experts.                                
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 However, big and respectable brand names do not adopt such cheap tactics. 
Brand 
 names like Benetton, for instance, are extremely sensitive towards issues like 
 
 skin colour diversity and are eco-friendly too.                                
 
                                                                                
 
                                                                                
 
 "The West has no idea about what they are encashing upon, for they do not      
 
 realise the true value of our divine heritage and cultural ethos," sums up Sri 
 
 Sri Ravi Shankar.                                                              
 
                                                                                
 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,
Srinivas Vinjamoor






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