We live in a world where nothing is considered sacred anymore.
Earlier this month, an Australian fashion company was forced to apologise to the world's Hindus after it used pictures of Mother Lakshmi on a swimsuit. The swimsuit range depicted images of the revered goddess on its front and behind. During the show a model strutted on a ramp at the Rosemount Australian Fashion Week in Sydney.
Hindus were understandably upset at this apparent insensitivity to and commercial use of the Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity. They were upset not only in India, but here in Canada, across the Caribbean in our homelands as Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, and also throughout the rest of the world. Widespread protests, particularly in India, saw some worshippers burning the Australian flag and demanding removal of the line of swimwear.
In a response out of South Africa, president of the Hindu Dharma Sabha, Ram Maharaj, said the swimwear was unacceptable: "It is insensitive and offensive, and can easily inflame religious hostility and division. It is these types of irresponsible and insensitive acts purely for commercial gain that do harm to interfaith harmony and social cohesion."
He added: "Harm has already been done by the fact that someone had even thought of this diabolical scheme to make money. Hindu-bashing has become an international phenomenon because Hindus are regarded as servile and docile. We Hindus are not going to be that way anymore. We are going to be lions and not lambs. We are not going to tolerate any of these unwarranted assaults on our religion."
As the backlash swept the swimsuit company into negative market territory on an intentional scale, it brought an apology and removal of the offending swimwear from its line of products. According to reports, the apology came after the Indian foreign ministry took up the matter with the Australian high commission in India.
It is quite apparent that this company was oblivious to the global sensibility of close to a billion Hindus who revere Mother Lakshmi. It is also unfortunate that nothing is considered sacrosanct today, especially where some companies pursue commercialism with religious zeal.
In handling the public relations debacle, the swimsuit company, Lisa Blue Swimwear, said the use of images of Lakshmi was not "calculated risk-taking" but a desire to celebrate different cultures. "At no time would we ever have intended that the brand would cause offence. Lisa Blue has been born out of a love of conservation, spirituality and a respect for all people."
It added: "We would like to offer an apology to anyone we may have offended and advise that the image of Lakshmi will not appear on any piece of Lisa Blue swimwear for the new season. This range will never be available for sale in any stockists or retail outlets anywhere in the world. We apologise to the Hindu community and take this matter very seriously."
It is troubling that the situation came to a company apologising to an offended global audience. What is even more troubling is that such insensitivity exists in a time when access to information has made the world such a smaller place. And this is even more disturbing given the knowledge that most societies in our global framework, including Australia, are bound together with components of religious pluralism and cultural diversity.
Add to this the astonishment at the irreverence and cynicism that someone would consider putting up for sale on scanty swimwear such a sacred deity as the revered Mother Lakshmi. This episode tells us there is still a long road ahead, in Ram Maharaj's words, to "interfaith harmony and social cohesion".
As Professor Brij Maharaj, president of the Shree Sanathan Dharma Sabha of SA said: "To a western consumer market, the 'exotic' east is enchanting, and it would appear that everything from India is being packaged and marketed for sale." However, he adds, and rightly so, that, "religion and spirituality are not for sale."
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