William Cawley of Yogamatic, in an email to Hindu statesman
Rajan Zed, wrote: “Thank you for bringing this concern to our attention. The
mats have been duly removed. There are millions of Ganesha products available
on the internet and the contributor of this mat supplied the design in good
faith. Please accept our apologies to the Hindu community.”
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a
statement in Nevada (USA) today, thanked Yogamatic for showing responsibility
and maturity for taking quick action and for having an understanding for the
hurt feelings of Hindu community. It was a step in the right direction, he
added.
Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada on January 28, had said
that Lord Ganesha was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped
in temples or home shrines and not to be trampled under one’s feet while doing
yoga. Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other
agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the
world with about one billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it
should not be taken lightly. Symbols of any faith, larger or smaller, should
not be mishandled, Zed argued.
Rajan Zed further said that such trivialization of Lord
Ganesha was disturbing and offensive 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.
Yoga mats Hindu devotees were finding objectionable included
two carrying images of Lord Ganesha. Yogamatic.com labels itself as "the
custom yoga mat company" asking customers to "Choose from 100's of
mats in our exclusive Galleries". Entrepreneur magazine listed it under
“100 Brilliant Companies” with comments: "A favorite of Oprah and Jennifer
Aniston". For $79 plus tax and shipping, one can order a Yoga Mat with
her/his own image at Yogamatic, which claims to operate a fully functional
design service from its studio/gallery in Santa Monica (California). Besides Yoga
Mat, it also sells Travel Mat/Yoga Towel.