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Upset Hindus urge Wayfair to withdraw Lord Ganesha cutting board & apologize
 
Upset Hindus are urging Boston headquartered online home giant Wayfair for immediate withdrawal of cutting board carrying image of Hindu deity Ganesha; calling it highly inappropriate.
 
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that Lord Ganesha was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to “chop, dice and slice” meat, vegetables, cheese, etc. Inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.
 
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged Wayfair 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 Ganesha is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking. There are about three million Hindus in USA. “Birchwood Golden Ganesha Elephant Cutting Board” at Wayfair sells for $34.99.
 
Awards-winning Wayfair, founded in 2002, claims to be “one of the world’s largest online destinations for the home” with over eight million products, which included “one of the world’s largest online selections of furniture, home furnishings, décor and goods”. It claims to have generated $4.3 billion in net revenue for the 12 months ending September 30 last. Besides Massachusetts headquarters, it has corporate offices in Berlin and London with operations throughout North America and Europe.

Vatican Library carries 15 books on Yoga
 
Vatican Library carries 15 printed books on the topic of yoga, including an 1897 edition.
 
Catalogue search reveals titles like “How to know God. The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali” (1953), yoga as a healing path, the yoga of faith, spirituality of yoga, etc.
 
Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, termed it as a step in the positive direction and a remarkable gesture to make knowledge about multi-beneficial yoga available through the prestigious Vatican Library.
 
Yoga, referred as “a living fossil”, was a mental and physical discipline, for everybody to share and benefit from, whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization; Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, noted.
 
Rajan Zed further said that yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra; yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical.
 
According to US National Institutes of Health, yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. According to a “2016 Yoga in America Study”, about 37 million Americans (which included many celebrities) now practice yoga; and yoga is strongly correlated with having a positive self image.  Yoga was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Zed added.
 
Collections of Vatican Library (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) in Vatican City, library of the Holy See, whose traces go back to fourth century; include manuscripts, printed books, coins and medals, archives, graphic materials and art objects. His Excellence Most Reverend Msgr Jean-Louis Bruguès is the librarian of the Holy Roman Church while Msgr Cesare Pasini is the Prefect. It is said to hold about 1.6 million printed books.