Ashwin Krushnapaksha Ashtami, Kaliyug Varsha 5116
Protest the denigration of Hindu Deities and symbols through the sale of products on Ms. Hesselink’s web pages
On May 13th, 2014, alert Hindus notified Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) regarding the denigration of Hindu Deities happening through the sale of clothing and other items on the web pages of Ms. Katinka Hesselink through Squidoo and Hubpages. The websites are selling T-shirts, various clothing items, which have images of revered Deities and Hinduism symbols like ‘Om’ printed on them. As well, there are posters and jewelry, which have stylized images of Hindus’ Deities or Hinduism symbols, which trivialize the Deities and Hinduism.
Link to a page selling denigrating items – 
The HJS protest team initially contacted Ms. Hesselink, explaining the denigration that is happening on her webpages, but did not get a response from her. Subsequently, the HJS protest team sent emails to Squidoo and Hubpages about the denigration. This is because Ms. Hesselink’s webpages reside on a website called Squidoo and recently have been redirected to Hubpages. However, there has been no response from them either.
Now it is the duty of devout Hindus worldwide to regsiter their lawful protests to stop this denigration.
Devout Hindus are registering their lawful protests on the following contacts :Emails : |
Below are the protest letters written by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti –
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From: HJS Protest Team <[email protected]> Namaskar dear Mausmi Mehta, Matt Wells and Camille Harris, We at Hindu Janajagruti Samiti have received complaints from Hindus regarding some items sold through your website. For example: http://religions7.hubpages.com/hub/valentines-day-spiritual-religious-gifts-hindu-men- or http://religions7.hubpages.com/hub/hindu-gifts. We are sending this letter to you to inform you about some of the items sold through your website. These were brought to our attention by concerned Hindus. You may not be aware of this but amongst the items that are being sold through your website there are items that are causing a denigration of Hinduism. We have approached Ms. Katinka Hesselink, who writes under the name “religions7” on Hubpages, regarding this but have not received any response from her. 1. A denigration is happening through having images of revered Deities and Hindu symbols on T-shirts, various clothing items and posters being sold through your website. T-shirts and clothing items with images of the most revered Hindu Deity Lord Ganesh are being sold through your webpages. There are also items with the most sacred Hindu symbol “Om” on them. The clothes will be washed in a washing machine with other soiled clothes. When a T-shirt or poster is no longer used, it will be thrown into the trash. Thus the sanctity of the Deities and symbols will not be maintained. As per Hinduism, Deities are eternal principles of God that carry out different functions in the universe. Hindus treat their religious symbols, chants and Deities with utmost respect. Deities are adorned on an altar to worship and offer prayers, thus having Their images anywhere else like on T-shirts and other clothing items is denigrating Hinduism and hurting feelings of billions of Hindus across the world. 2. Also through your webpages many items are sold that misrepresent the form of a Deity. For example, earrings with only the head of Lord Ganesh on them or stylized, modern representations of Deities in the form of idols, posters, calendars, etc. Such depictions are a denigration of Hinduism and hurt the sentiments of many. As per Hinduism, every Deity is associated with Its specific sound, word, touch, form, taste, smell and energy. To depict a Deity in a form through a picture or idol, there are specific rules to be followed as per Holy Hindu scriptures. Not conforming to which leads to denigration and loss of Divine Consciousness from the picture, leading to a grave sin. We urge you to consider the above points and remove all the pages that have such Hinduism related products from your website. We stress that our aim in bringing up these points is to educate and ensure that Hinduism gets accurately represented to society. Hinduism has been misrepresented at many levels. Though it is an ancient tradition, Hinduism has a lot to offer the modern world and we want children and adults alike to be able to understand and study it without it being misrepresented. You can take one step towards ensuring that Hinduism does not get misrepresented by removing the pages that have T-shirts and other items with Hinduism related designs as mentioned above. Sincerely, ———- Forwarded message ———- Namaskar dear Tom Maybrier and Paula Le Duigou, You may not be aware of this but amongst the items that are being sold through her pages there are items that are causing a denigration of Hinduism. We, at Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, have approached Ms. Katinka Hesselink regarding this but have not received any response from her. Hindu Janajagruti Samiti is a registered NGO in India doing social, Hindu Dharma related and national welfare work. The Samiti is also active throughout the world, educating people about Hindu Dharma in a scientific way, campaigning against malpractices done as Hindu Dharma related practices and solving problems related to misrepresentation of Hindu Dharma. For further details please refer to our website www.HinduJagruti.org. To explain how the denigrations are occurring : 2. Also through your webpages many items are sold that misrepresent the form of a Deity. For example, earrings with only the head of Lord Ganesh on them or stylized, modern representations of Deities in the form of idols, posters, calendars, etc. Such depictions are a denigration of Hinduism and hurt the sentiments of many. As per Hinduism, every Deity is associated with Its specific sound, word, touch, form, taste, smell and energy. To depict a Deity in a form through a picture or idol, there are specific rules to be followed as per Holy Hindu scriptures. Not conforming to which leads to denigration and loss of Divine Consciousness from the picture, leading to a grave sin. Sincerely, ———- Forwarded message ———- || Shree || Namaskar dear Katinka Hesselink, We at Hindu Janajagruti Samiti have received complaints from Hindus regarding some items sold through your webpages. For example: http://spirituality.squidoo.com/valentines-day-spiritual-religious-gifts-hindu-men- or http://spirituality.squidoo.com/hindu-gifts We are sending this letter to you to inform you about some of the items sold through your websites and blog. These were brought to our attention by concerned Hindus. We commend you for your effort to spread awareness of Hinduism and Spirituality through your webpages, but amongst the items that are being sold through your webpages there are items that are causing a denigration of Hinduism. T-shirts and clothing items with images of the most revered Hindu Deity Lord Ganesh are being sold through your webpages. There are also items with the most sacred Hindu symbol “Om” on them. The clothes will be washed in a washing machine with other soiled clothes. When a T-shirt or poster is no longer used, it will be thrown into the trash. Thus the sanctity of the Deities and symbols images will not be maintained. As per Hinduism, Deities are eternal principles of God that carry out different functions in the universe. Hindus treat their religious symbols, chants and Deities with utmost respect. Deities are adorned on an altar to worship and offer prayers, thus having Their images anywhere else like on T-shirts and other clothing items is denigrating Hinduism and hurting feelings of billions of Hindus across the world. 2. Also through your webpages many items are sold that misrepresent the form of a Deity. For example, earrings with only the head of Lord Ganesh on them or stylized, modern representations of Deities in the form of idols, posters, calendars, etc. Such depictions are a denigration of Hinduism and hurt the sentiments of many. As per Hinduism, every Deity is associated with sound, word, touch, form, taste, smell and energy. To depict a Deity in a form through a picture or idol, there are very specific rules to be followed as per Holy Hindu scriptures. Not conforming to which leads to denigration and loss of Divine Consciousness from the picture, leading to a grave sin. We urge you to consider the above points and remove all the products that have Hinduism related designs from your webpages. We stress that our aim in bringing up these points is to educate and ensure that Hinduism gets accurately represented to society. Hinduism has been misrepresented at many levels. Though it is an ancient tradition, Hinduism has a lot to offer the modern world and we want children and adults alike to be able to understand and study it without it being misrepresented. You can take one step towards ensuring that Hinduism does not get misrepresented by removing the T-shirts and other items with Hinduism related designs as mentioned above. Sincerely, |
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