hindu art on t shirts etc. what do you feel about it?

[kannuma]

all of a sudden, in the last 10 years id say, there has been such a huge interest in asian art and depicting them on t shirts/trousers/bags etc etc. many fashion houses(well known as well as smalls cale) use hindu art on their clothing/accesories. for example they have an image of shiva on a t shirt and the likes.
many people think its fashionable, and wear it simply because it's in vogue. some fashion houses put images of lakshmi on bikinis/toilet seats(sad but true). when there is an upoar about it, they apologise saying the patterns were what they liked and didnt know it held religious importance(what idiot doesn't know that religious symbols mean something to the people of that religion).
How do you feel about seeing images of hindu gods and godesses/ hindu symbols on clothing and accesories. Are you offended? HOw do you view others using something religious merely for the fashionable value of it?

Personally i do get offended sometimes. I feel like they do not respect what i hold sacred. But on the other hand, imo hindu philosophy says that such things are transient etc.

plz discuss how you feel about such things

[Surya]

Nice Topic.
I feel offended if they're on shirts But outraged when it goes to places like Bikinies, Boxers, toilet seats etc. A few years ago, an organization called AHAD (American Hindus Against Defamation) made a clothing company (I think it was GAP, not sure) stop their productions of Boxers with pictures of Shiva on them. They did protests, walks etc. So Kannuma you're not alone.

[happyindian]

Kannnuma, Maybe you shd do a poll question on this.

Personally I do not feel offended (if on apparel, would happily wear it in fact) unless it is done with the intent of maligning or mocking a community's beliefs.

But I do mind pics of gods and godessess or religious symbols on shoes, boxers and toilet paper as I do not think I have that much in me to yet happily give up on this samsara and conform with the thought that God is everywhere (remember the story of Nanak who went to Mecca (?) and slept with his legs turned towards the Ka'aba, I do not remember the story exactly, but someone tried to put his legs turned away from the Ka'aba and saw the Ka'aba in every direction he tried to place Nanak's legs in, meaning God is everywhere, only we seek to confine that thought to a religion, certain practices, rites, rituals, dogmatic beliefs and what not.) But am learning tolerance, trying to understand fellow humans and various schools of thought and have a long way to go in all those respects and as a human yet, so who knows in the future I might end up not getting irritated by the idea of OM on someone's shoes.

[Shekhar]

I think what people wear reflect their quality of mind and their life in general.
If what they wear demeans something I hold in high esteem, it should not bother me, because if what I respect is truly great, its greatness won't be and can't dented by puny minds and actions.
I can neither expect nor ensure that the world revers what I hold in reverence. And it is not necessary too.
What Surya has described is possible only in some democratic countries. But even there, .. is the effort necessary? If they had not stopped production of such wears, would it have affected your respect to your religion anyway?
We react when we are weak and feel threatened. If my belief is strong enough, that Hinduism has survived 5000 years of history, and will survive an other 5000 years, these things seem insignificant.

[Bad Boy]

why should it hurt anyone? Try to see it my way: That what I bear inside I wear outside!
If kadavuL thUNilum iruppAn thurumbilum iruppAn does has a meaning then you can even picture a lady-bind. Or even Sivan outside and lingam inside. Try to see it this way! If you are lacking of problems then create some.
But what do you feel if you have Hitler instead of Siva, Buddah, JC or Ossama?